Looking For a Good VoIP Phone

[Mr_Luke]

I went to Walmart and bought a new Magic Jack, and I hooked it up to my TP Link wireless router and plugged it in to a power strip, and I had dial tone in minutes. I didn't even bother saving my old number, which would cost $20 if it were possible.

I'm sure MJ has improved over he years since the last time I was using it. I've still got my old MJ in the drawer, it's a tiny little thing smaller than a flash drive. My calls used to all go through my PC if I remember right. I don't remember why I left MJ but It was several years ago, maybe about 8 years.
So $50 + tax for the 1st year will be about $4.60 a month.
If I renew at 3 years for $99 it will cost less than $3 a year for the 3 years.

 

[Mr_Luke]

but needs mobile access to phone

I don't need or want "mobile access" at all.
I have zero interest in cell phones.
I know many of you may not think I'm politically correct, but I'm fine with that.
And I can guarantee you that if I ever did decide to get a cell phone, it sure wouldn't be so I could be like you and the politically correct people here who seemed to miss the main point of my post..

But seriously, replies like yours are the main reason why I prefer facebook over this forum, so I can block and or avoid people like you who would rather go off topic to make fun of someone than add a constructive comment relating to the topic of the post. But there is always the ignore list.
A good FB admin would delete replies like yours and discourage your type of bullying behavior.

 

[BeerCan]

I use voip.ms and vitelity right now. I do wholesale voip so vitelity might be a non starter for you. Voip.ms did have massive DOS attack recently but seems to have gotten their house in order.

Yealink phones are easy to get and easy to program. They have lots of styles to choose from and most are available on Amazon I think

 

[twouvakind]

Ooma

 

[GON]

Oh that sparked a bulb. I remember hearing about that as seen on tv magicjack thing. I automatically assume anything as seen on tv to be a scam. So was it a scam.

We used magicjack in Afghanistan on or about 2002/2003. It worked.

 

[GON]

Got any suggestions? I was on a VoIP phone before Spectrum land line but can't recall what it was called. It cost about $17 a month with free long distance calls to USA and Canada.
I signed up for a "7 day free trial" for Spectrum streaming package, that would cost $19.99 a month, but then I saw the email bill they sent me, which had several things on it that I never ordered with a bill for $165.87. It will a cold day in hail l I pay that. I feel like breaking off with Charter / Spectrum and never going back. I tried to get this fixed and it can't be done today, it's their "busy" day.

When I can get them on the phone tomorrow, I'm going to tell them to take me back to the prices I was being charged or it's goodbye Spectrum for me.
They remind me of XM Sirius radio. It's easy to sign up for, then they sucker punch you and make it next to impossible to cancel out of anything or downgrade your service. I can go back to fiber optic and VoIP phone (and pay more) and make believe Spectrum never existed.

I am sorry Spectrum treated you that way.

Our experience with Spectrum was different. We signed up for their internet and voice package, about $100 per month. Never a single issue, was very easy to pay the bill (unlike Comcast). When we moved to Washington state, to turn in the Spectrum equipment all we need to do is go to any UPS store, they scanned the serial number and that was it.

I was much, much happy with Spectrum when comparing to Comcast.

 

[earlyre]

Ooma costs extra to call Canada.

only with the Free basic plan.
if you spend the $9.99/mo for the Premeir plan, it includes unlimited calling to Canada and Mexico. this is the plan we're on.

 

[Silver]

I don't need or want "mobile access" at all.
I have zero interest in cell phones.
I know many of you may not think I'm politically correct, but I'm fine with that.
And I can guarantee you that if I ever did decide to get a cell phone, it sure wouldn't be so I could be like you and the politically correct people here who seemed to miss the main point of my post..

But seriously, replies like yours are the main reason why I prefer facebook over this forum, so I can block and or avoid people like you who would rather go off topic to make fun of someone than add a constructive comment relating to the topic of the post. But there is always the ignore list.
A good FB admin would delete replies like yours and discourage your type of bullying behavior.

I wasn't making fun of you, honestly. I just had a funny thought pop into my head. I guess it was not obvious that it was a general comment.

I respect your philosophy and admire it.

 

[Mr_Luke]

I spent more time talking to Spectrum on the phone today. I guess I'll stick with them longer after all. My broadband will go up by $5 a month, and I will still try the "Streaming Essentials" package or whatever it's called for $19.99 a month. I was fixing to dump charter but they have some good CS people that were able to reduce the costs down to something I could tolerate.

He told me I can get a cell phone from them for $15 a month and $4 a month to rent one of their phones, but the only reason I'd need a cell is if my car broke down somewhere around town. I have a lot of faith in my 2012 Prius C with 119k miles on it.

 

[Mr_Luke]

I didn't used to want WiFi in my house, but I now use WiFi TV and it's been very interesting.

 

[mk378]

That "streaming essentials" doesn't look like much. It's only some of the most basic of the basic cable channels-- no local stations, sports, or news.

If your smart TV has an Ethernet jack, you can connect it to your router by Ethernet and turn the wifi off.

 

[Andrew1972]

I have no need for a cell phone. I don't want to expose myself to a cell phone close to my head.
I get enough electro pollution from WiFi and EMFs. But it might be good to just have in case of emergency.

You can buy a smartphone and turn off cellular to avoid exposure if that bothers you . The audio thru a smartphone running a VOIP app will be superior to a landline phone because the market is lacking for them and also they put more design into audio quality and processing because you have a handheld computer .

 

[Mr_Luke]

That "streaming essentials" doesn't look like much. It's only some of the most basic of the basic cable channels-- no local stations, sports, or news.

It's actually got all kinds of things on it, including all 3 of my local stations as well was PBS. I could get local stations with my antenna outside the house but the sound quality was so bad that I couldn't often understand what people were saying so I was using closed caption on rewinds or full time. I think there weren't enough high frequencies, it was most lows and it sounded garbled. With the Charter streaming channels the sound quality is MUCH better. Some of the sounds coming over the TV now are much higher frequencies and really carry more so I won't have to have the TV turned up as loud either. I was even thinking of replacing my TV a few days ago bc the sound was so bad, but I don't need a new TV, I needed a better signal.
I prefer NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt over CBS or ABC news, but could only get NBC during certain kinds of weather, and better in the winter with my outdoor antenna. With this Essential streaming I can get NBC News via my local station as clear as a bell and year round, in all weather. So for $20 a month, I think it will be good for me. I even removed the antenna and am going to sell it. Getting free news via antenna isn't worth anything if you can't hear what they're saying due to poor voice transmission.
It's also got ESPN, CNN, CNBC, AMC. A&E, and you name it.

If your smart TV has an Ethernet jack, you can connect it to your router by Ethernet and turn the wifi off.

I have an Insignia 32" LED TV with a Roku kit I added on. 2 or 3 years ago I bought a 12' ethernet cable and tried running it from my router to my LED TV. It worked so-so for youtube videos but after I went WiFi, my streaming speed and picture quality got MUCH better, and I've stayed WiFi TV ever since. An ethernet cable limits data transmission but with WiFi you get much faster data transmission.

 

[Andrew1972]

The Ethernet cable being worst than wifi makes no sense as wifi/streaming is generally slower and has more latency.

 

[mk378]

Yes even a 100 Mb Ethernet cable link will outperform most real-world wifi.

 

[kschachn]

The Ethernet cable being worst than wifi makes no sense as wifi/streaming is generally slower and has more latency.

Yes. And the whole sound quality thing when using OTA is also puzzling since it’s a digital signal. Either you get it or you don’t.

 

[Mr_Luke]

The Ethernet cable being worst than wifi makes no sense as wifi/streaming is generally slower and has more latency.

You guys may be right but I can't seem to find that long ethernet cable, otherwise I would have installed it and seen how the TV comes in.
I really have no need to improve on my WiFi TV reception. It comes in great.
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Is Ethernet faster than WiFi for streaming?

Which offers a better connection overall? Overall, ethernet does offer streamers a better connection, simply down to the reliability, speed, security and consistency of the connection it can offer.

 

[mk378]

Does that mean you also changed the streaming from the "smart TV" internal processor (wired) to a Roku box (wifi)?

 

[Mr_Luke]

My five year old 32" Insignia LED TV doesn't seem to have an ethernet connection. I was running a long ethernet cable to my TV at one time.
Is there a such thing as an ethernet to USB cable?

Maybe I'll get a new TV with ethernet. But I have to say, this TV comes in nicely with WiFi. The router is only about 10' away from it.

 

[Mr_Luke]

Does that mean you also changed the streaming from the "smart TV" internal processor (wired) to a Roku box (wifi)?

No, I don't think my TV is a "smart TV" , it's just a Roku equipped LED TV but it sure seems like I had a long ethernet cable running to my TV at one time. I just don't think there's an ethernet connection on this TV.