What to do? Advice welcome!

[jeannnnee]

N00b here, not sure I'm posting in the right place. Here's a question about what to buy/how to configure.

My current setup:

wi-fi through Cablevision with Cablevision modem and Dlink router.

Cablevision delivers both broadband and VOiP (one number for the entire house) to my home. All is relatively problem-free.

What I want to do:

i want to keep the current home number and -- for my home office, on the same wireless connection --- add  four, separate lines to call out on obihai.

I want to keep my current Google Voice number forwarded to my mobile, separate from the Obihai.

Four panasonic or similar cordless would be ideal.

I would like the four cordless phones to be useable at the same time.

I would like the outgoing calls to identify the caller as "mybusiness.com" the name of the business -- not the number of the home VoIp number or the number of the Obihai device.

My fallback would be two lines, but ideally I want four.

Primary calling will be from this US home office to other US numbers.

This will be intermittently heavy: two weeks of relatively heavy use, then maybe a month of much less use.

Questions:

1. Which Obihai device? do I need two 202's to each support two phones?

2. For handsets, can I use this Vtech?

http://www.amazon.com/VTech-CS6114-Cordless-Waiting-Handset/dp/B004OA758C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450993685&sr=8-2&keywords=cordless+handset

or this Panasonic one?

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-KX-TGD210N-Expandable-Cordless-Champagne/dp/B00ISKW7IC/ref=pd_sim_229_13?ie=UTF8&dpID=41TBrA%2Bu58L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=15G02H6SY6NGP4J0YEYN

3. As mentioned, I already have a Google Voice number for the business, which has been ported to my cellular. I would rather not use that one, but instead  a second number --  so do i just get one from Google Voice and attach it to the Obihai? Is that then the number that all four lines use off two Obihai 202's, or do i need to get one Google Voice number for each 202? Or one Google Voice number for each handset?

4. For outgoing calls, if i understand correctly, it is the recipient's telco that will decide if mybusiness.com, rather than the number, shows up on recipients' caller ID -- but is there a way that i can make it easy for that to happen?

5. for Incoming calls, i understand that OBI does not have voicemail as such, but rather an auto attendant function. If i want to leave callbacks, how does that auto attendant work?

Thank you so much!

[SteveInWA]

I see drgeoff already answered you in your other post; here are some other points to consider, and please stick to this one discussion thread, so as to not clog up that other discussion.

1. Which Obihai device? do I need two 202's to each support two phones?

2. For handsets, can I use this Vtech?

http://www.amazon.com/VTech-CS6114-Cordless-Waiting-Handset/dp/B004OA758C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1450993685&sr=8-2&keywords=cordless+handset

or this Panasonic one?

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-KX-TGD210N-Expandable-Cordless-Champagne/dp/B00ISKW7IC/ref=pd_sim_229_13?ie=UTF8&dpID=41TBrA%2Bu58L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=15G02H6SY6NGP4J0YEYN

Since you haven't bought the phones yet, it would make more sense to buy wired desk phones instead of cordless -- you'll sound more professional on the phone.  You'd need to buy four OBi 1022 phones.  The OBi phones already contain the VoIP circuitry inside, so you wouldn't need to also buy OBi ATAs (202 units).

You really do not want to try to make this work over WiFi.  WiFi will work ok with one phone, as long as the WiFi router is nearby (same or next room), but if the WiFi router is in another room, especially on another floor, you may have audio dropouts and distortion.  Four phones all working on the same WiFi network at once will be worse.  If you are serious about starting a business, run some Ethernet cable.

3. As mentioned, I already have a Google Voice number for the business, which has been ported to my cellular. I would rather not use that one, but instead  a second number --  so do i just get one from Google Voice and attach it to the Obihai? Is that then the number that all four lines use off two Obihai 202's, or do i need to get one Google Voice number for each 202? Or one Google Voice number for each handset?

No Google Voice for your business numbers.  It doesn't have the features you want, and it isn't designed for business use.  You need four inbound phone numbers from a SIP VoIP service provider, like Callcentric, voip.ms or PhonePower.  You can have them setup your outbound caller ID name to whatever you wish.  The way this works:  they submit your selected name to the companies that manage the CNAM databases.  When you place calls, the called party's telephone company does a lookup of that database to match the incoming phone number with a name, and then that telco sends the name along with the number to the called party's telephone.

4. For outgoing calls, if i understand correctly, it is the recipient's telco that will decide if mybusiness.com, rather than the number, shows up on recipients' caller ID -- but is there a way that i can make it easy for that to happen?

See my answer above.

5. for Incoming calls, i understand that OBI does not have voicemail as such, but rather an auto attendant function. If i want to leave callbacks, how does that auto attendant work?

Use the voicemail service provided by the SIP VoIP service provider.

[azrobert]

Is price of the equipment a factor?
4xOBi1022 = $560
2XOBi202 + 4 Panasonic phones = $260

Like Steve said Google Voice isn't designed for business, but people on the forum do use GV for their companies. You can have 1 GV account defined on 2 OBi202's. I don't know the max number of simultaneous calls you can have on a single GV account. I tested 1 inbound and 2 outbound simultaneous calls on a single OBi200. If a single GV account doesn't work, 2 accounts will. I don't think you can get your company name on outbound calls using GV.

I don't know how you want to route inbound calls. No problem if you want to ring all 4 phones or ring a single phone on each OBi202 and if it's busy you can ring the other. Using a provider designed for businesses you would be able to setup a hunt group.  You can do a similar thing with 2 OBi202's, but it's a more difficult configuration.

[SteveInWA]

Is price of the equipment a factor?
4xOBi1022 = $560
2XOBi202 + 4 Panasonic phones = $260

Like Steve said Google Voice isn't designed for business, but people on the forum do use GV for their companies. You can have 1 GV account defined on 2 OBi202's. I don't know the max number of simultaneous calls you can have on a single GV account. I tested 1 inbound and 2 outbound simultaneous calls on a single OBi200. If a single GV account doesn't work, 2 accounts will. I don't think you can get your company name on outbound calls using GV.

I don't know how you want to route inbound calls. No problem if you want to ring all 4 phones or ring a single phone on each OBi202 and if it's busy you can ring the other. Using a provider designed for businesses you would be able to setup a hunt group.  You can do a similar thing with 2 OBi202's, but it's a more difficult configuration.

Nope.  Using Google Voice is bad advice, for the reasons I already explained.  Google Voice is unsuitable for this application.   Cloud-based SIP VoIP Internet Telephone Service Providers offer the most flexible and comprehensive set of features for business.

Among the many business-centric advantages of ITSPs:

• Easy to add, change or delete as many extensions as needed.
• A broad selection of inbound telephone numbers (DIDs) in many geographic locations, as well as toll-free numbers.
• Voicemail features similar to Google Voice.
• All the typical "custom calling" features, such as call waiting, call forwarding, call transfer between extensions, conference calling, simultaneous ringing or hunting between extensions.
• Custom outbound caller ID with CNAM (every outbound line can show the same caller ID or different caller ID, as needed).
• Inbound caller ID with CNAM.
• FAX mailboxes.
• Full number porting services, in or out, from POTS or VoIP landlines and/or mobile numbers.
• Direct customer support.
• Easy setup via the OBiTALK web portal, with no need for an engineering nerd consultant to write pages of digit maps.
• and, the famous "but wait, there's more..."

Google Voice is great for individual, personal use.  However:

• GV doesn't offer caller ID name.
• Using GV for telemarketing or other high-volume calling on multiple accounts is a violation of its Acceptable Use Policy.  Google can and will identify and shut down accounts doing this, with no recourse to the user, including no ability to port out the numbers involved, even if they were previously ported into GV from another service provider.
• GV is not a supplier of free VoIP trunks.  Google has put additional measures in place to limit this use case; anyone requesting a Google Voice phone number must submit a valid, working landline or mobile phone number in the 48 contiguous US states, that has not been used previously to request a GV number.
• There is no direct customer support for Google Voice.  When (not if) problems arise, whatever modest amount of cost savings were incurred by using GV for business will be quickly offset by loss of business productivity, reputation, and/or customers, when people can't reach you, or you can't call out.

[azrobert]

I see you have rejected Steve's warnings.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30493624-Looking-for-advice-on-VoIP-home-office-setup

I'll try to answer some of your questions.

1. You will need 2 OBi202s, each supporting 2 lines. If you want to connect the OBi202s via WiFi you will need an OBiWiFi adapter for each OBi202.
http://www.amazon.com/OBiWiFi-Wireless-Adapter-OBi1022-OBi1032/dp/B007R6F7PS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451061229&sr=8-1&keywords=obi+wifi

2. Either of those phones will work. I've used 3 different Panasonic phones for over a decade and I'm happy with them. I'm not familiar with that model.

3. You can do this anyway you want. 1 GV account for both OBi202s, 1 GV account for each OBi202 or 1 GV account for each line. If you have multiple GV accounts, you will have different outbound callerids. Like I said in my previous post, I don't know the max number of simultaneous calls on a single GV account.

4. Don't know.

5. You can use GV voicemail. You can't leave messages with the Auto Attendant.

[jeannnnee]

Steve in WA and AZRobert, thank you so much.

You have both helped immensely!

In searching for information, yes, indeed, I posted also on DSLreports. I'm a N00b! So am researching!

--My original thought was GV, but I can't afford to have GV take us down, and am nervous for all the other reasons Steve mentions (though I too know of many people who have used GV for businesses with no trouble). so i went looking for ITSP reviews. In looking, I saw dslreports has active threads on this topic too.

--Though I have pretty much decided on Obihai in some form, in searching for an ITSP, I was interested to find that many people do not use Obihai, and I wanted to research that as well. People on DSLreports  are not all Obihai users.

ITSP: there seem to be many opinions. do you or others have any thoughts about what's better:?

CallCentric, voip.ms and PhonePower were what Steve mentioned, and they all seem solid. I see also some people are excited about Anveon, and I see they and PhonePower both have an offer with Obitalk, which might suggest that they play well together:
https://www.obitalk.com/obinet/pg/services/home_options

What's important for us: outgoing calls more than incoming. We will have intermittently high usage (a couple weeks heavy, then maybe a month or two off) so paying a low monthly base rate and then a per-outgoing-call fee for those high-use periods would be good.

Also, others mention that they get spam robocalls on incoming lines. We use nomorobo at home to block that, and we are most happy with the results. In your experience,  what's best to block spam on incoming ITSP lines? Does that capability vary a lot by provider, or are they all about the same?

Thanks for your help! We n00bs appreciate it!

[azrobert]

I'm not the best to ask about a provider. Our main line is a PSTN. The wife uses the landline and I use GV. We use CircleNet for backup and international calls. CircleNet is a cheap pay-as-you-go provider, so you aren't charged anything if you're not using the phone. I believe they started some monthly plans. If you're not using GV and don't need all the features of OBiHai, you can get an ATA or IP phone for about half the price. DSLReports would be the place for a recommendation.

Most full feature providers provide black lists for robo calls. Callcentric has a feature requiring the caller to enter a digit to be connected, so robo calls are blocked. I don't know if you want to force your clients to do this. If your provider supports simul-ring you can use NoMoRobo with them. If they don't, the OBi202 can route calls to NoMoRobo. You can also create a black list in the OBi202.

Here is CirleNet. Use their simulator to get their rates to a destination.
http://www.circlenet.us/drupal7/

Here is a California number for less than a quarter cent per minute.
https://customer.circlenet.us/customer/rates.php?called=18189216586

[SteveInWA]

When starting up a business, it certainly makes sense to try to be frugal.  However, making "penny wise/pound foolish" decisions based on advice or recommendations from people who really don't have any business skills is one reason the majority of small businesses fail in the first two years.

DSLReports is essentially a chat room for hardcore hackers, techies and "stick it to the man", anti-corporate types who make a sport out of finding the absolutely cheapest or free way to make phone calls. There are a few one-man-show operations offering very low prices, and they're like honey to the folks who chat in that forum.  That's fine for hobbyists but a fool's errand for business.

The providers I mentioned would all meet your needs, and have proven themselves over many years of providing business-class service.  A few providers are taking the additional step to use Obihai's remote provisioning and device management platform, for "zero touch" service.  They pay Obihai fees to use the platform and co-market their services.  You'll see them on the main OBiTALK page, including Anveo, Nextiva, PhonePower and RingCentral.  The other providers listed (when you click on the Next button at the bottom of the page) have provided known-working device configuration information to Obihai, and Obihai uses this information to simplify setup for their customers (no financial tie between Obihai and the provider).  The co-branded, managed offerings are great, but better for an established business with more users.

If you want somebody to help make the decision for you, I use and recommend Callcentric, but I try to be neutral and offer suggestions for other providers we here on the forum have found to be equally high-quality.  voip.ms, PhonePower and Callcentric are favorites here, because of high reliability and customer support, and relatively few problems.  Anveo is a notch below in support.  I suggest you spend some time browsing the providers' websites, and then come back and ask questions if necessary.

As for equipment, again, I strongly recommend against using WiFi.  I've done extensive testing of the OBiWiFi adapter in my own home, and unless you have the WiFi router in the same or next room, having multiple phone calls on multiple OBi devices at the same time is going to be problematic.    If you want to use two OBi 202s, run an Ethernet cable to the room, get an inexpensive 8-port Ethernet switch (Netgear and TP-Link are great) from Amazon or Newegg,  (so you can also hook up the PCs), and have at it.

This is Obihai's own forum, so I'm not going to get into recommending another brand of ATA.  I'll just mention that  the only other company currently selling and supporting unlocked ATAs is Grandstream.  Any discussion you may see on DSLReports about hacking/cracking locked Cisco/Linksys ATAs is out of scope for this forum.