On Wednesday 03 January 2007 12:21, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Out of bona fide curiosity, and without casting opinions, why would I as > > a home user be interested in any way in VOIP. > > 1. It's just plain MUCH cheaper even for local calls in Australia (I use > iiNet, which isn't the cheapest but that's what I started with, and all my > calls are cheaper than the POTS line - local, 13 numbers, all australian > metros and international. > > 2. I use Skype to call overseas too but Skype requires me to seat in front > of my computer to talk to people and we virtually never hear it when people > call us (we have headsets both to keep the house quiter and to avoid > feedback loops). (Skype is supposed to support having the ring on one card > (to which we can connect loudspeakers) and another on the headphones but I > have troubles to make things work with my on-board sound card). > > 3. "Skype phones" that I've seen so far require Windows, which I am glad to > say I don't have at home (my wife's ancient win98 laptop which is beginning > to behave recently doesn't count). > > I do use skype to overseas friends/family and for them a POTS handset would > > > be > > a PITA, also Rome was not built in one day! 50% of them are winders-only. > > What do you mean? They prefer using skype with speaker/mic rather than > plain old phone handset? Then it's probably a matter of taste and lifestyle > - personally I prefer to hold a handset and be mobile around the house than > stuck in the office, and my family abroad isn't the kind you can always > catch in front of their computer 24/7. > > > All opinions welcome, but I need to say cost is not an issue: 60% of my > > phone > > acct is the landline that I need for ADSL. > > VoIP calls cut down our calls bill by about 90% (just the variable part we > pay for the call themselves, most of my phone line bill goes for the fixed > parts like line rental and ADSL service). There are numerous forums about > Australian VoIP offerings, maybe you should dig them (let me know if you > want me to send you some pointers I collected).
I would appreciate that. To me if the list is not appropriate. Thanks James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
