Setting Up An Obi100 with voip.ms

This is the setup that I have and it has worked very well for the 3 years we have had it. The Obi100 is the device that acts as a waypoint between the service provider, voip.ms, and your phone. The signal path is
voip.ms service ----> modem ----> router ----> Obi100 ----> phone line.

Is Your Line VOIP Ready?

First test your internet line for "voip readiness" using an online tool like this one. Just let the test do its thing... It will measure download/upload speeds, line jitter, packet loss and something called MOS score. If you get 4 green dots then you're good!

If your results aren't all green then try plugging in your laptop directly to the router and do the test again. If it still isn't good, make sure the modem is as close as possible to the line coming in and the cable between the modem and router is of good quality and not longer than a 50 metre run. If none of this helps, then contact your service provider and ask them to fix your line.

Buying the Obi and Porting Your Number

Once you are confident your line is ready for voip, you are ready to purchase an Obi device... any one will do, the Obi100 is the cheapest and gives you a complete phone line. The other models do more and might serve your specific situation, so look into them as well. I purchased ours on amazon and I think they've come down in price since then. Also sign up for voip.ms. You can keep your existing phone number by doing a porting process. All the instructions for porting your number are here.

Get the Obi device before the date of your scheduled phone number port. There are a few feature you can try out beforehand. On the day the number is ported, follow these instructions to get your phone line working.

Later on I'd recommend to follow mango's excellent guide to tweaking your Obi device.

Get a VOIP box

You can save tons of money on your landline every year with do-it-yourself VOIP. Just buy a VOIP box like the Obihai that costs less than 2 months of phone service. Once it is set up the monthly cost with a long distance plan is under $5. You can call anywhere in North America for a fraction of a penny per minute.

Major service providers have been selling VOIP for a while now but in my opinion, overcharge for it.

There are several independent VOIP providers who have been in business long enough to be reputable (voip.ms, Anveo, CallWithUs). They will handle porting your phone number and make the process painless. Then you just have adjust the settings of your VOIP box to work with the new provider.

We have been using the system with voip.ms for about 3 years now and last year I switched my parents over. It's been great with features like voicemail, call waiting, caller id, flash all included. We haven't noticed any difference in phone service (with the exception of e-911 but we'll talk about that later).

Things You'll Need

Obihai Phone Adapter. This plugs into your router and comes with an ethernet cable. It also needs to be plugged into the wall outlet. The third and final connection is into your standard phone cable. It will probably most convenient to mount this wherever the cable service comes into your house. The phone cable should be mounted on the same wall.

How-To-Geek has an excellent article that compares the different Obihai models. We just use the base model Obi100 for a single phone line however.