Getting near free "landline" phone service

In my previous post, I talked about porting your landline to GoogleVoice to enable free calling across the US and cheap international rates.

So now that GoogleVoice is killing support for XMPP, I had to find another way to get free/cheap calling and extend the life of my Obi100.

Enter CallCentric.  This site allows you to get a free DID (Direct Inward Dial) in an area code of your choice (or at least, my area code was one of the available options).  This service can be had for $0, no strings attached. Setup with the Obi is a breeze.  It's just a matter of entering SIP id and password.  The only caveat here being that you'll need to pay ($1.95/month) for e911 if you tell them you want to use the service in the US.  I can do without it, so I opted out.

I signed up for my free CallCentric phone number, then went to ObiTalk and signed into my account.  I added a new SP (Service Provider) using my CallCentric account details.  Then called the CallCentric number and confirmed that it rang through to my home phone.

Once I had that set up, I logged into my GoogleVoice account and forwarded my calls to my CallCentric number, making sure to deselect the forward calls to Google Chat.

At this point, I could receive calls to my landline and didn't have to give out a new phone number to anyone (I already moved to GoogleVoice some time ago).

Now for outbound calling.  There are literally hundreds of options with respect to voip service.  I decided to go with LocalPhone.  They have a pay as you go service which charges $0.005 per minute for calls to the US, and very cheap international rates to the countries I care about (Italian mobile for only $0.07/minute!).  They also are easily integrated to the Obi.

I signed up for a LocalPhone account, then went back my ObiTalk page to configure it.

First I deleted the GoogleVoice SP.  *sniff*  That was the most painful part of this process.  Was sad to see it go.  Then I added a new SP using my LocalPhone details.  Check out the SP configuration and make sure that it's the primary line for outgoing calls.

Now your dashboard should have 2 SPs, CallCentric and LocalPhone.

Pick up the phone and call someone.  LocalPhone gives you 5 free minutes of calling, so take advantage of it to test that your configuration is properly sorted out.

Everything for me looked great, so I put $5 into my LocalPhone account.  Once I've used it for a while and am happy with the service, I'll set up auto-topup.  They also have monthly subscription plans, but I think PAYG (Pay As You Go) will work better for me as I don't use that many minutes every month.

I hastily wrote up this post, so please feel free to comment on it if there are any inaccuracies.  Also let me know if this was helpful and whether or not you decided to try it out.

Porting my landline to Google Voice

UPDATE: Google Voice is shortly ending support for the protocol that allows the Obi100 to connect.  See my upcoming blog post for a great alternative

I had a land line connected through lingo with unlimited world plan. Was originally $25 a month.  Eventually, I saw I consistently got bills for upwards of $40.  Some of it due to calls to international cell phones which were usually billed at about $0.35 a minute.  Then I heard it was possible to connect an Obi100 or Obi110 to Google Voice (GV) and get free unlimited domestic calling, with VERY low international rates ($0.02 to italy landlines, $0.15 to Italy cell).  I did some quick accounting and realized I'd be much better off paying for my international calls and getting domestic FREE!

1) Set up GV: I set up a Google voice account.  I picked a number in my area code.  Pretty straight forward.

2) Set up the Obi: I bought an Obi100 for about $45 from an online retailer.  Once I received the unit (less than a week), I plugged it into my home network, and plugged my cordless phone into it.  I then went to obitalk.com and set up an account and added my device to my account.  I then entered my GV credentials.  At this point I also logged into my voip account and forwarded that number to my GV number.  Now calls to my land line number rang through to my cordless through a plethora of redirects.  When I dialed out, my caller ID showed up as my GV number.

3) Set up ATT prepaid account:  I happened to have an ATT cell phone I could unlock, so I went down to the ATT store and bought a prepaid SIM.  They had a $15 SIM that lasted 30 days (without recharging) or a $25 that lasted $90.  I decided to play it cautiously and bought the $25 SIM card. Just in case there were issues with porting (I didn't know if I could trust Lingo to port my number quickly).  Plus, I wasn't buying a $20 phone, so it was an easy choice.  I had to give my Lingo account number to the ATT rep when I set up the port, so make sure you have that handy.  Additionally, before leaving the ATT store, make sure they give you your account number, as it's not on the invoice you'll receive.

4) Porting to ATT prepaid: The port to ATT took about a week.  The only caveat there was that it was initially rejected by Lingo because I used my current address on file with Lingo, not the address I used when I first set up my account.  So be sure to check the status of your port at www.att.com/port  The ATT rep had me make a test call to check that my outgoing number was correct once the port was confirmed (about a day after I requested the port).  Confirmed does not mean complete.  I also had to make a test call on the day the number was actually ported.  Once the number was ported to my prepaid I called up and cancelled my Lingo account.

5) Porting to GV: No surprises here.  Just logged into my GV account and clicked "Port".  I already had my account number handy, so it was a quick process.  There was a $20 port fee.  But with all the money I'll be saving I didn't think this was a big deal.  The port said it would take 24 hours.  It took 24 hours.  I should note that this 24 hours was the only time that people calling my original number did not ring to my landline.  At that point nothing rang because I didn't have my prepaid card in a phone.  No big deal for me, just set up a voicemail message telling people another number they can use to contact you, or just tell them to wait 24 hours.

All in all, the process went smoothly.  I had done a little research so I knew what to expect.  Now I have excellent call quality for the best price possible!  Total cost of this process was $90.  $45 Obi100, $25 ATT prepaid, $20 GV port.  That's what I typically spend in about 2 months of landline service.

Thanks Google Voice!!!