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Old 06-10-14, 08:10 PM   #1
AC_Hacker
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Default Telephones... IP Phones, Wireless, Cordless, etc.

I've been going through the valley of phone murk and agony for quite some time now.

I used to be pretty happy with my phone service... long distance charges were a pain, but the sound was clear and it was reliable.

Gradually cell phones have changed the landscape, in some ways for the better, in other ways for the worse.

I'm not very inclined to get a cell, due to the cost. In fact, because of expense, I had reduced my service to 'local only', since the people I knew who lived far away were dead or raptured... some of them thought they were in one group, but were actually in the other.

Then there were the sales calls, which became so frequent that the value of my phone was approaching zero. I called the phone company, and they had a special "no junk call" service that I could sign up for, that promised to double my already painful phone bill. I really think that the phone company is in collusion with sales people so that the Phone Co. can have two new profit features, selling numbers to annoying salesmen, and selling anti-sales call service to customers. There should be a class action law suit.

Then I encountered the situation where people I knew, and were living locally, had long distant numbers, and I had to pay long distance charges to call them. (arg!)

All the while, the overall voice quality of phones in general sank (even my hard line phone), to a level so low that I was sure there would be a popular revolution in regards to the matter, but no... people are all joining in like zombies in the expensive murk.

So I am now trying Ooma IP phone, and I am pleased on most accounts, it is cheaper, no sales calls, the voice quality is as good or better than from the phone company, and I can call nationally with no extra charge.

When I got the IP phone, I plugged my cordless system into it and it all ran pretty much the way it had before.

I am noticing that there are many layers of voice compression/decompression at play, and also 'background noise canceling' in the cordless handsets, which can be problematic.

Overall, it works. But I am now re-assessing my cordless system. I found a list of high voice-quality corded phones. I got a couple of them and really like the voice quality they give me, by removing one layer of compression/decompression, and the 'background noise canceling' rubbish.

I'm also becoming aware that each cordless handset has its own power wall-wart, which leeches at my house power total... not so with corded phones.

So I am finding high quality handsets abounding in the thrift stores to strategically place around the house.

I'll probably keep one cordless handset for convenience.

* * *

I'd be interested to hear other folks stories...

Best,

-AC

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