It seems that there is no end of VOIP solutions with all sorts of really weird catches. For instance: Unlimited minutes with Skype is only $3/month, but if you want a standard phone number for people to call you on, that adds $5/month. There are $80 wireless handsets that need a PC (and is often not compatible with a Mac), but there are also $130 wireless handsets that connect directly to any Wi-Fi access point, needing no PC at all – but they don’t work with a hotel or coffee shop wifi that requires a browser authentication first.
Opportunity: Reduce the cell phone plan minutes, leaving both household cellphones a modicum of minutes for emergencies, and use a voip solution for most of our calls. Moving from a family plan of 1400 minutes to 550 minutes could save us $30/month.
Typically we use about 900 of the 1400 minutes a month. We have 1.5mbps DSL. Here are the options I’m most interested in. Do you have any opinions?
Skype:
As I’ve gotten more involved with the planning committee for the Agile 2009 Conference, it seems that Skype is quite popular internationally for doing over-seas business. Skype has a very nice iPhone application that works well for outbound calls whereever you have a wifi access point (inbound probably works too, but only when the application is running).
As mentioned above though, the billing for Skype is a bit unusual. You pay only for minutes that connect you to a landline or mobile (skype-to-skype is free). The unlimited plan is $3/month. Inbound calling (ie, a normal 10-digit phone number for people to call you on) is another $5/month.
There are a plethora of options for hardware. Most seem to fall into two basic classes of handsets: those that need a computer, and those that don’t. The Belkin WiFi Phone (no PC needed) looks promising, but is $130. A little cheaper is the Keyspan VP-24A for $70, and it requires the Mac to be on all the time. There is also products like the D-Link DPH-50U Skype USB Phone Adapter (roles right off the tongue doesn’t it?) that would be great for using traditional phones, but it is not Mac compatible.
Ooma:
ooma looks really interesting. It’s claim to fame: a disappearing phone bill. An ex-coworker of mine has been using it for a year without issue and loves it. How it works: you buy the hardware for $250 or so, plug your phone and internet cable into it, configure your phone number, and never mess with it again.
Other options:
Just to note it: we could start up a standard land line again, but after taxes it ends up around $24/month for the most basic service available. I’m not interested.
I’ve run across magicJack, which seemed like a reasonable idea until it struck me that their entire site felt like a big infomercial. Apparently it also reinstalls its own icon on your desktop after every reboot too. It requires a computer (pc or mac!), but that is something I’d ideally like to avoid.
There is the classic voip company to consider – Vonage. However, at $25/month for their unlimited plan ($32/month after taxes & fees), it really doesn’t feel like much of a deal.
On top of it all, I’m running all of our internet off of a slower 1.5 Mbps DSL line. Generally, the only time the speed is a problem is when we attempt to stream HD video. Putting a phone line on top of the data may push us to bump the speed to 7Mbps (roughly another $10/month).
Google Voice. This is another one of those “hmm. how can I make this work for me” things. It seems like this could be part of the puzzle, but I’m not sure how yet.
A different tactic all together: the majority of our minutes come from a small set of people. If we could get them to all switch to our cell phone carrier, then the minutes would all be free.
Final thoughts:
Skype, at $8/month + a $130 handset is intriguing. But if I end up needing faster internet ($10/month) then I’m only saving $12/month for what feels like a rather technical solution.
Ooma, is $0/month + $250 for the device. Seems like a good deal if it works for multiple years. But not paying for a phone number that everyone uses to call us makes me sorta nervous. Will it still work in a year? In 2 years?
In the end, I’m not sure. There are some savings to be had, but running with 2 cell phones for this household and no land line (voip or not) is not at all as extravagantly expensive as I had originally thought. Perhaps I won’t embrace change this time. Or more apt – I won’t embrace the change yet.
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Are you trying to justify an upgrade?
In an effort to reduce some expenses last year I call AT&T to have my land line cut off. The rep was professional and just asked why. At the time we also had Comcast cable and internet. The AT&T rep offered to slim the phone all that way down to the basics and add U-verse with internet for nearly half what we were paying for these bills. It’s worked out. We can use the land line for local calling and incoming long distance and it’s there should we need 911. I’m thinking we had to have that anyhow in order to get U-Verse.
I turn the phone off completely if it were up to me. When it rings, it’s never for me unless there’s some special offer to be sold.
SInce you have a Google Voice account, look into using it with Gizmo5: http:/www.gizmo5.com
Gizmo5 basically turns your Google Voice into a VOIP phone….and it costs nothing. For security, I still trust Skype to Skype the most….but for anything else, I’m now using Google Voice either with my Mobile phone or with my Gizmo5 account.
What’s more, for a fee, you can use Gizmo to forward your calls internationally if you need to. So, you can be on a mobile phone in China, and someone dials your Google Voice number and connect to you there. If you’re on a PC/Mac/Linux machine in China, just answer at no charge on your Gizmo desktop app anyone who dials your Google Voice number.
I eliminated my landline long ago. I pay for my mobile phone service and my internet connection and that’s it. Google Voice and Gizmo5 (and occasionally Skype when I need to speak securely or with someone else who has a Skype account) cover all my phone needs.