[kwlug-disc] VoIP replacement for land line

Mon Nov 4 14:37:53 EST 2013

Khalid,

A few couple of questions: 
How do you define "many minutes" local and to the US? are we talking about 5,000 minutes or 20,000 minutes per month?
Are those minutes to many numbers or to a limited number of locations?

Depending on how you want to use it there are many different solutions with voip.ms

For Canadian number it is 99 cents per month plus the e911 that i think is $1.95. And the amount of features are awesome (e.g. Call forward and DISA, call transfer, unlimited extensions, etc) and 1/2 cent per minute almost anywhere in Canada (I think the Yukon is 1 cent).

If you have people that you call regularly in the States you could set up a virtual number there and have them call you, That's what I do for Mexico. My parents don't pay for local calls in Mexico, and I don't pay any extra for incoming calls from that line.

If people in your family usually call the same people for those long calls, you can set up an ATA at the remote location (about $70) and just call extension to extension which is free. That applies for anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection to connect the ATA

Alternatively they can set up a SIP client (soft-phone) on the computer or on the smartphone and use it as an extension. 

To give you an idea of cost: I pay about $13 a month and that includes, 
- my line with e911 (this line does not get much use as everybody at home uses cell phones)
- A virtual phone number in Mexico at a flat $9 per month. Here sometimes we rack 4,000 or 5,000 minutes
- On my cell phone plan I can set up one free number that I can call to as much as I want (something like "my five").  I did set up my home phone as my free number, I then  up a DISA on my DID. When I call home from my cell phone, it asks me for a code, and gives me a tone for me to dial anywhere, so pretty much all the calls from the cell phone would cost 1 cent per minute which can save a ton on cell charges.

Plus added advantages. I configured it such as, when my parents call my Mexican line, They receive a menu "press 1 to call me at home, press 2 to call me at my cell". that way they can always reach me

Raul Suarez 

Technology consultant 
Software, Hardware and Practices 
_________________ 
Twitter: rarsamx 
http://rarsa.blogspot.com/ 
An eclectic collection of random thoughts

On Friday, October 25, 2013 12:38:36 AM, unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca> wrote:

There was a thread some time ago about alarm system and voip, I forget 
whom - was a new move to a new subdivision. Solved eventually through a 
settings change on the ATA, I believe, but it took some sleuthing to 
find. (And ultimately the multiple techs consulted learned something new.)

What may also work for you:

- I am assuming you wish to continue to use your regular land line phone 
sets for all conversations. Especially since you likely have to have 
physical copper to which the security system connects to. (What happens 
beyond the copper connection being transparent.)

An SPA3102 type device will let you connect your land line and register 
with a voip provider - so will let you exercise voip until you're 
confident in it. When you are, disconnect the land line - no other 
changes needed. [Oksana does this, and at last report is very happy with 
it. I believe with unlimitel, before it changed, and before voip.ms was 
discussed on the list as being the best candidate.] It will also let you 
do cost routing - e.g. landline for local, voip for long distance, 
automagically.

- SPA3012 and SPA siblings may be hard to find. I have seen references 
that PAP replacements Linksys came out with are not near the same 
quality. Avoid in favour of other units (which I don't recall off the 
top of my head).

If you're ready to give up on the landline, the SPA little brothers (I 
forget models) [John will know.] will do to provide the voip / telephone 
set connection.

- although you can take these devices with you wherever you go, they 
have enough bulk that you probably don't want to. If you are looking for 
the portability of something like a magicJack instead or as well, you 
may be into a multi-provider situation. (Which not be unacceptable to 
you - especially if you forward one to the other, unless or until you 
actually travel.)

The one gotcha in this is although you can forward many voip providers 
to the one you register (letting you receive calls from any provider), 
the SPA's will normally only let you dial out voip via one provider. 
(You can set special speed dial codes to get around that.)

More current units may let you register with more than 1 voip provider, 
and avoid that.

Regardless, softphones will work both ways with however many providers 
you like - they're able to register more than once.

For provider choosing, you can exercise as many as you like via 
softphones, with no other changes - letting you investigate / gain 
confidence with a provider before actually pulling a trigger. Letting 
you deal with the hardware side separately in the mean time.

On 13-10-24 10:25 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> I am reviving an old thread, since I am in the market for replacing my land
> line.
>
> Currently Bell charges ~ $34 a month with no features at all. The only
> thing that is stopping me is that we have a monitored alarm system that
> requires a land line. Some people tried to connect the alarm system to the
> pseudo land line coming into the VoIP device, and it worked with some
> systems. Most reported it does not work though. My current company requires
> something like $600 to upgrade the keypad to add a cellular option instead
> of the land line, and add $10 a month for that.
>
> I use a lot of minutes to the USA, and others in the house us a lot of
> local minutes, so pure voip.ms may not cut it. Even with a DID and $4.95 a
> month (Kitchener Waterloo) for incoming, there is still a $0.01 per minute
> outgoing.
>
> MagicJack seems iffy if you transfer your current number to them, so don't
> want to risk that with a company that does not have phone support.
>
> Currently considering Ooma. It is a hardware VoiP device that offers almost
> free calls to Canada (almost because you pay $4 a month in taxes and
> government fees, and you get 911).
>
> If you want unlimited US calling, then you do it for $10 a month.
>
> And they have a 30 day trial, after which you can return it, or switch your
> current number to it.
>
> It is sold at Costco (online only) with a WiFi adapers
> http://www.costco.ca/.product.576100.html
>
> Or at BestBuy/Futureshop retail with a Bluetooth adapter (for those who
> don't have handsets)
> http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/ooma-ooma-telo-voip-internet-phone-system-with-bluetooth-adapter-telo-canadabt/10216459.aspx
>
> Any one tried that?
> Anyone has voip.ms with many family members talking locally and to the USA?
> Anyone has a monitored alarm with a VoiP system or cellular? Which company?
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Colin Mackay<zixiekat at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> I currently use voip.ms.  It's not free, but it is pay as you go.
>> Currently I spend about $25 every three-four months for my 519 number.
>> They charge $5.95 / month for the phone number and in US/Can it's something
>> like $0.0052 per minute.  (0.52 cents)
>>
>> Example:  In April I spent 04h 41m 39s on the phone.  It cost $1.58875 for
>> that time.
>>
>> I've never found a reliable 'free' solution that doesn't cost some amount
>> of money initially.  For a while, you could pay Fongo $50 for plain old SIP
>> access and use whatever device you wanted, but that changed.  Now it's an
>> ATA you purchase and I can't comment on their reliability.
>>
>> I just use a small PC as an asterisk server and a Linksys ATA to let my
>> old fashioned phones work, but you could just use a free SIP softphone to
>> talk directly to voip.ms...
>>
>> --
> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
> 2bits.com, Inc.
> Fast Reliable Drupal
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> wrong." -- H.L. Mencken
>
>
>
>
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