Question Help me get set up - IP Phones

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,693
28
91
As title says, would like to get setup with IP Phones.

Just tired of paying for PITS when I don't use it at all.

Have looked at the Google IP / Polycom device and it has 2 phones, a fax line and some other items.

Can somebody point me in the direction to learn about IP Phones? Their prices seem more than reason able compared to what I am paying for a POTS line (cheaper since I don't call out if the country) and my internet speed is 150-170Mb/s down and 10± Mb/s up.

My COX supplied modem would be fine away with since the last 6+ mos I have had the worst service in the ~17+ years I have lived here.

Please help - either a forum or whatever (NOT FACEBOOK).

Thanks
Bob
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,693
28
91
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bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,693
28
91

What would be wrong with the old skool item I chose, as I need old skool fax -
Polycom Obihai Technology OBi212 Universal Voice Adapter with FXS Phone and FXO Gateway Ports Support for Google Voice and SIP


How stable is your internet? How often does it go down and for how long? If/when it does, can you be without phones? If the internet goes down I can use cells for that.

With the exception of the last 6mos, the last 17yrs have been great
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
6,799
1,100
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If you do need Google IP phone number and fax feature, OBi212 probably is the best bet.

Ooma wins if all you need is domestic phone calling. The fax feature is not great.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,693
28
91
If you do need Google IP phone number and fax feature, OBi212 probably is the best bet.

Ooma wins if all you need is domestic phone calling. The fax feature is not great.

Not locked into Google, but have a lot of Google emails, so figure a decent amount of phone numbers (old skool, like to talk rather than txt)

Thanks

Home? Business/Commercial Office? Home Office? How many phones? Family members, employees?

Home, but I like I to mess around with tech, and their are different phones on ebay for cheap, I just don't know which ones would be compatible as some are ~$30 or even less, some wired and some wireless.

I am going to be switching out my modem to a DOSCIS 3.1, Model MB8600, Plus 32x8 DOCSIS 3.0, Certified by Comcast XFINITY and Cox. The modem COX switched me out about a year ago pots off a ton of heat (the last thing I need in PHX, AZ is more heat creating devices), seems they always push the lowest quality sh!t to the end users. I don't plan on moving to Gb/s but may push it up to 500Mb/s, if not I am @ 170Mb/s / 15Mb/s as I currently sit oday. Either way I hate COX's stuff - there is always an issue. Back in the day I ran a Motorola modem /ASUS 54g router (when 54g was top scale) (running Tomato) for over a year straight. My entire LAN is on UPS/s (which I plan to switch to solar with the necessary batteries & inverters for hopefully less heat, but at least less PWR Draw). Would a Raspberry Pi 4b 8GB be able to handle the Solar Controller (thinking 48V for the main V, then run a pure sine wave inverter output from there - I can design circuit boards (OSHPark) and am pretty good at hotplate reflow with a high 95%+ rate, and I have a hot air reflow station if needed, I have soldered down to 0402 components in the past without issue (gotta love stereoscopic microscopes), but may move on to a converted toaster oven as I feel the results would be even better and I could put in multiple boards at the same time. More importantly I wouldn't be buying components based on the quality, not cost, but what is going to last me the longest - schematic says X5R cap, may as well put in a X8R unless the datasheet gives a reason to use X5R.

Last but not least, would a Raspberry Pi 4B 8GB be able to handle the 1 router and 1 AP my WiFi needs (like I live in a Faraday cage 🤔). Figure get a decent 2.5/5GHz antenna for both.

Plan on using the GbE for the LAN and a USB -> Ethernet adapter (recommendation on one the is Rasbian OS / Debian compatible and would be running a SSD (again, USB -> SATA Adapter) - again recommendation on adapter for Raspberry Pi, and the reason I would be using SSDs is I have a decent amount of older, smaller ones that are just collecting dust), not buying new ones.

Any suggestion, please chime in, but the first couple paragraphs are where I need the most help. Even if the suggestion seems rude, that is fine, I am going into an area where I am blind and need a flashlight.

Bob
 
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bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,693
28
91
Out of curiosity, anybody know how many Obihai OBi212s you can you put on 1 home LAN?

Or a way to get more lines using Google Voice on the free setup?
 
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