So I’ve decided to give Skype a good try-out after canceling my Comcast landline and so far I’m pretty happy with things. I’ve tried the service before, and it was satisfactory, but the costs on it are getting hard to turn away from now.
I’m not entirely sure why I’ve become so infatuated with saving money in every way possible, but I have, and one of the ways to do that is to go towards pay-as-you-go type services where it makes sense. Skype appears that it will cost me roughly $6/mo + $.02/minute. That’s really not too bad. If I get to where I’m spending over $2.95/mo in phone calls, I can sign up for a subscription for unlimited domestic calling. That means $9/mo for unlimited calling which isn’t too shabby.
After reading some reviews and whatnot I settled on the phone pictured, it’s the Netgear SPH200D. I was able to pick it up on-sale at Best Buy. It’s not a full-on WiFi VOIP phone, as it uses a base station (excluding it from being mobile), but it does perform well from my very limited testing so far. I’ll have to update if I think about it later after having had more of a chance to use the phone. So far I called my cell phone so that I could hear for myself the sound quality and I called my mom (she always gets to be the guinea pig for my new devices). The voicemail was clear. I called the phones directly and took turns holding one to my ear while speaking into the other. I could hear no abnormal hesitation between my speaking into one and being heard in the other. My testing partner (aka: Mom) said I sounded clear and she wasn’t hearing any hesitation between us conversing.
Of course there are downsides to using Skype, but I find them acceptable. For instance, I can’t dial 911 from it, or if the power goes out I can’t use it, or obviously if my internet service goes down, I can’t use it either. Actually, if I had a landline, the particular phone I chose can connect to that as well, and whenever you place a call, you can choose whether you want it to go out over your landline or over SkypeOut. I also have a cell phone to cover 911. Not perfect as, to the best of my knowledge, it doesn’t display an address with Enhanced 911, but considering all the years I’ve gone with pretty much only a cell phone as my phone, I think that’s ok.
You might be asking why I’m even trying to have a landline if I’ve made the jump to solely using a cell phone for so long. Well, in my previous residence, I had a lot of trouble getting a signal on my cell phone, largely because of where my apartment was in the building. I was hoping that issue would be resolved once I moved, but that’s unfortunately not the case. I’m typically riding one signal bar on my iPhone with AT&T at home. It’s become quite frustrating really. But I’m finding ways to work around it. My family all calls me on my GrandCentral number now, and my friends are finally starting to switch over (you change your phonebook yet Jeremy? Hmm!? That’s right, I’m calling you out). This allows me to pick up on whatever phone happens to work best at the moment, whether that’s my office line, cell, or now my Skype line.
Anyhow, if you don’t have my GrandCentral number (the one that rings all my phones), get in touch with me so I can give it to you. The iPhone may be going away one day, meaning that number won’t be available anymore.