10 10 recommendations for long distance?
Phil Stripling
fixed fees than we are on phone calls to have long distance.
Anyone have any good experiences with 10 10 carriers? Or should we just
switch to Walgreen phone cards. :->
--
Philip Stripling | email to the replyto address is presumed
Legal Assistance on the Web | spam and read later. email to philip@
http://www.PhilipStripling.com/ | my domain is read daily.
Dane Jasper
: After looking at our phone bill, we've determined that we're paying more in
: fixed fees than we are on phone calls to have long distance.
: Anyone have any good experiences with 10 10 carriers? Or should we just
: switch to Walgreen phone cards. :->
Where are you calling, and what are you spending monthly? My experience
with 10-10 numbers is that often people in the household forget to use them.
=) Some also have some fees in the fine print, so be careful.
If you've got broadband, we can provide some nice rates, including a $34.99
unlimited US and Canada plan. Lotsa good features are included, and pricing
starts at $14.99 monthly for 500 anywhere (US and Canada) minutes.
I guess this is as good a time as any to announce that Sonic.net, the bay
area's leading provider of DSL for power users, has partnered with Vonage,
the US's leading provider of VoIP switching, to launch Sonic Digital Voice:
http://www.sonicdigitalvoice.com/
--
Dane Jasper Sonic.net, Inc.
(707)522-1000
mailto:da...@sonic.net http://www.sonic.net/
Key fingerprint = A5 D6 6E 16 D8 81 BA E9 CB BD A9 77 B3 AF 45 53
Rahul Dhesi
>After looking at our phone bill, we've determined that we're paying more in
>fixed fees than we are on phone calls to have long distance.
>Anyone have any good experiences with 10 10 carriers? Or should we just
>switch to Walgreen phone cards. :->
I have been using a rather nice dial-around service via
www.onesuite.com. Their rates are quite low, and their reliability has
been outstanding--absolutely no problems so far after about six months
of use. Since their service can be used via a toll-free number, it's
really convenient. They allow you to specify up to four originating
telephone numbers that will be automatically recognized, so from those
numbers, no PIN is needed to use Onesuite. This makes Onesuite
approximately as convenient to use as a 1010 prefix. And, unlike using
a 1010 prefix, I can use Onesuite from anywhere from where I can dial an
800 toll-free number. So, unlike a 1010 prefix, I can use Onesuite from
my cellphone to dial overseas calls and hence bypass my cell phone
provider's higher overseas rates. And, due to the automatic
recognition of my cellphone number, I do not need to use a pin code when
I dial an overseas call through Onesuite.
No connection with Onesuite other than as a satisfied customer.
--
Rahul
ab...@mix.com
> I guess this is as good a time as any to announce that Sonic.net, the bay
> area's leading provider of DSL for power users, has partnered with Vonage,
> the US's leading provider of VoIP switching, to launch Sonic Digital Voice:
Well..... I'm a Voice Pulse fan myself. Among other things you can
even get 212 numbers from them, if you can cope with that being 202-
or 400-whatever. They are not quite here in the west yet, but they
will be soon enough. They also use the Sipura SPA-2000 term adapter.
Vonage doesn't make it easy to find out what they're shipping these
days - it was Cisco, then Motorola...
Both of these vendors, however, REQUIRE _11_ DIGIT DIALING, and that
is definitely not 10, even for local calls.
Billy Y..
Roy
None of the restrictions of Vonage and has some basic coverage of the
Bay Area unlike VoicePulse.
Eric C. Weaver
> We have been experimenting with Fonality (http://www.fonality.com). None
> of the restrictions of Vonage and has some basic coverage of the Bay
> Area unlike VoicePulse.
What *are* the restrictions of Vonage, just out of curiosity?
--
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring
production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." --FZ
ab...@mix.com
> What *are* the restrictions of Vonage, just out of curiosity?
Smaller local calling areas, no anonymous call or telemarketer blocking,
you can't block your own caller ID except on a call by call basis, etc.
http://www.roffe.net/voip has a pretty good comparison chart, except
Fonality isn't in it yet. But anyone who doesn't load you up with
cookies and has a voice number in big letters on their home page just
can not be all that bad. Voice Pulse does answer their email pretty
quickly though (few hours).
Billy Y..
Roy
The main one is that Vonage can only be used with their equipment and
their equipment can only be used with Vonage. As I understand it, the
latest boxes can't even be reset to factory defaults.
There are new neat boxes like the SPA-3000 from Sipura
(http://www.sipura.com) and software like Asterisk or X-ten that have
too many features I want.
Roy
Bill Turlock
Seconded!! Almost threee years now, zero complaints.
With the addional info that if you're in a major market, they
have "POP" numbers to dial (not 800) where you get an even better
rate 2.5¢ vs 2.9, and their int'l rates are unbeatable--2.5¢ to
the UK, or 4.5 to Japan, for example.
If you sign up, tell em I ( 021204226 ) sent you and we'll both
get 58¢ worth of extra credit!
Bill
Phil Stripling
> Where are you calling, and what are you spending monthly? My experience
Last month our toll charges were $5.33. Calls generally go nationwide, but
for very short times. Louise's family is a local call, and my family keeps
in touch via email except if some emergency comes up.
> with 10-10 numbers is that often people in the household forget to use them.
Well, if we completely terminate long distance, people will be
reminded. :->
> =) Some also have some fees in the fine print, so be careful.
Too true. I had one for awhile, and you can get worse costs per call than a
national carrier like AT&T used to be. :->
>
> If you've got broadband, we can provide some nice rates, including a $34.99
> unlimited US and Canada plan. Lotsa good features are included, and pricing
> starts at $14.99 monthly for 500 anywhere (US and Canada) minutes.
I'm not willing to cut our landline, as that's were we get DSL. I gave it
some thought, but it's still more than we need for long distance and not
cheap enough for local. (Plus, it cuts our DSL. :->)
Best wishes on your new venture with Vonage.
Dane Jasper
: Last month our toll charges were $5.33. Calls generally go nationwide, but
: for very short times. Louise's family is a local call, and my family keeps
: in touch via email except if some emergency comes up.
Ya, it sounds like one of the 10-10 solutions or a pre-paid card may be best
for you. Look for rates between $0.02 and $0.04 per minute I'd think.
:> with 10-10 numbers is that often people in the household forget to use them.
: Well, if we completely terminate long distance, people will be
: reminded. :->
True - don't forget to ask SBC to set "no pick" on your long distance
carrier so that they don't automaticly pick one for you in the future.
:> If you've got broadband, we can provide some nice rates, including a $34.99
:> unlimited US and Canada plan. Lotsa good features are included, and pricing
:> starts at $14.99 monthly for 500 anywhere (US and Canada) minutes.
: I'm not willing to cut our landline, as that's were we get DSL. I gave it
: some thought, but it's still more than we need for long distance and not
: cheap enough for local. (Plus, it cuts our DSL. :->)
Ya, you've got to keep a pots line for DSL, for now at least. I hear that
"naked" DSL may become available in California at some point in the future
though.
: Best wishes on your new venture with Vonage.
Thanks!
John R Pierce
<phil_st...@cieux.zzn.com> wrote:
>After looking at our phone bill, we've determined that we're paying more in
>fixed fees than we are on phone calls to have long distance.
>
>Anyone have any good experiences with 10 10 carriers? Or should we just
>switch to Walgreen phone cards. :->
this site has pretty good reviews... http://1010phonerates.com
several of our au pairs used various numbers culled from there to call
europe on a regular basis and saved considerably money. you do have to be
careful, the various plans are full of trickery.
10-10-345 (Lucky Dog aka AT&T) is a flat $0.05/minute with a $0.30 fixed
per call charge, at least thats simple.
10-10-220 just went to hell pricewise, $0.99 for first 15mins (used to be
20 mins, I thought) and $0.15/minute after that, OUCH..
Everdial/Primus *looks* like the best (reasonably cheap, free from extra
fees and catch-22's) deal for short interstate and intrastate calls.
Phil Stripling
> I have been using a rather nice dial-around service via
> www.onesuite.com.
Looks like it addresses our needs.
They have a local number that is local to us. With speed dial on our phone,
I _think_ I can just speed dial the access number from home, then speed
dial the number I'm calling. :->
I read through the Web site, and it appears that the only fee is the call
itself. May I impose on you to verify that for me?
Rahul Dhesi
>c.c....@10X10Xreco.usenet.us.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>> I have been using a rather nice dial-around service via
>> www.onesuite.com.
>Looks like it addresses our needs.
>They have a local number that is local to us. With speed dial on our phone,
>I _think_ I can just speed dial the access number from home, then speed
>dial the number I'm calling. :->
>I read through the Web site, and it appears that the only fee is the call
>itself. May I impose on you to verify that for me?
(Onesuite also has built-in speed-dialing, programmed via the web site.)
I check my account status occasionally on their web site, and I have not
found any discrepancy between what I expected to be charged and what I
was charged. The per minute fee is the only fee that is charged--no
surcharges, no taxes, no periodic fees. I found this to be a refreshing
change compared to typical phone service providers, who like to add a
multitude of surcharges without notice.
(If you sign up for Onesuite's incoming fax service, you will incur as I
recall a $1 per month charge. I signed up for this too, but I have not
really used it, so I don't know how well it works. )
In the past, I sometimes used various no-name phone cards for low-cost
overseas calls, and I found them to be full of unexpected traps and
pitfalls. Such as, for example, not getting as many minutes as I thought
I was getting, and seeing the balance go down far more than I expected
based on the length of a phone call. All these problems completely
vanished after I switched to one Onesuite.
--
Rahul
Eric Weaver
>
>
> The main one is that Vonage can only be used with their equipment and
> their equipment can only be used with Vonage. As I understand it, the
> latest boxes can't even be reset to factory defaults.
>
> There are new neat boxes like the SPA-3000 from Sipura
> (http://www.sipura.com) and software like Asterisk or X-ten that have
> too many features I want.
Ah. I have a Cisco ATA at home, plus Asterisk and Zultys Softphone loaded on
the Linux machine. Sounds like Vonage is out.
Bill Turlock
>
> c.c....@10X10Xreco.usenet.us.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>
> > I have been using a rather nice dial-around service via
> > www.onesuite.com.
>
> Looks like it addresses our needs.
>
> They have a local number that is local to us. With speed dial on our phone,
> I _think_ I can just speed dial the access number from home, then speed
> dial the number I'm calling. :->
>
> I read through the Web site, and it appears that the only fee is the call
> itself. May I impose on you to verify that for me?
Correct, with one minor exception: if you use a coin operated
phone to dial their 800 #, they can charge you 55в, because the
coin-op phone owner can charge them that amount to connect to a
"toll-free" #.
That being said, however, the one time I've used a pay phone (an
SBC one) there was NO corresponding .55 charge on my accounting.
Also, they appear to round _down_ on minutes. I'd swear that on a
few calls I've talked for ~3 min., but saw only a one min. charge
on the account.
OK, one other gotcha (but an unlikely scenario). If you fail to
use up the $10 you initially charge up with, over a six-month
period, it's supposed to go away (you lose it all). But a friend
whom I signed up forgot to use it up, and still wanted to
continue with them, so he called their customer servcice # to
re-charge, and they did the re-fill, and credited him with the
original $10 as well.
I can't say enough good things about them. You could set up an
account for your kids if they're away at college or something. I
set one up for a friend who's in dire financial straits.
Yep, I've got the access #'s on speed dial, and then just use
_their_ rapid-dial feature to call my circle of friends.
Don't forget to mention my # so we can both get our extra 58в!
Bill " 021204226 " Turlock
Steve Pope
cents/minute and did not have some of the problems other
dialrounds have (notably, dropping the line when using a
speakerphone. no idea why.)
But this was a few months back, I since switched to
5 cents/minute SBC long distance. When the 5 cent
rate runs out after the promotional period, probably
will go back to using dialaround, or prepaid cards
(which are the cheapest, but for lowest audio quality).
Steve
ka...@sonic.net
>Phil Stripling <phil_st...@cieux.zzn.com> wrote:
>: Last month our toll charges were $5.33. Calls generally go nationwide, but
>: for very short times. Louise's family is a local call, and my family keeps
>: in touch via email except if some emergency comes up.
>
>Ya, it sounds like one of the 10-10 solutions or a pre-paid card may be best
>for you. Look for rates between $0.02 and $0.04 per minute I'd think.
Someone (Consumer Reports?) recently compared a lot of cards
and found the cards Costco sells (Sprint or MCI, I think) were the
best deals, with the fewest gotchas. I saw them some time back in the
store, but don't remember the prices. Basically they sell sell two
flavors -- a pack of many low-value cards or a pack of a few
high-value cards. I believe the price per minute came out to the same
for each.
ka...@sonic.net
wrote:
>On 26 Apr 2004 21:19:25 -0700, Phil Stripling
><phil_st...@cieux.zzn.com> wrote:
>
>>After looking at our phone bill, we've determined that we're paying more in
>>fixed fees than we are on phone calls to have long distance.
>>
>>Anyone have any good experiences with 10 10 carriers? Or should we just
>>switch to Walgreen phone cards. :->
>
>this site has pretty good reviews... http://1010phonerates.com
>
>several of our au pairs used various numbers culled from there to call
>europe on a regular basis and saved considerably money. you do have to be
>careful, the various plans are full of trickery.
>
>10-10-345 (Lucky Dog aka AT&T) is a flat $0.05/minute with a $0.30 fixed
>per call charge, at least thats simple.
>
>10-10-220 just went to hell pricewise, $0.99 for first 15mins (used to be
>20 mins, I thought) and $0.15/minute after that, OUCH..
If it's effectively 4 cents a minute for the first fifteen, it
seems you would just hang up and redial. Unless you're sure you'll not
spend more than about 6 additional minutes at 15cents/min.
do...@10x10xreco.usenet.us.com
> OK, one other gotcha (but an unlikely scenario). If you fail to
> use up the $10 you initially charge up with, over a six-month
> period, it's supposed to go away (you lose it all). But a friend
There is no reasonable excuse for that. Gift certificates aren't allowed
to expire. Calling cards are only allowed to expire because of a huge
legislative lobby.
I bought a card with a good rate at Staples. It was even on sale, so the
rate was really good. I only used it once before my minutes expired. When
I called to recharge it, there was no offer of allowing me to use the
original minutes, or a credit, and the recharge rate was the "standard" of
$.25, which seems to be a "discount" alternative to the $.40 at some
vending machines.
At one of the casinos in Las Vegas, I noticed calling cards dispensed in
$5, $10 or $20 increments, with no clue that I could see about the rate per
minute, or how many minutes were on the card.
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5
Bill Turlock
>
> Bill Turlock <"Bill Turlock"@sonnic.net> wrote:
> > OK, one other gotcha (but an unlikely scenario). If you fail to
> > use up the $10 you initially charge up with, over a six-month
> > period, it's supposed to go away (you lose it all). But a friend
>
> There is no reasonable excuse for that.
snip
> ---
> Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5
I call unfair snipping!
Bill Turlock
OK, upon reconsideration I see that your intent was not to
besmirch my recommendation, but to take umbrage at those others'
unfair practices.
Bill
Philip J. Koenig
R Pierce) writes...
I just dumped ATT (a really aggravating convo with one of their reps
finally pushed me over the edge) and switched to Everdial recently.
(Originally heard about them on ba.internet actually, last year)
So far so good, and they now have 24x7 customer service so that addresses
the main issue I had with them before. They also do the 10-10 thing.
Keep in mind that they are an MCI (nee Worldcom) reseller, in case you
have any issues with that company.
http://www.everdial.com/calclassic.asp
Previous ba.internet posting:
--
* Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which *
* differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are *
* even incapable of forming such opinions. -- Albert Einstein *
* *
* To send email, remove numbers and spaces: pjkusenet64 @ ekahuna27 . com *
* Simple answers are for simple minds. Try a new way of looking at things. *
Philip J. Koenig
(Bill Turlock <"Bill Turlock"@sonnic.net>) writes...
Well I think that besmirching was outlawed in ba.internet back
in '87, taking umbrage in '92, and unfair snipping in '94, so
perhaps you are all still violators. :-)
Phil Stripling
> I just dumped ATT (a really aggravating convo with one of their reps
> finally pushed me over the edge) and switched to Everdial recently.
> (Originally heard about them on ba.internet actually, last year)
>
> So far so good, and they now have 24x7 customer service so that addresses
> the main issue I had with them before. They also do the 10-10 thing.
Their fee is 4.9 cents for each minute if I choose them as my 1+ long
distance carrier, while OneSuite is 2.5 cents, but I have to dial a local
number, then dial my destination number. Six-second increments for
Everdial, 1 minute round up for OneSuite. No fees on either company.
I think the lower rate beats the 6-second increment, but I never know
whether I'm just making wild guesses. It seems to me the issue is whether
the convenience of Everdial being 1+ outweighs speed dialing the access
number, then dialing the 'real' number. (And having guests stymied when
trying to dial out to somewhere.)
Rahul Dhesi
>> Everdial/Primus *looks* like the best (reasonably cheap, free from extra
>> fees and catch-22's) deal for short interstate and intrastate calls.
>I just dumped ATT (a really aggravating convo with one of their reps
>finally pushed me over the edge) and switched to Everdial recently.
>(Originally heard about them on ba.internet actually, last year)
>So far so good, and they now have 24x7 customer service so that addresses
>the main issue I had with them before. They also do the 10-10 thing.
But about twice as expensive as Onesuite, isn't it?
--
Rahul
ka...@sonic.net
<See_email_@ddress_below.This_one_is.invalid> wrote:
>In article <408FE01F...@sonnic.net>, Bill Turlock <"Bill Turlock"@sonnic.net>
>(Bill Turlock <"Bill Turlock"@sonnic.net>) writes...
>> Bill Turlock wrote:
>> >
>> > do...@10X10Xreco.usenet.us.com wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Bill Turlock <"Bill Turlock"@sonnic.net> wrote:
>> > > > OK, one other gotcha (but an unlikely scenario). If you fail to
>> > > > use up the $10 you initially charge up with, over a six-month
>> > > > period, it's supposed to go away (you lose it all). But a friend
>> > >
>> > > There is no reasonable excuse for that.
>> >
>> > snip
>> >
>> > > ---
>> > > Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5
>> >
>> > I call unfair snipping!
>>
>>
>> OK, upon reconsideration I see that your intent was not to
>> besmirch my recommendation, but to take umbrage at those others'
>> unfair practices.
>
>
>Well I think that besmirching was outlawed in ba.internet back
>in '87, taking umbrage in '92, and unfair snipping in '94, so
>perhaps you are all still violators. :-)
What a pansy outfit. I guess you're not suppose to smoke while
reading it at home.
Graham Freeman
Many thanks to Bill and to Rahul for the Onesuite recommendation. I've
been using them for the last couple of hours' worth of conversation with
my friend in China. $0.024/min (when I call from Davis with the local
access #) or (gasp!) $0.04/min (when I call from Nevada using the 1-800
access #) with extremely good sound quality, no noticeable delay...
Fantastic! It sure beats Vonage's $0.15/min rate for noticeably
compressed and delayed audio.
-G
Philip J. Koenig
(ka...@sonic.net) writes...
I'm not sure it's against the rules but if you're smoking it might
be a sign of an oil-leak somewhere, and it could impair your view
of the postings somewhat..
Philip J. Koenig
Dhesi) writes...
I guess so (for out of state calls) - but I'm not interested in
having to go through the rigamarole of dialing twice every time
I use the phone for an LD or Intra-Lata call. Some other
differences I see:
- OneSuite appears not to provide the option for a paper bill,
or invoice billing of any kind. Matter of fact, based on their
use of the language "recharge your account", it sounds like they
actually bill customers in advance.
- OneSuite does not offer "free" incoming 800 service
- OneSuite doesn't seem to want to divulge whose service they
are actually reselling.
Price isn't everything.
These days my main issue is not the cost for US LD calls, but
the cost for Intra-Lata calls, which I think are a bigger ripoff.
My cost for Intra-Lata calls actually went _up_ over the last
couple of years, even though I originally signed up for a discount
plan that wasn't advertised and was cheaper than most of the
publicized rates at the time.
Phil Stripling
> I guess so (for out of state calls) - but I'm not interested in
> having to go through the rigamarole of dialing twice every time
> I use the phone for an LD or Intra-Lata call. Some other
> differences I see:
That's something Louise and I talked about, but we make so few that speed
dialing their local access number then dialing the 'real' number doesn't
seem that great a burden. And as Louise said, if it becomes so, switching
to Everdial remains a viable option. No long term requirement for One
Suite.
>
> - OneSuite appears not to provide the option for a paper bill,
> or invoice billing of any kind. Matter of fact, based on their
> use of the language "recharge your account", it sounds like they
> actually bill customers in advance.
Yes, you sign up for $10, then they bill against it. This brings up a point
more serious than the dial around issue: If you are running out of pre-paid
call, you get a one minute warning during your conversaton, and the call is
cut off after the minute. You can't recharge your account during the
call. You have to hang up, buy more time, then re-initiate the call. Given
our calling pattern, we thought this would not be that big a problem for
us. I realize this would be a complete turn-off for many of their potential
customers.
>
> - OneSuite does not offer "free" incoming 800 service
You can designate up to four phones to make calls on your account. Not just
incoming calls, though. :-/ All long distance calls on those phones are
billed to your account.
>
> - OneSuite doesn't seem to want to divulge whose service they
> are actually reselling.
I don't think I care.
>
>
> Price isn't everything.
Absolutely true.
Rahul Dhesi
>Yes, you sign up for $10, then they bill against it. This brings up a point
>more serious than the dial around issue: If you are running out of pre-paid
>call, you get a one minute warning during your conversaton, and the call is
>cut off after the minute. You can't recharge your account during the
>call. You have to hang up, buy more time, then re-initiate the call. Given
>our calling pattern, we thought this would not be that big a problem for
>us. I realize this would be a complete turn-off for many of their potential
>customers.
This reminds me: they do give you the option, on their web site, of
enabling an announcement of your account balance, either in dollars and
cents, or in minutes left on the basis of the call that you just dialed,
or both. So you will know as soon as you dial how many minutes you have
left for that call, assuming that you have enabled the minutes left
announcement.
Given this feature, the possibility of running out of one's account
balance did not seem to me to be a significant problem.
I do now remember having one problem that occurred a long time ago.
Some people are rumored to have little boxes on their telephones that
will answer the incoming call and send back an intercept tone designed
to fool telemarketers into believing that they have reached a
disconnected number. It is said that this will make the telemarketer
hang up and not dial that number again. I found that when I used
Onesuite to dial such a number, Onesuite would hang up as soon as it
encountered that intercept tone. Fortunately I had MCI calling cards
(bought from Costco) in stock and used one of them for that particular
call. In fact, I have a whole packet of those calling cards, kept in
reserve just in case Onesuite ever fails to work -- and I haven't had to
use any of them yet, not even once. Fortunately, those calling cards
are supposed to never expire (although once you start using one of them,
it has a one-year lifetime).
(Of course, there is no guarantee that MCI will never expire.)
I have not encountered that intercept problem since then, but I don't
know whether it's because Onesuite solved it, or whether hardly anyone
has those little intercept boxes.
--
Rahul
Graham Freeman
> Yes, you sign up for $10, then they bill against it. This brings up a
> point more serious than the dial around issue: If you are running out of
> pre-paid call, you get a one minute warning during your conversaton, and
> the call is cut off after the minute. You can't recharge your account
> during the call. You have to hang up, buy more time, then re-initiate
> the call. Given our calling pattern, we thought this would not be that
> big a problem for us. I realize this would be a complete turn-off for
> many of their potential customers.
Also, as I discovered the hard way, you can only make one transaction per
24 hour period. Apparently they do this to reduce fraud, but it sure
would've been nice to know up front.
-G
Philip J. Koenig
Dhesi) writes...
> I do now remember having one problem that occurred a long time ago.
> Some people are rumored to have little boxes on their telephones that
> will answer the incoming call and send back an intercept tone designed
> to fool telemarketers into believing that they have reached a
> disconnected number. It is said that this will make the telemarketer
> hang up and not dial that number again. I found that when I used
> Onesuite to dial such a number, Onesuite would hang up as soon as it
> encountered that intercept tone.
You really need to stop making all those cold calls trying
to sell newspaper subscriptions Rahul. <g>
Philip J. Koenig
Stripling) writes...
> Philip J. Koenig <See_email_@ddress_below.This_one_is.invalid> writes:
> > - OneSuite does not offer "free" incoming 800 service
>
> You can designate up to four phones to make calls on your account. Not just
> incoming calls, though. :-/ All long distance calls on those phones are
> billed to your account.
The service I'm referring to is where they assign customers, for
free, an incoming 800 number they can use to call their home phone
from wherever they are. (in the US)
All you have to pay is the per-minute charge which, while not quite
as cheap as the dialout fee, is way better than getting gouged by
payphones*, cellphones, hotels, or wherever else you happen to be
calling from. Great to give to friends, family members, business
associates etc. too.
*(You still have to pay the FCC-mandated per-call fee now imposed
on carriers to connect calls from payphones to toll-free numbers,
but the per-minute charge is dramatically less than what you'd pay
from those coin-operated phones)
Bill Turlock
In my experience it's cheaper to use OneSuite to call Marin from
my East Bay location than it is to use SBC. Seriously
No, price isn't every thing, just a big thing.
Bill
Bill Turlock
Speaking of price...
AT&T used to administer my toll-free number. When I originally
got it, it was called something like a "starter" line. It cost
around $5/mo., and I forget what the per minute was, but not too
bad for 12 years ago, maybe 10-15ข/min.
Then the /min. started creeping up.
Then it cost $25 to change the ring-down # (and took 10-15
business days).
When I finally gave up, they were getting $15/mo and trying to
get 75ข/min. from me.
I posted a cry for help in comp.dcom.telecom, and got a reply
from a guy in Fla. who helped me transfer my number to the new
provider. The cost to me for his service? $0.00. The cost of the
service? $0.00/mo., and ~4-6ข/min.
I don't use too much so I just send them a check for $20.00 every
once in a while and never worry about it.
A few weeks ago, I had need of a second toll-free #, so I
contacted him, because it had been so long since I was in contact
with the actual provider, that I had lost the paperwork, didn't
know how to contact them.
(Back when I did though, I had occasion to change the ring-down
number several times. The cost? $0.00 The time to effect the
change? It was done before I hung up.)
So, he found me a cool new 866 number (from the same provider),
which included the name-of-my-company acronym. The cost to me for
his service? $0.00 Elapsed time from the Sunday evening when I
first e-mailed him 'till the new # was live? Mid-day Tuesday.
Would I recommend his service? Would I, would I?
If he's gonna go all out for me, a little guy from whom he's not
gonna make a ข just think what he'd do for you, if you were going
to spend some real $$ on telecomm!!
I'd be happy to hook you up with him if you are in need of any
serious telecom servcices. Post in here and I'll contact you, I
don't want to spam his details to anyone who doesn't want it.
Bill "hare lip, hare lip" Turlock
ab...@mix.com
> I'd be happy to hook you up with him if you are in need of any
> serious telecom servcices. Post in here and I'll contact you
Sure, send me his info. I'm always looking for better deals.
Billy Y..
ka...@sonic.net
<See_email_@ddress_below.This_one_is.invalid> wrote:
Cite downside? :-)
ka...@sonic.net
<See_email_@ddress_below.This_one_is.invalid> wrote:
>In article <c6s4mo$114$1...@blue.rahul.net>, c.c....@10X10Xreco.usenet.us.com (Rahul
>Dhesi) writes...
>
>> I do now remember having one problem that occurred a long time ago.
>> Some people are rumored to have little boxes on their telephones that
>> will answer the incoming call and send back an intercept tone designed
>> to fool telemarketers into believing that they have reached a
>> disconnected number. It is said that this will make the telemarketer
>> hang up and not dial that number again. I found that when I used
>> Onesuite to dial such a number, Onesuite would hang up as soon as it
>> encountered that intercept tone.
>
>
>You really need to stop making all those cold calls trying
>to sell newspaper subscriptions Rahul. <g>
Not newspapers -- Vicodin.
And I find his rates reasonable and delivery prompt. :-)
Philip J. Koenig
(ka...@sonic.net) writes...
Yeah but he's selling the generic: V!c0d*1*n
Andrew
> Someone (Consumer Reports?) recently compared a lot of cards
>and found the cards Costco sells (Sprint or MCI, I think) were the
>best deals, with the fewest gotchas. I saw them some time back in the
They're MCI cards, and go for 3cents/min. I think the large
card comes with 600 minutes. They're rechargable at the same
rate. The only "gotcha" of the card is that the minutes
expire 2 years after the first use of the card (I'm not sure
how recharged minutes are expired).
It's also a minor pain to use for dialing up, because the
time between prompts varies depending on what the recorded
message says.
Overall, they work fine, and as advertised. I think there
are better deals out there though. 2 cents a minute, after
all, is significantly cheaper than 3 cents a minute.
Andrew