John Colby
jwcolby at ColbyConsulting.com
Fri Jan 27 23:07:59 CST 2006
It saves me a TON of money for regular phone, which I give some back to them in the fax and 800 number. It is $25+ for unlimited local/long distance anywhere in the US and Canada. Also very low rates to places like Mexico and Ireland. $25 for unlimited phone is dirt cheap. Of course you have to have high speed internet, but since I have to have that anyway for my business, I don't count that as a "phone" expense. I talk to my clients for 1 hour regularly, 3 hours often. At 10c / minute that is $6 / hour. So it only takes a few hours to pay for the $25. Plus we call family all over the country and talk as long as we wish. It is better quality than Cellular. As a result of having Vonage, I have no real use for the "unlimited middle of the night and weekend (what were those hours again)" cell phone crapola, and so I switched my Cellular to Virgin Mobile, where I am now paying less than $5 per month for cell phone - I don't use cell a lot, just a "pay phone in my pocket" kind of thing. My cell is "pay as you go". It costs me 25c / minute for the first 10 minutes a day, then 10c / min after that. It turns out for my usage patterns (I may make / receive 1 call every few days) that is just incredibly cheap. My wife is the same way. Not the plan for a teenager however. So with Virgin Mobile my wife and I both have a cell, and it costs us a minimum of $5 / month apiece ($15 every 90 days to keep the number active). Not bad for "a pay phone in your pocket" - and it uses the Sprint network so the quality isn't too bad. I paid $20 apiece for the phones, delivered to my door. Basic but with everything I need. No camera or all that happy HS but who cares. It's a cell phone. I used to pay ATT $36 / month for ONE cell phone, and the "privilege" of a two year contract, early termination fees, piss poor customer service, and my wife and I were always having a discussion over who would carry it when we went out. So if a client calls on my cell, then it costs me more, but then my client pays a high enough hourly rate that the cost of the call is buried in the noise of expenses. Plus, they really don't call me on my cell all that much since I work from home most of the time, so they get me on my Vonage line. So there you have it. I do like Vonage, and I do like Virgin Mobile. And if you decide to use either, let me know as I can get a referral "bonus" if you give either company a code that says I sent you. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 11:00 PM To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] VOIP / Vonage Also, does it save a lot over the traditional phone services - either in money or stress? I have DSL and its not a problem at all but my phone service is. -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 9:31 PM To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] VOIP / Vonage Hi John, Have you used the voicemail or fax services? -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Colby Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 9:03 PM To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] VOIP / Vonage I have had Vonage for about 2 years now. It works well, but is not without issues. It uses your internet connection so anything that affects that affects your phone calls. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 9:19 PM To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] VOIP / Vonage Anybody using it? I'm particularly interested in how some of the advanced features such as Voice mail & FAXing are working out. -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 10:55 AM To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' Subject: [dba-Tech] VOIP / Vonage Some of you have been using VOIP (probably Vonage) for quite some time. I've been holding off. How is it going with that? _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com