Home phone VoIP: Ooma or Obi?

[Craig234]

Ooma Telo is $170; Ooma Telo Air (wireless) is on sale for $200.

Obi110 is $50, goin on sale on a lightning deal at 11 PST on Amazon below that.

I'd like to get rid of the expensive landline and use one of these. Both seem to get similar user comments (nice voice quality, have to set up special 911 service).

Which one is better? Obi seems to talk about all the users using 'Google Voice' and that is might start charging later.

 

[vi edit]

I don't know what the Obi product is, so I can't comment on it.

I do however have the older "Hub" version of Ooma that has been fantastic. I paid around $100 for it as a refurb product from Fry's. It's one of the older ones that does not have the $3.50 a month federal use fee associated with it.

Call quality is very clear, and it's been flawless for reliability. It's nice because I get a true local number I can give out, which many other services didn't offer in my somewhat rural area.

I think the newer "Telo" units allow you to install the app on your iphone/droid? and make free calls over wifi back to your telo unit at your home. If you are a single guy that's probably not a big deal. If you have a S/O or kids it's a decent way to save cell minutes if you have wifi coverage available.

I've been using my Ooma system for over a year and it's paid for itself several times over.

 

[Craig234]

Thanks. I guess the main question is, if I got the cheaper Obi, would I miss anything over the Ooma Telo? I'm leaning Ooma from more good reviews, but Obi has good ones.

 

[vi edit]

From my very limited searching it appears that the Obi is the better choice if you already have google voice in use. It's cheaper and very easy to integrate.

If you do not use google voice, and just want a land line replacement then Ooma is better as it actually has a phone number associated with the box and is a turnkey product.

 

[ponyo]

If I was buying today, I would go with Obi. It's cheaper and does basically the same thing.

I use Ooma at home and have for the last couple of years. I'm grandfathered in so I pay $0 each month. Not even taxes and junk fees.

I bought my sister $50 Obi earlier this year so she could get rid of her landline. Well, she still has her landline but it's not because of Obi. She's just too lazy to call and cancel. Her Obi works fine. Obi uses Google Voice. Google has already said Google Voice domestic calling will be free in 2012. All you have to do is get a separate free Google Voice number just for Obi. That way it won't interfere with Google Voice for your cellphone. That's it. Setup takes like < 5 minutes and it simply works. No other fees. The only catch is you don't know when Google will start charging for Google Voice domestic calls. They could start charging in 2013 but who knows. But Obi is cheap and good enough I would take the risk.

 

[Craig234]

Gotcha. But you can't transfer your phone number to Obi?

The Obi is only $6.50 off at $43.49, but sold out fast.

 

[bobdole369]

Build an asterisk, use a couple pay-as-you-go SIP trunks?