-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 19 May 2011 16:48, <peasth...@shaw.ca> wrote: > From: annathemerm...@hush.com > Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 03:59:39 +0000 >> The standard is PTSN. > > Don't you mean PSTN? > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_switched_telephone_network
Yes, forgive the dyslexia. >> ... home phone is usually cheaper ... > > A few years ago when Shaw bought the cable service on Pender Island, > my Telus bill was about $28/mo. Shaw offered 24/7 cable Internet > for $25/mo. So the cost of Shaw cable plus SkypeIn and SkypeOut was > about the same as the cost of a Telus line. The convenience and speed > of Internet access via cable modem rather than dialup put the balance > in favour of Shaw. Telephone companies in Canada take good advantage > of their entrenchedness. Unfortunately, "unlimited" SkypeIn and SkypeOut aren't actually "unlimited", if you read the fine print, and if you go over, it goes to the per-minute rate. I can't stand things that have hidden fees. With a real telephone company, unlimited generally actually means unlimited. >> ... leave your computer on all the time you want to be reachable ... > > As with a telephone. Unplug and it won't ring. There is far less reason to unplug the telephone than the computer. The computer uses a lot more electricity. The computer generates heat, which is very annoying in New Mexico during the summer if you don't have air conditioning (albeit probably not a problem in Canada with the exception of your very hottest summer days). The more you run the computer, the faster you'll wear it out and have to buy a new one. A lot of those problems are mitigated if you run BSD or Linux, especially without X11, but a personal computer still can't compete with the low power, low heat output, high stability of a corded telephone. I could keep my electric bill, nice renewable 100% wind energy at that, down to around 20-40 USD a month by actually doing things like turning off lights when not in use, unplugging appliances when not in use, and keeping my computer off when not in use. The corded telephone was one of the few things that was always on. I even found a way to turn off the electric water heater at night. So I could save money and be eco-friendly at the same time! >> ... runs up the electric bill ... > > Use a handheld which consumes about as much power as a cordless phone. Firstly, seeing as how I've already mentioned that I'm broke, do you really think I'm going to go out and buy a fancy expensive handheld just to have low power? Secondly, I'm not comparing to a cordless phone (which is annoying, insecure, gives me a headache, bothers certain friends with heart problems, and, worst of all, doesn't work during power outages). I'm comparing to a good old-fashioned corded phone. >> ... miss calls when you have it [computer] off ... > > Diamondcard & SkypeIn & others provide voice messaging. So do Google Voice, Community Voicemail, and Sipgate, for free. Google Voice and Sipgate also provide nice lists of missed cass. But I don't get to hear the phone ring and pick it up if I don't have something plugged in, and a computer is not suitable to be that 24/7 something. >> Two choices ... left: Google Voice and SIP. > > Is there an objection to SIP or to paying a gateway company such as > Diamondcard a few dollars/year? Yes, at the moment, because I'm broke right now. Those few dollars could probably provide a day's worth of organic food, which is more important that phone service. When I'm not broke anymore, I'll probably go back to PSTN, unless SIP can compete on the reliability front. > Regards, ... Peter E. > > -- > Telephone 1 360 450 2132. bcc: peasthope at shaw.ca > Shop pages http://carnot.yi.org/ accessible as long as the old drives survive. > Personal pages http://members.shaw.ca/peasthope/ . > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: http://lists.debian.org/171057011.35885.33703@cantor.invalid On 19 May 2011 16:37, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglas...@affinityvision.com.au> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm going to snip an awful lot [around 18KB of text email] now, but your > email was a great read! The size was impressive even with the biggish > chunks of referred text, there was plenty of new dialogue. Thanks. :-) > annathemerm...@hush.com wrote: >> >> So your father bought a new laptop to use XP again. If he really >> wanted to use XP again, it would've been sufficient for him to >> simply buy a new install disc and license, but in any case, he was >> obviously sufficiently financially well off to afford it. > > Some laptops are cheaper than buying a FPP these days, amazing. Which is one reason why a lot of financially disadvantaged people ought to be perfectly happy with a Linux or BSD used computer. Then there's no need to pay the Microsoft tax. Alright, even learning KDE or Gnome might take a little effort, but less effort than having to walk all the way to the library just to check e-mail. > Okay, so I snipped almost the lot ;-) > > The other thing is that you can run a SIP service via a ATA or even a VoIP > capable modem/router. No need to have a computer on. There are models that > do Skype as well, without needing the computer on. Suppose I were to get a SIP hardphone when I have a little more money again. Would it be reliable enough to 24/7, even during power outages? I really doubt that. Even supposing I plugged the modem and router into a UPS, if the Phone Company/ISP itself loses power, they're probably going to prioritize keeping the phone network up and running. I could see it being great as a fax line or a guest line, particularly if the phone company in question doesn't offer good rates on additional lines, but I don't think it's likely to ever offer the same reliability as a PSTN phone line, unless the phone company sucks and doesn't keep the network running during power outages anyway. > Skype has SIP service as well, but I've always been wary of Skype for all > sorts of reasons -- mostly due to the proprietary code used, then I always > considered Skype-Out / Skype-In to be great hooks and I wasn't going to get > hooked. Then there is the whole security risk of using Skype, it pokes it's > own holes through firewalls and takes advantage of super user rights > whenever it can, silently! And another reason to steer clear is the > potential for huge data usage via "accidentally" becoming a "super server" > node. If Skype has SIP service, how do I call a Skype user via SIP without running Skype myself? Even if I wanted to run Skype, I'm not sure if I could. Even on x86, it only runs on OpenBSD with Linux emulation, which is somewhat annoying, given that I usually multiboot OpenBSD and Debian/Linux. So far as I know, there isn't and never has been a Linux/powerpc version of Skype. I could run an outdated version of Skype in Mac OS X, assuming it still works with their network, but given that I don't boot into OS X often, that would really only be useful for the occasional prescheduled call with a specific person. > Right now, I am finding that SIP has been good for quite a while, there are > PSTN options that can compete these days too. Using both PSTN and SIP is > the way to go. Yes, SIP appear pretty good, aside from the power outage issue. Once I get my finances straightened out, I think it could be really great for a fax line or guest phone. > Cheers > > -- > Kind Regards > AndrewM > > Andrew McGlashan > Broadband Solutions now including VoIP > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject > of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4dd5472c.5040...@affinityvision.com.au On 19 May 2011 16:41, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglas...@affinityvision.com.au> wrote: > Hi, > > Daniel Andersson wrote: >> >> Trying Ekiga now and I can't get chat to work at all. >> >> I was not impressed I'm sorry to say. But I guess Ekiga's strength is in >> calls not messaging. Will maybe try that later on. > > I was looking at Ekiga for a client solution, but found that even the plain > old and simple echo test was a failure at the time. I know Ekiga has been > around for a good while and has quite a history, but I expected better. > > -- > Kind Regards > AndrewM > > Andrew McGlashan > Broadband Solutions now including VoIP > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject > of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4dd54820.2080...@affinityvision.com.au Let us know if you find a better SIP softphone. There are plenty to choose from, which is nice. With so many open source solutions, I needn't fear my hardware being desupported. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Charset: UTF8 Version: Hush 3.0 Note: This signature can be verified at https://www.hushtools.com/verify wsBcBAEBAgAGBQJN1WUkAAoJEKlMTST7VF+olTIIAJzsd0Yz1znOBQd9Y7ATPgM5loWK BzqgwYTZKBugpsOsYNfb1bGF0569QrED+7J+FZzHIxqvEifeRegr8Bw+LYKris7qN6VO QAuZzdr5ckc/+kdTFj3bPtX8xC08CNQrBJeAxbht+bK2ChN9qoUIBtE24dIpXywjBOew UczL5nPkvbdMlQIJhRf47+mRldWrR5FY4FUumRRCwlfmBjT2MJdRzMFJr3oAVmk7u3r3 cgM1P9fsGk5gFcHrDyrn6qnabN2P+oyc0q8qNMdjTyqQgKSAK+hsjrAegT11EB2d2czx aQADi9brLe5/KXACKCWNH8rTNFvXx05bJDElcVN13jI= =gC9p -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110519184452.9161ce6...@smtp.hushmail.com