 otty
join:2008-10-24
Revelstoke, BC | why pay monthly? I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. |
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 knightmbEverybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN | said by otty:I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. People still want phones. I like talking on a phone that doesn't depend on my PC to work. Skype / MagicJack / etc is cool and all, but they are only one solution to the many that exist and what people want from a phone service.
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 elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO | said by knightmb:said by otty:I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. People still want phones. I like talking on a phone that doesn't depend on my PC to work. Skype / MagicJack / etc is cool and all, but they are only one solution to the many that exist and what people want from a phone service. you can get skype wi-fi based phones that are about the size of a cell phone that work just fine with no PC |
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elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA Reviews:
 ·SONIC.NET
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| said by elios:said by knightmb:People still want phones. I like talking on a phone that doesn't depend on my PC to work. you can get skype wi-fi based phones that are about the size of a cell phone that work just fine with no PC A $150 proprietary WiFi phone (or the $80 cheep Belkin desk phone) may do the trick, in terms of turning off the PC, but why can't Skype produce an ATA, so we can use our existing phones? |
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elios
join:2005-11-15
Springfield, MO
1 edit | said by elray:said by elios:said by knightmb:People still want phones. I like talking on a phone that doesn't depend on my PC to work. you can get skype wi-fi based phones that are about the size of a cell phone that work just fine with no PC A $150 proprietary WiFi phone (or the $80 cheep Belkin desk phone) may do the trick, in terms of turning off the PC, but why can't Skype produce an ATA, so we can use our existing phones? they have them too if you want one
have you look at the skype store on the site?
edit or at lest they USED to sell one
guess no one even wanted to buy it
mind you if you did use ATA you would lose most of things that make skype nice like PC to PC calls and what not
which is why i guess they dont sell it any more |
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 J E F FWhatta Ya Think About Dat?Premium
join:2004-04-01
Kitchener, ON
·Rogers Hi-Speed
 ·Rogers Portable ..
 ·magicjack.com
| reply to otty
said by otty:I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. How the heck did you do that???? I was on the phone with them for 2 hours until I broke down and accepted their $7.99/month package...although I have yet to see anything billed to my account in over a month, so maybe it's free now, I have no idea. I got magicjack...seems to be a time lag when talking (think of when CNN does an interview and there is always a pause) but otherwise good for like $12 bucks a year or whatever they charge.
And yeah, that was $7.99 Canadian...incoming only...sort of an unadvertised plan.
Won't confront me non if they go out of business, really, as long as I don't have to call again and beg and beg and beg to be let go. Crap, these guys are worse then a clingy ex-girlfriend...even they'd get the picture after an hour or so.
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"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943 |
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 WiFiIt's In The Air
join:2002-06-06
NiagaraFalls
·ikTel Networks
·Vonage
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to otty
said by otty:I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. Here's why: My parents are almost 80. You must agree that the older you become, you want to be left in your existing comfort zone, that is, "less change" is better.
My parents had been with Bell Canada since the early 50's. Two years ago, when I was in the process of researching VOIP and, more specifically, Vonage my father happened to mention one day that he was becoming more frustrated with Bell Canada. By now he also had cancelled their cable TV and replaced it with Bell's satellite service as well as ordering two of their cell phones. Bell kept increasing rates on phone and satellite, they were under contract on the cells and the company kept harrassing them to switch to a new contract for free! (read into that, no cancellation fee but the replacement contract was longer and not nearly as good...as if this is a huge surprise). Bell was then given permission by the government to change their billing system so that all services were billed together. IT was a nightmare for my parents and most other Bell subscribers. Every month my parents' bill had errors and my father would waste a minimum of 90 minutes per month dealing with customer (non)service in India to fix it.
A few months later I signed on to Vonage. I spent time explaining to my parents about the service and after about 6 months, they let me assist them with subscribing to cable Internet and Vonage. They had two mandatory criteria before they would switch: 1. They did not want to lose their telephone number, 2. They wanted no changes to their telephone wiring and sets and still wanted to use them. (Using VOIP where you had to be at a computer was NOT an option. Only my mother uses the PC, my father would not know what to do and has no interest in it.)
AS of now, my parents like Vonage. There are many features they do not use however my father, being the one who pays the bills, likes the fact that he is spending a lot less each month and has more features than they will ever need. In some respects they are NOT paying less because they did not have broadband before this so that monthly cost had to be added. They write that off to amazinging faster Internet service that they had never before experienced.
They were also amazed when I explained and turned on the anonymous caller blocking that most telcos here in Canada do not offer. They have noticed fewer telemarking calls. They also like obtaining their monthly invoice on the Internet.
They are with me in arguing that Canadians should not be paying more for the same service. We both have the basic 500 minute/mo plan at $19.99/mo that is $5 less in the US.
So, why pay monthly? For those that have been around a while, it's all about migrating as transparently as possible. And Vonage lets you do that.
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Type slowwwwwwer.....I can't keep up! |
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otty
join:2008-10-24
Revelstoke, BC
1 edit | reply to elios
said by elios:said by knightmb:said by otty:I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. People still want phones. I like talking on a phone that doesn't depend on my PC to work. Skype / MagicJack / etc is cool and all, but they are only one solution to the many that exist and what people want from a phone service. you can get skype wi-fi based phones that are about the size of a cell phone that work just fine with no PC May be true people still want phones, just like they want mp3 players AND cell phones AND tvs AND pcs AND gpss seperate, but why? As usual its just people following the trend. Just moved from the UK where it's cheap to have your mp3 AND gps AND internet AND (kinda) PC in one, AND, at home, your internet and tv on a big screen. No matter the money to be made on keeping all of this (and other services I can't think of right now) seperate, eventually the big corp.s will learn, and provide it ALL....As I pointed out about VOIP its already here  take advatage if you're in the 'know'.
EDIT: Want some proof? check out Virgin Medias 20mb service I had over there (freely upgraded by more than 2x in my first year). This is REAL cometition getting REAL service (no downtime in 2 years, no caps(throttled daily after 2gb download to 7mb...no extra charge)) The US should take notice NOT TO MENION CANADA WHERE IT RELLY SUCKS!!!
»allyours.virginmedia.com/html/in···_xl.html |
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nitzanPremium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
kudos:2 | reply to elray
said by elray:but why can't Skype produce an ATA, so we can use our existing phones? Because they don't want you to use an ATA.
They're not in the business of selling $5/month (or whatever) phone lines - their whole business plan revolves around the fact that you can only use their service around your computer - which means that even if they sell you "unlimited" service, you're going to use it far less than if it was connected to a regular phone.
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Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation |
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elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to elios
said by elios:they have them too if you want one have you look at the skype store on the site? edit or at lest they USED to sell one guess no one even wanted to buy it mind you if you did use ATA you would lose most of things that make skype nice like PC to PC calls and what not which is why i guess they dont sell it any more If they did, I never saw it, and I've looked at the Skype Store since its inception, and I've never seen a web reference to one. I suggest you're confused with something that was a USB device.
I'm not sure what the technical limitation is - probably you're right, that they want to maintain a proprietary interface so their extensible feature set works, some of which you'd lose with a traditional set.
To me, that's very short-sighted. Interoperability is key to the broad adaptation of any technology.
But I can't argue with Skype's modest success. Obviously, it appeals on both cost, and accessibility, to a sector of the market that is not so tied to area codes, dialable numbers, and circuit-switched connections. |
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