Review on 📞 Black OBi202 VoIP Phone Adapter - 2-Port Support for Google Voice, Fax, and Home/SOHO Phone Service by Danielle Smith

SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) Analog Fax Users - You can disable landline phone service and save $$$ annually with OBi202! My Story: For the past 15 years, I've been paying my local phone company $50 a month for an analog fax line, which is rarely used these days. I'm not ready to give up the fax entirely, but the reduction in its use makes it difficult to justify it. I looked at internet fax services and liked their low monthly cost, but I'm sticking with the old school and prefer the regular fax machine. My Solution: After reading about the occasional reliability of VoIP fax, I decided to give it a try. It seems some users are having luck with this, others not so much. In my case I was hoping this would work for me as my Comcast Xfinity broadband connection is performing well. Spoiler: With OBi202 I became VoIP-FAX winner! My setup: I connected the OBi202 to my LAN and switched it on. The instructions detail how to enable the web interface (it's disabled by default for security reasons), so I did just that. I also configured my router to assign a fixed local IP address, but this optional step is not required. I also created an account on obitalk.com and registered my OBi202 device. These steps are described in the short (one page) Quick Start Guide. Then I went to the "Miscellaneous Menu" using the keyboard of my Brother fax machine and changed the "Compatibility" entry to "Basic". This sets fax communication to 9600 baud and disables error correction (ECM). These settings are general recommendations for FAX VoIP. My VoIP Provider: Next, I had to choose a VoIP service provider. With the help of Google I found an endless list of companies to choose from. I read many online reviews and narrowed them down to a short list of competitors. CallCentric was selected after a coin toss. Since I don't send/receive many faxes, I chose their "Pay per Call" service for outgoing calls (cheap per-minute rates). For incoming calls I chose their "DID - Pay Per Minute" service ($3.45 per month + low cost per minute). I paid by credit card but they also accept PayPal. The CallCentric account included a free local phone number (you dial an area code, you dial a 7-digit local number). In my case, the phone number assigned to me will be short-lived as it will be replaced after my existing analogue phone number is transferred to it. Incidentally, there is an online porting tool on the CallCentric website that will check an existing number to see if it can be ported; Mine passed the test, so I don't expect any problems with the port. After receiving a new phone number, I returned to the fax machine's keypad and selected the Initial Setup menu, where I entered my 10-digit CallCentric phone number as the Station ID. This step is important as mentioned later in my review. The CallCentric account must be registered on my OBi202 device. To find out how to do this, I used CallCentric's online search box and typed in "obi202". I quickly found a general guide to setting up OBi202. No problem following the steps and my obi was registered within minutes. Please remember that I am not here to promote the CallCentric VoIP service. Please do your own research and decide which VoIP provider you want to use. There are many and many user reviews to help you decide. My Fax Tests: I used the HP FAX test number (888-473-2963) and sent several different multi-page faxes to them. They were all successful because HP's test center faxed back each test call (it takes about five minutes for HP to call you back). A NOTICE. It is important that your fax machine's ID settings include your 10-digit VoIP phone number, as HP will use it to call you back. My second VoIP line: OBi202 supports two analog phones/devices. What should I do with a fax machine on one port to the other? Well, Google Voice of course. It's hard to ignore getting FREE domestic long distance (and cheap international) voice calls. I don't have to explain Google Voice and the installation. Many other OBi users and related YouTube videos provide all the details. My final thoughts: Remember I installed OBi202 a day ago, so I don't have much experience sending/receiving VoIP FAX calls. But so far everything works great. If I'm lucky, I have a backup plan. The CallCentric service includes a special fax feature that I can use to receive fax calls instead of my device. When it's enabled (log into the account, click the DID forwarding tab, select Fax Recording) my VoIP line doesn't ring. Instead, the incoming fax is picked up by the Callcentric fax server (to avoid internet speed/quality issues) and emailed to me. I tried this and it worked, so a backup plan is good if needed. My configuration is Brother MFC7820N FAX/Printer/Scanner. OBi202 VoIP Phone Adapter. VoIP Service Provider: Callcentric. Broadband Provider: Comcast.