Who is Obihai?
We recently had a chance to onboard a new supplier for VoIP Adapters, or ATA’s (Analog Telephone Adapters). Obihai, based out of Silicon Valley, CA, is a relatively new brand name on the horizon. The intellectual capital that built Obihai, however, is not. Obihai’s foundation includes the very personnel who invented the ATA and engineered VoIP adapters for companies such as Sipura, Linksys, and Cisco.
Why Do We Need Another ATA?
With a plethora of low cost, well equipped VoIP adapters on the market, why are we so excited to offer yet another ATA? Obihai has taken the ATA one step further on 2 key points. First, they have taken their 3 introductory models, the OBi100, OBi110, and OBi202, and added out of the box functionality for Google Voice. This allows users, both business and residential, to take advantage of free internet calling in the US and Canada using their existing analog devices. Google Voice is similar to Skype, however for a limited time ALL CALLS in the US and Canada are free, not just peer to peer calls. And in speaking of peer to peer calls…yep, those are ALWAYS free! So if you have a network of places you call all the time, calls between Obihai devices are always free, no matter where in the world they are!
Thinking of getting rid of your land line, but want to always have a home phone? Using Google Voice with an OBi100, OBi110, or OBi202 gives you the capability to have a home
phone that acts just like your landline with no recurring costs. There is no need to have your PC on for the OBi devices to work, they work off a direct connection to your broadband router. As long as the internet is up, you will have connectivity. With cool accessories such as the OBiWiFi you can connect your OBi device to your router wirelessly allowing you to have your analog phone where it is most convenient for you, not next to your router. Using the OBiBT, you can use your analog phone to make or take calls not just from your VoIP account, but also from your mobile phone, giving you one device to answer no matter where the calls are coming from. (OBiWiFi and OBiBT only work on the OBi202 and OBi302).
Secondly, the OBi202, a 2 line ATA with support for up to 4 SIP accounts or Google Voice accounts, can become your small business VoIP PBX all by itself with the additionof OBiPLUS. OBiPLUS is a full featured solution for 1 to 12 users which is available for download onto your device. You can connect analog devices or Cisco VoIP phones to the OBi202. Configure your small business phone system on OBiPLUS for up to 4 users for free, or up to 12 users for $120 a year. Included with an OBiPLUS subscription is an Automated Attendant to greet your customers and route them properly. This makes a great impression on a customer expecting to deal with a small business. Also included in OBiPLUS is ring groups, multiple line appearances, voicemail, caller ID, messaging waiting indication, call forwarding, call transfer, call pickup, BLF, music on hold, and the list goes on and on. le Voice is similar to Skype, however for a limited time ALL CALLS in the US and Canada are free, not just peer to peer calls. And in speaking of peer to peer calls…yep, those are ALWAYS free! So if you have a network of places you call all the time, calls between Obihai devices are always free, no matter where in the world they are!
The service provider class Obihai OBi302 introduces Zero Touch (ZT) Customization which makes it easy for Service Providers to deploy thousands of OBi302’s without ever touching them. Using the free OBiTALK portal,customers can direct their OBi302 to the correct server with minimal interaction and be up and running in minutes! ZT Customization allows ITSP’s to save money on deployment!
OBiTalk Portal
I mentioned OBITalk and that is worthy of mentioning again. OBiTalk is the brains of your new Obihai device. Sign into the OBiTALK portal to set up your OBi ATA, including giving it a display name for caller ID, assigning a time zone, and choosing your VoIP service provider. While signed in, set up your speed dials and download OBiApps such as XLite softphone or OBiON for your tablet or smartphone.
I mentioned that OBi to OBi calls are ALWAYS free! Wouldn’t it be great if you had an Aunt in Mexico with an OBi device and you had an OBi device and you wanted to give your entire family the ability to call your Aunt for free? Well, you can either buy an OBi device for everyone in your family, or you can allow them to call your Aunt using your OBi device. By setting up each of your family member’s phone numbers as a Trusted Caller ID and giving them your Auto Attendant PIN, your family members can call your beloved Aunt in Mexico for free, by porting through your OBi device!
Why OBi?
If you are in the market for a way to make free phone calls using the Internet, or looking for a low cost, low committment small business phone system, Obihai has the product for you. With over 15 years of technology innovation in the field of bridging analog voice with VoIP, Obihai products offer you big company benefits at small business prices. Retailing at under $100, the OBi100, OBi110, OBi202, and OBI302 will surely fit your budget.
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How is the compatibility of these adapters with existing telecom providers. I am a customer of Monmouth Telecom
The Obi series is pretty much compatible with all SIP providers. I checked the list of the most popular SIP providers and Monmouth is not listed, but since the OBi devices have an open architecture, they will work with all SIP carriers. The list I just mentioned of carriers is listed in the provisioning drop down menu of your ObiTalk portal, but if yours is not listed, you click GENERIC SIP PROVIDER and enter your SIP credentials. I am looking for through the ObiTalk forum and I see a few people who had to manipulate which port the OBi was using to get it to work with their SP, but most look pretty simple.