olyclimber Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 anyone using voice over IP as their only land line? I'm thinking about going with Vonage and getting rid of the landline all together (except for the DSL service of course). That way I could call Dru every night without any long distance costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 We use Vonage at home - $14.99/month for 500 minutes anywhere in the US. We love it. Cheap - tons of free features. Reliable. I'd say the sound quality is sometimes worse, and it obviously relies on your IP access, but overall its been super cheap and reliable. Â Plus I fucking hate Quest, and ditched them all together for a cable DSL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Plus I fucking hate Quest, and ditched them all together for a cable DSL. Â Me too. I'm going for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Check you PMs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knelson Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Just be aware that you will be 100% relying on electricity for a phone connection. Â Granted, your existing phone is probably electric dependent, but if you have an old-fashioned corded phone around you could still dial out in a power outage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 It would be interesting to know how this tech holds up in a natural disaster of some kind (earthquake in seattle, etc) relative to the cell network. My guess is it would go down pretty quickly, but who knows. I guess loss of power would tak out anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Just be aware that you will be 100% relying on electricity for a phone connection. Granted, your existing phone is probably electric dependent, but if you have an old-fashioned corded phone around you could still dial out in a power outage.  I thought about this, but I have a cellphone and can use that if there is a localized power outage. if that is dead too then there is some major shizzle going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 It would be interesting to know how this tech holds up in a natural disaster of some kind (earthquake in seattle, etc) relative to the cell network. My guess is it would go down pretty quickly, but who knows. I guess loss of power would tak out anything. Â Since it relies on the existance of a working broadband connection, it isn't going be that resiliant in a major disaster...but then perhaps not much will be (maybe a standard, analogue phone line would be more resiliant). Then you'll be glad you got an amateur extra license so you can geek out and CQ CQ. Â Thinking of the last "event", there was the last earthquake here in Seattle. As I recall, the cellphone networks were effected as everyone tried to call their mom at the same time, not because the network actually went down. The land lines do have an advantage in this respect, because they are more resistant to overloading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knelson Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 The land lines do have an advantage in this respect, because they are more resistant to overloading. Â And power issues. With my luck, when I need an aid car dispatched to my place, my ISP will be down AND my cell phone will have 3 seconds of battery left. Â Which also brings up another point - most likely where you're at, the minute you call 911 from a land line, they know where exactly you're calling from. Not so with a cell. Â Might also be an issue if you have a security system tied into the land line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 It looks like the only 206 area code coverage that Vonage has is on Bainbridge. Does anyone know anything different? I would think that Seattle proper would be hooked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 You're looking at it wrong...I thought the same thing initially...but you're just listing the 206 area code. Â It actually lists Bainbridge.....and Seattle. Look to the right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 What could be so important to say that it cant just be sprayed on CC instead of over a phone. Just create the talk to Oly forum where all your family can login and chat with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 tell me your troubles Trogdor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Trippett Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 try skype...its free. www.skype.com  It doesn't replace the phone but it keeps you in touch with people where ever they may be. My wife talks to her family in Brazil everyday, sometimes for hours, for free.....other than the cost of the net connection. Sound quality is better than the phone too(mostly). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 I have the body of a man and the head of a dragon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Can you still get DSL for a low price if you dont have an active land line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Ooops. Your right, Master Oly. Im usually a little more observant than that. Well cool then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 They say no annual contracts, so what's the committment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 24, 2005 Author Share Posted November 24, 2005 try skype...its free. www.skype.com It doesn't replace the phone but it keeps you in touch with people where ever they may be. My wife talks to her family in Brazil everyday, sometimes for hours, for free.....other than the cost of the net connection. Sound quality is better than the phone too(mostly).  I use skype, but I want something to use with my regular phones that I can configure to use local 911, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 24, 2005 Author Share Posted November 24, 2005 Can you still get DSL for a low price if you dont have an active land line? Â Should be able to. If they don't, then dump'em and go with cable. I'm probably going to stick with DSL though. Qwest just owns the line, I use a different ISP for my Internet connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 24, 2005 Author Share Posted November 24, 2005 I have the body of a man and the head of a dragon! Â But look at the bright side, you get to burninate things. not everyone gets to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 I have cable now, but hate getting by comcast when DSL is only like $25/month. I was under the impression though that a phone line was necessary for DSL to work. Although I dont know why I thought that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 24, 2005 Author Share Posted November 24, 2005 They say no annual contracts, so what's the committment? Â I don't think there is a commitment other than maybe if you use your existing phone number, and you want to go back to POTS, then you might have lag time between the switch over. Also, you've got to put out money to buy the VOIP device(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 So what are the DSL/cable options over in this area Trogdor? I was under the impression that Comcast had the market cornered, so for the last year, Ive been getting . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted November 24, 2005 Author Share Posted November 24, 2005 I have cable now, but hate getting by comcast when DSL is only like $25/month. I was under the impression though that a phone line was necessary for DSL to work. Although I dont know why I thought that. Â the line is necessary, but the voice phone service isn't. I haven't checked into how much just the DSL line is, but I think it should be $10-20 + the $ for the DSL Internet connection ($20 with my current provider). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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