School me on VOIP - voice over IP

   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #21  
VOIP costs are low because they avoid the regulatory costs and state & local taxes associated with the traditional telephone networks (PSTN or Public Switched Telephone Networks). The states haven't woke-up yet, but they are in for a big short-fall in revenue. Lucky for us, the FCC ruled a few weeks ago that nobody can tax or regulate VOIP!!

If you have stable broadband Internet access, then a VOIP based phone service may be a safe bet. Otherwise, you might not be happy.

Many people think that your dial-tone "comes from God", but God hasn't yet found the world of VOIP.... meaning that completely safe and reliable service is not there yet.....

The entire communications industry will be transformed as a result of VOIP..... it's as big as the original break-up of AT&T.

In 3 years, VOIP will be common place. Good old "Plain-Old Telephone Service" will fall by the wayside, it's a loosing bet for the local exchange carriers. Just like rotary-dial phones died in the 1970's....
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #22  
BZZZZZZZT wrong.

"Looks like Vonage (and by extension, all the other VoIP services) have lucked out: the FCC just ruled that Vonage is an “interstate service”, which basically means they’ll be regulated by the FCC rather than have to deal with the patchwork of rules and regulations that could be imposed on them by each individual. Doesn’t mean they’re completely in the clear, since states can still impose fees and taxes for some things, but it does mean that Vonage and the others aren’t at risk of being regulated to death. Well, except by the Feds, that is."http://www.engadget.com/entry/7831594493871351/

That means that it wont be regulated by the states and DC. The 911 surcharge didnt go upi because people are flocking away from POTS. It went up because VoIP isnt in the 911 system, you might want to call your voip company and ask if 911 will get your address when you dial it. Vonage for one is not in the database I know for sure.

Someone has to pay, and the voip's cant be regulated. Figure on paying later, the Telcos have good lawyers.

What you to going to see is the voips getting taxed (different than regulated) and the Telcos getting deregulated for real. You cant change your price when you are tarriffed. The surcharges that are placed on your bill are not Telco charges, IE. 2 bucks/line for internet in schools, 911, ect are put there by govts. The telcos get deregulated, those go away, or apply across the board.
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #23  
<font color="blue"> Vonage for one is not in the database I know for sure. </font>
From the Vonage site,

Vonage offers 911 dialing to all customers. When you dial 911, your call is routed from the Vonage network to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for your area. (What is a PSAP?) There are several important differences between our Emergency Services dialing and traditional 911 dialing that you need to know:

Here's a link to the entire explanation.
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #24  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ... so I think it is impossible to transfer that phone number to Vonage.
- Two people who sit within 10 feet of me have done this with DSL broadband service.
It is NOT impossible.

...can't avoid the cost of primary phone service to host Vonage.
- Also not true. -MikePA )</font>

Mike- ok, I'll bite. How does it work? Does the primary phone line become a numberless DSL-only service drop, incapable of use by a handset or modem? There must be a copper pair entering the house somehow. Is that pair simply billed as a component within their DSL-only service?
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #25  
You still have a copper pair running into the house, but the local phone company has nothing to do with it. The one person originally had his local phone service and DSL from Verizon. He switched his DSL service to Covad (cheaper), then went wiith Vonage and dropped his Verizon phone service. So, my guess is that it became a numberless DSL-only service drop.
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #26  
You are right Mike, what happens is you go to a answering service. Your address is NOT located automaticly to 911 as it is with pots dialing. You have to set up your add within a Vonage database not the 911 database.

Voip is a interesting service, it isnt the be all to end all.
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #27  
I believe the local phone company still owns the copper wire to the house. They are now receiving a fee from Covad that gives Covad the overall responsibility and use of the wire so they now appear to be the owner to the homeowner. Agree that it looks like the local phone company have nothing to do with it anymore but it still brings them a small amount of revenue with virtually no ongoing cost.
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #28  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( After some unreasonable ATT charges we cancelled all long distance service and now rely on phone cards. We renew the same cards to maintain the same access number. Each handset here has the access/password codes programmed on an autodial button to make it simple. We are paying less than $20 to renew 600 minutes on the cards.
)</font>

California,
I'm still waiting on either cable or DSL access for my house. The prepaid cards sound very interesting. Wherebouts do you buy these cards that are renewable?

Thanks in advance,

Moon of Ohio
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #29  
Moon,

MCI Rechargeable Prepaid Phone Cards:
$19.99 for 670 minutes to anywhere in the US.

We found that some of these also allow overseas calls at rates far below any alternative we have found, with two kids presently overseas.

Any time you dial, you can 'press 2 to recharge' (or something like that) and key in your credit card # to add minutes.

Available at Costco and probably a lot more places.

Here's an ebay auction for one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5735973269


(Begin rant)
Before the kids went off to college we didn't use a lot of LD, so had never upgraded from the default ATT plan that originally was the only service available. (A loong time ago!)

Then ATT apparently went nuts. I had two months of bills over $15 for 18 minutes and 9 minutes of LD calls respectively. No thanks. I refused their offer to search in their maze for a suitable custom calling plan. No more ATT for me; getting ripped off for two months showed me all I wanted to know about them.
(End rant!)
 
   / School me on VOIP - voice over IP #30  
Cal,

Did you make a call from a hotel or a non-company pay phone to get those charges??

If you did, then it isnt ATT, its deregulation that bit you in the butt. COCOT, customer owned coin operated telephones, and hotel networks can surcharge a call by the min. Those charges can be real high. You billed the call to your card and ATT got billed so they billed you. If the kids made the call, then you NEED to school them to LOOK at the card on the payphone. If it ISNT owned by Sprint, Verison, Bellsouth ect, but Joe Schmukatelli phone co, run away. There are a few COCOT's out there that wont hose you, but in my experiance, they are rare.

If it wasnt one of those or any other private party who was billing ATT, then you were hosed by ATT. I would bet it was a customer owned network though.
 

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