VoIP free phone service for US and Canada.
 

I bought this small device that supports Google voice for $37.99 shipped on sale.

This device works with free google voice it also creates a dial tone so it works with normal phones.

I wanted to transfer my landline to it so you have to jump through a couple hoops. The tutorial is below.

OBi Tutorial
There is a onetime $20 dollar fee to port your phone number to google voice.

Setup was very simple and my home phone service was expensive $43 a month.
So I now save that much each month.

Google voice has some very useful features.
You can add your cell phone then if you want it can ring both phones or when you get a voice mail it will transcribe to text and send your mobile number the text message.

You can easily block as many number as you want. Once blocked and they call back they get a message your number has been disconnected. (it is worth it just for this feature)

Here are a complete listing of features.
https://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html#

I have only been using it for a couple weeks so far but I really like it so far.
Obihai OBi200 VoIP Telephone Adapter with Google Voice & SIP-Newegg.com

They have one that does two numbers so you can have a fax and landline if that is needed?
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1481748389

A web page has all you call history. Your voice mails you can see them transcribed or listen to them on that page.

If you want to have 911 service you will need to pay a small fee.

This video is how to setup the two version but it is the same for the one line version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocs-hKPdhVk

If you don't want a land line and you have a old cell phone with no service.
you can use this to make phone calls over Wi-Fi with Google voice.

How to setup a FREE WiFi VOIP home phone with a old android cell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qM-xAU-dt4

Your new voip looks good.

I've been using Ooma for a couple of years. I like it a lot and the sound quality is better than most handsets. Nice on-line integration, which I like too.

-AC

I should have done this a couple years ago. You can’t beat a free service as long as they keep offering it.
But there are very low cost solutions I could move to if they decided to no longer offer the free service.

I love my Ooma. No issues, works great through my home phones and Bluetooth with my cell and have had it for years. Last time I checked I saved just over $2.6k since I bought it 6 years ago.

Does 911 location work with Google Voice? I know it does with Ooma. Just wondering.

Found the answer it does not but you can add it to the box mentioned in the first post for a yearly fee.

Adding 911 to OBIhai

How much does Ooma cost a month or is there a cost?

It's free just pay taxes and I think another small fee. Like $4, I use the premium which is $10.19 total a month.

Omma tax calculator

Got an Omma for my daughter a few years ago. She had a delay 'echo' problem
for a while and they found out the link was via the west coast..
Once that was fixed, she's been happy with the service and price..


~~~~~
July 4th 2019
She's still using the Omma. Still working okay. It was great for all the years she was able
to work from home.. Now she's commuting into Boston. Poor kid..

There is a hardware cost. When I got mine the cost was a one-time cost of $130. Now I see them for around $90, or less.

Then they have a "Premium Service" with nice features that I thought was well worth $9/mo.

Since I've had mine, I have come across Ooma units in thrift stores for as little as $6. I connected them to Ooma (setting up number, etc), and they work great.

Now, I have a cell phone, but I'm keeping the Ooma service. Nice to have that 2nd line (Ooma can have 2 lines, also).

With my old POTS phone, if there was a power outage, which happens periodically where I live, it always kept working. But with IP phone, some kind of UPS battery backup is required for the modem, and Ooma (or equivalent IP phone), and if you have wireless home phone, for that, also.

I think it is a good idea to keep multiple communication channels available.

I talked my GF into getting one, because the voice quality was so bad on her cell phone that I was having serious problems understanding our conversations. The Ooma totally made a difference. She thought it was silly, having the Ooma AND a cell phone. However, a couple of months back she had fatal problems with her cell phone, at a moment while several interdependent projects were in play... the Ooma (or equivalent IP phone) save the day. So now, she's convinced.

I had a friend who had "Magic Jack". My advice is stay away.

-AC

Thanks for the info.

Here is a quick update.

My no cost google voice has been working great so far. Yes I had to buy the hardware $37.99 shipped but no go forward cost.

They have a feature to be able to block known scammers. I enabled this and have not received one sales or scammer call since. This is a great feature.

Ditto Ooma.

But it is interesting that you bring this up, because my motive for going with IP phone was not cost (which was too high) but the incessant sales/scam calls which were making me miserable. I was getting maybe six call / day.

I even complained to my state communication board and discovered that they were powerless to do anything about it.

More ominous was the phone company, itself. They would track numbers for a per-call charge. Even they said it probably wouldn't help because the numbers were spoofed.

BUT THEY HAD A SERVICE WHICH COST ALMOST AS MUCH AS MY PHONE SERVICE THAT WOULD ELIMINATE THESE ANNOYING CALLS.

Around this time, I read that the phone company sells user information. So they were working it from both ends, selling user phone numbers to sales/scam callers, AND charging customers to make it stop.

Since the telecom companies make huge contributions to politicians, and our country is corrupt beyond measure, we are left to wave in the wind.

Then came smaller VOIP companies. Like Ooma, and the others... less cost, less agony.

We have many options:

http://www.voipsupply.com/voip-adapters

-AC

I do this same thing without any dedicated hardware, except what I already own. At home, I use Google+ and messenger to make free calls using computers. The older desktops all have phone modems to rig a handset to if you want to. I use a headset or hands-free setup on the laptop or tablet most of the time anyway. Works with my home TV / internet service with no additional charges.

Cable companies offer "value added service" through their set-top boxes (VOIP and piggyback WiFi on the go), but it isn't free. If you have internet service, for a small fee they will make millions of other people's set-top boxes into available access points you can connect through. The cable companies are striking deals with each other, so depending on your provider, you may be able to get wifi from a different company's subscriber's box. All kinds of communications companies everywhere are also offering personal hotspots that will also fall back on cell data if you go out of range of (preferred) wifi access. This stuff is pretty new and all sounds like some sort of scam to me, but it is cheaper than having a dedicated cell voice/data plan or contract if having live data always is a must.

With the cellphone, I do the same basic thing without cell service. 99.7% of everywhere I am, there is WiFi access available. The only exception to this is while I am driving between places, and even then, the fast food joints all have free WiFi access points to hop onto. When I am actually driving, I shouldn't be texting or on the phone anyway. I use Google messenger, Facebook messenger, and TextFree to communicate. My phone hasn't had cell voice or data activated much at all in the last few years. I use Boost, which is Sprint flavor, and have activated it a couple times going on trips. Yes, they still have minute plans, and I usually have to argue with the counter guy to pay less than a full month worth of access.

Not many people actually answer their phone calls nowadays. The majority of comms I make that are actually productive are over SMS or instant messaging services. I can text or message someone, see when the message got sent, and see when or if the message was viewed in pretty close to real time. To charge up with free call minutes, I play videos on textfree a couple times a day while watching TV or waiting in line somewhere.

OBI with Google Voice VOIP free service has been great no down time at all. Voice calls sound great just as good as before.
If I get a junk call I can go into the google voice app and block this call. Next time they call they get this phone has been disconnected.

This really cuts down on spam calls.
When I get a Voice mail it goes to mu cell phone I get alerted with the google voice app.
This free service is way more than I expected and we are very pleased with it.
We also just use the same phone we already had for our land line so this also saved money.

Been using the Obi box with Google voice for a few months now and the quality is the same at Comcast voice so far. Dumped the Comcast voice and kep the same number, though I had to port to a burner phone and then back to google voice, but it all works fine.

Pinball, Thanks again for starting this thread years ago. :thumbup: After my father passed away last year, I picked up an ObiHai200, borrowed an old unlocked cell from a friend and ported dad's phone through T-Mobile ($8 SIM + $3 Pay-Go plan) then ported it along to Google Voice for $20. After that if anyone called dad's old number, I could get the messages, but not pay a land line provider.

At my house, it took me quite some time to finally find an internet plan to replace my slow DSL connection my wife has despised for years. I picked up an internet only plan with the local cable provider (Comcast) for $30/mo that is way faster than our DSL ever was. At that point, keeping the land line phone was no longer a requirement. So, I ported my land line off to T-Mobile then over to Google Voice as I had done with my dad's phone.

As you said, this system just works. I have an Obihai 1032 on my desk at work, programmed with the Google Voice number I use for work, my old home number, my dad's old home number, and a google voice number we got for our farm in Maine. My only challenge recently has been that I want to port the straight talk cell we had been using in Maine to GV, but Google Voice has no more places to land ported numbers on their system in some area codes. :eek: I still need to decide what to do with that phone...

Good I am glad others are using it. I am still using the same OBI box with Google Voice VOIP free service that I post about in the first post. I am still very happy with it. Couple years later and under $38.
I get all the messages on my cell phone and I receive text on this number. That is very useful some people just think the can text any number. I will still get the text.

Still using the same phone setup. Recently had to get Voip phone with my new internet service. I just made a number for my now steel business and forward it to my old phone setup. Still free still working well.

The Ooma I got for my Daughter is still going. She's been using it a lot with the
current Work-at-home still in place here in MA.
I really hate this pandemic, but it's been pretty easy driving on the highways.
The gas stations are hurting. We gas up the Prius C about every 3 or 4 months.
It's only about 3 miles home from babysitting on weekdays, and sometimes, we make most of the trip on the battery. :)