Hey Bell Canada! (NF)

[tonyb]

If I switch, I will no longer have my Roger's email account, but I assume a Primus one.

 

You could always talk to Rogers to see if they offered email only accounts...or email forwarding service for a few months...Moght be cheap cheap...

[JustinHoffman]

Good point, Tony! I'll look into that.

 

Thanks,

 

Justin

[cantermore]

Better get my 2 cents in as I do VoIP day in day out for Business strictly wholesale, I dont know much about the retail side but the packages on the retails start at $3.95 a month for unlimited Canada at http://www.worldline.ca/en/KW/index.html and go up from there.

 

http://dsl.295.ca/Residential has more home based offerings that start at 19.95 with DSL included.

 

Echo is thing of the past but can happen anywhere, bell rogers etc..

 

911 on VoIP requires that you & or your service provider keep the providers 911 database populated with your current name & address. When you call 911 your caller id is passed on; the police has access to the database so they know where you are but if you move & dont update your address with the service provider; when you call 911 the poilce will be going to your old address.

 

We can also port your existing phone numbers over to VoIP as well and pass them to your VoIP router or ATA (Analog Terminal Adapter)

 

We are putting up some retail code on https://didoasis.com/profile.php where you can sign up at $2.00 for a VoIP local telephone number and they just get pointed to your IP address.. All calls to that number then just go to your IP address where you would have a VoIP Phone or Router/ ATA hooked up to receive calls.

 

A note on power failures, yes your service provider has to provide you with battery backed up VoIP Router / gateway in order to get any service at in a power failure.

 

Johnny

[cantermore]

Forgot 1 nice one for Rick.. in case you didnt hear on the news; Bell Canada was awarded the contract to put up & operate Canada's "Do not call lists" and it should be operational by the end of the year if not sooner. Will be interesting to see if they still call people after they are on the lists

[verno]

911 on VoIP requires that you & or your service provider keep the providers 911 database populated with your current name & address. When you call 911 your caller id is passed on; the police has access to the database so they know where you are but if you move & dont update your address with the service provider; when you call 911 the poilce will be going to your old address.

The problems aren't quite as simple as that. If you have VOIP your information doesnt always come straight through like a land line. We have ways of telling that it's a VoIP call but we are still dependant on the caller (or worse yet a VoIP "911 operator") for the location and phone number sometimes. We get location and number info from some companies, but it sometimes takes up to 2 weeks to update on the companies end. I have had a hang up call where I had to send everyone Police,Fire and Ambulance, and 4 minutes into the call when I get the caller back she was at the other end of the city and had witnessed a huge accident with injuries in front of her house. She had moved 2 weeks prior and had updated the company when she moved. I have had other hang up calls that with the same circumstances but they turned out to be an accidental call where no one was at risk.

Also with a landline, if you call 911 I have control of your line untill I decide to hang up. You can hang up all you want but every time you pick up the phone there I am (sort of like emily but fat and ugly ) If you are involved in a fight at home and someone hangs up, we arent disconected. I have had this happen many times, and had someone lift the reciever again and I can hear whats going on and keep people updated. Not so with VoIP.

The ABSOLUTE worst is one company that uses a call centre called northern 911. You call 911 and you go through to them. They take the info then pass it along. If you are lucky they pass half the information along. They don't know what to ask, they arent familiar with the area you live in, problem addresses, people your local police are looking for, special projects in the community etc. Not to mention, you talk to them, they call me, I talk to them and tell the officers etc. It all takes time. And most of the time I end up calling back because they don't get all the info.

Calls that don't come through with the address, have to be connected to ambulance and fire a different way (at our service at least). If we don't notice and try and transfer the call like a regular call the line is lost. Now that's our fault not VoIP's, but it is a problem, and if you are having a heart attack, the cause of the delay is not going to kill you, but the delay itself might.

Having said all of that, things are improving almost daily. There is some big money to be saved with VoIP. And realistically people don't have to use 911 all that often (thank goodness). Just be aware of the risks. As I mentioned above, it's not to the point where I would feel comfortable trusting my families safety to it. But to each their own.

[Clampet]

Wasn't too long ago, (1990 ish) Bell, was the only game in town.

They were a telephone monopoly.

 

Then they deregulated it.

 

People switched back and forth between different carriers for awhile, until they discovered there were no "real" savings to be had. Maybe short term, in the way of lower long-distance rates, but not in the long haul, as we see the cost of basic services has skyrocked. I remember back then it cost about $20.00/mth for basic phone. Today it's around $80.00! Sure I get a couple x-tra features, but they make up the money the lose on long-distance, but they take it all back and then some.

[John Bacon]

Wasn't too long ago, (1990 ish) Bell, was the only game in town.

They were a telephone monopoly.

 

Then they deregulated it.

 

People switched back and forth between different carriers for awhile, until they discovered there were no "real" savings to be had. Maybe short term, in the way of lower long-distance rates, but not in the long haul, as we see the cost of basic services has skyrocked. I remember back then it cost about $20.00/mth for basic phone. Today it's around $80.00! Sure I get a couple x-tra features, but they make up the money the lose on long-distance, but they take it all back and then some.

 

 

You should be getting quite a few extra features for $80 a month. I am with Bell and I am paying around $30 a month with all taxes included.

[Moosebunk]

I'm not coming back. Man you are like an old girlfriend I once had. There's a reason I left...and you calling me 20 times a day affirms I made the right decision. Go away!!!

I have a new girl now....her name is VOIP. She's lovely. She's everything you were and more. She's way less maintenance and more reliable than you. She also takes alot less out of my pocket.

Sure we had some good times, me and you. Remember that month you insisted the noise in my line was from one of my phones? Remember how it turned out your wires went through a rabbit den and the bunnies had made a mess? Those were good times. How I laughed when you asked if the rabbits were mine...I mean I suppose since they were burrowing in my yard, maybe somehow you thought they belonged to me.

Remember when I asked for a partial refund for that month because my phone was unusable? That sure made you chuckle.

VOIP may not be as experienced as you, sure. But she makes up for it in her enthusiasm and her completeness. Remember all those extra 'packages' you wanted me to buy you? Call waiting, call display and all that...VOIP comes with her own!

Sure she isn't pretty and her modem is clunky, but she's been here each time I've needed her and she doesn't make me feel like a cash cow. It sure feels good.

 

I read this just last night and found it quite amusing.

[tonyb]

The problems aren't quite as simple as that. If you have VOIP your information doesnt always come straight through like a land line. We have ways of telling that it's a VoIP call but we are still dependant on the caller (or worse yet a VoIP "911 operator") for the location and phone number sometimes. We get location and number info from some companies, but it sometimes takes up to 2 weeks to update on the companies end. I have had a hang up call where I had to send everyone Police,Fire and Ambulance, and 4 minutes into the call when I get the caller back she was at the other end of the city and had witnessed a huge accident with injuries in front of her house. She had moved 2 weeks prior and had updated the company when she moved. I have had other hang up calls that with the same circumstances but they turned out to be an accidental call where no one was at risk.

Also with a landline, if you call 911 I have control of your line untill I decide to hang up. You can hang up all you want but every time you pick up the phone there I am (sort of like emily but fat and ugly ) If you are involved in a fight at home and someone hangs up, we arent disconected. I have had this happen many times, and had someone lift the reciever again and I can hear whats going on and keep people updated. Not so with VoIP.

The ABSOLUTE worst is one company that uses a call centre called northern 911. You call 911 and you go through to them. They take the info then pass it along. If you are lucky they pass half the information along. They don't know what to ask, they arent familiar with the area you live in, problem addresses, people your local police are looking for, special projects in the community etc. Not to mention, you talk to them, they call me, I talk to them and tell the officers etc. It all takes time. And most of the time I end up calling back because they don't get all the info.

Calls that don't come through with the address, have to be connected to ambulance and fire a different way (at our service at least). If we don't notice and try and transfer the call like a regular call the line is lost. Now that's our fault not VoIP's, but it is a problem, and if you are having a heart attack, the cause of the delay is not going to kill you, but the delay itself might.

Having said all of that, things are improving almost daily. There is some big money to be saved with VoIP. And realistically people don't have to use 911 all that often (thank goodness). Just be aware of the risks. As I mentioned above, it's not to the point where I would feel comfortable trusting my families safety to it. But to each their own.

 

Is there a way we can test out the information as it appears when we call 911 outbound on our voip lines? (Obviously without having to dial 911)

 

Thanks for the insider information Verno!

Tony

[Ramble]

Their Internet service sucks, their phone service sucks and the customer serivce is worse then both put together. And to top it all off i went to use a pay phone today and they have upped the price to 50 cents!! It will be a cold day in hell before i pay 50 sents to make a local call.

 

-Ramble