HELLO & WELCOME

[WelshPaul]

Well this was totally unexpected:

Today, Polycom, Inc. announced the signing of a merger agreement to acquire Obihai Technology, Inc., a San Jose-based innovator in VoIP audio solutions.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... 005435/en/

[WelshPaul]

Polycom have now released a press statement, you can read it here.

[VoipIT]

Well that blows!!! Generally, most mergers have not been good for customers.

Hope Polycom prove me wrong.

[gsmlnx]

Have to have a laugh at the Obihai statement re:their cloud service expertise. Is that the same expertise that creates a provisioning service that goes offline at weekends extremely regularly?

Thankfully my needs are simple and I can replace my Obi200 with a single IP phone when the Obi dies. So I'm not reliant on them unlike the USA users who seem to only use Google Voice and need their Obi gateways.

[WelshPaul]

Well it doesn't look good! Considering what little stock is left over on Amazon.co.uk, there has been a massive price hike in the last few days

• Obihai OBi100 - Was £39, Now £50 (This item is EOL/Discontinued)
• Obihai OBi1022 - Was £89, Now £149
• Obihai OBi1032 - Was £109, Now £179
• Obihai OBi1062 - Was £129, Now £249
• Obihai OBiWiFi5G - Was £25, Now £49
• Obihai OBiEHS - Was £29, Now £59

I wonder if this is an indication of things to come?

Have to have a laugh at the Obihai statement re:their cloud service expertise. Is that the same expertise that creates a provisioning service that goes offline at weekends extremely regularly?

They haven't invested any time or money on their website or support forums in years! I used to regularly get "Failed to connect to the database errors". In fact, someone posted a screenshot here. Obihai were working on improving their DMP Portal, but that seems to have come to a halt too!

http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBiTALK-DMP-FAQ.pdf
http://www.obihai.com/docs/dmpbestpracticespart1
http://www.obihai.com/docs/spnewsletterjuly2017

Thankfully my needs are simple and I can replace my Obi200 with a single IP phone when the Obi dies. So I'm not reliant on them unlike the USA users who seem to only use Google Voice and need their Obi gateways.

I don't use any ATA's personally, I prefer IP phones. I do use the Gigaset N300A/IP along with 3x Gigaset C430HX handsets and they work like a charm. The OBi212 would of been an ideal FXO/FXS ATA though, wonder if we will ever see that now?

[gsmlnx]

My better half likes our really old DECT phone handset so using the Obi200 saves my skin

I tried to replace the handset with a DECT Gigaset phone and was told never to try that again. But if the old handset dies then the Gigaset will re-appear. I'll just go on holiday for a week or two.

[VoipIT]

Well it doesn't look good! Considering what little stock is left over on Amazon.co.uk, there has been a massive price hike in the last few days

• Obihai OBi100 - Was £39, Now £50 (This item is EOL/Discontinued)
• Obihai OBi1022 - Was £89, Now £149
• Obihai OBi1032 - Was £109, Now £179
• Obihai OBi1062 - Was £129, Now £249
• Obihai OBiWiFi5G - Was £25, Now £49
• Obihai OBiEHS - Was £29, Now £59

I wonder if this is an indication of things to come?

Not a great start is it? Having just looked on amazon.com the OBiWiFi5G is selling at $24.99 (£18.41) and the OBi110 at $28.95 (£21.33). You can even pick up an OBi1062 for $159.79 (£117.72)! I wonder if there will be a price rise on amazon.com too?

[WelshPaul]

Sherman Scholten (VP Marketing) sent out the following statement via email on the 10th January 2018:

On 4 January 2018, Polycom announced the planned acquisition of Obihai Technology. At Obihai, we are very excited about the merger of our organization, technology and product lines with that of Polycom. The merger is expected to close in early Q1, 2018, after which we will be able to articulate more details around how the acquisition will affect current Obihai customers and partners. If you have any questions about the acquisition or want to discuss the merger, please do not hesitate to contact Sherman Scholten directly, to set-up a time to talk.

Polycom Announcement: http://www.polycom.com/company/news/pre ... 80104.html

Sherman Scholten
***EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED***
***TELEPHONE NUMBER REMOVED***

[WelshPaul]

OBIHAI have lowered their prices again, or have they?

• Obihai OBi100 - Now £39
• Obihai OBi1022 - Now £99
• Obihai OBi1032 - Now £129
• Obihai OBi1062 - Now £149
• Obihai OBiWiFi5G - Now £29
• Obihai OBiEHS - Now £39

While the OBi100 has returned to it's original selling price of £39 but all other items remain slightly higher. The OBi1022 IP phone is currently £10 higher compared to it's original selling price and both the OBi1032 and OBi1062 IP phones will set you back an extra £20. The OBiWiFi5G and OBiEHS also work out more, OBiWiFi5G will set you back an extra £4 compared to it's original selling price and the OBiEHS an extra £10.

[VoipIT]

The OBIHAI shop has been removed from amazon.co.uk and all the above products are now unavailable.

[gsmlnx]

Oh well, when mine dies it will be replaced with a Gigaset DECT VOIP base station. But that could be years away.

[WelshPaul]

The OBIHAI shop has been removed from amazon.co.uk and all the above products are now unavailable.

Been so busy the last few weeks that I hadn't noticed. I wonder if their rebranding or simply ceasing sales here in the UK??? The Polycom store over on amazon.co.uk doesn't have any of the OBIHAI hardware listed for sale either.

Oh well, when mine dies it will be replaced with a Gigaset DECT VOIP base station. But that could be years away.

Using a Gigaset DECT VOIP base station here at home and it works flawlessly! My only complaint with it is the lack of configuration options.

[VoipIT]

I was just reading over on DSLReports that Polycom/Obihai is now being bought out by Plantronics.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r318954 ... and-Obihai
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/28/plantro ... llion.html

[WelshPaul]

Yea! You can read more about it here: http://investor.plantronics.com/Cache/1 ... id=4611682