ChrisShaul.com

How I save money of phone calls

First off, this will sound like an ad, but it is actually my praise for a good service.

About two years ago, I was looking for alternatives to the standard phone companies. At that time the biggest thing I wanted was privacy and low cost service. This lead me to finding a little known company called Vonage. Reading more, I found that it was a “broadband phone” service. What is that? It is a phone service that runs entirely over your DSL or Cable Modem connection. No more SBC, no more AT&T.

So I ordered it. A few days later I got a box with a small device inside. It looked like an old external modem. I plugged in the Vonage box to my wireless router, and then plugged my phone into the other socket.

After powering it up, lo and behold… there was a dial tone!

Now, let me outline some of the cool things….

1. Voicemails are mailed to me as a .wav file - this is great as I don’t miss calls when someone calls me at home and I am at a clients. (Alternatively, I could setup forwarding, but I like the emails.)
2. At home Voicemails trigger my AT&T phone to flash when there is a voicemail waiting. I just found this out when I bought my new phone. This is cool!
3. I moved recently and I just picked up the Vonage box, plugged it into my new cable modem connection at the new house and had service immediately. Actually you can take the phone number with you to any broadband connection (such as traveling to a relative’s house for Christmas). It will work on any broadband connection to the Internet.
4. A completely digital signal - very clear.
5. My wife can chat with her relatives in Hong Kong for an hour and it doesn’t worry me. One hour to Hong Kong is $3.00 (at 5 cents a minute). That is a whole lot less than most other phone companies. In fact, that is less expensive than some US long distance companies charge for a US call.
6. A flat rate to anywhere in the US and Canada for about $25.00/month. (International is extra)

So I recommend it completely. Check it out: