# Paying 0 dollars for unlimited North American phone service



## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

Hey everyone:
It never ceases to amaze me that people accept paying for their home phone service when with just a little ingenuity and a minimal amount of time invested you can have unlimited calls in and out to all of North America for absolutely NO monthly fees!
It's SO easy, it's ridiculous! All you need to do is to buy one of these or these  The difference is the Obi 110 can integrate with a regular phone system like Telus.

It's an analogue telephone line adapter or ATA. It plugs into your router. I plug my panasonic cordless 4 handset dect 6 phone into it as well. The obi has 2 ports. What I do is use one of the ports for freephoneline.ca and the other for Google voice. For 50 dollars freephoneline.ca will sell you a configuration file that you input into the obi from a web browser. Once that is done (it's VERY simple and easy) you can make and receive calls to most major Canadian centres for FREE! I ported my old Telus number to freephoneline for 25 dollars. The call quality is excellent, there is NO difference between it and my old Telus line.

The other port you configure with a google voice/mail account. Once that is done it enables you to make and receive calls from anywhere in North America absolutely FREE! My son is at school in the US and over the last 2 years I haven't paid a cent for long distance calls. The trick is getting a google voice account from Canada. It involves using a proxy server like Hotspot Shield. You only need to use that when you first get an account, after that you don't need to. Look here for instructions.

In summary:
1. obi100 or obi110 - 50 dollars
2. freephoneline account 50 dollars
3. port your old number 25 dollars.

So for an initial outlay of 100-125 (depending if you need to port your old number) you will have unlimited calling to and from North America!
I have no affiliation with any of these companies.

I also use the obi for my cell phone as it has a feature where you can call into it and then place calls through it. I have the Telus one number unlimited prepaid phone. That number is my obi (my home number through freephoneline.ca). When I want to call someone I simply dial into my obi press 2 and then go ahead and make the call. I can call through the freephoneline account or the google voice account. Incoming calls can't be routed through the obi and they cost 20 cents a minute. I work around this by just getting the caller ID and calling them back, so it's more like a pager. Total cost of that setup including tax is 11.20 per month! 

If you already have a cel phone that you're happy with you could add the obi number as one of your fab five or ten and then use it for unlimited outgoing calls to north america!

So right now for 11.20 per month I have a complete unlimited north american home phone plan and my cel phone! Call quality is amazing. I love it. It takes a little setting up but I can't tell you how great it is to not be paying any monthly bills!


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

You're still paying $50 to set up freephonelines.ca plus $25 for the number, which is $75 more than I paid to setup Montreal based voip.ms

I also use voip.ms on my cell phone to call out directly (no calling my voip number and then calling out).. for $2/month vs $11.50

20 cents a minute? voip.ms is 1 cent/min. I personally only use it for short calls and then I call back from voip on wifi which is 100% free


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

kyboch said:


> I have no affiliation with any of these company's.


Uh huh. Sure.

And it's companies.


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

mode3sour said:


> You're still paying $50 to set up freephonelines.ca plus $25 for the number, which is $75 more than I paid to setup Montreal based voip.ms
> 
> I also use voip.ms on my cell phone to call out directly (no calling my voip number and then calling out).. for $2/month vs $11.50
> 
> 20 cents a minute? voip.ms is 1 cent/min. I personally only use it for short calls and then I call back from voip on wifi which is 100% free


I had voip.ms for a while they are an excellent voip company, but they charge by the minute. 1/2 cent per minute to Canada and 1 cent per minute to the US. The fifty bucks I paid to FPL works out to 1000 minutes to Canada or 500 minutes to the US with voip.ms. 
I am well beyond those minutes especially with my son in the US. ALL my calls now are completely FREE!

If you are calling out directly from your cell phone you must have a smart phone right? and are using the data plan to make voip calls through voip.ms?

If I had a smartphone I could do the same thing with FPL but I have just a regular old cel phone and I don't text or have the need for a data plan.
I don't consider the porting fee as voip.ms charges the same as FPL to port a number.


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

the-royal-mail said:


> Uh huh. Sure.
> 
> And it's companies.


Hey man, I don't really give a rat's a** if you believe me or not. I'm just trying to tell people how to save some money here. I changed the spelling too, happy now? The obi just happens to be the ONLY ATA that you can program with google voice.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Your post has been reported as spam. You are most certainly here for no other reason than to promote your affiliated companies.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

kyboch said:


> I had voip.ms for a while they are an excellent voip company, but they charge by the minute. 1/2 cent per minute to Canada and 1 cent per minute to the US. The fifty bucks I paid to FPL works out to 1000 minutes to Canada or 500 minutes to the US with voip.ms.
> I am well beyond those minutes especially with my son in the US. ALL my calls now are completely FREE!


You math is way off. 1/2 cent is $50/0.005 = 10,000 and you forgort about the $11.50-$2= $9.50 extra per month




kyboch said:


> If you are calling out directly from your cell phone you must have a smart phone right? and are using the data plan to make voip calls through voip.ms?
> 
> If I had a smartphone I could do the same thing with FPL but I have just a regular old cel phone and I don't text or have the need for a data plan.
> I don't consider the porting fee as voip.ms charges the same as FPL to port a number.


Fair enough. I already have the data plan and it's mainly what I use. Voice is just a backup for old people who don't text yet

When I talk to family, I talk to them 100% free on PS3, Google voice, Skype, MSN etc etc etc etc in the days of the internet. I can often find free internet where ever I go, but on the move I much prefer using free text or email over the data plan

If you did want to pay to talk to your son for 10,000 minutes, voip.ms is unlimited for $5.95 vs freephone.ca $11.50

VoIP is great though I agree. I'm not 100% convinced this is spam


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

mode3sour said:


> You math is way off. 1/2 cent is $50/0.005 = 10,000 and you forgort about the $11.50-$2= $9.50 extra per month
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You're right about my math, but still my point is correct. You will still be paying voip.ms by the minute long after I am getting free calls with FPL and google voice. 

I don't know what you mean by saying FPL is 11.50-2=9.50??? FPL has NO monthly charge at all. 

The 11.20 I pay is for the Telus one number unlimited.That is my total cost for the cel phone part of the deal. The home phone part has no fees.

Look I know that you are probably a whipper snapper and like to text a lot and you probably have a cel/text/data package that's probably costing you somewhere around 50/month right?

We all have different needs but for us "old guys" texting and data just isn't important. My entire system is 11.20 a month. Hopefully this will help some people out there. It's all about being frugal right?


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

the-royal-mail said:


> Your post has been reported as spam. You are most certainly here for no other reason than to promote your affiliated companies.


Jesus buddy what exactly is your problem??...


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

kyboch said:


> You're right about my math, but still my point is correct. You will still be paying voip.ms by the minute long after I am getting free calls with FPL and google voice.
> 
> I don't know what you mean by saying FPL is 11.50-2=9.50??? FPL has NO monthly charge at all.
> 
> The 11.20 I pay is for the Telus one number unlimited.That is my total cost for the cel phone part of the deal. The home phone part has no fees.


Like I said I don't use voip.ms at home, because the internet can do voice in 1001 ways for 100% free already. I wouldn't call it a hot deal to setup home internet for voice for $50 when it can be done for free (you already paid for the internet). PS3, Skype, anything can be used to call friends and family unlimited for 100% free. The $11.20/month works for you but most people today use text and smartphones. If you don't have a data plan then ok



kyboch said:


> Look I know that you are probably a whipper snapper and like to text a lot and you probably have a cel/text/data package that's probably costing you somewhere around 50/month right?
> 
> We all have different needs but for us "old guys" texting and data just isn't important. My entire system is 11.20 a month. Hopefully this will help some people out there. It's all about being frugal right?


I don't pay $50/montn for my data, I paid $20+tax in Canada and I pay €20 now for unlimited roaming in Europe. Let's not compare data to voice here. *Before long not usnig data will be the equivalent of not using the internet. * Clearly, even old geezers have found the internet and forums nowadays 

Don't worry about TRM. He's just another old geezerr who prefers snail mail and POTS


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Gee. 10 posts and you're already writing long-winded sales pitches with numerous links to service providers, and you get immediately defensive when questioned on your motivations. Yeah I wonder.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

oooh. Did he say whippersnapper. Did he say he was an old guy.

hey bosch forum rules say this is a zero-swearing forum. Jay soos words are sometimes ok, azz words are sometimes ok, sometimes even ess words are ok.

but you said whipper snapper so you is daid, bro.


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

mode3sour said:


> Like I said I don't use voip.ms at home, because the internet can do voice in 1001 ways for 100% free already. I wouldn't call it a hot deal to setup home internet for voice for $50 when it can be done for free (you already paid for the internet). PS3, Skype, anything can be used to call friends and family unlimited for 100% free. The $11.20/month works for you but most people today use text and smartphones. If you don't have a data plan then ok
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I guess the biggest difference is that I am using a real phone at home. I really HATE using those crappy headphone/mic jobs. (and last I looked they are not free right) Also the ATA hooks right into the router so no need to have a computer turned on all the time let alone the performance issues, poor sound quality, malware etc. Nothing worse than having a computer on all the time just to receive a phone call. Using an ATA for telephony is so much superior to using a computer it isn't really comparable.

The fact that I can hook my cel phone into it is just a bonus, one that I am more than willing to pay 11 bucks a month for. But I do agree with you that data is the future. I just can't stomach the cost right now. And I REALLY hate texters! I mean I have 3 boys in their twenties and you can barely have a conversation with them without them staring at their bloody phones. It drives me crazy.
You know one of the secrets to a well lived life is to be fully present in the moment or to "be here now". Well this generation is not here now...and there not there now either, they're caught somewhere in between, missing the here and the there, besides I find it incredibly rude to start reading or sending texts
when you're in someone's company. Basically a slap in the face to the person you're with. But I guess that's a different discussion right?


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

the-royal-mail said:


> Gee. 10 posts and you're already writing long-winded sales pitches with numerous links to service providers, and you get immediately defensive when questioned on your motivations. Yeah I wonder.


I put the links in there to make it easier for people to see what I'm talking about...man you are one paranoid android.


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## canehdianman (Apr 7, 2009)

People still use home phones?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

kyboch said:


> I guess the biggest difference is that I am using a real phone at home. I really HATE using those crappy headphone/mic jobs. (and last I looked they are not free right) Also the ATA hooks right into the router so no need to have a computer turned on all the time let alone the performance issues, poor sound quality, malware etc. Nothing worse than having a computer on all the time just to receive a phone call. Using an ATA for telephony is so much superior to using a computer it isn't really comparable.


What? ATA is no better quality than say an iPhone on WiFi or a blutooth headset on Skype/PS3/Goog Voice etc. Actually blutooth headsets and iPhones have far superior mics to POTS phone, and can be used for way more things than phone calls. ATA is just a patch job to connect the old and new, it's not better in any way at all. Your method is fine for people who don't have a smartphone, but you state it as some kind of be all end all solution for many



kyboch said:


> And I REALLY hate texters! I mean I have 3 boys in their twenties and you can barely have a conversation with them without them staring at their bloody phones. It drives me crazy.
> You know one of the secrets to a well lived life is to be fully present in the moment or to "be here now". Well this generation is not here now...and there not there now either, they're caught somewhere in between, missing the here and the there, besides I find it incredibly rude to start reading or sending texts
> when you're in someone's company. Basically a slap in the face to the person you're with. But I guess that's a different discussion right?


It's like dogs and their owners? NA culture and the younger generation are completely messed now I agree. I can have a perfectly normal conversation, and reply to texts without being rude. It is quite possible. Sometimes though I do pretend to text something important to ignore people I don't want to talk to. It's quite effective


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

canehdianman said:


> People still use home phones?


Yep, I do.
It's reliable, always on, works without power, the handsets are cheap and don't need to be junked into landfills every 6 months, cannot be hacked, pirated, wormed, trojaned, virused, voice quality is crystal clear, the bill is exactly the same month after month year after year, no fees (other than the standard 9/11 charge), etc. etc.


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

Hey guys I didn't put up the original post to create an argument or to try to prove anything to anyone or to try to benefit in any way. Just wanted to let anyone who is interested know how to get essentially free phone service using their existing phones. The obi is an amazing device, it does a lot of other things too. All you have to do is read the comments on amazon.

It works awesome for me and hopefully some other people will be able to benefit from it as well.

Cheers to all


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## kyboch (Dec 23, 2011)

HaroldCrump said:


> Yep, I do.
> It's reliable, always on, works without power, the handsets are cheap and don't need to be junked into landfills every 6 months, cannot be hacked, pirated, wormed, trojaned, virused, voice quality is crystal clear, the bill is exactly the same month after month year after year, no fees (other than the standard 9/11 charge), etc. etc.


Completely agree.....except for the bill part, since I have no bill anymore!


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Welcome to the forum kyboch. Are you an investor? That is the primary focus of this forum. Tell us about yourself.


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

I just got unlimited North America calling, unlimited global SMS and unlimited internet for life with Wind Mobile at $40/mo. Nobody could underprice them and I don't have any reasons to leave unless I move to the sticks or they went out of business or something. I'm also using voip.ms, costs a buck a month per DID so I couldn't be happier.


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