Phonegnome looks quite awesome... just some questions. Here are my top requirements: * Saving money on my phone bill (currently $45 for unlimited local/long distance with PSTN) * Keeping a PSTN for 911 service * But porting the PSTN # to a VOIP service for cheaper monthly fees So, I'd like to get a phonegnome. I need to port my PSTN number to a VOIP provider. If I don't, then ma bell will charge me for the call waiting, caller id, etc. on that line, which will remove all the incentive to switch. So, I thought signing up with Joiphone and having them port my PSTN number would work. Would I then be able to forward my joiphone calls to my phonegnome SIP? Any other provider that lets me port a PSTN # and forward the calls to the phonegnome SIP? Anything cheaper? After I ported the number, then I would sign up for a new PSTN number. This would be only used for outages and 911. It would generally not be used for incomming calls. For outgoing calls, I thought I would just vovox, or whatever. They are all very cheap. When choosing a voip provider, how different are they in regards to voice quality? Are there any that are the "gold standard". I've heard a lot of good things about magicjack voice quality, and I've used a magicjack and been very happy with their quality. If this all works, then my monthly charge drops from $45 to about $20 ($10 for PSTN line and $10 for JoiPhone, with a little extra for my outgoing calls). That would save me about $300/year... probably worth it. Any port forwarding necessary with the phonegnome? How does SIP handle incomming calls if there isn't port forwarding. Does the PhoneGnome maintain a connection to a server at all times?
Here's some other, simpler options, that might be about the same cost, but much simpler (fewer moving parts, less switching hassle). Since you're planning to pay $10 for a PSTN line for 911 and power back up (a good choice, imho), for about the cost of Joiphone, you could add Caller-ID to that and then use PhoneGnome for everything else. You said you costs would be $10 for PSTN, $10 for Joiphone, and a little bit for outbound calls. You can do pretty close to the same thing with PSTN+Caller-ID for about $20, plus integrated PhoneGnome VOIP service for outbound calls (assume pay-as-you-go for 2.1c per minute to US). With that setup, PhoneGnone provides free Three-way Calling, Call Forwarding, Call Transfer, and Call Waiting if a VOIP call comes in while on the PSTN or PSTN call comes in while VOIP. And there is no number porting or signing up for new PSTN service. The only thing you won't have in this setup is call waiting if you're on the PSTN line and a second call comes in on the PSTN line. Those calls will ring busy. If that's a really big deal for you, you can get totally compatible call-waiting by adding "Call-forward-busy" service to your PSTN line, which would add little to your bill, but still is a lot less trouble, imho, than all the number porting you're talking about. The bust-forward would point to a DID (number) that rings to your PhoneGnome SIP address. You can get a free Washington state DID for this from IPKALL (see http://www.phonegnome.com/blog/?p=82), but you will pay LD rates for those (usually rare) calls. You could have them always go to voicemail to ensure they were always short calls and use a low cost service like our partner Pioneer to get 2.7c per minute with no monthly cost/minimums for those Caller-waiting forwarded calls. This solution should be about the same cost, maybe $5.00 more per month with call-waiting, but it's much simpler, imho, and a very reliable setup with fewer billing parties to deal with. You could start it without the call-waiting DID and try it out very quickly and easily with very low risk. Simply drop most services on your PSTN line (except caller-ID), plug in PhoneGnome, and add $5.00 credit for outbound (non-free) calls. Done. Experiment with that setup and then if you find you can't live without call-waiting for stacked back to back concurrent PSTN calls, you can activate cheap LD (like Pioneer, might be a good idea anyway), get the DID, and add call-forward-busy to your PSTN service (usually $5.00 per month or less).
Thank you so much for your detailed response! OK. So, that means that if I keep my PSTN line with its number, I will need at least 2 services: 1. caller ID and 2. busy call forwarding. AT&T charges $10 for caller ID and $5 for busy call forwarding. The $10 for caller ID is really highway robbery - just seems like they are being really greedy. Suddenly, I have a basic local phone service that costs me $25, that still doesn't cover long distance calls. But, maybe this is a good first step. If I drop long distance, I will save $15/month, and then I can see if this VOIP thing works for me.. it will take 8 months to recover the cost of the phone gnome... But, back to my first question. If I was OK with porting, what services will allow me to forward from a ported phone number to a SIP phone number? I know I can forward from Gizmo to SIP. Or from IPKALL... but neither of those services will port the number.
I am also considering phonegnome because I want to keep my basic phone line and have reliable 911 service in case the Internet goes out. But just to clarify, in order to have call waiting and caller ID working for incoming PSTN calls, you need to have both caller ID and call forward busy from the local telco, correct? This reduces the savings quite a bit because AT&T charges a lot for those services unless they are bundled with other packages of unlimited local calling, etc etc. Right now I am paying $15/month for unlimited long distance with AT&T but the overall phone bill is around $45 after taxes (this includes call waiting, call waiting caller ID, and regular caller ID). Thanks Jason
Sounds like we are in the same boat. Basically, $45/month seems excessive, considering how cheaply I have managed to get other things down. It's not a big deal to me, but if I can play around with VOIP and save significant money - while still retaining the safety of 911 and reliability of a POTS line, then that sounds like fun. Since my post, I found a couple of things. The PhoneGnome box only works with the PhoneGnome service directly. Yes, you can configure it (through the PhoneGnome service) to send outgoing calls over any SIP based VOIP service, but you can't configure any additional incomming call services. Your are given a SIP phone number <phone number>@phonegnome.com, and you can forward calls from our services to this location... but only if they allow you to forward to a SIP phone number. IPKALL lets you do this for free, but doesn't port. So, I was looking at the OneSuite VOIP service. $3/month for unlimited incomming calls. They will port your POTS number. Standard SIP format. But, instead of the PhoneGnome, I was looking at the Zoom box. Still lets me use standard phone for 911 and local calls... only costs $50... and doesn't tie me to the PhoneGnome service (in case they ever go bust). Then $3/month for OneSuite, Plus $10/month for POTS... gives me a low of $13. Then, I still have to pay for outgoing long distance calls. But, I am really just going to wait anyway. GrandCentral has promised phone number porting "really soon now"... not sure what that means, but that would be the ultimate. You can forward calls from GrandCentral to Gizmo and Gizmo works with Zoom. So, then you have unlimited incomming calls all backed by the financial might of Google. Then MagicJack has promised BYOD (bring your own device). Unlimited domestic calling for $20/year... So, I think I'm just going to hold off for a while... and see how these services pan out.
Also, to answer your question. If you don't port your PSTN number, then you must keep paying for those services. AT&T told me that if I forwarded a call and did not have caller ID, then the forwarded call would not show caller ID. So, you can't just pay for call forwarding... you need to pay for both.
Ok, so if you port your PSTN number (say to GrandCentral if they allow that, or OneSuite, or whomever), you keep paying AT&T for the basic line + taxes but no added services, and then the VOIP supplier gives you Caller ID, call waiting, all that stuff? The whole thing is confusing (which is why I guess so many people use Vonage or Ooma or whatever). I don't want to pay $400 for an Ooma, the cost savings isn't there, we don't make enough LD calls now that everybody has a cell phone.
Yes, it is quite confusing. But, I think you've got it right there. You only want the real basic PSTN line, for about $10/month... which is just basically paying for 911 service - still a ripoff, but it is worth it. Then use the VOIP service to get all the good stuff - call waiting, caller id, etc. That's $3/month for OneSuite, and then you are saving like $20/month, which is about $300/year... that's a lot of money for a lot of people... If you have DSL, there is also the additional problem of porting your PSTN number... which may disconnect your DSL. You may be able to sign up for your second PSTN number and use DSL on that line before you begin the porting process... But, if you go with Vonage. You will pay $30/month after fees (Vonage tacks on all sorts of fees, just like a real phone company) That doesn't give you true 911 service or PSTN line. Add a PSTN line, and you are at $40/month, which is only barely cheaper than the $45 you are already paying.
I completely dropped my land line and just use Onesuite voip as my "landline" alternative. It's $2.95 a month that comes with caller id, voicemail, call waiting, etc plus around $7 or something for my outgoing calls. I still have my mobile, a pay as you go from T-mobile for 911 or emergency though.
