Posted on 06/16/2006 7:29:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The cable service in my area is too unstable. They knocked out my internet service for 3 weeks just trying to get the cable lines configured for VoIP. I think I'll keep my regular land line for a while still. I can't remember the last time my phone lines were down, I would need more than the 10 fingers I have to count the number of times my cable has been out in the past year.
Cable "telephone" IS Voice over IP.
The guys who work at your cable company must have left my local phone company to work there!
My phone lines were cut and it took 3 days to get anyone out to repair the cut. The
local telephone service here was out of service more often than your cable. And when you called them to report an outage, they made it sound like it was the customer's fault, and would tell them that they were the only customer reporting a problem!
When the lines were cut here, I walked up the road to find the cut. I even took pictures for them. When I called them on my cell phone, they said, "You are the only one calling it in. Are you sure? How did you call us?" My response was "Hey, idiot -- did you ever hear of cell phones?"
My VoIP service provider makes eFax available at no extra charge. The way it works is that instead of needing a fax machine, the incoming fax tone is detected, and the fax is routed automatically to a system where the fax is converted to a PDF file and emailed to me. It is almost instantaneous.
I rarely SEND faxes any more, but some customers send them to me.
If I need to send a fax, I will use my scanner and use my computer to send them. Older analog faxes are too slow, and don't like VoIP. They may work, but they are a headache. Rather than spend an extra $10 per month with Vonage for a separate fax line, I much prefer the eFax I get with my current provider.
The morons working at my local cable company sound about the same. When I fist called the tech support line to report that my internet service was out, they suggested that I check out their online problem solving guide, he even volunteered to email the link to me. After convincing the idiot that I wouldn't be able to check the online problem solving guide until they restored my internet service, he agreed to send a technician out.
The promised technician showed up 2 days after the scheduled all day appointment, sat in front of my computer for about 45 minutes before declaring that I had a problem connecting to the internet, then told me he would have someone else come take a look at the problem the next day, and left.
The next day, a tech showed up, climbed the utility pole in my neighbor's yard, took some readings on his equipment, then told me that the problem was "somewhere down the line from my house" and left.
Two days later, another technician was out in the neighborhood, on a different pole. He left, came back, left again, then came back with 3 other technicians. The four of them stood around for about 30 minutes, left, then came back, and then, finally, the only one in the group of four who did not have a sloping forehead that indicated his parents were related, climbed the pole, diddled around for about 2 minutes, and my internet service was restored.
Yep, those must be the same guys! When I first moved into my new house, the local phone company sent out the equivalent of Cheech & Chong. My upstairs phones wouldn't ring. I knew what the problem was, and I even told them, that the "tip & ring" polarity was reversed upstairs. They didn't understand what I was even saying. Those are common telephone terms, but I got the two idiots that were there because of quota hiring.
During the Big Blackout in the summer of 2003 - all my friends who only had cell phones had to come to my house to make phone calls. The landlines still worked - the cell phones didn't. Until I know there will never be another blackout - I'm not giving up my landline.
Not to mention if you have a monitored security system you have to have a land line.
That is not always the case.
I have VoIP through packet8 and their E911 works.
I'm sure if you want to shell out some more $$$$ you can get it done.
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