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Another great thing about Magic Jack is the portability. When we moved from NC to FL this year, anyone who called "the house" (which we no longer lived in or owned,) got connected to a landline phone hooked to my laptop through MJ.
So at the hotels and at my in-laws house where we stayed while house hunting, it was totally transparent to callers who, FAPP, thought they were calling a local NC number.
No giving out our cell numbers for transient vendors, and we still have our same phone number we've had for almost 20 years.
we did have one since the kids are at that age to start being left alone but we dont anymore because good ole TWC wouldnt give us a good deal to keep it.
Being a Vonage user, I have the Extensions app on my smartphone, and when a call comes to my home phone, calls also go to the cell phone.
The Extensions app will let me place a call from my cell phone, but my home phone number will be displayed to anyone I call.
The Extensions app makes it possible to place and receive calls over wi-fi, 3G and 4G.
It is the exact same with Magic Jack only costs a lot less. If a phone is for personal use then I highly recommend MJ but if for business then Vonage might be a better choice since they have customer service and MJ barely does, yet I have hardly ever needed to contact MJ about any issues in all the years I have had ours.
Another good thing Vonage has is their international calling plan but for the cost per year of Vonage, one can have a MJ and pay for plenty of international calls. We use our MJ for international calls too, I just add money to it whenever we wish to make one, if there is not already some left over in there from the last time.
Ignorant I know but how exactly do you do this? And how do you prevent the virtual number from giving your cell number to a bunch of robo marketers?
I use a VOIP provider (Ring Central). The have a highly configurable system that allows handling incoming calls in lots of different ways, including connecting them to VOIP phones (or an ATA), connecting to an app running on a computer / mobile device, forwarding the call to any number of phone numbers, or even just sending the number straight to voice mail (and any combination of the above).
They are a commercial company, I see no reason to believe that they'd sell my phone number info.
OK, you like the convenience. Good. If it's worth the $1000 a year to not have to walk to another room to answer a phone then .
I highly doubt she's paying $1000/year for landlines. Any particular reason you felt compelled to cite that ridiculous figure? Any why are you so smugly critical of having landlines? You come off as both contemptuous and gleeful that someone is wasting (in your opinion) their money.
And since you're so hung up on costs, when you buy a phone for a landline, they can be had dirt cheap (under $20) and they basically last forever. Quite the contrast with mobile phones, which are considerably more expensive and are a product designed to be upgraded (ie, discarded and replaced) every few years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr5150
I have enhanced 911 on both of our phones. Something I use every day .
Uh. Yeah. 911 is not something you 'use every day'. Neither is insurance. Or the spare tire and jack in your trunk. And a great many other things that are wise to have even if they're never used. Do you similarly sneer at those things? You're really reaching.
I don't have a landline anymore and I never will again. But I fail to see the logic behind your contempt for those that do.
I highly doubt she's paying $1000/year for landlines. Any particular reason you felt compelled to cite that ridiculous figure? Any why are you so smugly critical of having landlines? You come off as both contemptuous and gleeful that someone is wasting (in your opinion) their money.
My friend is paying a $1000 a year for her landline. Verizon's base price here is $60 a month which is $720 a year. I know that with the taxes and fees she pays a $1000 a year.
She absolutely will not give it up as she considers it vital for the safety of her bed ridden mother.
I do. No power = no cell phones, no recharging, and no internet or cable-based phones, either.
If your phone plugs into an electric wall outlet unplug it and see if it still works. Some come with battery backup and some will have minimal functionality, you lose the caller ID and other features but it will still ring and you can make calls. They don't all do that and if it's cordless it probably won't work. Of course if you have old style phone that will work.
For VOIP phone service some modems come with battery backup that will give you a few hours of operation, as long as the cable is still up the internet will still work. I have yet to see the cable go out with the power. If you have separate unit like Ooma that will also need to be powered. They make small UPS's you can plug into the wall that will give you power for a few hours if the moden does not have it's own battery or you have another unit like Ooma. We have a generator so the limited time is non issue.
We have Ooma, $99 for the unit and $5/month. That $5 isn't even Ooma charges but taxes <sigh>. All the features you can expect. Nationwide calling, blah, blah ,blah. They offer a premium service that gives you more features like automatic blocks on known marketers.
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