Getting rid of home phone; MagicJack; Skype

[charlie]

FUEGO, I use a wireless phone system in the house with a phone in
each room. The base phone has bluetooth capability so if you have a
blue tooth cell phone, you can receive a call anywhere in the house.
Right now, the base phone is plugged into a land line phone jack so I
have not tried the bluetooth capability ...... but I am considering it.
We have an ATT plan that allows a 3rd cell line for $10 per month. We
could port our landline number to a 3rd cell phone with bluetooth
and keep it next to the bluetooth base phone. This would allow us
to keep our landline number which we have had for 40 years and still
have the advange of wireless receivers throughout the house.

Like I said, I am just thinkiing about it.

Cheers,

charlie

[FUEGO]

Crapola. I just figured out I calculated my average usage of minutes by adding up only minutes I was invoiced for (including "free" minutes). Apparently the free incoming minutes are not included in those invoices, so my average usage is roughly double what I thought it was, hence making vonage plus one cell phone nearly identical in price to two cell phones plus paying for minutes we use over the 2000 or so free each year w/ the cells. And I find cell phones only inconvenient versus completely wired home phone and the occasional . So we are keeping vonage and just doing the bare minimum on the cell phones ($80/yr is all it is). And I'm not messing w/ Skype any more (as fun as tinkering is).

[summer2007]

Martha

I know what you are saying.

If I could work it out that everyone was on the same cell phone plan I might come out ahead that way.

I'm afraid of cell phones and I prefer to talk on a land line because of the brain cancer risk also. It might be all a bunch of BS but I minimize my use of a cell phone anyway.

A good poll might be to see how many people still have a land line phone. I bet I'm in the minority to still have one!

Jim

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by summer2007 A good poll might be to see how many people still have a land line phone. I bet I'm in the minority to still have one!

+1 for landline. Great call quality and never having to say "can you hear me now?".

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by summer2007 I'm afraid of cell phones and I prefer to talk on a land line because of the brain cancer risk also.

I think you mean "the risk of a brain cancer risk". There is no "risk of brain cancer" that I am aware of.

Quote:

A good poll might be to see how many people still have a land line phone. I bet I'm in the minority to still have one! Jim

If anyone does a poll, please be more specific than "land line". I don't know if people mean POTS (the Plain Old Telephone System - the one we grew up with), or any connection to non-cell phones (DSL, VOIP).


For example, I have a VOIP phone provider, and the box plugs into the phone wiring in my home, so I use the same old phones I used on the POTS. But I get my internet over fixed wireless - so am I considered "land line", there is no connection to wires outside the house. I don't call it a "land line", I call it VOIP.

-ERD50

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 For example, I have a VOIP phone provider, and the box plugs into the phone wiring in my home, so I use the same old phones I used on the POTS. But I get my internet over fixed wireless - so am I considered "land line", there is no connection to wires outside the house. I don't call it a "land line", I call it VOIP.

I have VOIP with vonage, but I still consider it a land line mainly because it is non-portable (generally speaking) and comes over a wire to my house. Isn't most POTS voice transmitted with VOIP or similar protocols at some point in the transmission system?

It seems that everyone has rolled out a voip product now to compete w/ the phone company. Even telephone companies have voip to compete with themselves. Add to that the cable company and third party providers (like vonage/magicjack).

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Isn't most POTS voice transmitted with VOIP or similar protocols at some point in the transmission system?

Probably, but the wires into your house conform with the ancient POTS, or standard old phones wouldn't work.

My VOIP comes in wirelessly, goes to a (modern) POTS phone that is a "cordless" base for 4 extensions. At the phone level, I could have just one short wire from the TA box to my base (but I plug it into a jack to "light up" all the extensions - with the line to the phone company disconnected).

-ERD50

[Rustward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO . . . Isn't most POTS voice transmitted with VOIP or similar protocols at some point in the transmission system? . . .

Between the phones on the call it could be a lot of different things. But what is delivered at the network interface device or NID (the box hanging on the outside of your house - sometimes called a demarcation point) and how the service behaves is what makes it POTS.

[Bimmerbill]

I do Vonage and buy 1 year at a time, it saves money over the monthly charges. It's close to $20 a month.

I cancelled my landline a few years ago since even basic service was still close to $25.

911 works thru vonage. My DD was playing with the phone and dialed 911. Operator answered and I appologized for what happened. She asked to verify the 911 data, and it was all correct. I filled in the 911 data when I set up my vonage account.