OT: Goodbye Landline, Hello VOIP + Cellphone

[Davej]

MagicJack-Plus or NetTalk or ??? I've been trying NetTalk. Now
thinking I ought to add a UPS for my cable-modem, router and the VOIP.

 

[Flasherly]

MagicJack-Plus or NetTalk or ??? I've been trying NetTalk. Now
thinking I ought to add a UPS for my cable-modem, router and the VOIP.

If you've got a Voice Over Internet Provider, then you've already got
a "dry socket" -- a bane TELCOs don't want to hear, reducing *their*
perfectly good copper connect into a non-paying subscription line, by
antitrust and state utility commission laws, another provider can step
in to lease at competitively undercut rates. At least with mine.
When I mentioned being tired of being dicked around by a creative
billing dept., moving along into a dry socket, they immediately
dropped my landline rates by two-thirds and promised forever not to
bug me ever again ("I'm trying," is what he actually said). Dunno, as
that was awhile ago. Now they've got fiber optics, and, even though I
know damn well they can provide A/DSL+VOIP, they won't on principle in
order to utilize a higher standard, at some added subscription rate,
in fiber optics. Funny how that works, too. They do, at the
customer's discretion, provide for either a fiber optic or existing
copper connect for a "land-base" telephone resource. Sounds like
juggling with the State Utility Commission again, there -- they'd
mightily, I hear, like to get out from underneath that thumb. Comes
lightning, thunder and winds, copper's not so bad, besides sounding a
whole lot better than a crappy sound of my cheap Samsung with T-
Mobile. I'd probably go MJ and start looking for a VPN to apply the
savings.

 

[Davej]

If you've got a Voice Over Internet Provider, then you've already got
a "dry socket" -- a bane TELCOs don't want to hear, reducing *their*
perfectly good copper connect into a non-paying subscription line, by
antitrust and state utility commission laws, another provider can step
in to lease at competitively undercut rates.  At least with mine.
When I mentioned being tired of being dicked around by a creative
billing dept., moving along into a dry socket, they immediately
dropped my landline rates by two-thirds and promised forever not to
bug me ever again ("I'm trying," is what he actually said).  Dunno, as
that was awhile ago.  Now they've got fiber optics, and, even though I
know damn well they can provide A/DSL+VOIP, they won't on principle in
order to utilize a higher standard, at some added subscription rate,
in fiber optics.  Funny how that works, too.  They do, at the
customer's discretion, provide for either a fiber optic or existing
copper connect for a "land-base" telephone resource.  Sounds like
juggling with the State Utility Commission again, there -- they'd
mightily, I hear, like to get out from underneath that thumb. Comes
lightning, thunder and winds, copper's not so bad, besides sounding a
whole lot better than a crappy sound of my cheap Samsung with T-
Mobile.  I'd probably go MJ and start looking for a VPN to apply the
savings.

Well, I know very little about VOIP except that all you need is a
'bare' internet connection. In the past you could get services like
Vonage and Skype, but even those were $5-25/month. The MagicJack/
NetTalk VOIP gets that down to below $5/month. Some VOIP requires a pc
to operate but most has its own hardware that connects to your router.

 

[John Doe]

At the moment, I have DSL $21 and a Hotspot (a wireless wi-fi
provider, like Starbucks without the coffee) for 47. I got the
Hotspot after AT&T DSL 12 month deal expired and the price jumped
to $35 and I terminated the service. I like the idea of having a
backup ISP, similar to having backup hardware. I don't use the
iPhone phone much, so I will end up installing a GoPhone style SIM
(I have T-Mobile and AT&T ready to go) or maybe something like
VoIP if the iPhone supports it. I definitely like the idea of
having a mobile phone, home phone service isn't necessary here.
The Hotspot is really cool if I can afford it and if the company
doesn't go out of business. Clearwire is heading for bankruptcy.
Mobile broadband is likely the future of Internet access for some
countries. One reason I got DSL again, besides being able to sign
up (after being disconnected for two weeks) for the cheap price,
partly because wireless doesn't subscribe to WatchESPN. That
service is a lot of fun, especially if you enjoy minor sports. If
I don't want to jailbreak my iPhone, I'm stuck with AT&T for a
phone service subscription that includes wireless Internet. I'm
pretty sure that's necessarily going to be more than $47.

By the way... Some cheap handheld computers are coming onto the
market, in addition to the iPhone. They use a (Google?) operating
system called Android. They are a lot of fun, and surprisingly
useful, like if you don't want to run the PC but you want to do
some simple stuff that does not require intensive input and
output. Some of their functions are especially useful on the go.
Being an in-line skater, having a weather radar scope/screen in my
hand is very useful.

 

[Davej]

At the moment, I have DSL $21 and a Hotspot (a wireless wi-fi
provider, like Starbucks without the coffee) for 47. I got the
Hotspot after AT&T DSL 12 month deal expired and the price jumped
to $35 and I terminated the service.

I was paying $70/month for internet and a POTS home phone. Now I am
paying $46/month for internet and a GoPhone and a VOIP home phone.

 

[Quiet Man]

MagicJack isn't worth shit. It requires your computer to be on.
Magic-Jack Plus is supposed to plug directly into your router, but
since MagicJack worked great for outgoing calls and almost not at all
for incoming calls, I'm thinking about trying Skype.

For MagicJack, almost all incoming calls got "Customer is not
available" and a very small number of sometimes I got an empty voice
mail message.

YMMV.