bczoom said:
Yep...
Can you say that one more time... in English?
Can you elaborate/explain open vs. closed. What kind of hardware are we talking about, and how much does it cost?
I want to keep my existing phone numbers if possible. I work from home and have business voice and fax numbers. I keep these calls/numbers away from the rest of the house (I don't want my kids answering my business line).
I also use my different phone numbers for internal calls. I have all lines connected in my building and remote sections of the house. Mrs. Zoom calls from the home line to one of my business lines and I answer. It's kind of an intercom system.
I aint gonna say it one more time.. bubba. ;-)
closed or locked.
its a lot like cell phones. Most cell phone providers give you a cell phone which is locked to only use their network SIM. Forcing you to only use them for making and receiving calls. With an unlocked cell phone you are free to switch to a different SIM card. This is useful if you want to use your phone overseas and not get charged roaming fee and want to take advantage of free incoming minutes using a foreign cell number.
a locked ATA adapter is the same way. A closed network means that people can not call you for free if they also have internet phone service with a different provider. They can only call your by dial out via PSTN, costing them money. If you are on the road, this also makes it difficult for you to call home for free via the internet. Again, because it is a closed network... Its on the same internet as everyone else but they wont let other non-network subscribers call you for free. Kind of like people with Verizon cells phones calling Cingular cells phone for free. They don't allow you to do it. But Cingular to Cingular calls are free. Same idea. This is why I don't like closed internet phone providers. Also, if I want to make an outgoing call I want to be able to shop for the best rates and pick the provider or multiple providers for the best phone plan. For example, pick one provider for US calls, another for international, another for 800#s, etc.
also, closed networks GIVE you a free adapter.. but if you want to leave before your contract is up they hit you with large fee. They also want to charge you a setup fee when you get started. If you have your own device, you can come and go as you please without fees. If they start giving you crappy service, you give them the finger and go elsewhere. No fees. Its your device, you own it..
an SPA-3000 is around $80-90.
an SPA-2002 is around $66.
check the website I told you about.
www.voxilla.com
having multiple phone lines is a bit lame. Instead it is better to have a PBX and use extensions. Incoming calls can be directed as you with which ever extension you wish and you can controller the ring too if you which based on the caller ID. When people call into a certain number, it will go into the same PBX but will be routed to ring which ever extensions you wish. A single extention or multiple ones or ever call other numbers like your cell phone, passing the number calling the PBX straigh to the cell phones caller id.
another cool thing as I briefly touched on eariler is when you take your computer on the road, you can answer and make your calls remotely using your laptop. When someone calls your number, your normal extension(s) will ring, plus cell phone, plus laptop half way around the world at the same time.. Who ever picks up the phone first, causes the other phones to stop ringing. Just like you would on a common shared phone cable in your house.
actually the computer is just another extension.. if you dont want to use your computer as an extension, simply buy another ATA adapter and install it at your office.. This way when people call your number, your extension at home will ring as well as your extension at work. Take another ATA adapter with you to the hotel and it will ring there too.
You don't have to give out different numbers to people.. just have them call the one number and the ring will find you. Where you are at.
when people call into my house, they get greated by a VMI (voice messaging interface). Hello.. blah blah.. dial one for Alex, dial two for his wife, dial three for his daughter.. blah blh... etc.. If they dial one, it rings my extension at the house, another extension at my office, and my cell phone. Cell phone, caller id shows me who is calling me. Even though the call is being made by my PBX, the caller id of the person calling into the PBX is forwarded to me. If I don't pick up any phones, the call is set to voice mail. If someone answers the phone at my office, and they determine the call is for someone else, they can transfer it to another extension which might be my cell phone again, etc.
