[ale] Not so evil empire

[Robert Reese]

Hello Jim,

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 9:39:19 AM, you wrote:

> The Motorola SB5101 lists speeds of 38M down and 30M up.  Pray tell what
> kind of service gives those speeds?

Future service, probably.  I understand that Japan and many European countries offer much faster services than our quasi-monopolies here in the States do.


> Second question: I went to cable service when we recently moved and 
> could no longer get satellite TV (heavily wooded lot).  So did a bundle,
> TV, internet and phone.  Opinions on cable phone service - good?, bad?
> I guess any phone service is better than none.  Phone went out last Thur
> afternoon and ATT service is scheduled to have it repaired by six this
> afternoon. 

We use VOIP through VoicePulse and have done so for many years.  The service has been far more reliable than BS, and we have TOTAL control of all the different options BS charges extra for, all included standard.  We administrate those options, most favorably the call filtering and per-number forwarding, via our account's control panel on the website.  Further, they are not using proprietary technology unlike Vonage.

http://www.voicepulse.com/
 
Our bill for two numbers is $31.78 per month and includes unlimited long distance (and local, of course), unlimited call forwarding, call filtering, call hunt, and a wholly encompassing set of features BS and other companies charge as extra options.

You might have not noticed other than a cursory glance about the unlimited call forwarding.  For me, it is indespensible and has created that oft-dreamt and coveted "lifetime permanent phone number".To whit: I only give my primary number out as my phone and my business phone.  After ringing the home office for 30 seconds, it rolls over to my cellphone.

My wife uses the second number in a similar fashion, but she likes hers to roll over to her cell after only 20 seconds.

I can, and have, switched cellphone companies at the drop of a hat.  The new company assigns me a new number, and it takes all of 1 minute to change the forwarded number to the new cell number INCLUDING the time it takes to log in and to navigate to that option.

I put in a second account for my father-in-law, at the Local Unlimited +200 package for $15 (~$16 after fcc taxes).  He gets everything that I get, except LD calls (out-of-state) have a 200 minute cap with a small charge per minute after that.  Essentially all in-state calls are unlimited.

BTW, this service also has the 'unavailable' forwarding, so if your service is down (router/modem crashes, goes bad, etc.), storms knock down the lines or poles, your cat trips over the power cord, etc. then incoming calls are automatically forwarded to the phone number you set as the backup number.  Mine is set to my cell, and my father-in-law's is set to his cellphone.


Speaking of which, and going off-topic list-wise, my wife and I switched cellphone providers.  We have unlimited nationwide minutes, unlimited text, unlimited web, and unlimited nation-wide walkie-talkie for $50 per month each with NO contract!  My phone was $20.  No, I did NOT leave off a zero.  And that is a flat $50 since it INCLUDES the taxes, fees, and other tacked on hidden charges.

In other words, for my wife and I to have unlimited minutes on both home and cellphones, and have them "tied together" each with our own numbers, costs us exactly $131.78 per month.  (I'd save an addition $15 per month if I didn't call California frequently to talk with family by going to VP's 'local' service).

I hope this helps give you another comparison by which to evaluate your current services.

Cheers,
Robert~