[Sir Hailstone]

One has predicted Vonage’s collapse since they started 4-5 years ago. Vonage is still running in spite of Ma Bell’s frivolous law suits.

Vonage customer and will remain so.

[kingu]

Oooh, this is cute. For $400, you get a box that allows you to call anywhere in the United States for free, so long as you let others use your phone line whenever they want. Interesting concept. If I lived in a very rural area, I might even consider such a thing. But living in a major urban area, I’m sure my phone line would be used extensively.

So in actuality, it’s keep paying the phone company for your line, and by giving them access to your line, you get access to everyone else’s line in the network.

Whereas for $40 a month, likely about $15 more a month than you’re paying for a single home line, you can have, for example, unlimited long distance calling from AT&T. You’d have to go almost three years on this plan before Ooma’s idea would make financial sense, and even then, you’d have to factor in if the FCC will decide what you’ve done is something that will fit within the common carrier doctrine, or you’re responsible and liable for everything done with your home phone...

Nifty idea, not sure it’s worth the gamble. Oh, and you have to gamble that Ooma survives three years to make back your money, which in this day and age isn’t something I’d put a lot of confidence in.

[river rat]

Hmmmmm....

Skype offers FREE and unlimited voice and video over internet between Skype users.

The necessary software is FREE to download and has functioned on my ThinkPad flawlessly for the past 8 or 9 months..

For a small annual free, less than $15 last year — you can call ANY phone number in the U.S. for FREE.

You can’t beat the price - FREE, and you can’t beat the reliability - FLAWLESS.

I would suggest a USB headset to get the best audio performance incoming and outgoing...
A USB-2 webcam is a good choice for video transmission..

Long distance family “conferences” are great when you can both hear and see “real time”....FREE.