Internet phone service

[RoyDornoch]

Ooma Home has been great for us for about six months here at home (at about $6/mo. for the taxes) and I like it so well I put Ooma Office in my commercial office. I recommend it to everyone.

At home, my Ooma device is connected to my old answering machine/base station that has a total of five wireless handsets so I have phones that work great all over the house (plus they intercom to each other). It is great to get more good use from the wireless set.

I'll also toss out that last month my mom got a Consumer Cellular "home phone base" for $15/mo. into which she plugs her land phone and it seems to work well for anyone who wants a phone where they don't have fast internet service.

 

[rayvt]

We had a Magicjack several years ago. Call quality was terrible, so we threw it away after a few months.

About 3 years ago I looked at voip providers. Looked at Ooma and decided against it. Others were better.

My main provider is "voip.ms" . They have SMS support, so people can send texts to us & we can send texts out. Setting up nomobobo was easy. They have something like 3 dozen servers (point of presence) all over the US. You can record calls. My bill averages $3 a month. The largest part is $1.50 for E911 service. Previous AT&T was $35/mo.

I also have an account with callcentric (outgoing only, no E911). And a google-voice number.

Now we have an OBI200. It can connect to 4 voip services. I have voip.ms as the default, callcentric as #2, and GV as #3. You can set different rings for each service for incoming calls. I've got GV set to a English ring setup.

 

[cranberryjoe]

For couples/families who ditched the landline and use cellphone only, do you miss having a "house phone" number to give out when it doesn't matter which of you answer? I'm thinking things like furniture delivery, plumbers, utility bills, etc. My partner and I will be moving into a new house and we plan to go cellphone only. We currently live in separate homes with landlines, which are mostly just spam, and we have no intention of porting either landline number.

 

[REWahoo]

For couples/families who ditched the landline and use cellphone only, do you miss having a "house phone" number to give out when it doesn't matter which of you answer?

Gave up the landline/house phone 15 years ago. Never missed it.

 

[OldShooter]

Most homes have a box on an outside wall where you will find the main phone line jack wiring, ...

Yes, this is called the "demark." It's the demarcation point where the wireline provider connects his wires to your house wiring. In our house it was in the basement, inside, and the house wiring was connected as bare wires to binding posts. No big deal to disconnect.

Another thing you can do is to connect the master station of a Panasonic or other wireless phone system to the telephone output of the VoIP box, Telo or other. Then all of the phones in the wireless system are connected and all of their features are available. These systems are astonishingly cheap on eBay or Amazon. In this case the house wiring is dead and you cannot use regular plug-in phones.

Or you can do both. Connect the VoIP box to the house wiring after breaking the demark connection and connect the wireless phone master to any POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) jack.

 

[bs300]

I just installed OOMA last week. Got the premium package for 1 years and it includes porting 1 number (normally $40) and ported my primary number over. I had a second ring line with the land line. I was not able to port because I should have done that 1st. Once my primary was ported away they disconnected my account and couldn't port the 2nd number. I have all my old hard wired phones working by plugging my ooma telo device into a phone jack. So far so good and spam calls are reduced.

 

[steelyman]

For couples/families who ditched the landline and use cellphone only, do you miss having a "house phone" number to give out when it doesn't matter which of you answer? I'm thinking things like furniture delivery, plumbers, utility bills, etc. My partner and I will be moving into a new house and we plan to go cellphone only. We currently live in separate homes with landlines, which are mostly just spam, and we have no intention of porting either landline number.

This was a big consideration for me. I guard my cell number like a hawk, it’s for personal contacts only. At the time, I had a plan that limited talk minutes (since lifted). My VoIP is my “business line” (although I’m not gainfully employed any more ).

Additionally, cell service was spotty/unreliable in my area though that has since improved.

 

[Jerry1]

For couples/families who ditched the landline and use cellphone only, do you miss having a "house phone" number to give out when it doesn't matter which of you answer? I'm thinking things like furniture delivery, plumbers, utility bills, etc. My partner and I will be moving into a new house and we plan to go cellphone only. We currently live in separate homes with landlines, which are mostly just spam, and we have no intention of porting either landline number.

Do not miss it one bit. I can’t think of a time where it mattered which phone was called. I did have a situation where I didn’t want to miss a call and I learned that I could forward my cell calls to DW. I was in the store and didn’t want to talk to the Dr while in there and DW could talk to the Dr on my behalf if he called. As for deliveries, it doesn’t matter which cell they call. If DW is the designated person waiting and they call me, I’ll just call her or text her that they’re on their way. I don’t miss my land line at all.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

For couples/families who ditched the landline and use cellphone only, do you miss having a "house phone" number to give out when it doesn't matter which of you answer? I'm thinking things like furniture delivery, plumbers, utility bills, etc. My partner and I will be moving into a new house and we plan to go cellphone only. We currently live in separate homes with landlines, which are mostly just spam, and we have no intention of porting either landline number.

Google Voice would work great for that and it's totally free.
Once you sign up and select an available number, install the app to both you and your wifes cellphones and set GV up to ring on both phones via the GV app.
First one to pick up gets the call.

 

[Aerides]

Dumped our landline a few years ago. And a few years before that, we turned off the ringers as any calls were spam. Just a basic line was something like $50 a month - so we dumped it. No regrets. Cell for everything, and it's on our wifi when home.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Another thing you can do is to connect the master station of a Panasonic or other wireless phone system to the telephone output of the VoIP box, Telo or other. Then all of the phones in the wireless system are connected and all of their features are available. These systems are astonishingly cheap on eBay or Amazon. In this case the house wiring is dead and you cannot use regular plug-in phones.

We used a corded (and cordless) phone for my Dad that connected to his cell phone via Bluetooth. Once he figured out he needed to wait .5 seconds for the BT to connect when answering/making a call...it worked GREAT. If we ever had a need for a "corded" phone we would do the same. No more POTS for us though, I ripped that line out of the conduit between the street and the house.

Interesting side note on wiring in a house. The house we live in was built in 2007. There are all sorts of speaker wires run all over the damn house (inside and out). While we use Alexa and wireless for our musical entertainment negating the use of the wires, the conduit has made it easy to run LAN cables to several rooms and made it a breeze installing the fiber optic line.

 

[Cobra9777]

Google Voice would work great for that and it's totally free.
Once you sign up and select an available number, install the app to both you and your wifes cellphones and set GV up to ring on both phones via the GV app.
First one to pick up gets the call.

This is what we do. The GV app on both our cell phones is set to make and receive calls using the same GV number as our home phones. At home, we still have an Obi-200 VoIP device which also rings our landline handsets.

But as I posted upthread, the Obi-200 is no longer sold and won't be supported after December 2023. At that point, we'll ditch the landline handsets, but continue to use our cell phones with the home number.

We've had that number for a while now. All of our family knows it. And we like it for certain other things... like when both of us want to be notified of something... like a furniture delivery. Or if we just don't want to give out our cell numbers. GV has really good protection against spam calls. So it works well as a throw-away number when needed.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

This is what we do. The GV app on both our cell phones is set to make and receive calls using the same GV number as our home phones. At home, we still have an Obi-200 VoIP device which also rings our landline handsets.

But as I posted upthread, the Obi-200 is no longer sold and won't be supported after December 2023. At that point, we'll ditch the landline handsets, but continue to use our cell phones with the home number.

We've had that number for a while now. All of our family knows it. And we like it for certain other things... like when both of us want to be notified of something... like a furniture delivery. Or if we just don't want to give out our cell numbers. GV has really good protection against spam calls. So it works well as a throw-away number when needed.

The OBI won't be supported but it will still work until Googles updates something that needs a software update from Polycom so we may or may not get a couple of extra years out of it after that. I sure hope so, it's a great little device and I've had the service since 2012 and saved a ton of money over the last ten years by not paying for the landline.

 

[Cobra9777]

The OBI won't be supported but it will still work until Googles updates something that needs a software update from Polycom so we may or may not get a couple of extra years out of it after that. I sure hope so, it's a great little device and I've had the service since 2012 and saved a ton of money over the last ten years by not paying for the landline.

That would be nice. But from what I read around the time of the announcement, Google historically made changes at least once or twice per year which required firmware updates by Obitalk/Polycom. So it's days are numbered.

But all is not lost. The point is: you still get free GV service with your home number. You'll just have to use devices other than your clunky old obsolete landline handsets. That's all the Obi did... enable those old handsets.

GV has a lot more functionality with a cellphone, tablet, laptop, etc. Like texting, and integration with your contacts. Just set up your old Android devices with GV and your home number and leave them laying around your house in the same spots where the old landlines used to be. What's the difference, other than improved functionality?

 

[Skitso999]

As I recall, the important thing is to make sure your existing phone service is physically disconnected. I believe fellow member CosmicAvenger explained why (sorry, I don’t have a reference). That could be an outside job, mine was in the garage.

You then directly plug in your Telo into an existing wall jack (a cable might be included, I don’t recall). Plug in your old phone to a different jack, pick up and see if you get a tone. Try making a call or calling yourself.

That sounds pretty easy! After I do that I can plug in one of these devices so I'll no longer need to carry my cell phone around the house any more!
https://www.amazon.com/Cell2jack-Ce...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[steelyman]

That sounds pretty easy! After I do that I can plug in one of these devices so I'll no longer need to carry my cell phone around the house any more!

I’m not sure but you might not even need that. Do it one step at a time before you buy something extra once you see how it all works.

 

[Chuckanut]

Are new houses being built today being wired for POTS service?

POTS = plain old telephone service.

I hooked up a wireless leftover base unit to my Ooma. The other wireless units are on each floor of my home. This way of I fall I can still crawl to a phone without having to use stairs. I am surprised how often I use it since I often leave my mobile in oddball places around the house.

 

[Buckeye]

We tried MagicJack several years ago. It sorta worked and we gave up once we had two cell phones. Which begs the question: If you have a cell phone, why do you need a "home" phone. Especially if each of you have a cell phone, why the need? YMMV

We have Ooma so I can call DH when he has accidentally (?) turned his cell phone ringer off or his cell battery has died and I need to know what else he wants from the store!

 

[target2019]

Are new houses being built today being wired for POTS service?

POTS = plain old telephone service.

I hooked up a wireless leftover base unit to my Ooma. The other wireless units are on each floor of my home. This way of I fall I can still crawl to a phone without having to use stairs. I am surprised how often I use it since I often leave my mobile in oddball places around the house.

Probably built with a combination of ethernet CAT something (8 wires) that is wired in jacks according to use.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

My house was built in 2019. No phone lines, but there is HDMI in a couple of the walls, CATV, and ethernet ports to 2 rooms. That was standard. With wifi, I've never used the ethernet cables.

 

[Koolau]

Are new houses being built today being wired for POTS service?

POTS = plain old telephone service.

I hooked up a wireless leftover base unit to my Ooma. The other wireless units are on each floor of my home. This way of I fall I can still crawl to a phone without having to use stairs. I am surprised how often I use it since I often leave my mobile in oddball places around the house.

Ah, yes. If you mis lay your cell phone, you can use your POTS to call it and follow the ring. I occasionally have to do that using DW's cell to find my cell.

 

[REWahoo]

Ah, yes. If you mis lay your cell phone, you can use your POTS to call it and follow the ring. I occasionally have to do that using DW's cell to find my cell.

I did this on several occasions (called DWs cell phone to locate) until we both got HAs. They connect via bluetooth to our individual cell phones, so if I call her phone, it rings in her ear, not the phone itself. The challenges of technology...

Note: The obvious solution is to turn off the HAs temporarily and reconnect once the phone is located.

 

[braumeister]

The challenges of technology...

... or the advantages. When I misplace my phone I can ping it from my watch. Had to do that a few times.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Ah, yes. If you mis lay your cell phone, you can use your POTS to call it and follow the ring. I occasionally have to do that using DW's cell to find my cell.

Or just register your phone with google (or apple). They can make it ring even if on silent. They also show you its location on a map and provide other functionality like the ability to lock it or wipe it. Google "where's my device" I have used this feature numerous times.

It's free but you owe me $20 if this tip ever saves your expensive phone - joking

 

[SJhawkins]

I switch the POTS line over to Call Centric a few years ago, works great. Call Centric has a feature rich web page/options if you need it. You do need a voip box that you need to configure, that can be a PIA if you have not done it before. The old house phones are giving up the ghost so will just forward the Call Centic number to my cell and or dump it all together.

As others I have had a GV number for many years that I use for talking texting with sales folks, etc.