 | | Reception Don't get QUITE good enough reception here, inside house, with ANY wireless carrier to totally get rid of the landline, otherwise, I would in a heart beat!
Most calls are done on land line because of above issue. Have Vonage VOiP $9.99 for life plan, on landline though.
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The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ | |
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| | | Re: Reception You don't by chance use Samsung phones do you?
They make great looking phones, but their signal capture is trash. I was having problems catching signal and somebody suggested getting a Motorola.
I'm a believer now. 100% difference. | |
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| |  chambercPremium
join:2008-08-05
Irving, TX
 ·Time Warner Cable
| Re: Reception said by DataRiker:You don't by chance use Samsung phones do you?
They make great looking phones, but their signal capture is trash. I was having problems catching signal and somebody suggested getting a Motorola.
I'm a believer now. 100% difference.
While I have read about that, my wife's RAZR MAXX gets the same signal strength my S3 does. | |
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| | |  SeleniaI love DebianPremium
join:2006-09-22
Lanesboro, MA
kudos:2 | Re: Reception I have an old large house redone from top to bottom. Any form of RF capture(except very local AM/FM) has always been touch and go. I already had a very good wifi network with multiple APs setup for all devices around here. That being said, I dropped the landline long ago. I use my wifi on my cell to get and place VoIP calls. I let Google Voice do the magic of ringing that line from that number or my standard cell number(GV will hunt if my cell number is busy, offline, or ignored/rejected). Perfect reception without buying a femtocell. That being said, my and friends Pantechs, Motorolas, and Nokias see 1-3 bars(depends on the day and position) in here both on VZ(when I used them and when friends come over) and AT&T, my current carrier. Usable, but dropped calls. Samsung(several models including my old Galaxy S) tend to get 0-1 bars. The Samsung started me on this VoIP trick. It did get good wifi reception. T-Mo or Sprint, any phone can forget getting a native signal inside the house.
Screw the overpriced femtocell! This is cheaper and better!
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A fool thinks they know everything.
A wise person knows enough to know they couldn't possibly know everything.
There are zealots for every OS, like every religion. They do not represent the majority of users for either. | |
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rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | E911 Well I guess that puts a new perspective on the superiority of POTS 911. While there's technical grounds to support the assertion, the majority of the public and emergency responders don't seem to care. If they do, I'm not hearing about it. | |
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|  IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| Re: E911 I agree, E911 is one of the reasons I keep a landline (the other being the alarm dialer) as the cellular 911 calls get routed through state police dispatch to the local dispatch where a landline goes straight to the local dispatch. I have Comcast for my home phone. | |
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| | | | Re: E911 I am using a emergency dialer on a voice terminal with great success. Promote POTS all you want, but in our area, we are still using the original copper from the 40's and its prone to constant failures. The voice terminal works as a solution for the rural area and still allows the elderly to use their specialty hearing amplified phones and their familiar large button phones. Besides, the POTS line was creeping past $70/mo for a basic package. We can get a voice terminal for $15/mo on a shared unlimited plan. The voice terminal also has battery backup for use during power failures. | |
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| | | | Cell calls to 911 here are routed to the correct call center based on the location of the phone... They sound behind in the times up there... I still have a landline but it's because I have kids that like to use the phone... Alot | |
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| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: E911 If you have HSI, why not opt for something like Magic Jack and let them talk all they want. Heck, get a couple and let them all talk all they want.
I don't care if folks want to keep their POTS. I'm just interested in what quality folks see in POTS that they continue to use it. | |
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| | | | Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
·Sprint Mobile Br..
| Re: E911 Actually I think bright house was giving people the phone with RR lightning at one time. Didn't switch then either. I have a saying that you might be familiar with.. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  | |
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| | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: E911 If two gas stations sit across the street from each other and one sells gas for less, in some sense, isn't the higher priced station "broken"?
Magic Jack isn't just cheaper, it's ridiculously cheaper -- unless you worry about your kids trying to use it to call 911. Then I understand. My kids have transitioned to Skype and various other forms of on-line communication. Heck, they don't even consume many cell voice minutes. They just want data. | |
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| | | | | | Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
·Sprint Mobile Br..
| Re: E911 said by rradina:If two gas stations sit across the street from each other and one sells gas for less, in some sense, isn't the higher priced station "broken"?
Magic Jack isn't just cheaper, it's ridiculously cheaper -- unless you worry about your kids trying to use it to call 911. Then I understand. My kids have transitioned to Skype and various other forms of on-line communication. Heck, they don't even consume many cell voice minutes. They just want data.
I've always been a believer in paying the convenience fee for some things. In your example with the gas stations. I would go across the street and pay more if it wasn't as busy, etc.
As far as the phone goes, I definitely wouldn't get magicjack just because of the reviews and non-existent CS and such. But as far as the other VoIP providers go, I just haven't had any reason to switch over to anything else. The last hurricanes here the deathstar was the only thing that worked for 2 days so I also consider that as well.
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| | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: E911 Today's kids don't need CS and for $19.95/year, it can be down for a few days a month as long it's just the kids line.
Regarding the hurricane, given the frequency, two days every five years without a phone wouldn't bother me. I'd much rather pocket the money and spend it on a yearly vacation or a whopper of a vacation every five years.
To each his own but I'll always choose to save significant money provided the quality for the given context doesn't outweigh the savings. Of course I'm the kind of person that won't pay the bank 50 cents to make a web check deposit when I can use the ATM or teller for free. Screw convenience. There's a principle here. The on-line option is cheaper for them (being completely automated) and if they were smart, they'd charge for the in-person and ATM deposits (which requires their labor) and make the on-line free (which is completely automated). Corporate silliness never ceases to amaze me. | |
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| | | | | | | | | said by bobjohnson:said by rradina:If two gas stations sit across the street from each other and one sells gas for less, in some sense, isn't the higher priced station "broken"?
Magic Jack isn't just cheaper, it's ridiculously cheaper -- unless you worry about your kids trying to use it to call 911. Then I understand. My kids have transitioned to Skype and various other forms of on-line communication. Heck, they don't even consume many cell voice minutes. They just want data.
I've always been a believer in paying the convenience fee for some things. In your example with the gas stations. I would go across the street and pay more if it wasn't as busy, etc. As far as the phone goes, I definitely wouldn't get magicjack just because of the reviews and non-existent CS and such. But as far as the other VoIP providers go, I just haven't had any reason to switch over to anything else. The last hurricanes here the deathstar was the only thing that worked for 2 days so I also consider that as well. Funny you mention that, because here, Verizon was the only one of the "Big 4" that still had service. AT&T apparently doesn't have generators for their towers and neither did t-mobile or sprint.
I think for more people it's about having more than one way of reaching out. Here the cable and telephone lines were both knocked out during the hurricane, leaving only our Verizon cell phones available for use.
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My beta Ruby on Rails tutorial site! | |
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| | | | | | | | Reviews:
·T-Mobile US
·Sprint Mobile Br..
| Re: E911 said by Eek2121:Funny you mention that, because here, Verizon was the only one of the "Big 4" that still had service. AT&T apparently doesn't have generators for their towers and neither did t-mobile or sprint.
I think for more people it's about having more than one way of reaching out. Here the cable and telephone lines were both knocked out during the hurricane, leaving only our Verizon cell phones available for use.
I was actually talking about the landline that made it and the cell companies were basically down with offline and overloaded towers. I can agree with your statement that people just want more than one way to reach out. This would be my case as well. Even though just my kids are using it, I still have the home phone if I need it and I know that my POTS line has had Zero downtime in the past 10 years or so.
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| | | | Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | said by rradina:I don't care if folks want to keep their POTS. I'm just interested in what quality folks see in POTS that they continue to use it.
1. Landline works. Cell phone doesn't inside concrete building.
2. Landline, even on long distance calls from the middle of the pacific ocean, usually is free of static, echo, breaking up of the voice. Of course, this is with a CORDED landline. Cordless phones are pieces of shit.
3. Landline is cheaper than cell phone. Plus, it is regulated by the Hawaii PUC and thus those on fixed/low incomes are not suddenly hit with huge price increases. Landline has Lifeline for those on really low incomes.
4. Corded landline does not cause neck and head cancer particularly when used for extended conversations (2-3 hours). Plus, landline has no battery to die when having a long conversation.
5. Landline works during power outages.
6. Landline (corded only) insures privacy (not 100% privacy as nothing affords that but a lot more than cordless/cell phones).
7. Landline (corded only) allows one to pay credit card bills much more quickly and easily and more securely than using the internet.
8. Landline corded phone lasts 10-15 years with no repair needed, no worry about losing it, etc.
9. Corded landlines have NO CRAPPY batteries! One of my two landline phones has an excellent speaker phone in it that does not require batteries. The extreme inconvenience of having to very frequently recharge cell phones is a real putoff. I won't put up with that again. I did it with a cordless phone and never again I hope. It was in no way worth being able walk around (which I can do anyway with a long cord) to have to charge the battery frequently, have it go low battery while in the middle of a major conversation, struggling with constant corrosion of the battery contact terminals, etc.
10. 911 works during a power outage.
11. HawaiianTelCom is much prompter to fix a problem than is Time Warner Cable with their phone.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson | |
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| |  Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | I ditched my land-line and use Verizon "Home Connect" wireless, Works like a charm and our enhanced 911 system identifies it and my cell phone. POTS is not needed for 911. Home Connect is $19.95/mo saving me $30.00. The other good part is I can still use all of my wireless phones scattered around the house just like with the POTS service. | |
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| | | | | Re: E911 I was thinking about adding the Sprint version of this myself.. It sounds like a good idea. | |
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| elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA | The majority of the public is woefully ignorant on emergency response.
In Los Angeles, they don't even dispatch the truck until you've "discussed" the victim's condition with 911 for 4-5 minutes, and then, with the union-induced station furloughs, the "nearest" truck may be 15 minutes away. Heaven help you if you're calling from other-than-POTS, you don't know exactly where you're at, and you don't have someone standing outside to help the rescue ambulance find you.
You're better off catching a cab to the local ER. | |
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 Irun Manwhat obstacle?Premium
join:2002-10-18
Walden, NY | I still have a landline... ...which use primarily for incoming calls since I don't want just anyone calling my wireless number. At less than $4 a month with an Ooma Telo, it's worth it.
That being said, many of us find it's easier to have just one phone number and we're moving even faster towards a wireless only voice network.
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I turned on my computer for this? | |
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| | I only have a POTS line because of work. My company pays for my POTS line otherwise I would not have one. I have to have one so I can dial into routers and so they can contact me in an emergency if they can't reach me on my cell phone. So far I think I have made 4 phone calls this year on that line.
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. | |
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| rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. Some years ago I had Vonage and although I could not connect at 56K dialup speeds, it always managed somewhere around a 20-something kbps connection. That would be more than "good enough" for twiddling router bits.
Regarding the contacting part, unless there's some kind of area-wide fiber cut that affects your home's HSI, I see no reason to have a POTS line. That's an unlikely scenario and even if they managed to contact you, you may not be able to do any good even if you could still dial into the router. | |
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| | | | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. "That would be more than "good enough" for twiddling router bits"
You must not have to support equipment with a 5 9s SLA in remote locations.
What would HSI have to do with my POTS line or any router I manage that has a back door via POTS line?
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. | |
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| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. If you were to ditch POTS and use VOIP, it needs HSI. If it's down because of an area-wide fiber cut, you don't have service.
POTS modem to POTS modem won't do more than about 33Kbps. The 56K V90 protocol (53Kbps max) only works if the Telco termination point is digital and only one D2A conversion takes place on your side of the local loop. Then it's only on the downstream side.
So 33Kbps (more likely 28.8Kbps) is THAT much faster than ~20-something Kbps over VOIP?
For debate, I'll assume you access the router via a character-based CLI. If so, it's a highly compressible stream and an entire 80x24 character screen only contains 1,920 characters. If we want to include terminal control codes (color, bolding, positioning), perhaps an entire screen requires double that (unlikely but liberal) to 3,840 characters. 20Kbps is capable of about 2,000 characters per second with no compression. Generally text compresses at least 2:1 (usually more) which means even at 20Kbps, the screen would paint in a second. Most screens are not full which means you would be getting sub-second screen paints from a CLI with a 20-something Kbps connection. I doubt you'd notice the difference between that and POTS achieving maybe 10Kbps more (if the stars align perfectly).
Rather than making a negative claim against my qualifications, why not strengthen your point to support why your company pays for your POTS line? | |
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| | | | | | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. "If you were to ditch POTS and use VOIP, it needs HSI. If it's down because of an area-wide fiber cut, you don't have service."
Which is why I my company pays for a POTS line at my house.
"So 33Kbps (more likely 28.8Kbps) is THAT much faster than ~20-something Kbps over VOIP?"
That's great if the path between you and the VoIP provider is a clean connection. Throw in latency, packet loss, or other problems that will come up on a consumer class ISP and it goes to hell and is no longer reliable.
"For debate, I'll assume you access the router via a character-based CLI. ............... 10Kbps more (if the stars align perfectly)."
Again thrown in a less than perfect connection OR a complete loss of connectivity and all of this goes to shit.
"Rather than making a negative claim against my qualifications, why not strengthen your point to support why your company pays for your POTS line?"
It's not worth the savings to not be able to contact me in the event of an emergency. The April 2011 tornadoes left me without reliable cell service for 3 days and commercial power for 8. I only had internet while the genset was running so VoIP would have only been useful at that time.
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. | |
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| | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. There are always what-ifs for which even a POTS line won't cover. If you are that valuable, when those kinds of disasters occur, surely there's a backup plan to contact you via another means. There should also be a DR worker site to which you can travel that has everything you need.
Perhaps the latency is a valid point but the company I work for offers WFH (remote desktop protocol/Terminal Services) for thousands of employees and none complain about latency which RDP accentuates more than secure telnet. If dialup router work is so important, I would create something in the data center or at a cloud provider through which employees could RDP and then dial into routers. That doesn't doesn't solve the contact part but if you don't have power, you can only solve problems until your laptop battery dies unless you go to your car to recharge it. Still, we're talking extremes.
To each his own but at some point POTS will be gone and another solution will be required. | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. Our DR plan quite a bit more than a single POTS line. It's hard to run a CLEC without one.
"If dialup router work is so important, I would create something in the data center or at a cloud provider through which employees could RDP and then dial into routers."
How well does your plan work if the router(s) between you and the RDP is down? How do you fix a router that's in rommon remotely?
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. | |
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| | | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. When politicians don't really have anything meaningful to add, they sling mud. If you have something significant to offer, inspire us with your wisdom. | |
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| | | | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. Is that required to talk about this? | |
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| | | | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. Was that so hard? Although your tone still needs work (most of your response still supports your belief that I'm an idiot and you need to talk down to me), at least you provided some useful information and a valid point.
Regarding ECC features of the modem, why would that be something the router needs to support? It's been years since I used the AT command set but does the destination modem have to receive a specific ATA command to engage error correction and compression when it answers an inbound call? I don't recall. Regardless, if the ECC can be performed between the two modems, the router shouldn't care, should it?
Of course it isn't perfect but are you uploading new firmware through this connection? At my last company (a retailer with 1,300 locations), we transferred IOS upgrades to the POS controller in the store which hosted a TFTP server. We had problems instructing the router to get it over the WAN link because of limited WAN performance and minor packet loss. The store routers were connected via business-class DSL/cable and also had analog dialup modems.
The POS controller had software that was formerly designed for synchronizing data over dialup connections and had a very reliable file transfer mechanism.
My role wasn't that of router admin. I was the enterprise architect that crafted the 2001 conversion from dialup to persistent connections. | |
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| | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | That is why I suggested putting this infrastructure at a cloud provider or a business continuity provider like SunGuard. If your company has multiple data centers geographically dispersed, then put a bank in every data center. One should still be working. If the dial-up modem bank is off-site, even if the entire data center is out, provided analog telco inbound still works and the cloud provider is on a different coast with outbound telco service, it should be able to initiate an analog dialup modem session to whatever router is down regardless of where it is.
This also doesn't require you to be at home where the POTS line is maintained. You can be anywhere. On vacation in Florida or California or Alaska or wherever. If you have HSI and you can reach one of the redundant data centers, cloud provider or DR provider, you can initiate an analog connection to the router and do your stuff.
Yes, you still need HSI to this infrastructure from wherever you are but just because POTS dial tone still works over the last-mile from the CO doesn't guarantee it can leave the CO if the entire area is suffering some kind of massive interconnect problem. | |
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. What are you the ANTI-POTS crusader?
You have no way to win this debate because no matter what ever justification you come up with I don't think saving $2-3/mo will justify us dropping the POTS line into my house.
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. | |
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| | | | | | | | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: I only have a POTS line because of work. It's not about savings and I didn't know there would be winners and losers. I'm exploring alternatives and so far I don't see a conclusive requirement that mandates the current solution of keeping a POTS line in your house. In fact, I see many advantages to using a different approach. I suspect there are also other ways to provide serial connectivity to the router's console port vs. using dialup POTS modems but I was going with that for now.
POTS modems have been used for support to dial into mainframe/minicomputer/SAN/tape/fiber/phone switch consoles (to name a few) for a long time. At some point, that technology will no longer be viable and we'll have to figure out something different. I find it fascinating that the venerable serial port continues its existence. Even some consumer routers have a 3.3v serial interface with which one needs to communicate if you brick one after loading new firmware. I still have one of those light blue Cisco 9-pin serial cables in my basement from many years ago and I suspect it would work even with today's routers. | |
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| | Landline One reason Most people only talk on cell phones instead of landlines could be that we've been trained to not remember phone numbers anymore with the advent of contact lists. We simply choose a name and hit send or call. I have a landline for 911 access (3 children in house). And I use it kind of the same way a junk email address is used. I give the number out to people I don't want calling me and I leave the ringer off so I never have to answer it. It's selective call blocker of sorts for cell phones. | |
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| rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: Landline Choosing from a list is so old fashioned. Now we can simply tell the phone to call someone. | |
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|  duh
@airadvantage.net | Children or not, (which I have 2) I will not have a POTS line in the house. With our local cellular company being so reliable for so long, we are a cell only household, going on for 7 years now. Due to the rural location and lack of close neighbors, I opted for my oldest child to have a basic cell phone with emergency numbers programmed in it. As for others in the area, I really dont know too many people around with POTS lines (voip does not count as land line). Even my parents who are in their 70's have dumped the expensive POTS in favor of a cell to phone unit (connects like a voip box, but uses cell service) and ported their landline number. When you can usually add a line for $10 or $15 a month, it makes sense. As for quick 911 response, I repeat again, RURAL area. At best they would show in 45 minutes..... Life seemed to exist just fine before the advent of 911, I am sure it continues to do so now. | |
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| | lets define a "land line". This depends on HOW they define a land line. Of course POTS over copper is clearly a land line. But we have the land line in glorified modern forms. Both FiOS and Cable carriers force glorified land lines into your home with enticing pricing bundles even if you have no need for the land line. VoIP is another gray area. Its not directly a land line as we knew it it uses internet. However that internet usually comes in over a cable line or a fiber line. However what if your internet comes in over wireless such as a hotspot ? To add to the mix there is a cell phone base station such as Verizon Wireless home connect. This is a black box that uses cell phone towers but you plug traditional house land line phones into this. If i hide the base station box from view you would think you are using a land line. The land line is not going away its just mutating into new forms. | |
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|  mix
join:2002-03-19
Utica, MI | Re: lets define a "land line". It seems pretty clear to me a landline is attached to one location, irregardless of the transmission medium. Maybe the less familiar term "fixed phone" would be more clear. I think arguing the definition of a landline is a stretch at this point. | |
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| |  Only use it for 911 and inbound calls
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| | No cell here I'm one of the few that has NEVER owned a cellphone of any kind. Still haven't seen where I need one. The more I read about complaints people have with prices, contracts, etc, the even LESS I'd ever consider getting one!
Plus, my DSL provider (small, local company) requires a landline number before they can provide service. | |
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| | | Re: No cell here I'm with you on that one. Still use a landline phone, NEVER had a cell, and require landline for internet service. I thought I was the only old-timer here. | |
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| | | I'm cell only now but I still agree with you. I only decided to move to a cheap phone with prepaid service because I grew tired of seeing my local only landline go from $19 to $35 month in a matter of 2 years. I got my first and only cell phone 2 1/2 years ago.
I think it is a very big step backward that the world is moving away from the open and powerful pc environment to weak locked down phone devices. I guess I'm getting too old but smartphones/twitter/facebook? I really don't understand the direction tech has taken over the last decade. I understand the advantage of small and mobile, under certain circumstances, but it all seems very silly and strangely reactionary to me and much more insignificant than what came before. | |
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 linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State
 ·CenturyLink
| I have a faux land line. I have a copper pair to the home. However it was replaced with a Digital over fiber VoIP that doesn't work well and they lie about it. 911 is a joke. My local EMT is 3x faster. What I eliminate is the card with the many question 911 is required to ask callers before they dispatch.
I think it is time to call my state Commerce Commission.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| I have a copper pair to the home. However it was replaced with a Digital over fiber VoIP that doesn't work well and they lie the phone has changed. 911 is a joke. My local EMT is 3x faster. What I eliminate is the card with the many question 911 is required to ask callers before they dispatch. Also I can't have home security because of 911.
I think it is time to call my state Commerce Commission.
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Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside | |
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| | I have a Tracfone which I always keep in the car in case I get stranded along the side of the road; otherwise I wouldn't have a cell phone at all. I suppose I average one call every couple of months. | |
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 jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Ashburn, VA
kudos:1 | I'm not sure if my TV provider's phone option should be lumped together with standard POTS or kept in a separate statistical category. I feel better about my wireless phone working in a situation where service was disrupted and/or infrastructure was damaged in a widespread area compared with my VOIP option. If power is out for an extended period of time, my landline phone will be out as soon as the backup batteries are exhausted.
If severe weather makes it extremely difficult for repairs techs to reach my area, it could be several days before the service is restored. My cell phone usually only has to deal with major congestion issues as the usage increases in an emergency situation, but text messaging almost always works, and I can usually call out if I have some patience or call during off-peak hours. The wireless infrastructure seems to have a much higher priority and it is much more likely that I will have this service up and running sooner than my TV/internet service would be, provided that I even had power restored. | |
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Reviews:
·Hargray Cable
| My wife has had a cell for a long time and I never had one until I just couldn't justify the price of a landline any more. It was $46 a month for a land line and I bought a tracfone which after a year of using it cost me a whole $15 a month. The government is killing off the landlines if they know it or not because of the taxes they put on landlines. I don't know why in the world with all the POTS infrastructure why it seems they want to tax it to death. ??? Next is my phone company is living in a different time as well every little feature is an up charge, caller ID $6 a month??? Cell phone included. The phone companies can't just give you down and dirty phone service is seems. So people like myself buy cell phones and turn off the landlines.
I think it's a waste to kill a phone system that covers the whole country and works well (compared to most countries). | |
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| | | Re: Short and sweet prime cell user for the house. got free local phone with internet. dont use it that much | |
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Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
 ·Verizon FiOS
 ·voip.ms
| FIOS now charges the same for the 2-play and the 3-play, so they are begging you to use their 3-play.
I'm sick of the porting process, so I simply ported out my primary to anveo (works like a champ), and my office line to voip.ms. This way if I have a provider issue, I can always use the appropriate phone. Interestingly enough the Verizon phone taxes are higher than my typical usage for phone, so I'm still making out!
For cell I have verizon and ST (tmo), so I have 2 different providers there.
As for 911, it is suboptimal. My home alarm (nextalarm (VOIP)) has buttons to push. They bypass 911 and go straight to the source. I had to use the police one once, they were at my house in 4 minutes flat. If I dialed 911 who knows, it would have taken that long just to get through the questions.
I equate 911 calling to level one, then get passed over to level 2.
I would suggest people get smart and get the local numbers for:
fire
ambulance
police
and program them in your phone. | |
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|  CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | Re: FIOS quote:
If I dialed 911 who knows, it would have taken that long just to get through the questions.
Wow - that is slow. We have used 911 several times the last few years with a landline and never had to go longer than about 45 seconds before they rolled a truck. At the house in less than about 4 minutes...
I have an ancient cell phone but I hate using it for long calls and I have 2 kids so I keep the landline - it has been out due to our inside wiring once since we got in the house back in '99. Our cell phones have died several times in the same time period.
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Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain | |
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| | Reviews:
·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: copper landline is obsolete said by tschmidt:While I agree with you that copper is obsolete, it does in fact work well and is more reliable then other forms of communication.
We have had several week long power outages over the years here in southern NH and POTS phone service was never gone down. If a tree took out power or a pole comes down we lose power but the phone line further down the cable escapes unharmed. Being copper it is easy to provide emergency power from the Central Office. Much harder to keep Cell and Cable up for days without mains power.
/tom
with how much cell companies charge for wireless, cell sites should be required to have the same standards of backup power, but they've been let off the hook for decades. that was supposed to change in 2001, then 2003 and now it's nearly 2013.
they're probably still using load coils out in the boondocks.. that's how they can send power down for miles, yet destroy any possiblity of sending broadband. however, if your telco is ATT or Verizon they're not going to keep making the required investments to maintain it.. so your alleged rock solid performance could *NOT* be there when you REALLY need it..
several people in upstate NY and WV would tell you the same. | |
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emig5m
join:2004-02-16
Columbia, NJ | I'd get rid of my land line but I need it for DSL. Yea you can get naked DSL but then the price of the DSL jumps up without local phone then it's not much more to just have phone service on top of DSL. Also, we've had this same home phone number at the residence and in the family for to past 35 years too and I'd like to keep the number. And as far at POTS being more reliable in an emergency, hurricane Sandy brought down my copper line and DSL, it was dead for over two days, but my cellphone worked without a hitch. I was even using my data connection through my cell phone tethered to my computer for internet until the land line was fixed. I don't think one is more reliable over the other in an emergency - it's been tit-for-tat for me.... It's nice to have both sometimes... | |
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| | For 2 years I had mobile phone only. I finally got fed up with asking people to repeat themselves: "What did you say?"
The twisted pair of copper wires coming into my house is terrible, and AT&T has no plan on repairing anything. They only want to collect your monthly payment, not invest in their infrastructure.
So I set up a very nice VoIP installation using Comcast cable internet (not Comcast digital voice, but an Asterisk PBX). Audio quality is perfect, cost is about $20/month for 3 separate phone numbers, and has loads of features including automatically ringing my mobile phone when I leave the house.
IMHO, until mobile switches to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) mobile-only users will be saddled with horrible audio quality. Personally, I can't stand it and won't use cell when a landline is available. In fact, I can even (with a good data signal) use VoIP over the mobile network and make a "landline quality" call from my mobile phone if need be.
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Lifespeed | |
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gazer
join:2005-08-23
Richmond Hill, ON | wrong place sorry | |
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| | Never Answer The Wall Phone!!!
:-D
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CompTIA Network+ Certified | |
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