Type private corporation Brands Obi, ObiTALK, OBiON | Industry computer networking | |
Founded 2010 (2010) in Cupertino, California Headquarters Campbell, California, United States Products analog telephone adapters, softphones | ||
Obihai Technology manufactures analog telephone adapters which support SIP (session initiation protocol), XMPP and Google Voice compatible Internet telephony.
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History
The company, based in California's Silicon Valley, was founded in 2010 by Jan Fandrianto and Sam Sin, the same people who introduced the first analog telephone adaptors as Komodo Technology in the 1990s and formed Sipura Technology in 2002. Both prior companies were acquired by Cisco Systems, in 2000 and 2005 respectively, and integrated into that company's Linksys division. Linksys was sold to Belkin in 2013.
Products
Obihai is notable primarily for manufacturing analog telephone adapters that connect standard push-button telephones to the Google Voice service using a wired or wireless broadband Internet connection. As Google's voice over IP service is inexpensive (and, in some cases, free), hardware that allows the service to replace conventional landline telephony reduces costs to subscribers.
The hardware is built in various configurations, including OBi100 (1 x FXS, to connect to one phone), OBi110 (1 FXS + 1 FXO, to connect to one phone and one conventional outside line), OBi200 (1 x FXS, 4x VoIP services, T.38, USB, [wi-fi, BT optional extra]) and OBi202 (2 FXS + LAN with T.38, USB, wi-fi optional extra). The devices, distributed through US vendors such as Walmart, Newegg and Amazon, are normally sold unlocked and unconfigured. The user may configure logins for multiple, simultaneous providers.
Obihai operates its own preconfigured OBiTALK VoIP service to allow direct calling between its branded devices (using **9 and a nine-digit serial number), as well as a companion OBiON softphone app for Android and iPhone.
There is also a Service Provider Template for various individual providers (such as Anveo and Phone Power) built into the current generation of devices; earlier devices used an online wizard to automate the configuration process.
Google Voice support, a popular feature due to the low cost of service, was temporarily broken when that service dropped XMPP support in May 2014 and officially restored in September 2014.