Dave said:
Bob,
Don't know anything about Oovoo and haven't heard of it either. Don't
know much about Skype but I've heard of it and I've heard of a lot of
people that use it. Most of what I hear is good, FWIW. In another NG
I participate in there are a couple guys whose wives travel overseas
for business. They call from overseas from anywhere they have a
internet connection and all they pay is a monthly fee.
HTH,
Dave
I three different IP telephone systems that I have been testing, Skype,
TracFone, and NetTalk.
With Skype I have been testing it with conference calls between Skype
callers using only the free access. It has been pretty much plug and play
with no problems. If your computer has a video camera you can use it to
make video phone calls. It seems to work just fine around my place using my
wireless router as well as on my wired computers. You can use it with a
headset and microphone attached to your computer. Optional phone adapters
are available from third party sources which allow you to use an actual
telephone. If I want a Ma Bell type telephone number for non-Skype callers
to reach me the current cost in the USA is about $60. a year. Kind of high
compared with the other two phone services.
MagicJack, can be purchased from many retailers or ordered online. I
believe they are asking approximately $40. for the first year and $19.95 for
subsequent years. You can pick a phone number from just about any state
regardless of where you live. Great if your calls are mostly outbound and
if you are being bothered by annoying bill collectors. They don't tend to
connect out-of-state phone numbers with your house address, and if they do
you can change your number for $5.00 the first time and $10. for all
subsequent number changes.
The telephone number can also a real problem for many people. MagicJack
only will tell you the area codes that they have phone numbers available,
but not the local exchanges until after you purchase their service. That
can make your inbound calls long distance for your family and friends.
MagicJack's attitude seems to be to tell customers to take what numbers we
make available or take a hike.
MagicJack tries to keep their costs down by pushing advertisements on you
using popup screens. They also want to keep their stupid telephone
interface on your desktop for as much time as possible for the same reason.
There is a running battle between the MagicJack software people to keep you
from running the phone system as a service (hidden in the background) and
people who keep figuring out how to do just that.
One other problem with MagicJack, which Skype also shares is that you need
to have your computer powered on all the time, or at least when you want to
accept inbound or make outbound calls. MagicJack actively changes their
software to try and kill service to those who try and plug it directly into
routers that have compatible USB ports in hopes of keeping their
advertisements in your face on your computer.
The third service I am testing is called NetTalk. They are relatively new
to the market and make a phone adapter similar to MajicJacks but with one
important difference. Their phone adapter can be plugged into a PC's USB
port OR directly into an Ethernet port of a router, using a cable. Using
the Ethernet cable connectivity you can have phone service even with your
computer powered off. Go for a trip and you can use a laptop's USB port to
stay in touch. They are presently charging around $99. to purchase the
device and are advertising a "limited lifetime" of no phone charges after
that for USA and a few other places.
As a startup they have had a few bumps as they activate features and make
improvements. With that said they must be doing something right since the
MagicJack founder has recently verbally attacked the NetTalk service. Seems
they are MagicJack has been loosing people left and right to the NetTalk
service. I myself may be doing just that as I am tired of all the sick
games MagicJack keeps doing with their software to block users from using it
as they see fit or to allow 3rd party companies to make improvements. With
NetTalk you don't have that kind of hassle and they are pretty quick to
respond to actual problems when you open a trouble ticket on their forum.
Of the three services, Skype "can" be used for free and offers video calls
but only to other Skype users. My local computer user group is using it as
a means of teleconferencing in people that are homebound during meetings,
along with video of the actual meetings.
As for my pick of telephone service using Ma Bell phone numbers I like
NetTalk the best. I was able to get a local exchange number and they seem
to respond to trouble tickets asking for a local number when one is not
available at the time you sign up.
Oh, yes... Both MagicJack and NetTalk only have enough power to actually
ring one or possibly two phones, depending on the ringer equivalence on the
devices. You can have more phones attached just as long as you remove
their ringers first. Using a base station with remote wireless phones works
good for many people. There is some slight incompatibility with NetTalk and
some wireless remote phones due to the ring length being a little short but
most modern equipment works just fine with it.
It seems that my choices for a