DEAL Obi2182 : $59.99

[JFrost]

Why take that, just put a sip app on cell phone? Haven't tried wifi, but don't use wifi to stream tv either...

Because it's more comfortable

Already have groundwire on the cell but when traveling for an extended project (or extended vaca) it's more comfy to pitch a desk. Makes a nicer impression for the occasional meeting too.

Example, working on a laptop is anemic enough that I bought a 15" portable screen (for dual screen) when I travel. So why not get a desk phone too? Suitcases have wheels, money solves weight and 2nd suitcase problems and/or Fedex delivers.

Was also thinking about it for a cousin and one of my in-laws. They use cable co routers so no wiring around the house and wifi can be less than excellent.

 

[JFrost]

Thx @hawk#1 good to know

 

[randy7376]

@JFrost

I'll second @hawk#1 's experience using WiFi on the OBi2182. I have one in my living room on WiFi. Hasn't missed a beat in the six months I've had it running.

 

[wardmundy]

Same experience here with WiFi.

 

[JFrost]

Great. Seems like it's at least worth getting one in to "play with"

Thx all.

 

[Halea]

How's the wifi connection on these things?

Solid enough to take to a hotel room or other public/random wifi and get good call quality?

As everyone here already expressed WiFi is actually good on these phone sets (I bought more than 6 dozens so far for my businesses as they are the absolute cheapest for what they offer and every one of my employees has a google voice line for their private comms).
I managed to install one in my upstate barn (which is also my granddaughter's painting studio) which is quite far from the house and it has hardly 2 bars of signal, yet calling in both directions work flawlessly with top quality audio.

The issue that you'll be facing (probably) is the fact that hotel rooms usually/(most often) pop up a WiFi login webpage and I am not sure how obitalk would handle it.

Other than that I agree that these units are quite good, certainly pro quality in terms of audio and functional handling.

 

[JFrost]

The issue that you'll be facing (probably) is the fact that hotel rooms usually/(most often) pop up a WiFi login webpage and I am not sure how obitalk would handle it.

Good point about hotspot auth. I'll have to test that here.

Still, seems a nice enough phone for my family to use with a GV line and it works with ipbx so I can use it here too.


Sidebar quest, I see the seller on Amazon shows 20 left and everywhere else they are much more expensive. Are these disappearing? ie. I see 2162 pretty much unavail anywhere. Are these expected to be following (or expected to stick around) anytime soon?

thx.

 

[kenn10]

Sidebar quest, I see the seller on Amazon shows 20 left

They seem to constantly diminish and increase in inventory. The price fluctuates from time to time.

 

[JFrost]

They seem to constantly diminish and increase in inventory. The price fluctuates from time to time.

Thx. Was wondering if I should snatch up a handful but seems like I'm ok with the one I ordered and will see how we go from there.

 

[ostridge]

If I try the procedure shown in #7 (Configuring OBi Sip Trunk for Asterisk) am I going to mess up my current (plain vanilla ObiTalk generated) configuration?
Anyone can confirm that it works with Obi2182 ?
TIA

I am using the obi2182 on SP1 as an extension as opposed to a sip trunk. I have not used the sip trunk to the pbx, but have used the other SP2 for GV, SP3, 4, 5, other sip trunks straight to providers.
Just first get an IP address log into your GUI http://obi-IP-address (where admin:admin is the defaultuserassword ).
Then the first thing is to save your obitalk config
System Management / Device Update / scroll to Backup Configuration


Select "Incl.Running Status" as a minimum. Optionally incl Defaults, omit the use obi version, until you get a handle on the abbreviations.
Next click on 'Backup' button and save the XML file backup9CADEFB55555.xml where '9CADEFB55555' is your actual MAC number.

You will be fine using the obi as either an extension to your incrediblePBX (say '701') or as a trunk with its DID#.

 

[hawk#1]

The issue that you'll be facing (probably) is the fact that hotel rooms usually/(most often) pop up a WiFi login webpage and I am not sure how obitalk would handle it.

You can also eliminate that issue by connecting cell phone to motel and turn on hotspot, then just connect to your hotspot and that bypasses login webpage. I have done it several times on my retired travels

 

[JFrost]

You can also eliminate that issue by connecting cell phone to motel and turn on hotspot, then just connect to your hotspot and that bypasses login webpage. I have done it several times on my retired travels

Yes. Or laptop or travel router/wifi bridge. I've used the wifi bridge concept to tether my home network off of the phone hotspot in the infrequent case we've had an internet outage. Kept everything up last time for 4 days except things depending on open inbound ports. I think Visible is CGNATed

Still, curious if the phone will handle it natively.

 

[Halea]

...
Still, curious if the phone will handle it natively.

I played around with one as I was curious about it myself. The built in software is very basic, it only allows you to pick an SSID and key in the password from the numeric keypad of the phone. So, it can definitely not handle an http type login page.

But what I was able to make work, in one attempt out of several, was MAC spoofing.

For that, I first read out my OBI phone's MAC address. Then I set it ethernet mode to prevent it from accessing WiFi.

Next I spoofed it into my laptop computer's network settings and logged into my pfsense router's captive portal page (similar to hotel wifi login page) with my web browser.

Then, I turned off WiFi on my laptop as I switched OBI from ethernet to WiFi and I keyed in the same password quickly.

My bet was that it wouldn't work (because of encryption algorithm reseeding), and it didn't work at first. But then after several attempts I was able to make it work, at least once.

This is probably not very useful in the practical sense, but still I just wanted to share.

 

[hawk#1]

Yes. Or laptop or travel router/wifi bridge. I've used the wifi bridge concept to tether my home network off of the phone hotspot in the infrequent case we've had an internet outage. Kept everything up last time for 4 days except things depending on open inbound ports. I think Visible is CGNATed

Still, curious if the phone will handle it natively.

Read the manual, I'm sure the answer can be found in the manual. Especially since most wifi connections require a log-in to access them.

 

[JFrost]

I played around with one as I was curious about it myself. The built in software is very basic, it only allows you to pick an SSID and key in the password from the numeric keypad of the phone. So, it can definitely not handle an http type login page.

But what I was able to make work, in one attempt out of several, was MAC spoofing.

For that, I first read out my OBI phone's MAC address. Then I set it ethernet mode to prevent it from accessing WiFi.

Next I spoofed it into my laptop computer's network settings and logged into my pfsense router's captive portal page (similar to hotel wifi login page) with my web browser.

Then, I turned off WiFi on my laptop as I switched OBI from ethernet to WiFi and I keyed in the same password quickly.

My bet was that it wouldn't work (because of encryption algorithm reseeding), and it didn't work at first. But then after several attempts I was able to make it work, at least once.

This is probably not very useful in the practical sense, but still I just wanted to share.

Cool, thx for trying that out.

That it worked at all is fairly surprising because "technically" it should totally not. Maybe even a slight issue in pfSense stack (for which maybe there's an update?)

It might take a minute after I get it in as it won't be top of my prio list but I'll set up hotspots on mikrotik and ruckus eventually and see how we fare. Should be here next week.

Though the real "grand takeaway", I think, is just to take a travel router / wifi bridge. If I'm taking "the whole office" with me another 12oz isn't going to break anything, lol.

I use a Mikrotik wAP for this btw. It works great and is cheap as chips.

 

[gpz1100]

Sorry to bump an old thread. Anyone have conference call audio issues?

https://www.voip-info.org/forum/threads/obi2182-others-too-bridged-call-end-point-distortion-static-noise.27624/

 

[ostridge]

If I try the procedure shown in #7 (Configuring OBi Sip Trunk for Asterisk) am I going to mess up my current (plain vanilla ObiTalk generated) configuration?
Anyone can confirm that it works with Obi2182 ?
TIA

Ist Stop looking for the reset hole on a Obi2182 there is none. The hole at bottom is th microphone.

On the obi screen nav to Settings
Then: down nav arrow all way to bottom "Unlock Admin Settings"
Enter Admin password (default = admin )
THEN Soft buttons above nav area show "Reboot" "Factory Reset" "FW Update" and " " = 4th button blank.
Next up arrow to Device Administration/ etc.
Device Administration/ bottom(2nd) entry for Auto Firmware Update shows existing FW version e.g. IF ( $FWV = 6.2.3.4907 ) fw.obihai.com/OBi2000-6-2-3-4907.fw
DONT UPDATE = hit the back button to abort the update.

To finish
Settings
Then: down nav arrow all way to bottom "Lock Admin Settings"
Hit OK button in nav circle.

 

[ostridge]

If I try the procedure shown in #7 (Configuring OBi Sip Trunk for Asterisk) am I going to mess up my current (plain vanilla ObiTalk generated) configuration?
Anyone can confirm that it works with Obi2182 ?
TIA

From the web UI Make and save a backup before undertaking changes
System Management/device update/Backup Configuration [Extract] button to start.
Obitalk does have a habit of loading the new config to the phone. If you quit Obitalk setup they remove their config; so always make sure of your current backup status.