"Bill Kearney" wrote in
t:

Ditto - but mine has the other item in spades, where she can call her
kids and her mother, and for that matter, as she did Sunday, her twin
in Hong Kong and her sister in England, on a three-way, all over
wifi. I have yet to hook up the new Vonage router and double phone
set, but I expect it will do just fine - and it's another 12v item
:{))

Yeah, the VOIP thing would certainly be interesting and should we need
it the network's there to support it. But our cell phone coverage and
plans are more than sufficient to handle our calling needs here on the
Chesapeake. Were we calling or travelling internationally we'd
certainly look into it. I've heard plenty of horror stories about
Vonage and other lowball VOIP providers. Mainly that their voice
quality sucks (even with excellent connectivity). Along with that
it's easier to get rid of a venereal disease than to unsubscribe from
their services.

-Bill Kearney



I wouldn't waste money on Vonage, which is really on the rocks, now.
They are so far on the rocks my local Circuit City is selling a Vonage
system for $50 WITH A $100 REBATE! They'll pay YOU to take it home in
rebates!

VoIP = Skype. No monthly ripoff $25 like Vonage. You only pay for
USAGE, and only that after Jan 1, 2007 if you are in the USA or Canada.
Skype to Skype to the twins in Hong Kong and England is ALWAYS free, as
to everyone else on the planet. It only costs you a little relay
bandwidth you'll never notice as Skype routes other users data, not voice
data, through your Skype to distribute the load on the system, a tiny
price to pay for something that works fantastic.

Now the pot just got sweeter! Check out http://www.voxlib.com/ from
Canada for Skype. This software controls your Skype when you've gone off
away from your computer......

-----------------------------------------text file inserted

http://www.voxlib.com/

Yesterday, I got a message from a webpage box I clicked saying Voxlib was
ready for beta testing free downloading, so I downloaded it and installed
it. Install it into the computer at home you leave running all the time.
By next year, they plan on running it on a server, instead of your own
computers, but right now you must run it on your computer to use
it....for free.

Skype, of course for US/Canadians, is free until Jan 2007 when it comes
online for only a pittance.

*** What does Voxlib do for me??

Voxlib is an intellegent answering and conferencing software to control
Skype when you're not at home. There are two ways to use it:

1) - with Skype In ($US28/YEAR!...CHEAP!) on your own Skype In phone
number. You simply call your Skype In number from your Cellphone...or
any phone with your PIN number...and Voxlib answers you, automatically
with caller ID from your cell, or with PIN number access if you don't
have caller ID. It answers with a voice prompt of a menu to select from.
Press Causes Voxlib to:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Call someone's Skype on their computer.

2 Call out from your computer to a telephone
using Skype Out.

3 Tell me who on your Skype contact list is
online at the moment. Reads it to you.

4 Connects you to Skype Voicemail (free with Skype In)

2) - By using SMS messages between Voxlib and your cellphone....

Voxlib can also be operated by SMS messages, instead of voice prompts.
All the features above can be accessed and operated by SMS. This is
advantageous if your have a cellphone like Nextel where all INCOMING
calls are free and don't use airtime. You send an SMS message to Voxlib
telling it to connect to someone on your contact list or to a telephone
number, instead of direct calling Voxlib on Skype In. Voxlib then makes
a Skype conference call, the same as it does by voice/touchtone commands,
but it now calls your cellphone (INCOMING FREE CALL on some systems) and
connects you to your Skype or phone line party.....anywhere on the
planet. It simply prompts your party of the conference with you.

Anyone on Nextel or having free incoming calls use no airtime with the
SMS features. SMS costs too much to use on my cell, but your mileage may
vary.


Recap......

Up until now, you had to be at your Skype terminal on your computer, or
from one of the special little Skype Phones like my Linksys CIT200
cordless Skype Phone near the computer to do these things. Voxlib allows
you to operate Skype by remote control from any cellphone or landline
phone, anywhere!

*** Why is this important?

Skype calls are FREE to other Skype users, anywhere on the planet. If
you have friends in foreign countries and call them on your cellular
phone, the cellphone ripoff artists make you pay, DEARLY, to call them
from your cell. Now, you can call them from the car and pay only airtime
minutes to a local telephone number...your Skype In number...even if they
are in Siberia or Tibet. (just press 1)

Calling long distance from your cellphone to a telephone outside your
country, say Japan, reminds one of the days when it was $4/minute to call
the next town over on Ma Bell. US to Japan runs about $1.50 to
3.50/minute on cellular carriers. However, with Voxlib, you can call
your local Skype In, Voxlib answers, you press 2, Voxlib asks for country
code-area code-number and places the call to Japan on your Skype Out from
your computer at home it is running on for $US0.021/minute. That reduces
that $35 ten minute phone call to Japan to 21 cents! Not everyone's
cellphone has free long distance to other US phones. They pay nothing
but airtime to call Grandma in Topeka until Jan 2007 on Skype Out, then
only 2.1c/min....not the 49c/min Smiley's Cellular and Haircare wants for
a long distance cellular phone call. (just press 2)

You can find out who is on Skype now from anywhere...just press 3.

You can listen to your Skype Voicemail calls without going to a Skype
computer, from any phone, automatically from your cellphone.

Works great. There's a few bugs but you can help in the forums Voxlib is
running on their website. I found you need to manually turn off AUTO
ANSWER in Skype and reported that to Voxlib today. Voxlib can't answer
your call if Autoanswer in Skype is ON. They'll fix it...(c;

It just keeps gettin' better'n better!

--------------------------------------------end of text file inserted

Vonage sucks.....(c;.....You may quote me!

--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.