Cheaper CID Tip

[VaHam]

I keep my POTS line for two reasons
1) I have had the number for 30+ years
2) I want to have a POTS line for emergency dialing

I have the POTS limited to local calls only for cost. I want to be able to direct incoming calls based on CID. To do this I need a service from Ma Bell now Verizon charges $8.95/mo for CID but only $4.95 for call forwarding.

It seems that if you don't purchase CID then the incoming CID is lost on the incoming POTS line.

So I use the cheaper call forwarding service and forward to a Google Voice number. The POTS outgoing of coarse still works as normal. I have a couple of free DIDs (Sipgate, IPKALL) setup in Google Voice to provide redundancy in case of failure of one of the free DID services. You could of coarse just forward to any single local call DID if you don't want the redundancy.

The nice part is when Verizon hands off the call forward the incoming CID is retained so I can use Superfecta to do the CID lookup. Also I don't have the headaches with touch tones etc.

This way I have a fairly robust system with CallerID and save $4.00/month in the process.

 

[briankelly63]

Yep, I do the same...

 

[ampster]

ditto
ditto

 

[da1Bear]

The other thing you gain this way is that the caller id comes in with the call setup, not between the first and second ring, as it does on a POTS line.

 

[islandtech]

on my verizon pots line with call forwarding active and i'm talking on a forwarded call i cannot receive a second call must purchase multiple paths to forward more than one call at a time

 

[briankelly63]

on some telcos if you also have call waiting on the pots line you will have a second channel that will forward...

 

[jpe]

I too had kept a pots line for many years for many of the same reasons. It's been about a year since I dropped it for a dry loop. I couldn't justify paying $25+ a month for a basic dial tone that I never used. The actual cost for the dial tone was about $6. The rest were taxes and fees. (no CID, that was $7 extra)
I ported my 35 year old numbers to my ISP many years ago.

 

[briankelly63]

Mt telco (small rural) only ports to the cell carriers in the area or Cablevision. So if I want to retain a "local" number then I need to hold onto the pots line. I don't know if I could port to say Verizon Wireless and then port to my voip provider from there...

I use Vitelity but they are not as dependable as the local phone company..

 

[VaHam]

I too had kept a pots line for many years for many of the same reasons. It's been about a year since I dropped it for a dry loop. I couldn't justify paying $25+ a month for a basic dial tone that I never used. The actual cost for the dial tone was about $6. The rest were taxes and fees. (no CID, that was $7 extra)
I ported my 35 year old numbers to my ISP many years ago.

My Internet connection is thru COX cable and it is pretty reliable but not as good as the Verizon line.

I remember the last hurricane when I was without cable for over a week but the the POTS only went out for about a day due to local line being severed. And the cell phones were very sketchy during the whole ordeal.

I am willing to pay the $25 in order to have redundancy especially for 911 calls but I understand what you mean about the relatively high cost/use of the POTS.

 

[VaHam]

Assuming you are hosting your own sever, why not use the POTS line? I am using combination of POTS lines and VOIP trunks (out of necessity because I can't get a local VOIP DID) with no issues. Local outgoing calls are routed over the ZAP trunks first, LD go over the VOIP trunks. Call volume is such that my $/minute on the ZAP trunks is in line with VOIP charges and I get a bit of redundancy in case of a failure of either system.

Lorne

Well I have unlimited local calling on the POTS so I route outgoing local calls over it first as well, for the sake of quality. Some of my voip trunks are unlimited US & Canada also; so the POTS local outgoing is redundant in my case.