Invoxia Voice Bridge - Landline Calls On Your Mobile

I have further updated my review to five stars. I have had the opportunity to use the replacement Voice Bridge away from home and am pleased with the way it works. I had to contact AT&T and have the number of rings before voice mail picks up changed to a higher number of rings so the voice bridge had a chance to alert me to an incoming call. If you need to originate and receive calls on a specific landline while you are away from home or away from the office, this device allows you to do so and works really well. I have updated my review from 1 star to 3 stars.Voice Bridge support determined that the unit I had was probably defective and shipped a replacement from France via DHL. It arrived in three days. The replacement booted up, updated, and was ready to use within less than five minutes. I was able to easily pair it with my iPhone and make and receive calls. I will be pleased to update my review again to 5 stars if it performs as advertised as I use it in the field over the next few days. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --ORIGINAL 1 STAR REVIEW -- Unfortunately, this device apparently either works or it doesn't. After following the simple three step installation instructions, if it doesn't work, support is limited to, "Is it plugged in". Once support figures out it is plugged in and still doesn't work, they apparently close the ticket and move on to someone else. There is no way that I could find to address the unit for troubleshooting. By looking at the status page of my wifi router, I was able to determine that it has been sending and receiving data packets without errors or dropouts for days, but that is all. It never fully boots up and updates so the blinking LED never goes steady indicating the unit is ready to use. Until the unit boots up, it cannot be discovered by the smartphone app. It was a good idea, but since it is not functional, it is going back to amazon tomorrow.

Voice Bridge is a very attractive replacement for a cordless phone because it is easy to install, simple to operate, and it's properly priced. Why would you use Voice Bridge instead of your old cordless phone? First, all your contacts are on your iPhone, and the Voice Bridge app synchronizes with them. You can immediately start calling from the Voice Bridge app from contacts, which is super convenient. Second, you can pair up to five iPhones or iPads and do intercom right away. This is great for calling your kids downstairs for dinner, especially because you KNOW they are playing games on their iPads and iPhones so they will get the calls by interrupting their games. Third, you don't have to wait to get home when you are out running errands to see who called the house. Your missed call notifications show in your lock screen or in the Voice Bridge app as long as you have WiFi or a mobile data connection.

We are landline diehards. Despite regularly employing cellphones and many VOIP systems for years – we always turn to the landline as our final goto….for routing around the many communications difficulties any user faces today. Properly exploited, a landline provides a guaranteed, unshared, completely “owned” connection with your calling party. Even in 2017. When companies routinely renege on promises and communications failure is the norm. So when we spotted this landline bridge device at Amazon – it was ordered immediately. This is a class of tool we had been seeking for decades – and had actually considered building our own. But our own project had languished due to the many difficulties of forwarding voice through the internet in near real time. The internet was never built for such duty. That’s why so many of us face these never ending bad phone connections every day. But SwissVoice (the original developer of this box) and Broadsoft (large cloud VOIP supplier now owned by Cisco) mostly solved this problem. Accordingly, the relayed voice is almost indistinguishable from a real land line circuit. This is a real accomplishment. Both companies have reason to be proud of this work as it was a difficult feat to pull off…. Invoxia apparently acquired SwissVoice or this individual product (my head spins can’t tell who owns what). And Invoxia is the party selling through Amazon. Again, this was a difficult feat...but SwissVoice mostly pulled it off. And I suppose if all telecommunications carriers adhered to the rules – this box would work fine. Unfortunately, in the real world we live in – carriers often split local area codes into local and long distance. And there is no way to ever know which “bin” a dialed number is assigned until you dial it. And that’s a real problem with this box. Even if you stumble upon the “magic instructions” to insert all local area codes into a whitelist – so that dialout with the “1” prefix can be avoided...you will inevitably run into situations which don’t fit the rules. So when dialing out manually, the DTMF signals are rejected (at least on our central office switch). And no matter how hard you try to circumvent this – you will fail. You’ll get the carrier’s recording. Over and over again :( Now if you dial from your iphone contact list and simply insert a pause before the complete 1+number – this box will dial properly without issue. Since there is no provision for entering a pause during manual dialing – that is your fix. And it’s cumbersome. Very impractical for everyday use. Things difficult to use are never used….. We have tried to communicate the seriousness of this defect to Invoxia in vain. While their support ostensibly works out of Paris – we see little difference in their responses from some of the scripted “eight ball” answers you might receive from support originating in Bangladesh. They just can’t seem to understand this is a bug worth fixing. Which is a shame, because this is an innovative product. A unicorn. And it’s likely to be killed off by an acquiring company which doesn’t understand it. Worse, the proper fix is likely a trivial one they can execute within their own cloud system. Might not require hardware reprogramming at all. Hence my one star rating. It’s gotta work. And no amount of yabbering can take the place of a real fix. I do have a workaround for the dialing defect. You simply dial *67 prior to your 1 + 10 digit number. *67 normally turns off caller ID. But since this bridge’s dialing is defective – it will fail to turn off your caller id and Will dial your number :) An inelegant cheat – but it works. There may be others. Now if Invoxia tracks down a real engineer and fixes this – I’ll change my rating to five stars. But I’m not holding my breath. The sad truth is that most people don’t have the time to deal with flawed hardware which manufacturers won’t fix. So their optimal move is to ruthlessly rid themselves of such products. We’re keeping ours despite the defect...but would advise others to steer clear. You don’t need this grief.

So far so good. I really like the ability to be notified on my cell of calls made to my landline while away from home. While traveling I often miss important calls and sometimes even just knowing someone tried to call (and didn't leave a message) is useful. I also get a notification if the power is out at my hone and have the ability to take and place calls on my landline using my cell or even my iPod. The set up was incredibly easy: Plug into my landline, plug into my home router, plug into power, download app onto my phone and I'm done - a couple minutes. Had it up and running in minutes with a minimum of instructions and steps. Sound quality while using my cell phone to receive/make calls via my landline is OK but could use some improvement. There's sometimes a bit of an echo and it does sounds like an Internet call (a bit fuzzy and hollow sounding). I'm not too upset at this point as notification while away is the primary reason I got this but it seems it wouldn't take much to improve this since these are short distance wireless calls made right at my house and yard.. The simple set up instructions - all that is really needed - is unfortunately mirrored in simple use instructions and this is a weak point. Maybe I'm not knowledgeable but there are voicemail and forwarding options and I really don't know what they are supposed to be for, how they work, or what the codes it is asking for are or how to find out the correct ones for my cell phone. The instructions and the online FAQ are woefully short on information and detail so that you can figure out how to use them. I've contacted them about this and will report here on the response I get.

Our aging DECT system had eight phones but two of them died. I looked for replacements but they were prohibitively expensive. I stumbled across the Voice Bridge which seemed like an ideal candidate to compensate for our cordless phone shortage without buying a whole new system. This is a well thought out product that works in the house and anywhere else. It works on your wi-fi network and forwards to your cell network too. It's actually an improvement on the cordless phone system since you can make and answer calls from your wireline, using your cellphone, wherever you are. Setup was a breeze - plug and play as it should be. We have the app installed on three iPhones and two iPads, with no glitches or problems. A highly recommended product

I have been using the Voice Bridge for a couple of weeks and it does everything it says it does. Incoming calls on my land line ring on my iPhone and iPad so I never have to jump up to answer the phone. At home, I usually have my iPad with me so can answer on that. When I am out, I usually have my iPhone so can answer my home phone on that. The cell phone signal is marginal inside my house so I simply make calls on my land line from my iPad. My one issue is the documentation - it could be improved. You really don't need it since it pretty much is plug and play but it would be nice to be able to read through a document containing everything to see if I am taking advantage of all the features - I suspect I am not... But the FAQs on the web site are pretty complete and the on-line chat support responds immediately so not a real problem. Great product - easy to use and works well!

Nice product. Works as described. Easy to set-up There are 3 issues: 1) There is a delay in the app triggering the smart-phone to ring. If you use a pass code you have to input it before you can answer. These 2 issue cause a delay in being able to answer calls and in certain cases I missed the call before I was able to answer it. 2) It only supports 5 paired devices so not suitable to large households who use multiple phones and tablets. 3) The caller ID function is pretty hopeless so the off site notifications service is not accurate.

Great product. Had used Airtouch U-250 previously and that product ended up in closet due to no support. Voice Bridge is the exact opposite. This product has been supported and issues that I have had were addressed immediately. Being notified of missed calls on landline was very helpful if I was waiting for a call but the new follow-me feature is way better. If I am not home to answer the call follow-me forwards the call to my cell as long as the app can connect to the central servers. Conversations are now encrypted using TLS for local (on my home wi-fi) and remote (away from home via follow me). The app has had several enhancements and fixes to make it easier to use. Have not had any issues receiving or making calls locally or remotely.

Ich habe zwar eigentlich auch eine Fritz Box, doch die Fritz! Fon App ist von 2013 und scheint nicht mehr gepflegt zu werden... was vermutlich der Grund für die vielen Abstürze, Verbindungsabbrüche und ausbleibende Anzeigen über eingehende Anrufe erklärt. Nachdem nun mein altes DECT Telefon den Geist aufgegeben hat habe ich mich nach etwas Neuem umgesehen und bin dabei auf die Voice Bridge gestoßen und aus Neugier direkt mal bestellt. Auspacken und Anschließen hat gerade einmal 5 Minuten gedauert, noch kurz App fürs iPhone runter laden und im lokalen WLAN in der App die neue Basisstation gesucht... und ich konnte von meinem iPhone über das Festnetz telefonieren, keine Konfiguration notwendig. Anrufe annehmen funktioniert ebenfalls sofort und wenn ich mal nicht zu Hause bin bekomme ich eine kleine Nachricht aufs iPhone über verpasste Anrufe, inkl. der Nummer, sofern nicht ohnehin anonym.

Very reliable, never had a problem.

Better than landline, better than cell phone :) , Landline in your mobile. Great product ! Good seller !

Je dois dire que c'est avec une certaine appréhension que je me suis finalement décidé à acheter ce produit tant les critiques étaient assez mitigées. Mais en fait il n'en est rien. Pour ma part tout s'est très bien passé. L'appareil fonctionne admirablement et remplit parfaitement ses fonctions aussi bien en réseau local qu'en extérieur avec une connexion 4G (voire peut-être même 3G). Je précise que j'ai une bonne connexion internet (réseau câblé 100 Mbps DL / 5 Mbps UP) et que j'ai également un très bon forfait téléphone où la 4G est presque partout. Il est vrai que lors de la première installation, il m'a fallu le réinitialiser en premier lieu et après il s’est connecté avec l’application. Au tout début, il ne réagissait pas tout de suite et les appels étaient pas toujours pris en compte malgré mes tests répétés. Je précise que j'ai bien mis l'application en mode de batterie non optimisé. Je me suis dit que je verrai ça un peu plus tard et au bout de 30 minutes il ne ratait plus un appel et fonctionnait du tonnerre ! Je n'avais pourtant rien fait de plus. Je suppose qu'il avait dû se mettre à jour ou s'était activé sur les services de Voice Bridge entre temps. Maintenant en ce qui concerne l'application, elle fait le job mais il y a tout de même de petits bugs sans gravité mais tout de même enquiquinants quand ils surviennent (heureusement pas souvent). Du genre un appel arrive et là le smartphone sonne mais on ne voit rien affiché à l'écran. Pour décrocher il faut aller dans les notifications. Quand on le sait, ce n'est pas un problème mais dans le cas contraire on se demande pourquoi le téléphone sonne sans préciser pourquoi. J'ai aussi eu quelques petits bugs de superposition graphique mais il suffisait de virer l'application des processus et de la relancer et c'était bon. Bref mettre l'application au goût du jour et d'y ajouter quelques fonctionnalités supplémentaires comme par exemple un système de liste blanche et liste noire, ce serait bien pratique, éventuellement aussi l'enregistrement de conversation.

Summary: Connect this little box to your phone line (as if it were another phone), by Ethernet to a port on your home network router, and to power (USB power wall-wart supplied). Install an app on your iOS or Android smart-phone (or tablet), and then you can use the app to make outgoing calls on your land line, and take incoming calls (which ring on your smart-phone via the app as well as your land line phones). The remarkable thing is that this works even while you are away from home, as long as you have Internet access on your smart-phone (by mobile network or WiFi). Even with the smart-phone in sleep, the app is still alive in the background and wakes on an incoming call. THE GOOD: this product works brilliantly on iOS (in my case an iPad Pro Mini, but presumably any iPad or iPhone except the iPad is hard to hold to your ear!). Now works on Android too* (see below). * When purchased, the app for Android was still under development and only worked with some phones, in my case not with a Samsung Galaxy A3(2016). I was assured it worked with some smart-phones, and the developers said they are working hard to make the product compatible with all Android phones. As of February 2017, having requested access to the beta software testing, with my Android phone now on beta software version 5.2.1, my phone pairs with the Voice Bridge unit (when it wouldn't using 5.1.9), and I was able to place an outgoing call from my home WiFi network and from outside. I was having trouble picking up incoming calls though, and after discussion with the developers I was advised to disable power saving for the VoiceBridge app (Settings.. Battery.. App power saving), after which it has been working fine. Top marks to Invoxia, who seem very willing to help. If you find it's not compatible with your phone, contact them to see whether there is a software update available. THE BAD: there isn't any. It's a great product at a great price. TO BE AWARE OF: I found the product injected a noticeable hum or buzz on the phone line (although not apparent to external callers) when connected to my BT HomeHub4 or a Thomson TG585 router. This is not the case when a Netgear DGND3700 router is used, and I do not understand why there would be a difference. TO BE AWARE OF: In the previous version of this review, I queried the mechanism by which "On the Go" (ie connected via the Internet rather than the home WiFi) works. In their comment to this review, the developers say there is a server, using encrypted communications. This raises the question of what happens if for some reason Invoxia cease to be - presumably it will then only work at home and not On the Go (which is my reason for purchase). However, that said, this is one of only a very few options available. BONUS: I actually use the Voice Bridge downstream of a trueCall call filtering unit (intercepting or allowing through calls based on their caller-ID), and it works fine (only calls authorised to ring the home phones make it through the trueCall, and therefore I don't get nuisance calls to my VoiceBridge app either).