AT&T and Microsoft are fascist; any opinions on Vonage and Linspire?

[iconoclastic cat]

I want to stop supporting total bastards. In that regard, I am putting AT$T, Comcast, and Microsloth on my Department of IconCat Security "Get anal warts and die!" list.

Anyone had experience with Vonage and Linspire?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. I just know that someone here turned me on to vonage and it works

just fine. and much cheaper.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Hey, I just replied to you in another thread.

Weird.

So, how much cheaper, would you say? And what broadband service are you using with it?

[mike_c]

3. I dunno, but I love Vonage....

Flat $24.95 per month fee, no long distance charges in the U.S. and Canada, free voice mail I can check from any computer or phone, and I haven't gotten a single unsolicited sales call since I turned off the SBC phone line nearly two years ago. Not one. Vonage rocks, IMO

[Roland99]

4. I made FREE calls from my hotel in China back to the States

by taking my phone adapter with me.

That alone made the switch worth it.

And, I have a friend in Canada and call her for free and now Vonage has added five European countries to the call-for-free list.

[iconoclastic cat]

6. I'm still concerned about the ISP issue, though.

What's the use of ditching AT&T's phone service if I'm stuck with Comcast or something?

[mike_c]

15. I guess it depends on your broadband choices....

If you have a broadband provider you like, that's all you need. Otherwise, I presume you're on a dialup connection and you can't use Vonage anyway.

[iconoclastic cat]

5. How are they politically?

No Promise Keepers for me, mom.

[Catrina]

12. How does Vonage work? Can you keep your same phone # and

do you use the same phone? Sorry to be so technically challenged but I'm not sure how it works. I have Verizon, which is cheap for unlimited calling, about $34 with free calling across the country, unlimited, but I hate supporting them ~ I cancelled cable so at least I'm not supporting the propaganda machine any longer.

[mike_c]

14. you keep your old phone, the number depends on whether...

...on whether your local exchange is digital, I think. I had to change my number, but I assume that's why I stopped getting several unsolicited calls every day, so changing my number was a major benefit, IMO. You do need broadband internet to use Vonage, so that cost has to be factored in as well, but I don't count it because I'd have the broadband regardless. I use Cox Cable for that-- no complaints and I willingly pay the extra $10 a month for broadband access without cable TV-- they were all "but don't you want TV?" :rofl:

[populistdriven]

7. i have been using Voicepulse for 18 months and it kicks ass

I even have my home alarm system working on it. I did the wiring myself it was easy.

I spend 15$ per month on my phone bill for unlimited local and 200 minutes long distance period.

I went over on long distance minutes only once and they were billed at 3 cents per min.

I would gladly spend 40 per month for this service because I have had the same listed number for 15 years and was getting tons of marketing calls day and night and now I get zero BECAUSE Voicepulse has the best telemarketing blocking features bar none.

[iconoclastic cat]

8. Thanks, I'll check it out.

[iconoclastic cat]

9. I'm still wondering about Linspire, though. Anyone?

[Recursion]

13. Screw Linspire

They suck.

If you want Linux but are afraid, try SuSE. It's more user-friendly than Windows. If you want Linux and aren't afraid, use Debian or Gentoo.

[mike_c]

16. install ubunto....

Best linux distribution on the planet, IMO. Well, it's Debian-- that's what makes it great. There are better distros, but probably not for the uninitiated.

[RoyGBiv]

17. Stay away from Linspire ...

If you're looking at this partly from a philosophical standpoint in the first place, Linspire is, imo, the last Linux distribution you should consider. Without getting into all the details, I'll just note that they take the idea of open source and turn it on its head. They're trying to out-Microsoft Microsoft. Even SuSE, the Linux distro backed by mega-corp Novell, doesn't screw the the fundamental philosophy, and the people in charge of the SuSE project genuinley try to develop a quality product.

Disclaimer: I use SuSE but am not necessarily intending this as a suggestion for you, just using it as a contrasting example with which I am familiar. A lot of good distros are out there. What's best for you depends on your level of knowledge, willingness to learn, and what you want to do. I will say, though, that I recently took a person who didn't even know what Linux was and helped him get it working on his system. Three months later, he deleted Windows entirely.

My suggestions: Download a few "LiveCDs" distros and play with them.

OnEdit: This just occurred to me. Were you asking about Linspire's VOIP service or the OS or both? I don't know anything about their VOIP service, but judging from what I know of the Linspire OS, I wouldn't recommend it on that basis.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Don't know about their politics, but I'm happy with Vonage

Since I'm not a major phone talker, I get by just fine with their $15 for 500 minutes anywhere in the U.S. and Canada per month plan, PLUS I get a dedicated fax line for an extra $10. This is in place of Qwest, our local regular phone company, which was charging me $50 a month for plain vanilla local phone service on one line after raising charges $11 over three months for no discernible reason.

[iconoclastic cat]

11. Oh, I've heard horror stories about Qwest.

I almost took a gig there, but backed out after being warned by a current employee. Yeah, they're horrible in so many ways.

Thanks, LL!