Landline is cut, I’m all VoIP now
July 5, 2005 by Mike Wendland
I did it. I finally pulled the plug on my SBC landline and — gulp — now rely totally on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for my home telephone service.
Aside from the geeky and cumbersome VoIP moniker, I’ve seen very little difference between using the Internet to call and the way it’s always been with SBC, or Ameritech or Michigan Bell.
I started experimenting with VoIP a couple of months ago when I signed up for SunRocket, a Virginia-based VoIP provider that offers a pay-a-year-in-advance rate of $199. That works out to $16.58 a month. For that I get unlimited local and long-distance calls within the United States and Canada, caller ID, two free wireless phones and a host of cool new features.
When I first wrote about SunRocket awhile back, I promised a future update report on my experience:
Here’s my follow-up column from today’s Detroit Free Press.
Are you using a cable modem? I’d cut to VoIP in a heartbeat IF I could get “naked” DSL. What’s the current status on that?
One thing you might want to clarify in your article is that you can only re-use your internal phone jacks if your get your internet via cable modem, since you basically need to disconnect the public phone system from your house.
For folks like me on DSL, 2.4 or 5.8ghz wireless phones are the only way to go since DSL requires having a phone line.
I have also read a lot about people ticked off because phone carriers FORCE you to have a phone number on your DSL line (google for “naked dsl” and you’ll see what I mean).
What this means is that you can’t port the existing phone number that is paired with your DSL line, requiring people get new phone numbers if they want to do VoIP via DSL.
Phone companies are fighting naked DSL precisely BECAUSE people are dumping landline service for VoIP. Our wonderful legislators have ruled in favor of the bells and against Naked DSL.
The message here is: If you want to keep your current phone number and dump your landline in favor of VoIP, you’ll need a cable modem to do it.
Maybe you said this before, Mike, but why SunRocket? Was it that they just gave you the most for your money?
Bill Combs
Welcome to the club. Of course, I’m using Vonage down here in FL - and it is set, so that if there is ever a problem with the Internet connection to my box, then it will forward the calls to my cell service automatically.
So far, its been great!
I looked into vonage 2 years ago but they did not offer any local 911 support which left my wife & I uneasy about using VOIP as our only phone service.
Have any of these VOIP services implemented 911 yet?
Thanks.
We have had Sunrocket since March 2005 and have liked all the features, but it has been going out alot this past month…We are trying to port a second number, but have had to move it, as it was a foreign exchange. I think it should prove to be a good thing, as long as the FCC doesn’t start regulating them as they did the Bell companies. Look what has happened to them..I used to work for one, and my stock went down to nothing! Such a shame…Divestiture was not a good thing…