On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 6:06 PM, Ben Barrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Wow, that makes having and using VoIP in the home VERY complicated and > difficult! > Where did "it just works" go?
No problems with Comcast telephony here for the last couple of years. I had two considerations when I switched from POTS: [i] having one bill to pay instead of two is a minor plus.; and [ii] I was not pleased with the legacy attitude toward customers remaining in Qwest from the Baby Bell era. State regulation of POTS rates was a system all of the Baby Bells learned how to game. Boost your justifiable expenses and you're still allowed the same percentage of profits, but a larger total amount of profits. (That's an over-simplification but captures the essence.) The rate payers are the victims. There's nothing like real competition to break that cycle. On the power outage issue, even with POTS, you'll need to plan for power outages if you are using a phone with a wireless base that has to be plugged into the power grid. > Has anyone ever gone to a payphone when they need to make a call? Mobile telephony has been blotting out pay phones at an escalating rate. If you're depending on a particular pay phone for emergencies, it would be wise to regularly check to see if it's made the hit list. For folks with serious health issues, many insurers now pay for a telephone connection for callbacks and a device you can wear around your neck to summon assistance. One such service advertises on TV a lot, Life Alert. If the service can't get an answer to a phone call after the device is activated, they contact a designated neighbor to check on the person, or if they can't raise the neighbor they call local 911. We're the designated neighbor for a bed-ridden lady with very serious health issues two doors down the street who has such a service paid for by Oregon Health Plan. > Has anyone else on this list actually had any of the outage or support > problems Mike mentioned? > For me, not in the last couple of years, other than the Skype problem with connections to Germany that could conceivably be the result of Comcast nastiness. Best regards, Marbux _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
