New dummy question of the week-

13 years ago

(I realize I've fallen behind on my dummy questions, but I'd rather not take your time with lame ones, so I've been saving up- I hope this one is worth the wait!)

OK, here it is. How best to take advantage of using the computer and internet as telephone, that is the question. Whether tis better to abandon land lines completely or suffer charges from different sources, or KISS and just stick with a simple contract-free tracfone and QWest, or what?

Fo' example: Best Buy is advertising Ooma Telo which (as I understand it) allows you to plug in your telephone (bet it won't know what to do with my dial phones!) and use your internet connection to make all US calls with no additional charges; For $249.99 you can ditch your wire forever.

But what about the person on the other end? Do they need to be on the same, or a similar system, or can you call any number regardless of how the other guy is set up? And if it's universal, will the 'net be able to handle the load?

And what other questions that I haven't even thought of yet? For example, why does that system cost 250 bucks when there was a free program years ago that let Windows 98 users talk with each other over their computers? This has to be a very over-priced router and simple program, I am guessing, but you'd still save money in eight months if it works.

I'm looking forward your answers, and thanks. I tell you, this 21st century stuff is keeping me up nights ...

:-0 Mark

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Comments (7)

mike_kaiser_gw
13 years ago
Magic Jack (as seen on TV, available lots of places) is supposed to work pretty well although from what I've read setting it up can be a challenge and technical support is essentially non-existent. I think they get about $30 per year for service. Of course, for the system to work your computer needs to be up and running 24/7/365. You also loose telephone service if the power goes out or you internet connection goes down. The person on the other end can use any kind of telephone.

Without looking the system you mention seems to eliminate the need for the PC.
azinoh
13 years ago
The question you really need to answer is-what level of telephone reliability do you require? If you want to get rid of a landline to save $, that's your choice...but you have to realize that that alternatives simply don't have the same level of dependability as a landline. There are just too many things that can go wrong (power loss-loss of internet-cellphone loss of signal or system overloads). This situation will probably improve over time..it's just not there yet.

I am probably in an ever-decreasing minority, but I will keep my POTS landline (plain-old-telephone-system) until it gets taken away from me. Maybe by then, internet telephony will have improved to meet my level of satisfaction. Considering what it does and the complexity required to produce the desired result, the standard telephone system is without doubt the single most reliable piece of technology I have ever used. I won't give it up easily. I don't have a cellphone and don't want one.
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owbist
13 years ago
Below is a link to a comparison of MajicJack and ooma Telo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compare Magicjack and ooma Telo
DA_Mccoy
13 years ago
Consumer Reports gave Magic Jack a nod.

DA
daylilydayzed
13 years ago
My son who is in The US Navy, said Magic Jack was a piece of crap when he tried it. Didn't work for him.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
13 years ago
Magic jack didn't work for me as my connection was not fast enough to tolerate 'trying' to carry on a conversation. It also took about an hour or more to get a return authorization number from magic jack before I could mail the thing in its original packaging back to them to get credit.

When there are occasional power outages, I am always happy to have my land line phone for entertainment and keeping in touch with the outside world, since I am 'quite' rural. If/when you have problems with your Internet Provider, (and are relying on it for your phone) you will then likely have no phone service either until things are fixed.

You might go to the link below to see if your IP is fast enough for quality phone service via VOIP.

Here is a link that might be useful: VoIP speed test
marknmt
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks to you all. It's easy for me to see that waiting for the technology to get sorted out/firmed up is not a bad option.

Best,

M

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