MAC Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Sorry to go off topic but I'm curious if anyone uses Vonage or other Internet phone service provider. Does anyone use Vonage broadband telephone service? It was recommended by a person I work with. For 14.99, Vonage has a 500 minutes plan allowing phone calls to anywhere in the U.S., which includes some pretty good features such as voice-mail and call ID. I think I’m going to try it. I’m tired of paying $20 a month just to have a telephone connected. With Vonage there are no monthly fees so for 14.99 I will get a lot more for my money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marika Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Sorry to go off topic but I'm curious if anyone uses Vonage or other Internet phone service provider. Does anyone use Vonage broadband telephone service? It was recommended by a person I work with. For 14.99, Vonage has a 500 minutes plan allowing phone calls to anywhere in the U.S., which includes some pretty good features such as voice-mail and call ID. I think I’m going to try it. I’m tired of paying $20 a month just to have a telephone connected. With Vonage there are no monthly fees so for 14.99 I will get a lot more for my money. Download Skype and you can call anywhere in the USA and Canada for FREE until the end of this year. After that, it's about 2 cents a minute and no taxes. http://www.skype.com If you really want to make people safe drivers again then simply remove all the safety features from cars. No more seat belts, ABS brakes, traction control, air bags or stability control. No more anything. You'll see how quickly people will slow down and once again learn to drive like "normal" humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OynxSTS Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 The down side with any of these Voice over IP systems is that you do not have the same level of service on your 9-1-1 system has you have with traditional telephone lines... On the old style phone lines your local 9-1-1 center pretty much instantly traces your call and the 9-1-1 operator knows your name, phone number location, etc. If you are VOIP'ing you can be calling from anywhere on the planet and the operator has to collect all of this information to send help... Further some VOIP companies do not provide 7x24 9-1-1 service... If this is a concern to you... read the fine print of your contract. Most of the families I know that use VOIP have both systems... Old School for local calls and 911 and VOIP for long-distance calling. Easin' down the highway in a new Cadillac, I had a fine fox in front, I had three more in the back ZZTOP, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC Posted May 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 The down side with any of these Voice over IP systems is that you do not have the same level of service on your 9-1-1 system has you have with traditional telephone lines... On the old style phone lines your local 9-1-1 center pretty much instantly traces your call and the 9-1-1 operator knows your name, phone number location, etc. If you are VOIP'ing you can be calling from anywhere on the planet and the operator has to collect all of this information to send help... Further some VOIP companies do not provide 7x24 9-1-1 service... If this is a concern to you... read the fine print of your contract. Most of the families I know that use VOIP have both systems... Old School for local calls and 911 and VOIP for long-distance calling. Vonage has 911 but the phone number location must be logged into their database. Also, Vonage states that traditional 911 cannot trace locations; however, Enhanced 911 (E911) traces the address where the call is made. It looks like Vonage has a good 911 system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeal1892 Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 I use vonage ! Its been wonderful ! ITs sorta just a back up caus eI was not using a home phone for sometime but its always there and I have people call me on it and I make calls on it and its really been great ! 24 dollars a month its almost free!!! Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 I have been a Vonage user for approx. 10 months with the unlimited plan. All things considered, I'm satisfied with the service and the value. Not all county 911 services are equal. And E911 is not a high profile enforcement issue for the FCC. Call your county emergency coordinator and ask for the regular 10 digit phone number that will put you into the 911 call center and program that number into an ICE memory on your phone. Be prepared to experiment with interconnecting cable layout. There is a good bit of low level RF energy associated with computers, monitors, cable modems, wireless phone sets, and the Vonage telephone adapter. I had to move the telephone adapter four feet away from the cable modem to avoid interference. Most of these devices are not RF shielded (plastic cases) and they can interact with each other in unpredictable ways. A jungle of cables running parallel to each other will almost guarantee mutual interference. Other than that, go for it! Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 I use my cable company's VoIP service and have been very pleased with the quality. No hum, crossover, delay, echoes etc. Enhanced 911 is implemented. It's important to remember, however, to have your modem powered through a UPS so as not to be left without phone service in the event of a power failure. Regards, Warren EDIT: Your VoIP provider can usually provide you with a (very) small UPS unit. The Motorola unit, IIRC, is around $50. There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OynxSTS Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Not all county 911 services are equal. And E911 is not a high profile enforcement issue for the FCC. Call your county emergency coordinator and ask for the regular 10 digit phone number that will put you into the 911 call center and program that number into an ICE memory on your phone. Be very careful with this approach... When you talk to your 911 call centre... make sure they know what you are doing... and what you are hooking up... A lot of 9-1-1 call centres provide for emergency and for NON EMERGENCY dispatch... The regular 10 digit number they like to give out can be the NON emergency number and these calls are not taken in priority order and in some counties are not answered on weekends and outside of core hours... Further some counties have three 10 digit numbers, one for police, one for fire and one for ambulance... etc... Old School E911 is designed to be fool proof... Pick up the phone dial 911 and help will show up at your door... When you go VOIP you are accepting some degree of involvement in this process, like remembering to log any change in address with your provider, etc... None of this is onerous, or difficult... It just takes some planning.. Easin' down the highway in a new Cadillac, I had a fine fox in front, I had three more in the back ZZTOP, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenJ Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 Old School E911 is designed to be fool proof... Pick up the phone dial 911 and help will show up at your door... When you go VOIP you are accepting some degree of involvement in this process, like remembering to log any change in address with your provider, etc... None of this is onerous, or difficult... It just takes some planning.. This is a very important point. My brother was in the habit, for some time, of carrying his modem around with him. He did nationwide business from three locations. He was acutely aware of 911 limitations, but some might not be. On the subject of FOOL PROOF: Since we're already OT, I don't feel badly about bringing this up. Someone once said (paraphrasing), "Should a man invent something fool proof, G-d will simply invent a greater fool." If anyone knows where that came from, I'd REALLY like to know. Regards, Warren There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. - Ludwig von Mises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 If you are just looking for long distance service, it's hard to beat OPEX. I know, it sounds like OPEC, but I'm an oil guy, so I can live with it. $.05 per minute, anytime, anywhere, no hidden charges, no service charges, nothing. Even less if you pay via the internet. Just like a phone card without having to dial extra numbers. I've been using it for about 4 years, never a problem of ANY kind. AND since local service handles 911 stuff, you won't have to worry about that at all. Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDK Posted May 25, 2006 Report Share Posted May 25, 2006 I tried VOIP before Vonnage etc, but the quality and concept got tiresome. As far as long distance, its hard to beat the combined cost and ease of a cellphone with national, free long distance and a big bucket of shared minutes. In particular, when a company phone is involved and the IRS has yet to glom onto that perk. Since DSL and cable and wireless internt are relatively common, I believe more folks are abandoning their land lines and going for a cellphone for each person in the family. I bought a bucket of 5,000 minutes for $250 a month for 5 phones and added 5 more phones for $15 each. Considering free talk to each other, real savings can occur with better service. Our Blackberry email is also only $20/month for unlimited usage and immediate responses. The copper wires might be used for communication (with theoretically unlimited speeds)...but land line phones themselves are going the way of buggy whips. Specifically, the packages that combine Internet, cellphone and television/radio - are the way of the future. Now, what we need is a docking port for our cellphones that charges as it extends throughout the house. All IMHO Add power to leave problems behind. Most braking is just - poor planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeal1892 Posted May 26, 2006 Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 In the event of a power failure, just use your onstar ! We all would rather be in our cars anyways Michael - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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