Ditch Your Landline, Save $40 Per Month by Using Google Voice and an OBihai Adapter

I've been using Google Voice for years now, and it is a great, free service.  It used to be called GrandCentral.  Google Voice gives you a universal phone number.  Once you have a Google Voice number, you can give that one number to everyone, and your GV number will forward calls to your cell phones and landlines as you choose.  Google Voice also transcribes voice messages so you can get emails with a transcription of a voice message.  It has tons of other features like the ability to block phone numbers.  Folks can send texts to your Google Voice number, and you can send and receive texts using your email rather than your phone app.  All calls and texts using Google Voice to the US are free (and I believe Canada).  International rates are pretty reasonable. 

I've had one number for Google Voice for years now.  I've also kept a landline with my office number for 20 years.  This landline has been with AT&T for 20 years, and they kept increasing the charge on it -- the last bill was something like $40 just to have a landline, with "long-distance" charges and taxes extra!  I kept it so I could keep the phone number.  Also, with Google Voice, I could go to the GV website, select or enter a phone number to call, and GV would call my landline and place the call -- the call would be place by Google Voice but would ring my landline, and would be at no charge.  It was a good arrangement, until I could not take AT&T continued rate increases. 

I did some research and bought an Obihai adapter -- here's the official name: OBi200 1-Port VoIP Phone Adapter with Google Voice and Fax Support for Home and SOHO Phone Service. 

WOW!  The Obihai adapter was super easy to set up and works great.  I was and remain stunned at how easy this adapter was to install and how well it works.  This little box (about $50 from Amazon) connects via Ethernet cable to my router, and my usual landline phones connect directly into it. 

There's only one port to plug your phone line in.  Here's a tip: phone wires in most houses are two-way.  The source can be plugged into any wall jack, and the other jacks will get the phone signal.  I therefore simply connected the phone port from the Obihai to a phone jack in my guesthouse, and then plugged in my Panasonic's base station up in the main house into the home phone wires.  I've used a Panasonic cordless phone system with my landline for years.  Everything worked fine!

From the Obihai instruction pages:
Note: You do not have to plug the Obi device into the point-of-entry for the phone line; you can plug it into any phone jack in your home to connect it to your home phone network.

Now, I have one physical phone/base station (and the wireless handsets connected to it) that rings differently for three GV phone numbers coming in.  Line 1 is the GV number for my wife's phone.  Anyone ringing her GV number rings on this line at home as well as her cell phone.  Line 2 rings my GV number as well as my cell phone, and has a different ring tone so I know that it is my line.  Line 3 rings my office phone number and has yet another ring tone.  If someone leaves  a voicemail, that voicemail will be transcribed by Google Voice; and I will get those transcripts via email. 

If I want clients to capture and see only my office phone number, I dial "**3" before dialing the client's phone number. 

Everything works almost exactly as it did before, except I can't have GV connect my calls using a computer any longer -- I have to physically dial a number.  I am sure that if I care enough, I could figure this out. 

I wanted to save my work phone number, as clients still use it.  I therefore had to convert my office phone number from a landline to a Google Voice number.  It was a hassle, but a couple of websites described this process: 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-voice-a-step-by-step-primer-on-ditching-your-landline-while-keeping-your-number/
Google doesn't normally allow you to port a landline phone number to Google Voice. This step-by-step primer shows you how you can do it.

https://www.oldtownhome.com/2015/3/19/How-to-Transfer-Your-Telephone-Land-Line-to-Google-Voice/
As of today we're saving $45 per month by using Google Voice and an OBi VoIP bridge for our home phone!

The process was a series of simple steps.

Check Phone Number Transfer Capability
Purchase pre-paid "burner" phone or sim card and VoIP bridge
Transfer your number to pre-paid phone
Transfer your number to Google Voice
Setup the OBi VoIP device
Configure Google Voice

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I did run into a problem that was really just something where I could not wrap my mind around the concept. 

I have had a personal GV number, let's call it 831-375-5555, for years.  It is linked, as all GV numbers are, to a GMail address and also a Google Voice web page.  On the GV page, I could set phones that would receive calls to this GV number, such as my landline, a cell phone, and other options like Google Chat. 

My wife had her own personal GV number. 

In the past, if someone called my wife's GV number, the landline would ring.  The same if someone called me.  When I was gone on a month-long shoot, I'd go into GV settings and turn off call forwarding to our landline.  But I could no longer do this with the Obihai!  I wanted someone calling my wife's GV number to also ring the old landline number, just as before...Duh. 

I did an embarrassing amount of research on this.  My question was how to have a Google Voice number ring another Google Voice number.  It was generally deemed impossible. 

I finally figured out that even though the Obihai adapter had only one phone port, it could handle three GV numbers -- perfect for my situation.  Within the Obihai's setting page, calls to my GV line, my wife's GV number, and my old landline number (now a third GV number) would all ring the same physical phone handsets, but have different ring tones.   Like I said: Duh. 

One last note from a forum:
One word of caution concerning the Obi ATA and Gmail. As I mentioned above, the forwarding phone called Google chat "drives" your Obi ATA and also the Call Phone feature in Gmail. However, only one of these services can be active at a time. If you notice that Gmail rings with incoming calls and not your Obi, log out of Gmail and that will allow the Obi to ring. Do the reverse if you want to use your computer as a phone in Gmail but your Obi rings instead.

Ordering from Walmart.com and using Store Pickup? Choose a Store with the Pickup Area in the Front

Ordering from Walmart.com and using Store Pickup?  Choose your store carefully if you don't want to wait in the back for an hour just to pick up a package!


Walmart is competing with Amazon for your online shopping business.  Walmart offers great prices sometimes, with significant discounts for store pickup.  What this means is that you can order an item online, and when you get the notice that your order is ready for pickup, you go to your chosen store and pick up the item. 

Sounds easy, right?  Wouldn't Walmart want to make this a painless experience for the customer?  Of course it would not.  It turns out that different Walmart stores have their online order pickup counters in different parts of the store. 

I ordered a set of IRIS 4" x 6" Photo and Craft Storage Boxes, that hold bare 3.5 inch hard drives perfectly (thanks, Jack and Sue Drafahl for this recommendation!).  Walmart sent me an email that the order was ready for pickup at the store I had chosen, which was close to my summer home in Olympia.  To be specific, this was the store on Martin Road in Lacey, WA. 

This particular store has its online pickup counter all the way in the back of the store.  I had picked up orders from this store, and the one in Marina, CA before.  Both stores had the online pickup counter in the back of the store, and without exception, every time I had gone there to pick something up, it had taken lots of waiting, asking passing Walmart employees passing by for help, pressing the "service" button at the counter numerous times, and wandering around the back of the store seeking help -- before I could get someone to help. 

This time, I set the stopwatch on my phone.  There was no one there.  I repeatedly pressed the "press this button for service" button over 15 minutes, to no avail.  I asked four employees passing by if they could call for help so that I could get my order.  No one came.  I noticed that Walmart had hidden the phone behind a wall, whereas it was previously on the counter, within reach of customers.  Obviously this was a known issue and the management had decided to move the phone out of reach of waiting, irate customers rather than to address the problem -- which had a very simple solution that I won't even bother to describe.  Nope.  Both Walmarts close to my homes have chosen to make the online pickup experience an excruciating exercise in waiting, isolation, and frustration by simply never having anyone in the area to help you. 

Did I mention that I set the stopwatch on my phone to see how long the process took to get my order?  It took 40 minutes before I was able to get my order and start my exit from the store.  In that time, I tried everything, even shouting in the store for service.  Three employees came in the back area and told me that I could not get the order myself (when I tried to point out the box with my name clearly printed on it); that I could not use the phone to call the manager or for help; etc.  Only the third employee could finally figure out how to work the cash register so that I could get a receipt and be on my way. 

Well, here's the surprise and the reason I tried Walmart.com and online store pickup again.  I happened to be in the Tumwater, WA Walmart, about six miles from my Olympia house (the Lacey Walmart is 4 miles in the other direction).  I noticed that the Tumwater store had online pickup in the FRONT OF THE STORE, right in the customer service area! 

I placed an online order soon after noticing this, and when I got the notice that my order was ready, I went to the Tumwater store to pick up my page.  WOW!  I had to ask someone to help me -- the folks at the customer service desk were so seemingly intent on repacking their items or something that they seemingly did not see me -- but once they got to me, I was able to get my order very quickly.  No frustration.  Almost no waiting. 

Have you noticed that every time you buy something or do something these days, the company ask you to fill out a survey asking how they did?  I never fill these out, because good customer service is so dead simple and easy to figure out most of the time.  In this case, it's pretty easy to figure out that you should order and use Walmart's store pickup ONLY if there's a store near you that has the online pickup area at the front of the store, near the customer service counters, where there are always employees ready to help you.  Avoid any store where the online pickup area is in the back, unless you like waiting in dead zones for 30 and 45 minutes at a time. 

PS If you order something from Walmart.com online, and you decide you don't want to go through the agony of waiting in the back to pick up from the store, you can just not follow through on your order.  From what I can find, you won't be charged if you don't show up.

Here's what Walmart's website says:

"Once your order arrives and is scanned in at the store, you will have 14 days to pick it up before it is returned to the distributor. If it is returned to the distributor, we will issue a full refund."

Ways to Extend Internet Coverage Through Two Structures; Wirecutter Reviews are Awesome!

I have been trying various methods to cut the cable TV cord here in our place at the Monterey area. 

My office and "man cave" is in the guest house, about 100 feet from the main house.  I've put up an antenna to get local TV stations over the air (OTA) which I describe in another blog post.  In the guest house, I have a Windows laptop acting as a DVR, using a SiliconDust HDHomeRun TV tuner and Windows Media Center.

I wanted to connect both houses' computers on a local network, so that my wife could share files with the main Mac in the guest house, and so I could watch WMC-recorded shows and downloaded movies on the Windows laptop in the living room that is connected to an HDTV.  This proved to be a difficult, months-long process. 

I've always used Powerline Ethernet adapters from Zyxel, Netgear, and TP-Link from the Mac in my office to certain outlets in the main house.  The problem is that the connection was pretty slow, and inconsistent through the main house.  I believe that this is because the main house's wiring is both old and passes through breakers to get to the guest house.  Most of the outlets in the main hours are still 2-prong outlets, which cuts the performance of these Powerline Ethernet adapters in half.  The only outlet that works well enough so that my wife can watch Hulu videos on her Mac in her home office in the main house happens to be in that room.  None of the other outlets worked well. 

I next turned to wirecutter.com's reviews.  This site is AWESOME.  I've followed a few of their recommendations for products recently, and the recommendations have worked out spectacularly well.  Wirecutter recommended the TP-Link Archer C7 (v2) router, along with the TP-Link AC1750 Wi-Fi Range Extender RE450. 

I've had other routers and range extenders that worked OK.  My old router was a Netgear 3700 and I really liked it, but upon reading wirecutter's review, I realized that it was an old router that used the "wireless N" band rather than the 'wireless ac" band that could reach far longer distances.  Sure enough, after updating my router and range extender to the TP-Link ones, I got great, strong, and fast wifi signals at the main house due to these great range extenders. 

I had to buy an AC wifi USB dongle for my Windows 7 laptops, which are all about 4-6 years old and did not have ac-band wifi capability.  These cost about $10 from Amazon and worked well. 

I was still not able to transfer files quickly from the laptop in the guest house to the laptop in the main house.  It was not a problem with the laptop acting as a server...it served up files just fine to my Macs in the same room.  I eventually put in an Ethernet cable from the main house to the guest house (I had to learn how to drill and install cables through outside to inside walls, and to crimp Ethernet connectors on Cat5e cable, all easily learned on YouTube).  Surprisingly, the laptop in the living room still could not quickly download or even see files on the server laptop.  I tried some suggestions on internet forums and turned off energy-saving mode on the Ethernet adapter in the laptop.  That did the trick!  I am able to record shows on the WMC laptop in the guest house, and watch pre-recorded shows on the laptop in the main house.  I can transfer files from one house to another quickly also.  It's pretty cool.  I am sure that I can make things speedier and better by using a NAS unit, but this is working for me now just fine. 

Now that I have good Internet capability in the guest house and the main house, I look forward to using the antenna to get local stations (the four major broadcast networks) and using streaming packages like Netflix, Playstation Vue ,and SlingTV.