If you’re on the phone when a call comes in, you’ll get caller id/call waiting on the in-use phone and the other phone will ring. You can flash over on your phone or answer the other phone. If you don’t answer the call, it will go to the PhonePower voicemail system (unless your other line has an answering machine which picks up the call.)
Perfect. And $8 a month is a great deal.
I think I’m going switch from DSL to Clear.com, move my current number to something like PhonePower, and cancel my landline altogether.
Google Voice + this $44 dollar device = free VOIP service. No monthly fee.
But it may stop at any time, and I’ve had problems with it.
That’s my concern with Google Voice. How long will it be free and what will it cost afterwards.
A free service doesn’t have any obligation to not simply cut you off at any time.
Being outside the US it was very handy having a US telephone number. Suppliers would call us on a number that was local for them so of course much cheaper for them than calling us overseas.
Downside: Some drunken dude in Miami just could not get it into his head that this was not “June’s” number. Countless boozy messages.
Thanks to info posted in a thread a while back, we went with voip.ms and a Cisco PAP2T Internet phone adapter. Went from ~$30 a month for local calls only to hardly anything a month. Kept the same number, of course.
I did a crossover connection from the PAP2T and disconnected the PTSN line at the outside box. Now all the phones in the house work like “the old days”. Haven’t tried a rotary phone.
True, but one of the cool things about Google Voice is that even if you get some other VOIP line (or mobile line or land line) you can simply set it to route the call to the new line, without having to give anybody a new number.
We had it, but gave it up due to connection problems. Don’t know whether MJ-Plus would have taken care of it.
My post-MJ gripe: uninstalling was needlessly complicated. There is no MJ uninstaller. Windows Remove Program didn’t get rid of it–it kept on showing up in startup (MSConfig) and half-reinstalling itself. Had to search out directories and edit the registry file to completely remove it from my system. Reminded me of the old days of RealPlayer and Quicktime. (all of which, including MJ, may have changed since I installed; YMMV).
Wow, I just checked out the site and it looks great. So I would just plug, for example, a PAP2T into my router and then the phone base into that? The computer doesn’t have to be on for it to work?
I doubt that Google Voice will just go away or start charging for basic service in the future. (except for international calls or maybe other premium services)
I don’t remember where I read it, but I did read something about Google monetizing GV in the future by playing short, relatively unobtrusive, location-targeted ads in place of “dead-air” such as when a phone is ringing, busy, or you’re on hold, etc.
Yep, there’s some configuration to do. But voip.ms has a wiki to show you the settings for the common devices (and PAP2Ts are really common).
Note that a single phone can plug straight in. A PAP2T has two separate lines so you can have two phones on it, each with a different number of course.
I mentioned the crossover line earlier since I wanted to connect it to the house line and run several phones off the PAP2T. (Switched red and green at the outlet.) I also disconnected the PTSN at the box since I didn’t want anything messing up between my lines and the old phone stuff. (Stray voltage, surges, etc.)
No computer needed except for initial setup. I don’t have a UPS although many recommend it. It seems that our cable always goes out whenever the power goes out, so I don’t think it would pay off keeping the PAP2T and router up.
For people like us who use a phone very little (and I mean very little), paying a penny a minute is hardly anything. (And 800 numbers are still free.)
I’m in an apartment so obviously I’m not going to mess with the building’s phone wiring. I have a router and a UPS and I don’t spend hours on the phone so this sounds perfect for me.
My phone calls usually consist of things like “what time are you going to meet me”, or “do you want to go see a movie” or making appointments, etc., so a penny a minute would be practically free phone service. It almost sounds to good to be true. I can’t see how they can make a profit.
Does dialing work normally? The site seems to be saying that you have to dial 1 for anything in the US but I may be misinterpreting it.
I have one, and use it whenever I’m going to be on hold, or a call will eat up a lot of cell phone minutes. It’s been fine for that. I don’t think I’d want it as my primary phone, but for 20 bucks a year, It’s a easy decision. Plus, If I’m forced to leave a phone number when inquiring about something, I leave that one and I’m not bothered by a return call from some sales staff.
I don’t think you need to dial 1 unless you’re calling a number outside of your area code. For local numbers, you should just be able to dial normally, either seven digits or ten if you’re required to dial an area code.
How dialing works depends on how you setup your adapter (the PAP2T, SPA2102, etc). In the default configurations you need to 10 digit dial (area code + number). I believe VOIP.ms setup examples show you how to setup 7 digit dial (it auto appends the area code of your number + the 7 digits you dial).
They make money because they charge you the same way they get charged - the external costs to them are mostly per minute (and note that incoming calls are chargeable to the caller, as well as what you pay, so they get double paid on incoming calls in the pure .01 per minute scenario, while on outgoing calls they have to pay the phone company you call, and thus spend the money).
Very easy to have super cheap phone service with them though - basically *everything* is optional. If you want, you can buy a PAP2T, sign up, and not buy and incoming number and pay just the .01/minute for outgoing calls. Alternately, you can sign up for dozens of numbers at $2.95/mo-$5.95/mo (depends on area
code - check more than just yours for the cheapest).
Probably the configuration I would recommend is: Buy one phone number in a $2.95/mo area code. Spend $2/mo extra to get the 5000 incoming minutes, bringing your total to $4.95/mo. Set up what voip.ms calls “Ring Groups” to ring two separate “sub accounts”. Program line1 of the PAP2T to the first sub account and Line 2 to the second sub account. Buy a two line phone system, and connect both lines to the PAP2T. Doing this, you have two phone lines, that ring the same number, can both be used at the same time, and for 4.95/mo + .01/min for outgoing calls.
Do note that Voip.ms is hardly the only SIP provider. Dozens-hundreds of others offer SIP service, but most of them seem to focus on higher monthly fees with unlimited minutes/large numbers of minutes similar to cell phone pricing.
I have to dial 10 digits all of the time anyway because of overlapping area codes. (Are there still places where you only have to dial 7?) My concern wasn’t 10 digits, I was just curious about whether or not you have to dial a 1 before everything.
Incoming callers are charged? That sounds like a deal breaker to me. How does that even work? Do they hear a recording warning them that they’ll be charged 1 cent a minute to talk to me? Anyone who tries to call me will think I’m an incredible cheapskate; foisting my phone charges onto them!
From their website it appears that everything is NOT optional. Caller ID, call waiting, voicemail, all of the typical stuff plus more, seems to be included.
- You don’t have to dial 1, and you can dial 7 digits in whatever one area code you setup, regardless of overlay area codes/multiple area codes in your area- it has no relation to the landline phone company and doesn’t operate with the same restrictions.
- Incoming callers phone companies are charged per minute, on all phone calls, for all phone carriers in existence in the US. Nothing special about Voip.ms. Rural phone carriers get to charge more, Urban phone carriers less. That is all charged on the back end to the phone companies, and hidden in the monthly fee and or per minute charges you see from most carriers, but I just noted it because it is relevant to how you get charged; for example, why magicjack doesn’t work right with rural carriers, or why voip.ms offers 5000 incoming minutes for $2 flat but not 5000 outgoing minutes.
- Sorry, I don’t mean that the normal stuff that the landline phone companies charges you for aren’t included -caller id, stuff like that is all included and free; whatever per minute charge they have is enough. What I mean is that you don’t even have to have a phone number with them - minutes are ala-carte, phone numbers are ala-carte, and you can assign one device multiple phone numbers, or one phone number to multiple devices. I personally have my account setup to ring my SPA2102 (regular phones), softphones running on my computer (Xlite), and SipDroid on my Android phone (so I can make & receive calls over Wifi - can also turn an Ipod touch or old out of service android phone into a working phone).