OBi100 VoIP Telephone Adapter and Voice Service Bridge

This review is being written 11/22/2014 for the OBi100 VoIP Telephone Adapter and Voice Service Bridge, advertised and sold on the Amazon website.Update 8/16/2016I've had continued excellent experience with this device paired with Google Voice. However, most recently the device was blocked from Google Voice service. A voice message on the home phone informed me to login to my account, and I found I needed to update the OBi100 firmware due to Google Voice security requirements (requiring me to buy a $10 extended support contract for one year since my warranty had expired). Upgrading was painless and service was restored easily.------ Original review belowSince Google Voice is officially supported now, I think this product is worth considering. The combination of Google Voice with this device offers phone service very similar to a traditional land line with no ongoing subscription fee.Configuration is a bit daunting but worked as design with the Google Voice account (which you should setup ahead of time). You create an account on the obitalk website, and follow the instructions to register your device and link your Google Voice account to it. Even though this is not too complicated, I believe it's best left to someone who is technically savvy.The typical installation uses a cordless phone (that you purchase separately). You plug the base station into the phone jack on the Obi device, and use the cordless phones in your residence. This is the easiest and most straightforward and supported configuration.It's also possible to use the Obi device to power the home telephone wiring that already exists in your house. I mention this because people often ask this question. This allows you to use existing wired phones in multiple locations in your home, for example. Some items to consider if you are to do this:- You must disconnect the telephone company connection to your house wiring. Often, this is easy to do via unplugging a connection in the demarcation box, typically outside the residence in a plastic box in a modern home. This is an important step.- Turn off ringers on multiple phones that are plugged into home phone jacks so that you have no more than 5 devices total. To be more precise, the Obi device supports a maximum of 5 "REN" (Ringer Equivalence Number). Most modern phones have a REN of 1.0, so in theory the Obi could support 5 total. Most modern phones have the REN value printed on the bottom- You can plug the Obi into any home phone jack as typical house wiring has all the jacks connected together.With the Google Voice/Obi combination, there are some limitations:- No emergency service (no 911). You can purchase a 911 service subscription from another provider and configure that on the Obi in addition to the Google Voice service.- No service during a power failure. Traditional land line phone service will power most wired (not cordless) phones directly from the telephone company office. During a power failure, the Obi box itself will not provide service, nor would a typical cordless phone. To provide service during power failures, you'll need to buy and maintain battery backup (UPS) for your Obi, cordless phone if used, and Internet Provider device (cable modem or other).- You are responsible for some troubleshooting should issues occur. This is not a big issue for someone who is technically savvy. That being said, so far this has been reliable with no service issues.

My current VOIP provider (VOIPo.com) was going to drastically raise my rates after my initial 2 yr promotion rate (up to about $185/year after you include all the taxes.) I stumbled upon this device on Amazon (which by the way has the best price I could find) and after doing some research and watching You Tube videos, decided to give it a try.I went with Google Voice for free unlimited long distance calling, but I also wanted to keep my old phone number at least for the next year while I transition people to my new Google number. Thus I also signed up with Anveo.com who was offering free porting of your number if you sign up with their $2 per month unlimited INCOMING calls plan with 1 year prepaid (note this plan still charges for outgoing calls.) They also offered E911 support for another $0.80 per month which you can't get with Google Voice.So bottom line total cost per year of phone service with unlimited long distance, local, online voicemail, voicemail to email, callerID, etc. is ~$40 for the Obi, $24 for the Anveo phone number port/service and 80 cents per month for E911 = ~$74 first year, ~$34 per year after. NO ADDITIONAL TAXES, etc. etc like most VOIP services charge. Note if you don't care about porting your number, just go with Google voice and during the set up of the OBi, it gives you the option to sign up with Anveo E911 service only (no phone number, etc) for $12 per year. Thus total annual cost for phone service with E911 is .... just twelve bucks!!. OK, I know there are You Tube videos telling you how to work around the lack of E911 support from Google Voice for a totally free phone service with emergency support, but to me it seemed like a hassle and you still have to tell the emergency operator your address which in a true emergency may or may not be easy. Your choice but for a buck a month, going with the Anveo option just seems to offer that extra piece of mind.Of course if you don't care about 911 support, then Obi + Google Voice = TOTALLY FREE HIGH QUALITY HOME PHONE SERVICE!!! (OK, you do have to buy the OBi to start, but after that ...)So after a bit of time to set up all the accounts and entering the details into the ObiTALK on line set up, I now have good quality, so far 100% reliable phone service that meets all my basic requirements and more with no inconveniences that I have been able to uncover. I pick up the phone, get instant dial tone, and dial my typical long distance numbers just like I always have. For incoming calls, the phone rings and I answer in normal fashion no matter if the caller is calling my new Google number or my old (now ported) home number. Note this was one of the questions I could not find the answer to online -- will my phone ring no matter which of the two lines someone is calling? Seems like it obviously should, but now I have confirmed it.If there is a down side to using this box vs. a VOIP provider who sends you their own proprietary box, it is that this box does require more time and online research for initial set up. Proprietary service providers offer what is suppose to be plug and talk solutions so for the true "techfobia" people out there, maybe this solution would be too intimidating. They also provide one stop tech support vs. the "figure it out on your own" this system leans toward.As a quick summary of how my Obi100 is set up, here are the basics- The OBi100 allows you to set up 2 service provides- I set Google Voice as the primary line since I typically call long distance and this allowed me to just pick up the phone and dial my long distance number.- I set the secondary line to Anveo because other than for E911, I never plan to call out through this service. (Remember the "cheap" plan I signed up for with Anveo charges for all OUTGOING calls ... BUT since the set up process on the secondary line had a check box for "use this line for E911" I did not have to set up Anveo as the primary line and Google as secondary as I initially feared... Very cool!!!- Note IF I wanted to call out using the secondary provider, I would first have to dial "**2" and then the number so that the OBi box would know you wanted to use line 2 instead of line 1. A bit of inconvenience. Keep this in mind if you go with a different set up where you use the second line for outgoing calls. There is sort of a way around this by setting up speed dial numbers that already include the **2, but for the way I plan to use it which is Google for all calls but E911, it is a non issue.- Also note Anveo provided a way to test 911 support without actually calling 911. After set up, you call 933 and an automated voice confims your address and asks you to say something and then plays it back to you to verify that there is true clear two way communication happening ... Again, very cool and good piece of mind.- Final note. I have the lowest bandwidth fiber to the home internet service (10Mb download/1Mb upload) and I can talk on the phone, surf the internet on my tablet, and stream a Netflix movie to my TV all at the same time without any issues or drop in voice quality so that should give you some baseline.As you can tell, I am very happy with this device in the couple of weeks I have had it. I am one of those who still thinks the voice quality of cell phones is not of a high enough quality when I want to talk to someone for any length of time and thus I am not ready to ditch the home phone and go 100% wireless. If you are in the same mindset, DEFINATELY give this device a close look.I realize this email is long and rambles on, but I think this is a great product that more people need to know about. I also wanted to try to address some of the key features and basic operation that I had a hard time figuring out from the online data.Hope this review helps. If you want to save money and are not afraid of a little up front set up effort (or have a techie friend!!), you will love this device.