[Discuss] Cutting the phone line

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Doug asked about:
> a regular
> phone can plug into it", a line for my technology skeptical wife).
> Has anyone "cut the phone cord" by using this or similar devices?

Yes, I cut the Verizon cord during a recent move. By signing up for Google Voice ahead of time, I got a phone number in my new area code and started giving it out to friends before the move.

A nice feature of GV is it's easy to direct your existing mobile line's voicemail into the same place: only one mailbox to check, with multiple ways to check it (email, phone, or mobile app).

The Obi110 box is capable of a lot of things I've yet to figure out. I just use it in its default settings. You plug it into your LAN switch, plug a phone's RJ11 cord into it, go to the obitalk site and enter the unit's serial number. Then enter your gmail account credentials. Done.

I got a second unit for my sig-other. It's pretty much a phone line, doesn't really behave differently enough to cause acceptance problems. One hard to explain issue is that GV rings both mobile & the Obihai unit (if you configure it that way) simultaneously, which confuses the heck out of most non-tech folks: but it's a must if your home is in an area of weak cell coverage. 

Quality of GV service is better than mobile, lower than land line. Currently it's still in free-trial mode, available to US gmail users.