How does OBi110 work?

[FirefIy]

Hello,

I would like to know if is possible for OBi110 (or any other product available) to :
- Redirect skype calls from Phone/Computer into my headset.
- Redirect mobile and phone calls to my headset.
- Probably redirect Viber calls.

Best regards,
Aleksey.

[Shale]

No,No, not any OBi product.

[azrobert]

For Skype on your OBi you need to install SipToSis on the computer you're running Skype.

Download here:
http://www.mhspot.com/sts/siptosis_download.php

Here is a setup guide:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=3920.0

[azrobert]

To access your cell you need an OBi202 and an OBiBT Bluetooth adapter.

See: http://www.obihai.com/obibt

[NKYadav]

To access your cell you need an OBi202 and an OBiBT Bluetooth adapter.

See: http://www.obihai.com/obibt

Does it have to be that specific BT adapter,or can it be any BT adapter that meets certain specifications, such as BT version supported / BT protocols supported?

The reason I ask is that I already have 2 BT dongles for my computer, one that supports BT 2.x and one that supports 4.x, IIRC (both manufactured by IOGear, one obviously older than the other).  The newer one that supports 4.x also supports a few protocols not supported by the older one, such as A2DP (?) and others that make it much more useful for me to use with my cell phones.

[WelshPaul]

The OBi2xx devices are restricted to use only genuine OBiWIFI adaptors, the OBiWIFI adaptor uses the RTL8188 chipset but if you plug in any other third party RTL8188 WiFi adaptor it simply doesn't work. You are instructed via the GUI to use a genuine OBiWIFI adaptor.

My guess, it will be the same with any other adaptors you can connect such as the OBiBT adaptor.

[drgeoff]

USB devices (other than simple "mini fan" type things) contain a Vendor ID and a Product ID which can be read by the host device to identify it and allocate an appropriate driver.

For the OBiBT:
VID:PID is 6242:8202

For the OBiWiFi:
VID:PID is 8202:6249

(Yes, I have double checked those as I would have expected the '8202' to be the VID for both.)

You can find info for many USB devices by searching the net for the VID and PID combination.  But not for the OBi ones!

[WelshPaul]

I just broke apart an OBiWIFI and the exact model number is RTL8188CUS.

I have just plugged it in to my desktop PC and installed the driver: Realtek RTL8188CUS Wireless LAN 802.11n USB Slim Solo

It's working just fine on my pc but I had to manually install the driver as it wouldn't automatically detect it even though the driver is already on my PC! 8202 appears to represent Broadcom from the searches I found on the net. I only have the one OBiBT dongle so not going to rip that apart!

The third party WiFi dongle I tried uses: Realtek RTL8188CU Wireless LAN 802.11n USB 2.0 Network Adapter and has the following ID: USB\VID_0BDA&PID_8176 but does not work in the OBi. Maybe it has to be a perfect match?

EDIT: Nope, I just setup the OBiWIFI with the Realtek RTL8188CUS Wireless LAN 802.11n USB 2.0 Network Adapter driver... The exact same one the third party uses and it works just fine on the PC so the OBi2xx series ATA's at least are set to use only devices matching the OBi hardware ID.

[drgeoff]

I think it is not so much that an OBi ATA/phone is set to deliberately "reject" USB devices which don't have the "correct" IDs, but rather that it only recognises some IDs (because they are the only ones in the firmware) and doesn't know what to do with devices with other IDs.

[WelshPaul]

I think it is not so much that an OBi ATA/phone is set to deliberately "reject" USB devices which don't have the "correct" IDs, but rather that it only recognises some IDs (because they are the only ones in the firmware) and doesn't know what to do with devices with other IDs.

I'm not so sure, as the ATA identifies my third party RTL8188CUS adaptor as a WiFi adaptor but instead of applying the drivers it displays the following message on screen: Please use genuine obiwifi dongle (See attached screenshot)

So the ATA knows a WiFi adaptor has been connected, my guess is the ATA is looking for the OBi VID number rather than PID? or both! Snom phones don't use VID/PID's as in a way to apply the driver, that's why Snom have no official list as to what is supported and what is not. They tell you what chipset to use and you simply try at your own peril and if it works it works... If it works just make a post on the forum for others to know, eventually you end up with a list of devices known to work.

Trouble is, nobody seems to know if the OBi's are locked down or not. I don't want to waste money purchasing any more (I purchased 3 so far) if it turns out they are indeed locked. Why does it say use a GENUINE OBiWIFI adaptor? why not "COMPATIBLE" or "SUPPORTED" adaptor? The use of the word "GENUINE" usually means you can only use the original manufactured accessory.

Anyway... If they are locked down OBIHAI should offer an additional WiFi adaptor that has an external antenna that is detachable allowing better WiFi reception and performance. That way you have the more discrete OBiWIFI for uses who want one "out of sight" and one like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251549885235?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT who want better performance.

[drgeoff]

http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb5.shtml has some useful info.

I think it is possible for an OBi to know that a USB device is a Wi-Fi dongle even if the specific VID:PID codes are not listed in the OBi's firmware.  But simply knowing that the device is some sort of Wi-Fi dongle is not the same as knowing what driver it needs (even if a suitable driver is within the firmware).