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 below
9. Customer Service: After looking thru the forums and not finding the exact answer I needed, I just emailed support@obihai.com 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.
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This Item  OBi110 Voice Service Bridge and VoIP Telephone Adapter |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | Currently unavailable. | -48% $86.00 New Price: $165.00 | -11% $69.99 List Price: $79.00 | $48.48 | -42% $34.50 List: $58.99 | -25% $89.99 List: $119.99 |
| Delivery | — | Get it May 13 - 15 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sound quality | ||||||
| Tech Support | ||||||
| Value for money | ||||||
| WiFi signal | ||||||
| Sold By | — | Refurbished Phone Exchange | Dave Parkers | Always In Touch | AOMA DEALS | Amazon.com |
| power source | Adapter | Power over Ethernet | Battery Powered | Adapter | Corded Electric | Corded Electric |
| material | — | Plastic | — | Plastic | Plastic | Plastic |
| answering system | Digital | Digital | Digital | Digital | Digital | Digital |
| conf. call capability | 3-way | — | — | 3-way | 3-way | — |
| caller identification | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| battery quantity | — | — | — | 1 cr123a | 1 cr123a | 2 aaa |
| weight | 0.85 pounds | — | — | 0.25 pounds | 102 grams | 1.2 pounds |
Reviews with images
Powerful, but non-trivial to configure for call screening
I bought the OBi110 primarily for one function: to add call screening to my home landline, and prevent robocalling telemarketers and scammers from ringing my phone. As it turned out, configuring the OBi110 to perform that function, and only that function, was non-trivial. After numerous Google searches I finally got it working, and I'm pleased with the results, but it's not as straightforward as I had hoped it would be. I certainly wouldn't recommend a computer / networking novice trying it him or herself.So I give it four stars for performance, subtracting one star because of the difficult configuration process for anything except VOIP setup._______________________UPDATE: If you want to use the OBi110 as a call screening device for your home landline, here are some tips to save time and frustration:(1) Set up your OBi110 using the instructions in the "Quick Start" guide. For call screening, the OBi110 must be connected between your phone line and your phone(s). In my case, I use a phone / answering machine base station with wireless extension phones throughout the house, so everything goes through the OBi110. You can still use additional "dumb" wired extension phones in your home, but their ringers should be turned off.(2) You can either configure the OBi110 using its web interface through your local network, or by setting up an account at www.obitalk.com, linking your OBi110 with that account, and using the Obitalk "Obi Expert Configuration" panel. IMPORTANT: the Obitalk configuration will override any changes you make using the local web interface. If you do create an Obitalk account, use it instead of the local web interface. Note that the Obitalk and local web GUIs are almost identical.(3) You'll need to record two custom announcements. This must be done using a phone connected to the OBi110. For announcement #1, dial ***0, then 1001#. When prompted, press any key to begin, say something like "You've reached xxx-xxxx. Please press 1 to continue", then press # to finish, and follow the prompts to save your recording.For announcement #2, go to Youtube and search for "Disconnected Phone Message" (about a minute in length). On your phone, dial ***0, then 1002#. Hold your phone up to your computer speakers, play the Youtube video, record the audio, and save it on your OBi110.(4) Using your Obitalk account (or the local web interface if you didn't create an account), select "Voice Services", then "Auto Attendant". Change the default values according to the images attached to this review (note the red exclamation points next to the changed fields). %USER1% and %USER2% are the two announcements you recorded, while %USER3% is blank, which is intentional. Setting the DigitMap field to '([1-9]|[1-9][0-9]|0)' prevents the caller from maliciously or accidentally using the OBi110 to callback to another number. Removing the NumberOnNoInput value causes the OBi110 to hang up if the caller does nothing.(5) Click "submit" at the bottom of the page. If using the Obitalk web page, the Obi110 will reboot automatically. If using the local web interface, you'll need to click the "reboot" icon.(6) Now return to the OBi110 configuration menu, select "Physical Interfaces", then "LINE Port". Set InboundCallRoute to 'aa'. (See the attached image.) Again, click "submit" and reboot the OBi110.Now test your setup. Use another phone to call your home number. If everything is configured correctly, your OBi110 should answer after about 2 rings. Pressing "1" will ring through to your home phone / answering machine, while pressing any other number (or doing nothing at all) will result in the "disconnected phone" message being played. Robocallers or prerecorded messages from politicians or scammers will not get through. You may still have to deal with an occasional human being who makes an unsolicited call to your phone, but hopefully they will honor a "remove me from your calling list" request. Good luck!
