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On 19 May 2011 16:48, <peasthope@shaw.ca> wrote:
> From: annathemermaid@hush.com
> Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 03:59:39 +0000
>> The standard is PTSN.
>
> Don't you mean PSTN?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_switched_telephone_network
Yes, forgive the dyslexia.
>> ... home phone is usually cheaper ...
>
> A few years ago when Shaw bought the cable service on Pender
Island,
> my Telus bill was about $28/mo. Shaw offered 24/7 cable Internet
> for $25/mo. So the cost of Shaw cable plus SkypeIn and SkypeOut
was
> about the same as the cost of a Telus line. The convenience and
speed
> of Internet access via cable modem rather than dialup put the
balance
> in favour of Shaw. Telephone companies in Canada take good
advantage
> of their entrenchedness.
Unfortunately, "unlimited" SkypeIn and SkypeOut aren't actually
"unlimited", if you read the fine print, and if you go over, it
goes to the per-minute rate. I can't stand things that have hidden
fees. With a real telephone company, unlimited generally actually
means unlimited.
>> ... leave your computer on all the time you want to be reachable
...
>
> As with a telephone. Unplug and it won't ring.
There is far less reason to unplug the telephone than the computer.
The computer uses a lot more electricity. The computer generates
heat, which is very annoying in New Mexico during the summer if you
don't have air conditioning (albeit probably not a problem in
Canada with the exception of your very hottest summer days). The
more you run the computer, the faster you'll wear it out and have
to buy a new one. A lot of those problems are mitigated if you run
BSD or Linux, especially without X11, but a personal computer still
can't compete with the low power, low heat output, high stability
of a corded telephone.
I could keep my electric bill, nice renewable 100% wind energy at
that, down to around 20-40 USD a month by actually doing things
like turning off lights when not in use, unplugging appliances when
not in use, and keeping my computer off when not in use. The corded
telephone was one of the few things that was always on. I even
found a way to turn off the electric water heater at night. So I
could save money and be eco-friendly at the same time!
>> ... runs up the electric bill ...
>
> Use a handheld which consumes about as much power as a cordless
phone.
Firstly, seeing as how I've already mentioned that I'm broke, do
you really think I'm going to go out and buy a fancy expensive
handheld just to have low power?
Secondly, I'm not comparing to a cordless phone (which is annoying,
insecure, gives me a headache, bothers certain friends with heart
problems, and, worst of all, doesn't work during power outages).
I'm comparing to a good old-fashioned corded phone.
>> ... miss calls when you have it [computer] off ...
>
> Diamondcard & SkypeIn & others provide voice messaging.
So do Google Voice, Community Voicemail, and Sipgate, for free.
Google Voice and Sipgate also provide nice lists of missed cass.
But I don't get to hear the phone ring and pick it up if I don't
have something plugged in, and a computer is not suitable to be
that 24/7 something.
>> Two choices ... left: Google Voice and SIP.
>
> Is there an objection to SIP or to paying a gateway company such
as
> Diamondcard a few dollars/year?
Yes, at the moment, because I'm broke right now. Those few dollars
could probably provide a day's worth of organic food, which is more
important that phone service. When I'm not broke anymore, I'll
probably go back to PSTN, unless SIP can compete on the reliability
front.
> Regards, ... Peter E.
>
> --
> Telephone 1 360 450 2132. bcc: peasthope at shaw.ca
> Shop pages http://carnot.yi.org/ accessible as long as the old
drives survive.
> Personal pages http://members.shaw.ca/peasthope/ .
>
>
> --
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> Archive:
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On 19 May 2011 16:37, Andrew McGlashan
<andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm going to snip an awful lot [around 18KB of text email] now,
but your
> email was a great read! The size was impressive even with the
biggish
> chunks of referred text, there was plenty of new dialogue.
Thanks. :-)
> annathemermaid@hush.com wrote:
>>
>> So your father bought a new laptop to use XP again. If he really
>> wanted to use XP again, it would've been sufficient for him to
>> simply buy a new install disc and license, but in any case, he
was
>> obviously sufficiently financially well off to afford it.
>
> Some laptops are cheaper than buying a FPP these days, amazing.
Which is one reason why a lot of financially disadvantaged people
ought to be perfectly happy with a Linux or BSD used computer. Then
there's no need to pay the Microsoft tax. Alright, even learning
KDE or Gnome might take a little effort, but less effort than
having to walk all the way to the library just to check e-mail.
> Okay, so I snipped almost the lot ;-)
>
> The other thing is that you can run a SIP service via a ATA or
even a VoIP
> capable modem/router. No need to have a computer on. There are
models that
> do Skype as well, without needing the computer on.
Suppose I were to get a SIP hardphone when I have a little more
money again. Would it be reliable enough to 24/7, even during power
outages? I really doubt that. Even supposing I plugged the modem
and router into a UPS, if the Phone Company/ISP itself loses power,
they're probably going to prioritize keeping the phone network up
and running. I could see it being great as a fax line or a guest
line, particularly if the phone company in question doesn't offer
good rates on additional lines, but I don't think it's likely to
ever offer the same reliability as a PSTN phone line, unless the
phone company sucks and doesn't keep the network running during
power outages anyway.
> Skype has SIP service as well, but I've always been wary of Skype
for all
> sorts of reasons -- mostly due to the proprietary code used, then
I always
> considered Skype-Out / Skype-In to be great hooks and I wasn't
going to get
> hooked. Then there is the whole security risk of using Skype, it
pokes it's
> own holes through firewalls and takes advantage of super user
rights
> whenever it can, silently! And another reason to steer clear is
the
> potential for huge data usage via "accidentally" becoming a
"super server"
> node.
If Skype has SIP service, how do I call a Skype user via SIP
without running Skype myself?
Even if I wanted to run Skype, I'm not sure if I could. Even on
x86, it only runs on OpenBSD with Linux emulation, which is
somewhat annoying, given that I usually multiboot OpenBSD and
Debian/Linux. So far as I know, there isn't and never has been a
Linux/powerpc version of Skype. I could run an outdated version of
Skype in Mac OS X, assuming it still works with their network, but
given that I don't boot into OS X often, that would really only be
useful for the occasional prescheduled call with a specific person.
> Right now, I am finding that SIP has been good for quite a while,
there are
> PSTN options that can compete these days too. Using both PSTN
and SIP is
> the way to go.
Yes, SIP appear pretty good, aside from the power outage issue.
Once I get my finances straightened out, I think it could be really
great for a fax line or guest phone.
> Cheers
>
> --
> Kind Regards
> AndrewM
>
> Andrew McGlashan
> Broadband Solutions now including VoIP
>
>
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On 19 May 2011 16:41, Andrew McGlashan
<andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Daniel Andersson wrote:
>>
>> Trying Ekiga now and I can't get chat to work at all.
>>
>> I was not impressed I'm sorry to say. But I guess Ekiga's
strength is in
>> calls not messaging. Will maybe try that later on.
>
> I was looking at Ekiga for a client solution, but found that even
the plain
> old and simple echo test was a failure at the time. I know Ekiga
has been
> around for a good while and has quite a history, but I expected
better.
>
> --
> Kind Regards
> AndrewM
>
> Andrew McGlashan
> Broadband Solutions now including VoIP
>
>
> --
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Let us know if you find a better SIP softphone. There are plenty to
choose from, which is nice. With so many open source solutions, I
needn't fear my hardware being desupported.
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