A discussion with Josh in a back-channel about his phone plans inspired me to share what my equipment string is at home right now. I have no services with Verizon and the wall jacks in my home are non-functioning but I have 3 cordless phones in the Master Bedroom (upstairs), the school room (upstairs), and the kitchen (downstairs).
Here is the equipment string:
Cable Modem connects to Wireless Router with 4 Ethernet Ports
1 Ethernet Port connects to Vonage Adapter
1 Ethernet Port connects to Computer with Skype running
Computer Connected via USB to D-Link DPH-50U
Vonage adapter phone line plugs into line in for D-Link DPH-50U
Phone base connected to D-Link DPH-50U
Now I can dial out on Vonage or DSL from any phone in my house or receive calls from the same. This is useful because I have friends with Skype in other countries that can make a free Skype call to our home and it will ring our phone. From my phone I can also dial an escape code (##) and receive a Skype dial tone to make a Skype call from my phone.
The reason I have Vonage as the primary phone line is for E911. I don't want my wife or kids to have to think about how they are going to call 911 from the phone in an emergency. Also, if the computer is off and I don't have Skype support then the DPH-50U will still pass through the Vonage line that uses the Vonage adapter and doesn't need to be logged in to work.
It should be noted that I could use a regular phone line in lieu of the Vonage option so I would have the phone line for local calls and use Skype for long distance but I only pay $15/month for the basic Vonage plan and that's a pretty good price considering all the features built in. I may end up doing a year pre-paid if I find out I'm approaching 500 minutes per month on Vonage but that shouldn't be a problem just remembering to hit ## before we dial out for long distance calls, which is when we spend the most time on the phone.
Here is the equipment string:
Cable Modem connects to Wireless Router with 4 Ethernet Ports
1 Ethernet Port connects to Vonage Adapter
1 Ethernet Port connects to Computer with Skype running
Computer Connected via USB to D-Link DPH-50U
Vonage adapter phone line plugs into line in for D-Link DPH-50U
Phone base connected to D-Link DPH-50U
Now I can dial out on Vonage or DSL from any phone in my house or receive calls from the same. This is useful because I have friends with Skype in other countries that can make a free Skype call to our home and it will ring our phone. From my phone I can also dial an escape code (##) and receive a Skype dial tone to make a Skype call from my phone.
The reason I have Vonage as the primary phone line is for E911. I don't want my wife or kids to have to think about how they are going to call 911 from the phone in an emergency. Also, if the computer is off and I don't have Skype support then the DPH-50U will still pass through the Vonage line that uses the Vonage adapter and doesn't need to be logged in to work.
It should be noted that I could use a regular phone line in lieu of the Vonage option so I would have the phone line for local calls and use Skype for long distance but I only pay $15/month for the basic Vonage plan and that's a pretty good price considering all the features built in. I may end up doing a year pre-paid if I find out I'm approaching 500 minutes per month on Vonage but that shouldn't be a problem just remembering to hit ## before we dial out for long distance calls, which is when we spend the most time on the phone.