Internet telephone?

[Dee_Ann]

Hi,

To make a long story short, I was with a small, regional cell phone company for many years and my monthly bill was about $35 a month, total. I had a minimal local only plan with 200 minutes a month outgoing (which I NEVER went over) and unimited 24/7 incoming minutes. I would call someone and say "Hey, call me right back" and hang up, they would call me and we could talk for hours and hours on end because ALL my incoming calls were free, always. This worked great for me for years. I never, ever had a problem, never went over my minutes, never got smacked with overage fees, nothing. 10 years of smoooooooooth sailing.

THEN, AT&T came in and bought up the little regional company I was with. Uh oh...
AT&T sent me a letter promising that my contract and calling plan and prices would be honored and never changed, no worries, nothing at all would change other than I would be paying AT&T instead of Centennial Wireless. Right......

For a few months, everything was good. No problems. Just as they said, my bills remained as they had for all those years.

Then one day DOOM from the sky. The Death Star blasted me with a SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLAR phone bill.

They totally tossed out my old contract, plan, everything. The word for what they did to me starts with an F. Yeah, they did that to me, hard.

So. Now I want to switch to Verizon and get on a family plan with my folks but I want to wait until the next generation iPhone comes out, the new Verizon iPhone sucks and I don't want to get locked into a crummy phone when we all know that they WILL come out with a much improved model soon.

So until they do, I need to hang in there with AT&T then switch when the new Verizon iPhone comes out.

But to survive until then I want to stop using my cell phone unless it's a life or death emergency. I am using a hacked iPhone 3GS my son gave me, he fixed it to work on Centennial and it worked great until AT&T shut down all the old Centennial towers. We now have ONE AT&T tower in town and the service is horrible. I verified this via the FCC website.

I have never used the data option on the iPhone because the old Centennial chip in it does not support internet. So when I was away from home it was a cell phone only. When I am in my home and near my WIFI, I can do all sorts of neato internet things on it. Or in McDonalds. Or anywhere with free WIFI.

So, I installed Skype on my iPhone but it really sucks. You have to log in with your password every single time you want to call out and when you put the phone in sleep mode it kills skype so incoming calls can't come in. Useless.

I have a Belkin Skype phone but it's junk. It drops calls like crazy and there have been no firmware updates in two years. Almost useless.

I have Road Runner cable internet and it's pretty darn fast. But I do NOT want to get Road Runner telephone service. It's $100 a month for crappy cable TV that I do not want, internet and phone. Supposedly for $33 a month each. I'm sure that after a year it will double. I don't want to pay $100 a month. I don't want their crappy cable TV.

All I have is RR internet and that's all I want from them, not one thing more, not one thing less. They already slam me with a $10 a month penalty for NOT having cable TV. That's theft. Charging me for something that I do not get? Theft...


I've done Skype to Skype with people and the quality was so good it was scary. It was like they were sitting here in the room with me.

But being tethered to my pc with a stupid little headset is not an option and most people I communicate with do not have skype anyway.

I could get Skype in and Skype out so I can call land/cell lines but doing it over my iPhone is just not feasible and the Belkin phone is junk.

I do not want that scam device, "Magic Jack" for several reasons, #1 being that you are required to leave a Windows computer running 24/7. I do not use windows, I use Ubuntu Linux. I have a windows home theater pc but it is not connected to the internet and NEVER will be. I do not trust or like windows at all. Period.
I also heard that Magic Jack listens in on your calls and interrupts your calls with advertisements based on key words it picks up from your conversation. That's UNCOOL... No thanks...

And again, Windows is not an option. I refuse to use it. Period.


I need some sort of phone system that will work transparently on my Road Runner cable 10Mbps connection, that allows me to call land lines and cell phones and that allows anyone from anywhere to call me with their land line or cell phone.

I'm willing to pay up to a max of $25 a month for such a service.

I would like to be able to plug a box into my router then plug a standard cordless home phone into it so I can then make and take calls like any other old fashioned phone.
Caller ID is a must. I don't care about other features but caller ID is a must have. If I don't recognize a phone number I don't answer the phone, period. Without caller ID I would have a phone that I can't use because I wouldn't know who was calling and thus would not answer it, ever. Duh.

My house has no wiring at all in it for telephones. Not one inch of phone wire exists in my house. So I would just plug a cordless base unit into my cable router.

I've heard that Vonage is terrible. Very terrible.

Skype was decent BUT, how can I connect a normal home cordless phone into Skype? The Belkin phone is WIFI so it's a no brainer but it's a horrible phone. When it does work, it's great. But it drops calls 100x worse than AT&T..

I have heard there are Linux programs for turning a PC into a phone system but that's way above my head. I'm a simple end user, I am not a hacker. I just use Linux to browse the internet in safety, I don't do anything else with it and don't know a lot about it except that it's very trouble free.

If I can find some way to get phone over the internet for like maybe a year until the new Verizon iPhone comes out, that would be awesome.

I know you guys are really smart with this stuff so I figured I would ask here first.

Oh, and I don't need the ability to call outside of the US, heck I don't even know anyone outside of my little town. I might need to make a rare call to another city in state for my doctor but that would be about it. All those silly international plans are useless to me and a waste of money, I would NEVER call outside the US, ever. I've never even left the US. I rarely leave the bleeping house!


Is there any hope or am I just poop out of luck?

Thanks guys!

 

[DodgerKing]

I just bought an Ooma box and love the thing. I can thank the wonderful and informative members of this site for the information on it.



Ethernet from modem or router directly into the back of the box and phone line from box to one of your wall jacks to power all phones in the house, including cordless phones.

Built in answering machine/voice mail. You can access your messages and view your call log on-line

All of the features of most phone plans (caller ID, call waiting, ex) and you only have to pay your local monthly taxes and fees (for me $3/month). You can add Ooma Premier service for $10/month for a few extra features, including call blocking from numbers listed as blocked on the caller ID and black listing.

I even had my existing home phone number ported to my Ooma service

Free Home Phone Service | Ooma

Features of the standard free service and the premier $10/month service: http://www.ooma.com/products/ooma-telo/features

 

[DodgerKing]

Another one I was looking at was NetTalk.

Free Local and Long Distance Calling with netTALK's DUO

 

[Steve Mehs]

I have Road Runner cable internet and it's pretty darn fast. But I do NOT want to get Road Runner telephone service. It's $100 a month for crappy cable TV that I do not want, internet and phone. Supposedly for $33 a month each. I'm sure that after a year it will double. I don't want to pay $100 a month. I don't want their crappy cable TV.

All I have is RR internet and that's all I want from them, not one thing more, not one thing less. They already slam me with a $10 a month penalty for NOT having cable TV. That's theft. Charging me for something that I do not get? Theft...

Not sure how you can call it theft. It’s a bundling discount. Order a Whopper at Burger King, large fries at McDonalds and a Coke at Wendy’s and tell me if that’s cheaper or more expensive than just getting a #1 at BK. This is the same thing. There is no penalty, there is no theft and to call it so is completely asinine. Not sure why you’re shunning TW Digital Phone service. Depending on area, the Surf N Call package which includes your 10Mb RR and unlimited nationwide calling is in the neighborhood of $82/month, non promotional rate. You can probably get it a little cheaper if you go with TWs instate only calling plan as opposed to Nationwide in which you’d get Unlimited Texas.

And think about it. If you go with some super cheap VoIP service, look at the economics, how is that company going to make a ROI inorder to continue service, maintain service and improve service over the years? Many voice over IP companies have went belly up over the years and I cannot understand why people would go with some no name rinky dink operation just to save a dollar a month. Traditional consumer level VoIP is a complete joke, even Verizon and AT&T know it as they’ve both ceased offering their own VoIP services, VoiceWing and CallVantage, respectively, years ago. Have you ever heard of Ooma, VoiceStick, or Packet8? Do you know that if in three, six or twelve months from now if they’ll still be in business? Have you heard or Time Warner Cable? Do you know that if in three, six or twelve months from now if they’ll still be in business?

With Digital Phone, you get a new cable modem that gives you a phone jack and that’s where your phone line plugs into. You don’t need to worry about any additional hardware as it’s a combo unit, and if the modem should ever fail, TW will replace it for free. And the phone service runs over a completely separate channel, therefore will not take away from your internet bandwidth. That’s about as transparent as you can get.

 

[hd fan]

Steves makes a good point but that point is also valid for any business we start operating with , there is always risk. after reading about Ooma , MJ, Nettalk and several VoIP services or linux based installs I decided to take a risk with NetTalk , at the end all of them almost offer the same for almost the same but I like the fact that their little device does not requiere a PC always on and it was plug and play even my grandma could do it. Have not had any issue at all and have made calls to miami. For only 30 USD a year (initial cost of device 70 USD but includes first year o use) you can not go wrong even if Nettalk discontinue the service 1 year later. In any case all you asked for was an inexpensive telephone service, less than 3 usd/mo cant be beat. For safety keep a cellphone , even no longer in contract it will still connect to 911.

Major Telephone carriers like the ones mentioned in the previous post are against the development of this VoIP technologies (or have we forgot that they openly opposed it even in congress? but luckily they failed) since it means less money in their pockets. As users we were promissed years ago that market liberalisation and introduction of CLEC (competitive carriers) like cable based telephony or other carriers or whatever will lower basic phone services and improve quality. I do not know in the states but here in Canada I still can not beleive that almost 10 years later after I came here a new telephone user has to pay 25 cad/mo for basic phone service without any features at all when I remember that I paid less than that when I subscribed to ma Bell at the time. That promise is still that a promise but most people seem to forget about it and beleive that "the freedom to have several choices" results in a benefit to them, oh yeah, keep beleiving then!.

And dont get me into the wireless side of things! please, lol

Nettalk BTW since I mentioned it , does not allow for now to port your number and might have an issue with a few routers so call them or check their forum for the list. www.nettalk.com

 

[John Corn]

I have Ooma as well and love it!

 

[Dee_Ann]

I am intrigued by the Ooma thing but the price is pretty steep for me right now. I would have to save a few months to get one.
But I am considering all options. I really do have to find a something to use at home so that I will cease to use my cell phone as my primary phone and use it only when I am away from home.

I looked at google voice but that totally baffles me, I can not comprehend it's function or use, it makes no sense to me at all.

I'm upset that Skype automatically billed me for another month without asking me first if I wanted to renew. I purchased one month of Skype out service as a test for when I went on vacation and I only used it ONE time. It's very clumsy to use on an iPhone and I did not want to renew it. But they nailed me anyway and I'm very unhappy about that. Automatic billing should be illegal.

Because of them doing that, I am pulling the plug on them, they do not allow me to have control over the billing & payment process, they just take my money when they feel like and that's uncool.

I have to do something, this is really, really getting on my last, raw nerve..

 

[charper1]

Google Voice and online softphone are fairly easy to get and use once you can get past the mental aspect of it. You can also check out Internet Phone Service & Broadband Phone Service by ViaTalk VoIP for a traditional VoIP service. They have both monthly or yearly billing. I buy it 2 years at a time for $199. Easy to setup too. I have had them for years with ho issues.

 

[DodgerKing]

If Ooma is too costly, try NetTalk

 

[John Corn]

Ooma is expensive upfront, I understand!!
It's just Ooma has been absolutely trouble free for me.

 

[azgreg]

I've had Phone Power for a couple of years and they've been great. I've needed customer service a couple of times and they've answered quickly and resolved my problems. You get a 30 day trial at their website and the price you pay is dependant on your contract. $20, month to month. $17 for a year. $15 for two years. Free EQ and activation.

VoIP Phone Service | FREE VoIP Calls | Phone Power VoIP Provider

 

[pback]

+100 for Nettalk. I think not having the computer on all the time to make a call is excellent, $30 a year is waaaay cheap.

Here is the comparison chart, http://www.nettalk.com/competition

I have the free application on an iPhone, works really well calling all over NA.

 

[Stargazer]

I was reading about Google Voice and an online softphone. I read that some accounts will not support it while others would. Can someone use a SIP device like one has for NetTalk and plug in the information to make it work with Google Voice making it work like a softphone? This would avoid the fees altogether if it could be done.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Well, I hope I don't regret this but I just got the Vonage Lite $9.95 a month package. No contracts or obligations so if it is poo I can get out of it.
I purchased a set of three AT&T cordless phones that run on 1.9ghz so as to avoid microwave and WIFI problems to plug into the Vonage box.
The features Vonage offered looked pretty attractive for the price. Now I'll see if they stand up to my picky, picky standards.

My biggest thing is to stop using my iPhone except for life and death emergencies, they are KILLING me with their rip off prices.
I just need to sit it out a while longer until they come out with the next gen iPhone on Verizon then it's buh bye AT&T forever!

Those other systems you guys brought up looked awesome but a little pricey for me so I went with the bargain basement deal, for now.
At least there's no contract or obligation and I can switch if I have to.

Thanks guys, you rock!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have been using a Magic Jack for 3 years now and it has worked well.

The only issue I have with it is they had no local numbers for my area. So to get around that I got a local number from Skype and have the call forwarded.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

+100 for Nettalk. I think not having the computer on all the time to make a call is excellent, $30 a year is waaaay cheap.

Here is the comparison chart, netTALK DUO Vs. Competition | netTALK.com, INC.

I have the free application on an iPhone, works really well calling all over NA.

I see they don't mention Skype. My employer dropped all our remote POTS landlines and left it up to us to get a replacement. Skype is as little as $30/year with a local number, VM, and unlimited long distance. Also, no computer required.

The only downside is that there is no interactive support, but so far I have not had a need for it....

 

[harshness]

You can also check out Internet Phone Service & Broadband Phone Service by ViaTalk VoIP for a traditional VoIP service. They have both monthly or yearly billing. I buy it 2 years at a time for $199. Easy to setup too. I have had them for years with ho issues.

I use ViaTalk as well. If you can keep the crisis hotline traffic down to under 500 minutes, the monthly charges are around $17 for just about every feature known to man.

 

[mike123abc]

I use viatalk. $179 for 2 years. There is a $2.50/month 911 and tax billed every month.

Unlimited US&Canada 60 minutes international every month. Unlimited really means 5000 minutes if you read the fine print.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Well, I have had my Vonage phone a little under a week now and I am pleased to say that it seems to work really well.
I can't really find anything to complain about it.

I am however very, very aggravated by phone calls from debt collectors who are seeking the previous owner of my new phone number.
I am a day sleeper and the other day Capital One called for the 700th time (average 4-6 times a day) and I snapped when they woke me up on SATURDAY morning.

I cursed out the little dude like nothing he had ever heard before and told them if they didn't stop calling me and remove my number from their computer that I would drive up there and whup some butts. Rule #1: Do NOT make a red head angry. Capital One totally broke Rule #1.

So we shall see what happens Monday.

I guess the one thing I don't like is that they don't offer the option to blacklist individual phone numbers. You can block calls from people that try to hide their caller ID info and that's good but I wish I could block individual numbers from reaching me. That is really the only shortcoming I can see with their service.

I purchased a very nice set of cordless phones from newegg Newegg.com - AT&T CL82309 1.9 GHz Digital DECT 6.0 3X Handsets Cordless Phone Integrated Answering Machine and they work great!
They are designed not to interfere with WIFI and microwave ovens and for me that's a big plus. I also carried one across the street to my neighbors house and it worked great from I would guess, almost 100 yards away and through two houses. I put the base unit in my little home office / computer room then put chargers/extensions in the kitchen and on my headboard. The quality is really good and clear. I logged into the Vonage controller and set the audio quality (bandwidth) to the highest and gave it highest priority over everything else. The handsets also have speakerphones built into them and they work well there too. Call waiting with caller ID works just fine too.

So, essentially I now have a real home phone for the first time in over 10 years! Now my AT&T cell phone (buncha thieves!) is to be used only for life or death emergencies, on the road, etc.. But never, never used as a home phone anymore. Not after they nailed me with a $727 one month bill.
My bills had been consistantly less than $50 a month for 10 years when it was Centennial Wireless but then AT&T bought them out and changed my plan and played sneaky thief in the night games on me.

So now I'm waiting for the next generation iPhone to come out at Verizon and at that time I plan to dump AT&T forever and switch to Verizon. IF, AT&T hasn't consumed them as well.

They are about to gobble up T-Mobile so the options (here) are dropping rapidly. I refuse to use Sprint (I had them before and they suck!). If I go to Verizon later in the year I can get on the family plan with my folks and get a next gen iPhone with a basic plan, minimum data, etc.. I just need a small bit of internet when I leave the house like gas price apps or shopping apps so I can find best prices locally when I'm shopping. A good smart phone is invaluable when you are out shopping and trying to save money.

But darned if I am going to use one to play silly games or watch movies or TV or listen to music or download ringtones.

And at average $5 each to send text messages? Oh heck no... Never again.. Text messages are OUT... That's the biggest rip off I've ever seen!

Anyway, for now I am happy with the basic $9.95 a month (like $14 with tax and fees) for Vonage.

I wonder though what I have to do to ensure that it remains an unlisted number? I know with AT&T I had to pay a monthly fee to have an unlisted number on my home phone way back when. Wow. That's a rip off! I guess I need to call Vonage and ask them..

But yeah, Vonage is pretty decent so far.. I think I made a good choice...

Thanks guys for all your input, I am still going to look into all your suggestions and if in the future I have problems or need to upgrade to features that Vonage doesn't offer, I will for sure consider all your suggestions...

You guys rock!

 

[mike123abc]

That is one of the things I like about viatalk. You can blacklist numbers. You can also have numbers that are allowed to ring. You can for example say that between certain hours all calls go to voice mail except a list. You can also pattern match on the name/number. So you could route all 800/888/866 and unknowns to voicemail.

You can also set numbers to get a recording to remove from list and you do not want their calls.

You can even have numbers forced to answer questions to prove they are not a computer. For example you can have all the people on your white list go through. Anyone else has to answer a question (they say punch in a code - if they do not punch in the code they are not allowed to ring through).