Goodbye Ma Bell, hello Internet phone service

Switching to 100 percent VoIP offers great savings, convenience

VTech

VTech's i5871 cordless phone system made switching over to all VoIP an easy task. You can add as many as eight additional handsets throughout your home.

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By Gary Krakow

Columnist

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updated 2:09 p.m. ET Dec. 28, 2005

Gary Krakow
Columnist
• E-mail

NEW YORK — When I moved to my new apartment, I decided it was time. I had been running two phone systems in the old place: POTS (plain old telephone system) phones with wires everywhere as well as wireless VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) phones. The monthly bills ran more than $200.

The choice was simple: Hundreds of dollars per month vs. a new monthly charge of less than $60. Goodbye Ma Bell, hello Internet telephony.

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Traditional phone service has been around for more than 100 years. Voice signals are carried over two-wire systems and distributed worldwide. The system is self-powered, meaning your phone is powered by the phone line itself. That's why in times of widespread electrical power failures, your phones usually work.

VoIP, on the other hand, is still relatively new. Phone calls are routed over high-speed Internet connections. If you have a DSL, cable or satellite connection for your computer you can also have a VoIP phone system. Your phone plugs into a VoIP modem box which connects to your high-speed Internet box.

Unlike the traditional phone system, when there’s an electrical power failure in your area there’s no power for your high-speed Internet service or the telephone modem box. Bottom line is that your VoIP phones won’t work. That could make calling 911 during emergencies a problem.

When it came time to move, I decided I didn’t care. My VoIP line had worked flawlessly for me in my old apartment and I reasoned that it was time to begin saving lots of money on my phone service. I decided to go totally VoIP. In an emergency, I had a cell phone or two to call for help.

Once Time Warner Cable wired the new place for high-speed Internet access, I plugged in my VoIP modem from the old apartment and a new modem from Vonage, my VoIP provider, for the fax line. Within 60 seconds, all three of my phone lines were up and running. For the record, each Vonage box handles a maximum of two phone lines so that meant I needed two modems for my three lines.

It took Vonage three to four weeks to get my three old phone numbers ported to my new VoIP lines. Except for the wait, the number changeover went very smoothly.

CONTINUED : Finding the right phone

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