How do you do free calling with google voice? It seems it is just a forwarding service. On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 8:39 PM, James Finstrom < jfinstrom@rhinoequipment.com> wrote: > In a time where most homes have no land line ane 5 cell phones voip > can be verry useful. I personaly haven't had a real phone line in > years. I wouldn't use the magic jack personally but I have about $2000 > worth of various voip gear in my house. I also do verry little > outbound calling. I have a 2 free did's that terminate in to my > system. I have hacks and scripts that allow me to do mosof my outbound > calling free as well. I just got a google voice account which allows > me to do free calling as well this is all cheaper than the magic jack > service. I think its a neat option for the non technical. My father in > law is as bad as it gets with computers and I didn't get asked at all > to help him install it. If you are even mildly more technical there is > no reason to pay for anything phone related. > > On 7/12/09, Lisa Kachold wrote: > > On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM, mike Enriquez wrote: > >> I saw a demo of Magic Jack which a USB thumb drive like device that > >> lets you plug in a telephone jack and make all your phone calls via the > >> internet.It claims to work only on windows. > >> They claim that the annual fee is $20.00. Does anyone on the list know > >> if this is available on Linux or something else exist that is similar. > >> Boy, I like the price of $20.00 per year to make all my phone calls. > >> Thanks > >> Mike Enriquez > >> > >> > >> > >> --------------------------------------------------- > >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > >> > > Hello Mike! > > > > The utilization issues for all VOIP, IAX systems replacing land line > > phones include networking complexity, security and E-911 issues, > > wherein emergency services can immediately verify your address. I > > wrote the PHP/SQL extension to the Affinity Voip Telecom SER switch > > for their E-911 registration process so I have a good idea that most > > people are not bothering to register their VOIP service; E911 is a > > federal VOIP requirement at the provider level, however must be > > maintained by the user at the time of service registration. > > > > The network issues with all VOIP, IAX2 include NAT traversal which can > > add more than a little bit of instability during setup and when the > > network chances or is reset. > > > > I am curious as to why anyone would even sanely consider buying a USB > > "device", when you can easily use softphones like Ekiga (with a PSTN > > VOIP trunk from axvoice.com $9.99 a month for instance) or Skype > > ($30.00 unlimited a year)? > > Skype allows you to skype2twitter; your incoming calls can be > > forwarded and recorded, various other cool voice analysis plugins are > > available, etc. > > > > https://extras.skype.com/ > > > http://www.asteriskvoipnews.com/skype/5_most_useful_plugins_for_skype.html > > > > There's an article/review that mirrors my sentiment exactly saying, > > quote: "there's a whiff of sleaze about it all". > > > http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/03/12/magicjack_far_from_enchanting/ > > > > Having built (and used home based and professional solutions) Trixbox, > > SER, and Asterisk for AffinityVoip, GST Telecommunications, > > Skymall.com and maintained intelligent dialers, programmed and > > administered a Stromberg Carlson DCO, I am fairly well versed in VOIP > > and I just have to ask "Why MagicJack"? and "Where's the Magic"? > > > > Why have essentially a client running on a USB key? ...scratch > > head... When you can have it on your computer? > > There are a great many hardware based solutions also around $30.00 > > (which is what the USB client will cost you after you pay for your > > $30.00 a year throughput fees): > > > > Grandstream ATA's: > > http://www.grandstream.com/products/ht_series/ht503/ht503.html > > http://www.grandstream.com/products/ht_series/ht486/ht486.html > > (axvoice.com ships one of these with signup) > > > > > > Of course, in a disaster situation, where power goes out, your client > > will not work, unless you have your phone tethered to your battery > > laptop running your client. And it's certainly a great deal easier > > to just have a client, since USB devices are not many on most > > notebooks and it's not exactly the best time to be troubleshooting > > UDP/NAT Stun traversal settings, during a disaster? > > > > (In the old days with our digital PSTN POTS lines with 20 feet > > "wireless answering machine phones", we had to get a plain butt-set to > > make calls during power failure, but at least they still worked > > usually.) Hardware based VOIP phones, don't! > > > > -- > > http://linuxgazette.net/164/kachold.html > > (623)239-3392 Skype: obn0sis > > (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com > > --------------------------------------------------- > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > > -- > James Finstrom > Rhino Equipment Corp. > http://rhinoequipment.com ~ http://postug.com > Phone: 1-877-RHINO-T1 ~ FAX: +1 (480) 961-1826 > Twitter: http://twitter.com/rhinoequipment > IP: guest@asterisk.rhinoequipment.com > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > -- :-)~MIKE~(-: