[bixby]

Or if you do not want to spend  cash on more hardware to get voip like ooma, you could spend $3 month for Skype, install it on your cell phone and use that for all your calls and use no cell minutes.

[WireNut]

Indeed!
You know, I kinda messed that one up. I've spent so much time dealing with this, I got sloppy and rushed the phone aspect. As it turns out, having phone dropped from my Charter account lowered the bill a whopping $10. With Ooma being $4, I'm only saving $6 a month for dropping the phone. That'll take a long time to recoup.   

Understood. I got behind on my land line phone bill and had to pay $80 bucks for 2 months.
Doesn't seem like a lot, but when your strapped it's a lot.
All I use my land line for is an answering machine and I delete 98% of my calls.
Ooma seems the way to go for me.

I have to say that since I cut my TWC line with an OTA indoor antenna for free I get great reception and a better selection of channels.
I'm glad I did it. I'll be using an OTA antenna from now on. Hell, mine is mounted inside my living room an I still get all my local channels
plus METV and many others for free that I've never had thru TWC. It's a win/win for me.

   

[Bob in St. Louis]

Oh yea, if you're paying $40 for a phone that you're not using, then Ooma is the way to go.......
.....That is, unless you can utilize the Skype/smartphone idea Bixby has.

[jarcher]

Skype via computer or iPhone works great for me - often the call quality is better than my cell service.

A general tip to those out there with TIVO - you can pay by the year and save - an option that frankly they seem to hide or bury somewhere. It's what I do and I think the cost is $135 - or about $11.25 a month. Only catch is you have to have had the service for a year or whatever the contractual minimum is if you bought a subsidized TiVo DVR. I can't bring myself to do a lifetime subscription as I always expect my TiVo box is going to fail - even though mine hasn't yet over 4 years of ownership.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Good to know jarcher, I'll tell wifey. Thanks for the info. 

[lokie]

No land lines at my house. I use my cell phone for 90% of my calls.

When I don't want someone to know my cell ph number I use google voice or skype.

For ex. when filling out a form on the internet... I don't like putting my cell phone number in those.
.
Or calling someone that I don't want capturing my cell ph number via caller ID.

Now I need a another phone number... similar to Google Voice. Want to do it on the cheap (free?). Just need it for messages. Texting or emailing the messages would be cool (like Google Voice). Any ideas?

BTW, Google Voice will only let you tie one of their numbers to one phone number (my cell phone). Wish they would let you do multiple phone numbers like multiple email addresses.

[Mike Nomad]

Slightly OT, but since we've been talking about phone service...

Been running off of cell phones exclusively for a while.

Problem is, our house sits in a dead pocket between three cell towers. So, we have to be careful what room we were in when making a call, etc.

Got tired of AT&T BS: UID headers, etc. Wasn't going to go with Verizon for the same reason. Moved over to T-Mobile re: privacy issues and that they have voice-over-wifi capability.

So, you can set up your phone to do voice over any wifi network you are connected to, and once out of range, it automatically goes back over to cell towers.

Service at the house is now excellent.

[lokie]

voice-over-wifi capability

Very interesting... Didn't know that existed.

That service would be great for the kids phones. You could really keep the minutes down.

Would be cool if they would issue phone numbers only to be used w wifi.

[ctviggen]

I purchased a cell extender (called a microcell for instance).  The Wi-Fi calling is an option, too, but when you have two different phones from two different manufacturers, it can get to be a pain.  What do you use for an iPhone? 

[jarcher]

I also had poor reception with AT&T and got one of their "Microcells" that connects to my internet service and have had great service since then.  I paid $50 for it, but another friend w/ the same problem managed to get his for free.  I think AT&T also have Wi-Fi calling plans, but I don't talk enough on the phone to make it worth it.  Can't comment on the AT&T privacy issues though. 

[Mike Nomad]

I purchased a cell extender (called a microcell for instance).  The Wi-Fi calling is an option, too, but when you have two different phones from two different manufacturers, it can get to be a pain.  What do you use for an iPhone?

Not sure what you are asking. I believe the iPhone 6 has VOWF capability.

[ctviggen]

Sorry, what app do you use with an iPhone for voice over wireless? 

[youravhandyman]

For those with AT&T:  http://www.att.com/att/microcell/#fbid=Ulf4W93Gr89

The the device is a femtocell in industry speak that AT&T calls a "microcell".  It puts a small cellular antenna in your home or office that sends it's data back over an internet connection.  I didn't look into cost but it is worth investigating.

And CVoIP is coming to all carriers soon.  Only select new phones have the capability yet and to take advantage of it you would have to be calling another person on your carrier who has CVoIP.  That also will be changing in the near future as the carriers are working on standards.

[Mike Nomad]

Ah. Per the T-Mobile person I talked to, it is built-in for the iPhone 6.

Sorry, what app do you use with an iPhone for voice over wireless?

[Phil A]

Ah. Per the T-Mobile person I talked to, it is built-in for the iPhone 6.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203032

[asliarun]

Inspired by this thread, I am in the process of cutting the cord. My Comcast billing has become so arbitrary and obtuse that I would rather spend the energy learning a new language or something. Or trying to understand how a DAC works 

I also got lucky - a local company wired up my building so I have gone for a 30mbps connection from them (HiPoint - and I am in Evanston, Chicago). My building already had Cat5 cabling so I don't even need a cable modem or special adapter or anything. I can now plug my modem or laptop directly into the ethernet port in my living room!

I also installed Ooma and it was such a breeze - took me about 5 minutes and 4-5 dead simple steps. The only downside was that I wasn't able to get my existing number transferred from Vonage (I pay them $50 every month) - so I will have to spend some extra effort in updating my landline number in all the records - and then I can get rid of Vonage.

As far as cable goes, I am dreading the cancellation call I am going to have with Vonage. I fully expect them to give me the full run-around and tempt me with yet another bundling offer.

Besides this, I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime over Roku. My wife loves to watch Asian Indian TV - so I actually have a cool option now. Dishworld (available on Roku) offers a bunch of Indian TV channels live streaming (including Cricket!). It is a bit expensive (about $45), but at least she will be watching what she really wants and with a lot more options. And I don't have to deal with mystery bills anymore from Comcast!

I'm still on the fence on subscribing to Hulu (or Hulu Plus??), and also OTA channels.

My wife and I do watch a lot of TV series. In fact, we are currently hooked on to Saturday Night Lights on Netflix. However, we do watch a bunch of TV series on cable channels as well.

Will Hulu give us most of that? Does it have significantly more TV series compared to Netflix and Amazon? Meaning - do I still need Hulu if I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime?

In addition to Hulu, should I subscribe to some other service provider as well?

Sorry for all my questions. I have one more. Based on Tom's Hardware Guide review, I was thinking of getting Winegard FlatWave Amped FL5500Y. This is an amplified antenna. I am thinking of sticking it besides my TV in my living room (I live in the 15th floor of a building in Evanston). Is this the right choice for me? I don't mind spending the extra bit of money - for me, quality of reception and ability to get most channels is more important. (The Mohu Leaf Metro is also recommended but it is not amplified - I am not sure what to make of it).

I might even go for the ChannelMaster DVR+. I like the fact that I don't have to pay someone every month. But I also say this with little basis.

If someone can give me some feedback or help, I would *really* appreciate it!

Thanks!
Arun

[chip]

Arun

I think that is a good start on streaming stuff - I only have netflix and survive between that, movie collection, and OTA HDTV oh and my HTPC of course.

Antennas can be trial and error depending on location of house to tv station antennas. So just make sure you can return the antenna in case it doesn't work well in your building.

[lokie]

Need to watch the College Football Championship online. Any suggestions?

[Bob in St. Louis]

I'm not into the game, but I have compiled a list of sports related sites (granted, they aren't solely College football), but I hope this helps:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/apps

http://pac-12.com/live

http://www4.ballstreams.com/

http://live.mlssoccer.com/mlsmdl/

http://www1.skysports.com/watch

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?product=roku

[lokie]

I'm not into the game, but I have compiled a list of sports related sites (granted, they aren't solely College football), but I hope this helps:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/apps

http://pac-12.com/live

http://www4.ballstreams.com/

http://live.mlssoccer.com/mlsmdl/

http://www1.skysports.com/watch

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?product=roku

Thanks Bob... great list.