Should I ditch my land-based home phone?

Go with the cheapest one without a contract. But before that ask yourself do you really need a home phone? Today most people have a mobile phone that caters to all there communication needs. Having different points of contact can lead to missed calls and is it practical to have more than one personal voice mailbox, plus there is the case of two bills. Most people today work a full 8hr day five days per week. They typically never really use the phone before work and when they get home from work they may have a small window for talking on the phone while they prepare dinner and prep for the following day before going to bed. On the weekends when free time comes, are you really in the home and on the phone that much? When you look at the advantages of your mobile it may be the best solution because you have access to a phone at all times, with the right plan you can talk free on weekends and evenings. Sure there is the argument that long distance is insane on mobiles but really the difference in price is only about 10% more than your current landline phone, when using the phone on your free time. I would recommend you do your research and weigh the pros and cons of having a home phone, but in today’s’ economy where we’re all looking for ways to cut cost and be the most efficient possible having two phones may be a move away from that mentality.

If you’re still considering a home phone, you must think of what type of home phone, VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) or the traditional dial tone phone system. Aside from thinking about the entrenched big companies that we all have come to love and hate, you’ll want to consider such companies that offer the same VOIP services, companies like Skype, Primus, VBuzzer, Vonage, VoIPGo or Brama Telecom, with a little research you can find a lot more of these types of services in your area.

I would say if you have shoddy internet service in your area VOIP may not be for you, because unlike traditional landlines VOIP calls are routed through broadband, so if your internet is down, so is your phone. The traditional landline is a dying work horse, as more and more people subscribe to VOIP much like the disappearance of dial up modems on the introduction of highspeed internet service, so too will the traditional landlines disappear. The reason is simple, with VOIP you can offer rich features such as video calling and more, traditional landline architecture just cannot handle the bandwidth and switching required for services and features that VOP can.

Really what it comes down to is your personal use and need. VOIP has been around since the 90s, but is still pretty sketchy when it comes to consistent reliability and quality, sure the rates are great and offers some really cool Jetson-esk features over traditional phone systems but sometimes service and quality just suck. This will get better, as the market cozies up to this new service vendors like Bell with seek to improve services like reliability and quality. I would recommend that if you decided to go with one of these VOIP companies see if you can get a no obligation trial period that will allow you to use the service and opt out in case you don’t like it.

Some things you should look for when choosing a VOIP company:
* Free Trial Period!
* Free Setup!
* No Activation Fees!
* No Cancellation Fees!
* No Cost or Low month fees for hardware
* No Contract to Sign
* Money Back Guarantee
Below I listed some pros and cons of having a Moble(Cell) over a LandLine(VOIP or Traditional)

Mobile
Pros
- mobility
- array of features
- free evenings and weekends
- status (cool factor)
- GPS locator service (for 911 situations)
- video calling

Cons
- Does not work on power failure
- cost of hardware (phone)
- misplacement of phone
- battery failure
- GPS locator service (for 911 situations) not reliable

LandLine
Pros
- works during power failure
- typical good long distance rates
- video calling (VOIP)
- cheaper monthly rates
- no per minute rates
- 911 calls locate exact address

Cons
- immobile
- poor features (traditional landline)
- subject to internet service (VOIP)

Something Big coming in August 2009

****JULY 22-2009 UPDATE****This is a follow up on this article I posted  last month. I guess the old saying “if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is” still holds true. PLEASE READ THIS LINK BEFORE ENTERING INTO ANY THING WITH THIS COMPANY, I WILL KEEP MY EAR TO THE GROUND AND REPORT AS NEWS COMES IN. Article here (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/072009-zer01s-mobile-offer-may-be.html) is well worth the read.

Well as many of you may know I am no fan of Robbers aka Rogers or the any of the Canadian telecommunications offerings from any of the wireless carries here in the great white north. Since www.ithelpcrew.com is heavily dependent on email I’ve decided I should switch my device to a Blackberry, yes Greg is going to get a blackberry, and I’m not kicking and screaming. The problem is if I get it from Roger they will charge me $299 if I lock in on a 3 year plan, the contract is not very appealing especially when I hear rumors of the coming revolution to the North American telecommunication juggernaut. The rumor comes from www.howardforums.com:

>>Extreme22 (47 post) wrote

k i just got off the phone with fido rep she said that something big is coming in August that would change the face of telecommunication

something very big has anyone heard of this

The thread goes on for 6 pages with everyone chiming in with their own idea of what they think the big change is going to be, from the intro of the iphone on the Fido network to new affordable Rogers price plans that include nationwide unlimited but for me the most intriguing was the intro of the new carriers especially since several months prior I had personally received some news from a industry insider about a big change coming to North America market this fall.

I personally think the ensuing revolution is going to be the intro of a new competitor that will change the game in Canada and that competitor I believe is Globallive. If you visit their site you can read up on there acquisitions of space on the Canadian spectrum and their concern about the high cost we are forced to pay and the lack of service and network features available to us at these cost.

You can read more here:

http://www.globalive.com/?page_id=212

Watch Ben Piilani interview at CTIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-4OrqV1gPM

Globallive apparently is not the only company that has aspiration on stirring up the telco game in North America, on their website Buzzirk is promising UNLIMITED calling anywhere in the Mexico, Australia, US and Canada for $79.95/month, their site makes me a bit skeptical as it looks amateurish and kinda cheap. Then there is ZER01 they seem competent and I have actually heard of their technology before and from what I’ve heard they seem like they are able to deliver on their promises. Buzzirk will be using ZER01s technology but we’ll have to wait and see how and if they can deliver on July 1st. I’m still stuck in a 3 year plan with Rogers but my plan is if buzzirk delivers then I’ll lower my Rogers plan and get a Buzzirk plan and just wait for my Rogers plan to DIE!