Dale Farnsworth wrote: 
On Wed, Sep 28, 2005 at 01:48:52PM +0000, JD Austin wrote:
  
I don't think I'm the typical VOIP user so I won't say what I'd do :)  
    

I'd love to hear what you, the power VOIP user, would do, if you
don't mind sharing.

Thanks,
-Dale
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Since all voip providers can become over subscribed I would not rely on their DID's (Dial in #) for my business.
It's an extra $50/month for a regular phone line, but I have the piece of mind that I can switch between and use multiple providers without having to change my phone number.

I use VOIP to give me unlimited (well.. unlimited except by my bandwidth) incoming lines.  First call gets handled by asterisk via PSTN, the next call and every call after that forwards to a voip number.  For the equivalent of a 5 line phone system I pay $50 (qwest line) + $5 (voip number) + .02/minute.  Not sure how much the same would cost but I know it is more.   For another $5 I get a toll free number too.

I like VOIP for the extra things you can do that you typically can't do with normal phone lines.  For example during a recent presentation I brought my office phone, plugged it into a router and was able to send and receive calls.  I could just as easily take it with me to a hotel with broadband and continue conducting business.  When I'm at work away from my home office I can make calls via a software phone.

With Asterisk I can take advantage of my cell phone providers free 'mobile to home'  minutes and lower my cell bill.  I don't give out my cell phone number to anyone anymore.  They call my business line and punch in extension 201 instead.  Since mobile to home calls are free the business calls don't use up the limited minutes that come with the plan.  For calling out I can dial into my asterisk PBX, punch in a code and password and get a dialtone to call out.  It is a little inconvenient sometimes but it easily saves me $100/month in cell charges.

JD


-- 
JD Austin
Twin Geckos Technology Services LLC
email: jd@twingeckos.com
http://www.twingeckos.com
phone/fax: 480.288.8195