People switch from their traditional telephone service to an internet telephone provider for three reasons: lower cost, new features, and more control over their telephone service. Of course, one of the best features mentioned by users is the lower cost, so you can see how some people get focused a bit too narrowly and forget to ask some necessary questions.
Internet telephones from service providers like Vonage (the leading American service), Packet8, Lingo, BroadVoice, and others do a great job of replacing the majority of traditional telephone features. However, there are some features they can't provide because of a combination of technical details with their own service, or products in your home that demand the simplicity of the traditional telephone. So, if you're in the market for an internet telephone, here are seven questions you should ask before you make the switch.
Technically, no, because you are no longer using the traditional telephone company as your provider. Since the traditional telephone companies generally produce the phone books, they only list their own customers.
Realistically, if you transfer your number to your internet telephony service provider, you will be listed in the phone book until the traditional telephone company prints the next version. Sometimes, your number will be listed an extra year or even two, because phone companies suffer "number inertia" and leave the listings unchanged.
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Of course, people could Google you for your telephone number, but that information comes from telephone books, so after a year or three your number wouldn't show up there, either. But phone book copies tend to linger in the databases, so your number should be available online for years.
Freedom from some telemarketing calls may be the upside of having an unlisted number. The traditional telephone companies, in their never-ending greed, charge people to not publish their number, but your number will be not-published for free.
Many directories now come from independent publishers, not the phone company directly. Often, those companies are spin-offs of the telephone company division that made directories before, but they are now officially separate. Whether these separate directories will want to list broadband phone users, and whether they can gather the information from the broadband phone providers, will be interesting to see.
The wiring running to your extension phones now will not connect to your broadband phone plug, so you will have to either rewire or get new phones. Your broadband phones must be plugged into your broadband router, and all your extension telephone plugs now run through the house back to the traditional telephone company line where it comes into your home (called a demarcation point).
There are two ways to add extensions. One, you can get a new cordless phone with multiple handsets for your extensions. Put one of the cordless phones everywhere you want an extension, and plug the cordless base unit into your broadband router.
The second option is to rewire the extension phone cable away from the existing connection point (with the traditional telephone company line) and to your broadband modem. This option includes a large number of caveats and warnings, and may well be impossible if you live in an apartment or any type of multi-family dwelling where you don't have access to the telephone line connections from the traditional telephone company.
Take heart, because cordless phones with multiple handsets support all of the modern features, including intelligent communications with your broadband phone provider. Even better, these units cover a wide price range (from fairly low-priced to feature-laden and expensive) but are dropping in price regularly.
This shortcoming causes problems for many customers. Expect the broadband phone vendors to develop better ways to integrate with existing wiring and handle the voltage sent over the traditional telephone network. But in the short term, look into purchasing cordless telephones with multiple handsets.
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There are two parts to this question. First, since your existing phone extension plugs do not connect to your broadband phone service, you have to reach a plug that does connect to your broadband phone service. Second, some media devices that rely on a telephone line do not work over internet telephones, even when physically connected.
Some models of TiVo, for instance, successfully communicate over a broadband phone service. Others must be installed with a traditional telephone line and can then function without a phone connection of any type, but that limits your ability to order pay-per-view events via your television remote control.
TiVo officially says it does not support any broadband phone services, but expect big changes in two areas over the next year or so. First, TiVo and the broadband phone services will reach some type of coexistence. Second, TiVo and other devices will start communicating back to their programming services via the internet. This will allow them to connect over wireless network equipment that also supports streaming internet media, probably within two years.
Like the question above, this depends. Some do, some can be configured to work after a service call, and some won't work at all.
The good news? Alarm companies already provide backup communication links to your telephone line, usually over the cellular telephone network. These devices cost extra, and depending on your alarm service, they may cost quite a bit extra.
More good news? Alarm.com now leads the alarm industry to the internet by monitoring home and business alarms over internet connections rather than telephone lines. Vonage already has a partnership with Alarm.com, and Alarm.com will happily monitor your security system over the internet no matter which broadband phone service provider you prefer. Or, in fact, if you don't use a broadband phone service at all but want to bypass reliance on the telephone link, Alarm.com will monitor your alarm over your broadband network connection.
Larger broadband phone service providers, like Vonage, do have customer service personnel, as well as sales personnel, on its 800 number. If you feel better talking to a person, call them up.
Other internet telephony service providers have live operators, and they will say that on their websites. However, the modern service providers allow customers to make nearly every conceivable service change to their own accounts via a personalized web account management screen. You can make the changes you want quickly, and avoid listening to bad music while on hold.
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Yes, you can. Internet telephony providers usually include a softphone option, which means they have an application that runs on your laptop computer and handles dialing and receiving phone calls. You'll need some way to talk to your computer (or PDA, in some cases), such as a headset, but you can do this today.
New phones now reaching the market include dual-service capabilities. They will work over wireless internet connections when available, and fall back to a cellular service provider when necessary. Experts promise great improvements in wireless calling convenience, allowing one phone to provide service whether the call is a broadband phone call or a cellular phone call.
It depends on what you consider the most important personal privacy issue. Your traditional telephone company installer ties your phone line wires to a physical address, so they know exactly where you are. Internet telephony providers often ship hardware for connecting your existing phone to your broadband service, but they don't physically verify that you install the equipment at your shipping address. In addition, your broadband phone works on any broadband connection, and some users carry their phone and connecting equipment to multiple locations.
While your traditional telephone company knows your physical address, they don't ask for a credit card number, which every broadband phone service provider demands to provide service. Do you protect more privacy by hiding your address or your credit card number? The first locates you physically, but the second opens the door to your financial history. Different people have different sensitivities, and you may prefer to hide your credit card more than your address, while your neighbor may prefer the opposite.
Privacy issues are one of the reasons given by internet telephony providers as a reason to avoid mandatory 911 registration. Several providers contend that some users do not want their fixed location tracked for inclusion in the 911 address databases. These users wish to opt out of the 911 system, and the broadband phone providers allow this measure in the name of privacy.
Is this a legitimate plea for individual privacy, or an excuse by broadband phone providers who haven't done enough to protect their customers? As a society, should we demand every adult enroll in the 911 address database as a precondition to receiving home telephone service, or can individual adults opt out of the program? This is just one of the many 911 issues that will be kicked around over the next two years.
Broadband phones can replace at least 90 percent of all traditional telephone service requirements today. For many users, internet telephony will give them 100 percent of their traditional telephone service, including 911 calls. For a few users with multiple telephone extensions and media equipment that needs a telephone line for installation and service details, a broadband phone will require configuration beyond the normal plug-and-play nature of most installations.
That said, millions the world over are converting to broadband phone service for cost savings, new features, and control over their telephone service. If they must do a little tweaking and change the way they handle extensions or their home alarm systems, the cost savings have been too high to ignore, and they're adjusting their way into the new world of internet telephony.
James E. Gaskin has been solving computer and network problems for businesses small and large since 1984. He writes books, articles, and jokes about technology and real life. In 16 books and hundreds of articles, network consultant Gaskin tells people faster, cheaper, newer, and smarter ways to connect to each other and the world. He also maintains the site for his newest book, Talk Is Cheap.
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