Qestion about using Skype for home phone

exampasser

After being tired of paying $40+/month for a regular pots phone service I decided to look for a voip phone solution. I thought about TWC's voip phone for around $20/month or so but then when I saw that Skype has a plan for around $3/month I'm leaning towards Skype. The only downside is that I need to find an adapter for hooking up my regular phone. Has anyone fared well using Skype for a home phone?

veritas_libertas

exampasser wrote: »

After being tired of paying $40+/month for a regular pots phone service I decided to look for a voip phone solution. I thought about TWC's voip phone for around $20/month or so but then when I saw that Skype has a plan for around $3/month I'm leaning towards Skype. The only downside is that I need to find an adapter for hooking up my regular phone. Has anyone fared well using Skype for a home phone?

Don't forget you have to pay for inbound and outbound, as well as voicemail etc. It's cheaper but it does add up after a while. I personally recommend 8x8 over Skype. I really don't think you will get the same quality from a non-VoIP phone specific company.

Residential VoIP Plans | 8x8, Inc.

exampasser

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Don't forget you have to pay for inbound and outbound, as well as voicemail etc. It's cheaper but it does add up after a while. I personally recommend 8x8 over Skype. I really don't think you will get the same quality from a non-VoIP phone specific company.

Residential VoIP Plans | 8x8, Inc.

The plan I'm looking at does say unlimited calling for US/Canada but I did notice that it can't be used for 911 calls which isn't good. I'll check out the link that you provided.

Paul Boz

Just out of curiosity, what do you need a home phone for? I'm not hating on home phone users, I'm genuinely curious. One of the biggest problems we had that the telco I used to work for was trying to find ways to convince people to actually keep their land lines.

Hyper-Me

What about magicjack?

I used to have an article around here somewhere that showed how to to make a Skype! Server that plugs into your existing home POTS lines.

I've also kinda wanted to do a Asterisk server myself to use at home, i think it would be funny. "hold on while i transfer you to the dining room"

darkerosxx

I use skype for my home phone. The one I have is from Netgear, but I can't find the section on their site anymore.

You can find phones that have a port for Skype and a port for your POTS line. If you have a POTS line, even if it's disconnected, they're required to keep 911 active. So, you can use Skype but keep your phone hooked up to both in case you need to dial 911.

I've been using it for several years and thoroughly enjoy the price and the quality. I haven't tried any others because I've been happy and never had problems.

veritas_libertas

darkerosxx wrote: »

I use skype for my home phone. The one I have is from Netgear, but I can't find the section on their site anymore.

Yeah, I don't see any on their site either. Strange, seems like something many people would want

darkerosxx

The RTX is what you're looking for...

Phones which can use Skype - Skype

apena7

I have an account with BroadVoice that I use for work related things (resume, recruiters, bills, etc.) along with an X-Lite softphone. I'm pretty happy with the call quality and glad that only personal calls go to my cell and all others go to the softphone .

exampasser

darkerosxx wrote: »

I use skype for my home phone. The one I have is from Netgear, but I can't find the section on their site anymore.

You can find phones that have a port for Skype and a port for your POTS line. If you have a POTS line, even if it's disconnected, they're required to keep 911 active. So, you can use Skype but keep your phone hooked up to both in case you need to dial 911.

I've been using it for several years and thoroughly enjoy the price and the quality. I haven't tried any others because I've been happy and never had problems.

I have heard about still being able to dial 911 on disconnected POTS lines, thanks for confirming that the rumor is true.

exampasser

Hyper-Me wrote: »

What about magicjack?

I used to have an article around here somewhere that showed how to to make a Skype! Server that plugs into your existing home POTS lines.

I've also kinda wanted to do a Asterisk server myself to use at home, i think it would be funny. "hold on while i transfer you to the dining room"

I was planning to use my 6+ year old dying computer that came back to life to run Skype.