 bencPremium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
 ·Charter
| I Can See Why The pricing is indeed high for POTS, unless you have a pretty basic feature set.
Via AT&T, I do have a POTS line, and I also have nearly every single feature available. This includes the ability to call anywhere in the country for as long as I want, without any usage charges. Per-minute charges only kick in if I make International calls. It's a "bundle" price, where I get all those features for less than the cost of purchasing each of them separately. However, the features are grossly overpriced to begin with.
So what do I pay for it all? about $73 / mo. (after taxes). No DSL either, because I'm too far from the C.O. and DSL is slow anyway.
If I wanted basic POTS plus a couple features and unlimited local calling, I seem to remember that the cost would have been about $25-$30/mo.
So why do I persist? Line-power, that's why. The phone will keep working even if the power goes out. I've often considered downgrading the POTS to something more basic, and then using VOIP for long distance. However, I never quite do for a few reasons:
- If the power goes out, I lose the ability to make long distance calls cheaply.
- VOIP providers aren't bound to the same reliability standards. I expect, and see POTS work at pretty much all hours of the day and night. VOIP providers often have downtime for hours, for a "maintenance window." Since I have weird hours at times, that can be a problem.
- If instead of $73/mo., it's instead $30/mo. (basic POTS + two features) plus $20-$30 for unlimited VOIP, in the end I don't save that much.
- If I used multiple VOIP providers, I'd burn up the very small savings and still spend just as much as before. |
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jandar
join:2006-01-16
Middleburg, FL | Small UPS will power a cable modem and PAP for VOIP for 4-6 hours without a hiccup.
Not point at you, but I know people who say they will not go VOIP because of loss of power yet have cordless phones as their only phones. |
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bencPremium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL Reviews:
·Charter
| said by jandar:Not point at you, but I know people who say they will not go VOIP because of loss of power yet have cordless phones as their only phones. I know you aren't pointing at me, but are you serious? Surely they must understand that the base of a cordless phone won't function if the power goes out? If they want to realize the full benefits of line power, they need at least one basic phone that can operate on line power alone.
PAP? Do you mean a particular ATA, or the Linksys PAP2T? |
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 aaronwtPremium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
 ·Verizon FiOS
| said by benc:said by jandar:Not point at you, but I know people who say they will not go VOIP because of loss of power yet have cordless phones as their only phones. I know you aren't pointing at me, but are you serious? Surely they must understand that the base of a cordless phone won't function if the power goes out? If they want to realize the full benefits of line power, they need at least one basic phone that can operate on line power alone. PAP? Do you mean a particular ATA, or the Linksys PAP2T? Just put everything on UPSs. All my electronics are on a UPS. Especially my Internet router, ONT, and cordless phone. I have those set up to give me 15 to 20 hours of runtime. A generator is not an option for me since I live in a condo. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | reply to benc
said by benc:- VOIP providers aren't bound to the same reliability standards. I expect, and see POTS work at pretty much all hours of the day and night. VOIP providers often have downtime for hours, for a "maintenance window." Since I have weird hours at times, that can be a problem. I've had a CLEC that went out every night from 2AM to 3:30AM like clockwork for 2 months. Obviously trouble ticket hell since an ILEC tech will only be out between 9AM-12AM. |
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iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 | reply to benc
You can get pay-as-you-go VoIP providers. A few bucks for an incoming number if you want one, plus a penny or two per minute outgoing. You should try it sometime  |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | reply to jandar
said by jandar:Small UPS will power a cable modem and PAP for VOIP for 4-6 hours without a hiccup. And what about after 4-6 hours? What power outages are that short? What power company will spend the money and what union will repair things that quickly? 10-18 hours its around me. 45 mins fire dept babysitting, eventually leave, at 1 hour, a power truck comes, adds more yellow tape over the FD's tape, sits for 3 hours, or leaves. At 3 hours an emergency response team shows up. Walks around for a few seconds. Then sits in truck for another 2 hours for cherry picker to show up (now at 5 hours). At 5 hour mark a cherry picker shows up, goes up, looks, comes back down. At 6 hour mark, a wire spool truck shows up. Sits 1 hour. At hour 7 work starts with 3 trucks (utilimaster, cherry picker, spool truck), then wait 2-6 hours for them to finish. Your cable plant's batteries died hours ago, and probably your SLC's/RT's batteries too (generator? only if the power co gives an ETA, which happens only when there are anchors and mayors and governors talking about the power outage). |
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