Well that generated a healthy discussion, thanks for all the interesting comments and thoughts.
I think Andy is on my wavelength here, the reality is that there are a lot of people going into flats now, that have decided not to get the phone conected due to the costs (connection fee and rental), and just use their cell phone. At home we have at least 4 cell phones (not I though thankfully) - and we have a (unused at present) saturn cable -so I am thinking that it may just work for us, might take a bit to convince the so1/2 though. ciao Lance B -----Original Message----- From: Andrew Errington Sent: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:53:37 +1300 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Re: Xtra jetstream new plans.... On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 15:40, you wrote: > > Well, that would be VOIP (voice over IP). Look for Skype, Vonage, > > Net2Phone and their ilk. > > 2 problems with that: > > 1) Reliability and versatility. Can you really call all numbers? POTS is > rock-solid. I do need reliability, but I don't need to call all numbers- only the ones that interest me. > 2) You cross your fingers that your child never falls through a glass > door and you have to call 111. "Oh, won't someone please think of the children". Children will fall through glass doors regardless of the rate of uptake of VOIP. The solution to this problem is to replace the glass with safety glass. Anyway, I don't have a child, but I could call 111 on my mobile if my VOIP fails. > Btw skype may be popular but has serious privacy issues, though I can't > remember where the link is listing it up in detail. ...and a regular phone line is private how? > Getting rid of your pots and only keeping adsl is a moot point anyway, > as telescum will make damn sure you can't. I don't have a Telecom line. Telstra will sell me a cable connection and no phone. I think there is a problem of confusing the medium with the message. Practically there is no difference between using a VOIP phone and a POTS phone. Only the underlying mechanism differs. Andy
