R.T. Lechow » Tech http://rtlechow.com Philosophy, Magic, Software Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:13:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The World Beyond Big Telcos http://rtlechow.com/2009/02/the-world-beyond-big-telcos/ http://rtlechow.com/2009/02/the-world-beyond-big-telcos/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:18:34 +0000 rtlechow http://rtlechow.com/?p=189 I recently had the opportunity to talk to Kris Reyes and Tony The Cameraperson from CityTV about VoIP:

To add some detail:

  • I’m not normal. I don’t have a landline or a mobile. Big Canadian Telco’s are clueless when it comes to pricing this stuff.
  • I have Skype at ~$36/year to make unlimited calls across North America. Annoyingly, Skype can’t receive calls (“SkypeIn“) in Canada, although people have been asking for it since at least 2006.
  • I use Gizmo5 at $20/3 months to receive calls, in Skype’s stead. That basically gives me a “real phone number” in Toronto’s 416 area code.
  • I can receive live calls if I’m running Gizmo5′s desktop application (similar to Skype’s desktop app), but I rarely do, unless the call is scheduled ahead of time. Usually, calls and texts go straight to my voicemail, and those voicemails are immediately emailed to me as attachments. I like isolating things to my inbox.
  • At one time, I played with DIDWW, which offers a “real phone number forwarded to Skype” service. Voicemail didn’t work, which was a dealbreaker.

This isn’t for everyone, but if all you want is a phone, voicemail, and you don’t mind “living in software”, it’s the cheapest option I’ve found.

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