vB Easy Archive - Skype, Yahoo, AIM, Lycos and real phones

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Skype, Yahoo, AIM, Lycos and real phones
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Posted by: molists

I've sampled all of the above and found each quite wanting - whether they fail to install, act like a virus once installed, transfer incoming calls to voicemail, or sound like you're calling from a fish tank... nonetheless, I'd still like to consider replacing a landline with a cheap/free DID number from one of them.

For each service, there are a variety of gadgets, but so far as I can tell, none free me from having to keep a PC on, and none will work with my "old-fashioned" 20th-century phones that have RJ11 plugs. I don't need or want "soft phone" functionality. I want landline plug-compatibility and reliability, and cheap. At $20+/month, Vonage et al are not cheap.

Has anyone been successful getting a regular desk set to work (ring!) on any of the four cheap VOIP services listed above?

Posted by: wazitup

skype and yahoo voip plans are nice and they works well.

vonage is another voip provider who have many customers.

Posted by: molists

Quote:

Originally Posted by wazitup

skype and yahoo voip plans are nice and they works well.

vonage is another voip provider who have many customers.

Neither skype nor yahoo work standalone with a regular phone.

Vonage is more expensive than a landline.

Did you read my post?

Posted by: DaBones

Vonage in the USA has a plan for $15/mo.. you're telling me that you can get a landline phone for $15/mo that gets you CID, Call forwarding, VM, Call Transfer, etc, etc, etc and no long distance to all 50 states, PR, DC, and Canada?? thats a sweet Landline carrier you must have avail to you then..

Posted by: molists

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaBones

Vonage in the USA has a plan for $15/mo.. you're telling me that you can get a landline phone for $15/mo that gets you CID, Call forwarding, VM, Call Transfer, etc, etc, etc and no long distance to all 50 states, PR, DC, and Canada?? thats a sweet Landline carrier you must have avail to you then..

No, just as I don't wish to pay for LifeTime, Oxygen, or "WE" in order to watch FX, Spike, TNT and USA, I don't need or want any of those features bundled in with my phone service. I just want an RJ11 jack that provides dialtone and works with a real phone, and has a real phone number. I'll worry about the features and long distance separately. In case you missed my other thread, we come from a long line of black-rotary-dial-phone users.

My sweet landline carrier will give me a genuine phone line that uses real phones for about $13 a month out the door, including the Al Gore tax, about $25 in an office setting. Mind you, that's regulated, and I'm sure there will be a rate increase in the next few years. But unlike every VOIP I've evaluated (including Vonage), I can count on my landline carrier's phone to work >364 days a year, 24 hours a day, and it isn't finicky with fax machines.

An objective reader would say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", and I'd agree - just stick with the $13 landlines. But I also know that telco is working feverishly to double and triple our basic landline charges; today, they finally forced 11-digit local dialing on us again after a 7-year respite, and they're successfully campaigning to offer non-competitive digital tv in every city, and they're trying hard to take away "net neutrality", so as to charge you for internet traffic. Thus, I try to keep up on the potential alternatives. I'd just like them to work reliably and seamlessly with existing phones and devices; historically, backwards-compatibility is a hallmark of American technological success.

Posted by: DLCPhoto

What company provides a landline for $13?

Thanks.

Posted by: molists

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLCPhoto

What company provides a landline for $13?

Thanks.

That's AT&T. A basic line is $5.70/month. Once you add the taxes, fees and surtaxes, its about $13, depending on your address (local cities steal at different rates.)

Before you go jumping to conclusions as to what a "bargain" this is, consider that not everyone needs/wants all of the extras, and the basic plant on which local service runs was bought and paid for under regulated rates of return (telco was guaranteed to make 12% per annum.). Other than some modest maintenance of the cable plant, the phone company has been coasting for over a decade, having shred most of its labor costs. They've been given full rights to swim in the big pool (long distance, data, video) while doing absolutely nothing new for the residential dial customer. We deserve a refund!

(Dang, I sound like I'm getting close to the "fixed income" age!")

Posted by: DLCPhoto

Thanks for the reply and info. I just checked and AT&T doesn't offer local service in my area, unfortunately. I'm not ready to go purely VoIP yet, so guess I'm stuck with Alltel's landline for the time being.

Thanks anyway.

Posted by: molists

Answering my own thread... it looks like Gizmo Project may be the best bet for my desire. They use SIP and Grandstream ATA's, so one can hookup old-school phones, or at least touchtone phones, and dial without a pc.

Phone numbers cost $12/3 months, $35/12 months, and their pool of prefixes is a bit shallow, but functionally, it appears promising.

Posted by: OldEngineer

Just watch the REN values. I don't know what those Gizmos put out, but somehow I expect very little.

Posted by: diehard.iden

I've looked at the Gizmo Project and I wouldn't rely or guarantee anything from it yet. Something tells me they have a lot of work ahead of them to produce a quality product.

Posted by: molists

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLCPhoto

What company provides a landline for $13?

Thanks.

Followup: it was only a matter of time (well, 12 years), before the Empire struck back. Yesterday, the CPUC cried "uncle!" and agreed to deregulate all local phone service. We'll be saying good-bye to $13 landlines, as Chairman Bill got his way. I'm always amazed how the needs of the one outweighs the needs of the few, or the many.

(Heretofore, deregulation was to be based on the demonstrable existence of competition. Well, its been 22 years since Ma Bell was broken up, and we still have no choice for local service. Go figure.)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-...-home-headlines