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VOIP: I'm going to do it. UPDATE: I did it.

twinrider1

twinrider1

Diamond Member
But which one?

Needs
Very little long distance. No international.
Basic residential use.
I want a local 614-nxx as my number. No need to port my old number.

Considering
1. Nettalk Duo
Simple. $30/year. But build quality reports have me concerned.

2. Obi..probably a 100
Ride Google Voice for a few months, then add a voip provider like Anveo. Or just start with Anveo.

3. Voip PBX.
Raspberry Pi running Incredible PBX, using Anveo.
I like to build things, seems like a fun project. I don't want to run a full size computer because I don't like the idea of a power supply running 24/7 just for basic phone use.
Would I need an adapter to use my traditional phone with a voip pbx?
I'd rather not have to buy special voip phones. (Do they make one that doesn't look like an office desk phone?).

My background...somewhat familiar with telcom, but from the office, not in the trenches. I've provisioned circuits, set up calling trees, etc.


UPDATE: POST # 43.
 
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Did I give you a referral for Anveo yet? 😛

You would need an ATA to use a POTS handset with a PBX. I would get the Obi if you want to use a POTS handset regardless. Or...

And yes, they make voip phones that look like regular cordless handsets, but have a lot of the functionality of business class voip handsets. Take a look at the Snom m9 or the Snom m3. One base station, many handsets. The m3 is the older model, you can probably pick one up on eBay fairly cheap. I have an m3 myself, great little phone.




:sneaky:




What? You all didn't expect me to be the first reply or something? :biggrin:
 
I'm on option 2 right now. There's issues with international calls being cut off around the half hour mark, but it's still worthwhile considering the cheaper rates.

I haven't looked into alternatives once GV goes away, may look into Anveo...
 
The Obi 100 looks fine to me at $38. Even has some nice IVR functions.

When GV stops working there are a ton of VOIP providers to choose from at anywhere from $0 (charged per call) to $10 month for decent service. I've used call centric in the past and was happy with the service and features available. Probably cheaper options out there now, but if you go too cheap you can probably expect to get what you pay for. 😛
 
Scarpozzi said:
I had packet8 for a few years. It worked alright.

I paid maybe $200/year unlimited domestic calling.
Click to expand...

Since 8/4/2013 I've paid $17.69 in per-minute billed calling. I pay $4.80/month on top of that for what amounts to 2 phone numbers and a total of 4 lines of service. $36.89 for 4 months. That's with two pre-teen girls in the house too.
 
Just ordered the Obi100. And only $34.19 with the Newegg 10% promo I saw in Hot Deals. 🙂 The tinkerer in me wants to build a pbx, but the practical side says the Obi is the low cost (but still quality) option.

Ha, SunnyD, I didn't know when, but I was sure you'd respond. I'll definitely be asking for a referral code soon. Do they expires? Not sure if I'll be signing up right away.

Any quirks with voip.....occasional delays for dial tone or connections, echoes, etc. Any issues dialing into other pbx's, stuff like that?
 
twinrider1 said:
Just ordered the Obi100. And only $34.19 with the Newegg 10% promo I saw in Hot Deals. 🙂 The tinkerer in me wants to build a pbx, but the practical side says the Obi is the low cost (but still quality) option.

Ha, SunnyD, I didn't know when, but I was sure you'd respond. I'll definitely be asking for a referral code soon. Do they expires? Not sure if I'll be signing up right away.

Any quirks with voip.....occasional delays for dial tone or connections, echoes, etc. Any issues dialing into other pbx's, stuff like that?
Click to expand...



As far as your questions, only quirks/issues are the same quirks/issues ANY phone system will have. Gotta remember, even the big boys are using this stuff these days. The only problem I ever had was latency, and that's because I was trying to use an old android cellphone as a handset over wifi directly to my provider via SIP, which is part of the reason I went with the big boy toys. If you're gonna do it, do it right imho.

The only issue I suppose I have is that the DTMF tones on my phones are sometimes "too short" for IVR's to understand properly. I haven't bothered tweaking them because I don't give a damn.
 
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We went the VoIP.ms way probably two years ago. I think we pay about a penny a minute and a small monthly fee about a buck a month. It works for us as we don't use the phone a whole lot. Haven't had many issues with it, plus if we are on vacation we can use an android sip app to receive calls.
 
I've been really happy with ooma basic. It's idiot proof and I only pay taxes and 911 fees (3.72 a month for my area). I've had it for a few years now, so even at my previous vonage monthly costs I've saved a ton. And I got to keep my old number, not that it mattered to me, but I didn't have to give out a new number.

Their online voice mail system is pretty decent too, I like being able to check them anywhere there is internet.
 
I might catch crap for it, but I've been on Magic Jack for going on 4 years now. The only problem I had with it was after a couple years, when the USB dongle went bad. They replaced it. I run it on an old, low power system, running XP. 😎

The newer version they have can plug directly into your router, so no need for the computer to be on 24/7. Will probably upgrade to that, whenever this unit dies. Can't beat $20/year.
 
RossMAN said:
and another, my only regret is not signing up years ago when they first launched.
Click to expand...

Love my Ooma. Came from Vonage and wish I had done it a year earlier than I did. Was afraid that Ooma would go under...

Three and a half years of home phone service for the $170 appliance.... $0 per month after that (I was in before monthly taxes kicked in).
 
I use NetTalk Duo and at $40.00 a year its not only affordable but the service and call quality is very good.

just make sure you have a good upload rate, unlike me at 256Kbps. 🙁
 
3150509960.png
 
Wyndru said:
I've been really happy with ooma basic. It's idiot proof and I only pay taxes and 911 fees (3.72 a month for my area). I've had it for a few years now, so even at my previous vonage monthly costs I've saved a ton. And I got to keep my old number, not that it mattered to me, but I didn't have to give out a new number.

Their online voice mail system is pretty decent too, I like being able to check them anywhere there is internet.
Click to expand...


How is voice quality, and is there any issue if both people talk at same time (one voice cuts out like cell phones used to do)?
 
I would like to go voip. I have some linksys PAP2's and a SPA3102. I would like to use an old computer to setup PIAF (FreePBX). Can someone advise me on the provider(s) to use and the setup in general?
 
mshan said:
How is voice quality, and is there any issue if both people talk at same time (one voice cuts out like cell phones used to do)?
Click to expand...

It's fine for me, I don't hear any audio cutting out unless I'm maxing the bandwidth. I run a couple of web and game servers so if it's maxing out my upload speed (which is only 5) then I occasionally get delays and lose audio. But it rarely occurs that I max the UL like that, and when it does it I already know the reason for it so it doesn't bother me. It's my own fault for doing too much on a limited bandwidth.

They do periodic (automatic) firmware updates to change different things, and a couple of years back they pushed out something called PureVoice which increased the quality a bit. But to be honest, my wife and I never noticed any major difference from Vonage's phone quality. I don't really remember what our landline sounded like as a comparison, we dropped that back in 2006.
 
My house is using an Obitalk 100 with GV and a wireless handset (base station and handsets - bought from Costco). We pay $1 a month for 911.

Sound quality has been perfectly fine, no issues at all.

I will switch to a VOIP provider when GV goes away.

Michael
 
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