OBi110 Voice Service Bridge and VoIP Telephone Adapter

I write this assuming you've read most of the in-depth reviews on set-up.So I'm one of those who's had a land-line phone number for a long time that I wanted to keep, which meant I had to do the port-to-mobile-carrier-then-port-to-Google-voice route. Follow the directions on the Obihai site (google it). Buy the Pay-As-You-Go SIM card from T-Mobile.com for $6.99 (mine was free because they had some promotion going on) or go to a store. After receiving the SIM card in the mail I went to the store to activate and start the porting process from Qwest (my local landline provider). I stood in line longer (45 minutes) than it took them to start the porting process. It took about a week to get my land line number moved to T-Mobile, and then another 24 hours to port to Google (paid via Google Wallet online). I put the TMobile SIM into an old ATT cell phone I had laying around to make one phone call to complete the porting to Google (I had to call ATT to have them give me the unlock code for the old ATT cell phone I used for this process. If you have a T-mobile phone you don't need this step). The T-Mobile PayAsYouGo SIM card was cheaper than the ATT one at the time, but use whatever's cheaper.Yes, setting up is pretty easy, but there are things that Obihai could make a bit clearer (even though some of my issues are probably on Google's side), and I'm a geek!Some notes/thoughts:1. To get all your phones plugged into phone jacks to ring, go out to your (usually gray) Network Interface Device box (where the phone line(s) come into your house) and unplug the jack. Even though my land line number was disconnected, my phones throughout the house wouldn't ring until I unplugged the phone jack in that network box.2. I have Google Voice handle my phone messages, so to pick up messages from a house phone I dial my phone number (with area code as required here), I really should just set it up as a speed dial already. I haven't really tried to figure out how to use my PIN yet. Also need to figure out how to skip/fast-forward thru messages (3 3 7 would be great). Suggestions/help if there's an easier way to access VM besides dialing the entire phone number would be great if you have them.3. My Tivo boxes have trouble dialing out to update programming, so I'm about to buy this: Western Digital WD Livewire Powerline AV Network Kit to get ethernet from the router in my home office to the Tivos in my living room (as there's no way to wire ethernet behind my brick walls). I've been wanting to do this anyway so I can network my Tivo's, so no big deal. But you should know this aspect if you cannot get a wired or wireless internet signal to your Tivo's. I'm still tinkering with the Tivo settings to see if I can get it to dial out. Any help with the dialing out feature would be appreciated as I haven't bought the WD ethernit kit YET).UPDATE 11/2/11: I did buy that Western Digital Powerline Kit and it works great. Since one of my Tivo's is an older Series 2, with no ethernet jack, only USB ports, I also had to buy a USB-to-Ethernet Adapter (didn't want to go wireless, too slow), so I bought TRENDnet USB to 10/100Mbps Adapter TU2-ET100, which works great with Series 2 Tivos.4. Call quality has been great so far, and I'm thrilled to not spend $70 a month for a landline anymore. In three months that savings will pay for my Obihai and my Western Digital ethernet-over-powerline adapters.5. Follow the advice of others and get a Gmail address JUST for your Google Voice number. Import your contacts there, and then you can create custom voicemail greetings for friends, family, spouse, business, spammers, etc. Pretty cool. I also have it set within Google Voice that only select friends and family ring both my Google Voice number and my cell phone at the same time, so I can answer whatever phone I'm closest to. Everyone else can just ring my GV #, others go straight to VM, and Spammers get blocked (you save them as a contact on your Google Voice page, mark them as Spam, and check "Block") or you can record a "special" message just for them. HA!6. The incoming Caller ID I get provides no names, just phone numbers. I have DECT phones that talk to me and that I can program, so I make sure friends/family names/numbers are in the phone's phonebook, and it announces the names after that. Otherwise it just says the number. When you call into your Google voicemail, though, it still says "unknown caller" and then the number.7. As others have said, no 911, but use your cell, or use one of the $1.50/month or so services mentioned in other reviews. Have yet to do this.8. This doesn't apply to me, but from what I understand, since each Obihai box comes with its own number, and if everyone in your family has an Obihai, and say you're all in different countries (or states for that matter), you can call each other's Obihai numbers for free. I still don't quite get being able to call into your US-based Obihai from abroad and then calling within the states for free, but I guess I'll try harder to understand when I need it! UPDATE 10/1/12 Read below9. Customer Service: After looking thru the forums and not finding the exact answer I needed, I just emailed [email protected] and received an answer (and answers to my follow-ups) within a few hours. Clear and concise.I do think there are items that could be clearer in the Obihai FAQ, but these are early days, and we're among the pioneers (and thanks to those who came before and answered those questions in the forums). If all you're doing is setting up a new Google Voice account and plugging it into the box, then yes, it's easy. But if you're looking to port your land-line number or for other features, it's gonna take you some time in the forums or more than 15 minutes to set up. But after the initial cost, it's FREE (unless Google starts charging).I'll update in a few weeks. But do not hesitate to buy one of these. I'll be telling each family member to buy one. I just wanted to go iron out my kinks in case I need to walk them thru it.General UPDATE 11/2/11: I have had times when it was hard for the other party to hear me, as others have reported, but I just hang up and dial back.UPDATE 10/01/12: I still have the above issue on occasion.OBI iPhone APP Report: OK, so I just returned from Korea, where I had a couple reasons I needed to call back to the States. I didn't have time to buy any SkypeOut credits or Google Voice credits, but remembered I had the OBI app on my iPhone. WOW. I made several calls to US friends who don't have iPhones (and couldn't FaceTime)over WiFi. As long as the WiFi connection is a decent one, the app worked great. As soon as the OBI app says "Ready", you are able to dial any US number as if you were there (caller ID shows your Google Voice number)! Now I understand the use of the OBI Phone app.UPDATE 02/25/13: FAX: I had a need to fax something recently, and had heard/read something somewhere about not being able to via the Obi. Not true. I don't even have a traditional fax machine or an all-in-one copier/scanner/fax that works. I do have a Windows 7 Professional computer and just used Windows Fax and Scan. Yes, my computer has a phone modem in it and it is connected to the Obi box (actually I have a splitter on the back of the Obi, one line goes to my computer and one goes to my phone). It worked just like a traditional fax machine.

I was interested in reducing my expenses and looking for a way to be able to make phone calls from my regular phone over the internet. I happened upon the OBI and was impressed with the reviews. I thought the price was reasonable too--I calculated it would pay for itself in 2 months if it was able to replace my regular land line phone service.The OBI was/is everything it promised. Although I did get off to a rocky start with it. (Note: I am not a "techie", so I may misuse some terms but hopefully readers can understand what I am talking about.I had previewed the OBItalk website (obitalk.com) and reviewed the video for setting up the OBI 110. It looked very easy. The OBI arrived, I plugged it in--followed the video, but was never able to get it to indicate it had a DHCP. I have a MAC Time Machine Airport as my wireless router. I sent an email using the OBI talk website to customer support at OBI describing my problem and configuration. I thought I would hear a suggested fix in a few days. I received an email response in 10 minutes!My set up wasn't as easy as it may be for most. I needed some firmware updated to make the OBI work with the Time Machine. To get the OBI to receive a DHCP and receive the firmware update I needed to plug directly into the internet router. This was problematic because it involved disconnecting the Time Machine (I have only one output from the Motorola router) and losing internet connectivity on my computer, which meant I also lost the online OBItalk help guide and videos. As well as the ability to register the OBI. (Note: once the OBI has a DHCP you log in to the OBI talk web site where you get instructions on dialing a number that registers your OBI under your account--if you watch the video on the obitalk site what I am saying will probably make more sense). I reconnected to the internet of and on to send emails saying I was still having problems. After I had connected directly to the main router I got a signal indicating there was a DHCP and called the number I needed to call for registration, but the registration wasn't working (maybe because I had lost my computer connection with the direct OBI connection). I eventually figured out that I could use my iphone as my internet, but then I ended up speaking to OBI tech support --Mark...At this point (maybe 30 minutes into the project) I noticed a email from Mark at OBI asking if he could just call to help me. I sent him my number and he phoned in minutes. Once we were speaking, I found out he had already pushed the firmware update to my OBI 110. (from other reviews I believe there is a way to get the firmware by dialing a particular number, but I didn't do that). Mark remained on the phone with me while I hooked up my Time Machine again and registered the OBI 110. Additionally he walked me through getting google voice setup. Note: You have to make at least one call on google voice before your account can be linked with OBI. Not a problem if you've been using google voice, but I didn't even have an account when we started.Overall the setup wasn't bad at all. It could have been horrible without the great tech support. There were little tricks to the set-up I probably would have never figured out on my on. The OBI is very reasonably priced when you consider the tech support you get. Then factor in the phone savings and it is an incredible find.The sound quality of my phone calls is very good too.I honestly think this is a hidden gem in terms of value and functionality especially at the price it is at. I haven't been as impressed with any other electronic product I have ever purchased.