Residential Long Distance. One of my biggest pushes towards a VoIP provider was cheap long distance. Now in the U.S. at least with SBC they now have a plan for Unlimited Long Distance. The price is 30.00 a month if you do not have a couple of required features on the line already like Caller ID and a feature like 3 Way or Call Waiting etc. in which case that lowers the price to 20.00 a month. Then to top that off I have two lines in my house and by allowing them to consolidate my phone lines in to one bill they were able to offer me the Unlimited Long Distance on both lines for a single 20.00 a month charge. Now this is in the U.S. and with SBC that I know of but other companies will follow shortly if they have not already. So my question now becomes is there any reason to use a VoIP provider for outgoing calls other then cheap long distance? The other thing I was liking with some of the VoIP providers was the ability to have a incoming line from any major area so even if I live in CA I could have a NY number which is cool if you have people that call you from there or want some sort of phone spoofing (Not me of course :) ). Other then these reasons can anyone see why you would want to use a VoIP provider? I may have just saved my self some time and money choosing to use SBC now for my long distance at this one low rate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20031218/b11395f2/attachment.htm
Robert Mann wrote:> Residential Long Distance. > > One of my biggest pushes towards a VoIP provider was cheap long > distance. Now in the U.S. at least with SBC they now have a plan for > Unlimited Long Distance. The price is 30.00 a month if you do not have > a couple of required features on the line already like Caller ID and a > feature like 3 Way or Call Waiting etc. in which case that lowers the > price to 20.00 a month. Then to top that off I have two lines in my > house and by allowing them to consolidate my phone lines in to one bill > they were able to offer me the Unlimited Long Distance on both lines for > a single 20.00 a month charge. Now this is in the U.S. and with SBC > that I know of but other companies will follow shortly if they have not > already. So my question now becomes is there any reason to use a VoIP > provider for outgoing calls other then cheap long distance? The other > thing I was liking with some of the VoIP providers was the ability to > have a incoming line from any major area so even if I live in CA I could > have a NY number which is cool if you have people that call you from > there or want some sort of phone spoofing (Not me of course :) ). > > Other then these reasons can anyone see why you would want to use a VoIP > provider? I may have just saved my self some time and money choosing to > use SBC now for my long distance at this one low rate.1) International calls are still a lot cheaper. 2) Price Competition. The threat of VoIp is a major factor in inducing land carriers to keep costs reasonable. 3) Not really a good reason, but I would still cite quality. My experience with some of the cut-rate land carriers is that the quality ranges from acceptable to terrible, depending upon where the call originates. While the same is true of some VoIP carriers, the continued migration to VoIP should drive improvements, and, it is really much easier to try a number of VoIP carriers to find the one with the best quality. 4) At least for the present, it is possible AND trivial to use multiple VoIP carriers to provide failover, at little or no additional cost. This is not, as far as I know, possible with land carriers, at least not for little or no cost. 5) A single VoIP connection supports multiple simultaneous outgoing calls from any number of sites for no extra charges. No land line company can even come close to this for the price. 6) When, and if, the quality/reliability improves sufficiently, a DID line in the area code of your choice, which provides 6 simultaneous call presentations for $7.99/month, will beat any land line hands down. Summary: if you're the only caller, calling only to the US, then you might be crazy to not use a land line, especially given the deals currently available and the 911 issue (but see http://www.vonage.com/features_911.php). Even then, if you already have broadband in house (or at home), VoIP amy be an attractive alternative, if only for the control it gives you over your phone service.
Not all VoIP providers will have Vonage's 911 issues. It's perfectly possible for a VoIP provider to provide outbound caller information to the PSAPs if they spend the time and money to do so. Stephen> Summary: if you're the only caller, calling only to the US, then you > might be crazy to not use a land line, especially given the deals > currently available and the 911 issue (but see > http://www.vonage.com/features_911.php). Even then, if you alreadyhave> broadband in house (or at home), VoIP amy be an attractivealternative,> if only for the control it gives you over your phone service. > > _______________________________________________ > Asterisk-Users mailing list > Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Hi Stephen, Interesting ....>6) When, and if, the quality/reliability improves sufficiently, a DID >line in the area code of your choice, which provides 6 simultaneous call >presentations for $7.99/month, will beat any land line hands down.I did not know that one connection can have many simultaneous call presentations. I just tried with my iconnect account, So while I was calling in to an * extension, I tried calling the same iconnect number again. It didn't give me an engage tone, infact it came to the * as well. Six simultaneous presentations you mentioned here is for VoicePulse, right ? Do you know the limitation for Iconnect ? I can't use VoicePulse because I live in California, and need California numbers. Thanks SW