Phone!

[slugsworth]

Short version I just spent ~$40 on an OBI adapter, picked up a 'landline' phone and can now make free calls!

I used the instructions here http://goo.gl/zLh7j it took about 10 minutes total and I am pretty excited.

I work from home and have been using an unlimited cell phone plan for years and I should finally be able to cut my cell service by $25/mo and get the reducdency of having a second means of communication when cell service is down which is pretty awesome!

[Daley]

It's great that you've reduced your expenses and are taking advantage of the whole Obi110+Google Voice setup approach, but there's something you stated that worries me:

I work from home and have been using an unlimited cell phone plan for years and I should finally be able to cut my cell service by $25/mo and get the reducdency of having a second means of communication when cell service is down which is pretty awesome!

This approach has been discussed repeatedly on the forums in the past, especially in the communications superguide. Take it from a long time Google Voice user (back to the Grand Central days), don't rely on this setup for important and timely business communications use. The quality and reliability in the calls through GV just aren't there and it'll fail you when you need it the most. Ultimately, you get what you pay for... expect the "free" service quality, and be prepared to fall back to direct dialing through your cellphone if need be. If your phone is at all an important part of your business, you probably can't afford to be quite this cheap and you should look into some alternatives.

[slugsworth]

Wow, thanks I.P. . . . .I waded through your guide a few times, but obviously missed the Google Voice caveats. Ironically, my foray into getting the OBi system was because my cell phone provider (with which I've had no signifcant problems for ~7 years) had serious network problems while I was in the middle of incredibly time sensitive work.  I was told this was due to some modernization that they were doing.  At least now I have a backup.

My work minutes are nearly 2,000/mo none of your VOIP providers seems to offer anything under ~$20 for that level of voice.  Any suggestions?

Per your feedback, I'll hold off before cutting my cell service down :( I can report though that thus far google voice has been great.

[Daley]

My work minutes are nearly 2,000/mo none of your VOIP providers seems to offer anything under ~$20 for that level of voice.  Any suggestions?

Per your feedback, I'll hold off before cutting my cell service down :( I can report though that thus far google voice has been great.

Actually, there's a couple on the list that fit the criteria of allowing for business use and usage levels well in excess of 2000 minutes a month. The most competitively priced and feature rich being VOIPo. Well under $8 a month when you buy two years up front, business line, SMS support, pre-configured device provided, and allows up to 5,000 minutes a month in the fine print.

Future-Nine's America Free plan is also 2000 minutes incoming plus 2000 minutes outgoing (which should work unless 90+% of your minutes used is almost entirely of incoming or outgoing) is also only $11.25 a month if you pay for a year in advance.

Frugalman also used to use an outfit called Phone Power (the linked conversation also has a great deal of talk regarding the OBi110+GV setup), though he had intermittent issues that may or may not have been their fault directly. Their prices and fine print are competitive and meet your pricing requirements, however, and are reasonably well rated for a VoIP company over at BBR. I haven't added them to the official list, but they're worth name-checking.

There's another option, too, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for a high-volume SOHO line or outside of just pointing out that if you might find Ooma's numbers attractive and insist on going as cheap as humanly possible, you'd be better off for the money with NetTalk instead.

As you can see, there's actually plenty of decent, reliable VoIP options that can work for the money and your needs.

[slugsworth]

Thanks again, I am going further down the rabbit hole. . . Future 9's plan looks pretty good and it appears I could still use the OBi hardware I already have.

You've provided an encyclopedia of information on the forums, it is much appreciated!