On Jul 9, 10:58 pm, Larry wrote:
"Alan Spicer" wrote :

* Is anyone using Vonage or similar Internet Voice services over
Internet to save money on voice onboard?
--

As many of the marinas are now providing free wifi, we've been using
Skype with great success on any available wifi in range. Many of the
posters here are using high powered access points up the mast to increase
wifi range for internet, as well as Skype purposes.

My home phone is on Skype. I have a Netgear SPH101 Skype phone which
hooks itself directly to my wifi router, without eating computer
resources. I also run Skype on laptop and desktop computers in various
parts of the house. You can run up to 10 simultaneous Skypes on the same
account. They all ring at once...(c;

Unlike Vonage's pay-even-if-you-don't-use-it fees, Skype only eats money
if you connect it to landlines. In the USA-Canada, an unlimited Skype-
to-telephone/cellular phone interconnect is $30/YEAR (not month). No
per-minute charges. In Europe, Skype has another bulk use deal. If you
use Skype to call from X to a phone not covered by the bulk rates, the
per-minute charges vary, usually 2.1c/minute to most civilized countries
that don't charge both parties to use the phone. There's a long rate
list on Skype Out to about any place on the planet.

To receive calls from POTS or cellular phones TO Skype, Skype In rates
have doubled with the Ebay takeover to a paltry $60/year/number. You can
have up to 10 phone numbers on ONE Skype account any place Skype has made
a deal to interconnect. I have a Charleston, SC, USA phone number and
one on BT in London, England. Calls to either ring all my Skypes online.
I can even take another call from the other number and interconnect
everyone from my Skype in a conference. There is no per-minute charge
for incoming calls. The caller pays normal telephone charges to call
either of my numbers.

Skype is MUCH cheaper than Vonage. http://www.skype.com/

As for FAX service, again on wifi from anywhere, there are hundreds of
Internet-to-FAX services, some even free, once one has broken the bonds
of being on analog for FAX. I use an HP scanner/printer to scan the
document into a jpg and simply email it to it destination if possible.
If not, I send the jpg to a FAX service, who completes the analog-to-FAX-
machine interconnect for me. Incoming FAXes from analog fax machines
simply reverses the process and my FAX comes in my email as a jpg ready
for printing, locally, if necessary. I usually store them, not print
them.

http://www.efax.com/en
You can have your own number wherever it is most expeditious and
inexpensive for your faxers to connect to....cheap.

Larry
--
While in Mexico, I didn't have to press 1 for Spanish.
While in Iran, I didn't have to press 1 for Farsi, either.
It just isn't fair.

Good post. I've used both of those and recommended them for boats/
yachts.
I also recently connected a Netgear SPH101 on a yacht that purchased
it
on his own, to the WiFi Amplifier/Sharing System I had done for them.
He
also bought the Netgear portable WiFi Skype phone, he figures if he is
off
on the dock somewhere else where there is WiFi he can use that, and
can
even call back to the boat. Cool.

(I don't know what Bellsouth/AT&T's Newsgroups server is doing
tonight.
It had problems the other day as well. So anyway I'll use Google
Groups
for now. Not sure what my signature looks like via Google.)

Alan