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Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: Ammo
Date: April 25, 2012 04:04PM
When you also have cell service? I understand digital service doesn't work during a power outage, but are there any other considerations before switching from analog to digital phone service?

I would pay about the same price per/mo. if I switched to digital phone service, and I would get much faster internet service (from 1.5 mbps to 7 mbps). Total bundle for internet and digital phone service would be $60/mo. plus all the taxes that are added on.


Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. — Oscar Wilde
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: space-time
Date: April 25, 2012 04:13PM
what company, what provider? Is that an introductory price, or normal price?
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: SDGuy
Date: April 25, 2012 04:14PM
Well, I recently acquired a new phone (it arrived in yesterday's deliveries!) that I found out won't work with my Time Warner digital phone service, so I'll be spending another $40 on an adapter so that I can actually make use of it...

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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: LaserKun
Date: April 25, 2012 04:17PM
Hello, Sarah? Give me Barney... heheeheheh.

I have Comcast phone/internet, no TV, and really like it. $53 per month for both. And, I get my phone messages by email as well as voice - love that feature. I can be in Outer Mongolia and still get my phone messages; as long as I can get internet, that is.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: Ammo
Date: April 25, 2012 04:29PM
Quote
space-time
what company, what provider? Is that an introductory price, or normal price?

Century Link would be both the company and provider. $60/mo. is the price for 12 months if I understand their rather Byzantine pricing page.


Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. — Oscar Wilde
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: mrlynn
Date: April 25, 2012 04:39PM
Since RCN switched our phone line to digital, coming in off the same cable as Internet and TV, only a month or so ago, it's been down twice (once everything, once just the phone). That never happened with the analog line.

Fortunately, I've got two copper (POTS) business lines, and they work willy-nilly. And of course we've got cell phones, but I have no confidence in those whatsoever. My kids all rely on cell phones for their homes, and are constantly at the mercy of dead batteries and drop outs. Not me.

/Mr Lynn


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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: mrbigstuff
Date: April 25, 2012 05:01PM
Quote
SDGuy
Well, I recently acquired a new phone (it arrived in yesterday's deliveries!) that I found out won't work with my Time Warner digital phone service, so I'll be spending another $40 on an adapter so that I can actually make use of it...


you may want to attend this:
[internationalsteampunkcitywaltham.org]

drive the car there!
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: Chakravartin
Date: April 25, 2012 06:27PM
Fax machines often don't work over digital phone service.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: mattkime
Date: April 25, 2012 07:22PM
Quote
Chakravartin
Fax machines often don't work over digital phone service.

my horse and carriage doesn't have an ipod jack winking smiley


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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: wurm
Date: April 25, 2012 07:32PM
I wish I could get analog as cheaply as I get digital. I'd switch in a minute. I think call quality is far superior with analog, but it's hard as hell to beat $10/mo. unlimited.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: RAMd®d
Date: April 25, 2012 08:24PM
I understand digital service doesn't work during a power outage,

Wow, I did not know this!

Are the phones connected to the modem?

If so, wouldn't connecting the modem to a UPS keep the phones alive for the duty cycle of the UPS? One of the thing that I didn't like with digital phone services is the lack of 911 knowing your home address. But I've heard that can be corrected.

I'll have to ask Sonic what their deal is. I've ordered and am waiting for the installation gear.


You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

There is no safety for honest men
except by believing all possible evil
of evil men.

Pixels were born to be punished. -Frederick Van Johnson

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* Sigs. It's Glocks I hate.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: macphanatic
Date: April 25, 2012 08:48PM
Quote
mattkime
Quote
Chakravartin
Fax machines often don't work over digital phone service.

my horse and carriage doesn't have an ipod jack winking smiley

Remember that email is not a secure medium unless you're emailing encrypted files. Faxes are much more secure and more difficult to intercept.

Quote
RAMd®d
I understand digital service doesn't work during a power outage,

Wow, I did not know this!

Are the phones connected to the modem?

If so, wouldn't connecting the modem to a UPS keep the phones alive for the duty cycle of the UPS? One of the thing that I didn't like with digital phone services is the lack of 911 knowing your home address. But I've heard that can be corrected.

I'll have to ask Sonic what their deal is. I've ordered and am waiting for the installation gear.

A UPS will keep the modem operating as long as it has power. As long as your cable connection holds up, you would have phone service.

My VoIP cable modem from Comcast comes with a battery backup. It reportedly has a 4 hr capacity. I have it plugged into a ups that should provide another 4 hrs.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: RAMd®d
Date: April 25, 2012 09:49PM
Thanks for the info, macphan.

There will be a UPS in my future.


You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

There is no safety for honest men
except by believing all possible evil
of evil men.

Pixels were born to be punished. -Frederick Van Johnson

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* Sigs. It's Glocks I hate.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: JoeH
Date: April 25, 2012 10:04PM
Quote

As long as your cable connection holds up, you would have phone service.
QFE - Exactly, the last time power went out in my area of town, so did the cable from Comcast after an hour or so. So for neighbors who had their phone connection over cable, they were out of service for the rest of the day. My POTS never even hiccuped, I even had an internet connection over DSL for a couple portable devices over my wireless router as long as the 1100 VA UPS that my son's Mac Pro is connected would last.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: Robert M
Date: April 25, 2012 10:10PM
Hi everyone,

A UPS isn't going to do the job for some digital phone configurations. FIOS comes to mind. A UPS is definite for the FIOS modem but the rest of the FIOS hardware needs juice, too. Verizon provides a backup system for it that provides approximately 8 hours of juice under normal circumstances. So, for FIOS, you'll need a UPS and to make sure the backup system built into the FIOS hardware is still good. 'course, all bets are off if you suffer from an area wide outage. The FIOS hardware and the FIOS modem in your home will be protected but the hardware outside of your home could be out of commission. End result, during an area wide outage, you may be SOL despite precautions you've taken in your home.

Robert
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: comaplate
Date: April 25, 2012 10:16PM
Reliability. Should POTS go out, they have like a century of experience figuring that stuff out, with crews who focus on line work.

During the October storm here in New England, I had a branch bring down the Comcast line to my house. No phone, because the wire was in the yard.

I had to deal with the *nightmare* that was Comcast customer service. Endless hold times, no way to speak with someone on the ground here, dealing with overseas customer support, conflicting answers. Finally got a person out here four days after the outage. He took a look at it, decided he wanted to move the service wire to the other side of the house -- never came back the next day.

Took three additional days to finally get a subcontractor out here. While he did get my Comcast wire hooked back up, he also drilled through the romex line that supplied power to my garage. That took another week or so to get sorted out.

In short, the biggest disadvantage of internet phone service is having to deal with my cable company, because they suck.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: GGD
Date: April 25, 2012 10:36PM
My experience with broadband access during power failures has been mixed.

In my previous home, I had AT&T DSL, and a UPS on the modem and all in-house networking equipment, and during power failures DSL and POTS phone service stayed up.

In my current home I have Comcast, and UPS on the cable modem and networking equipment. When there is a power failure I lose internet access, the modem is up and running, but lost it's signal from the cable. It seems that in my neighborhood Comcast has some non-battery backed up equipment (perhaps line amplifiers) that go down if the neighborhood loses power.

I can get internet access in my home during a failure using a dial-up network modem connected to a UPS, since my POTS landline stays up.

[www.amazon.com]
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: cbelt3
Date: April 25, 2012 10:45PM
Pots has a legal requirement to maintain phone lines. Digital ? No. Cell ? No. 911 ? Hope you can coherently tell your address or you are SOL.
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: blooz
Date: April 25, 2012 11:06PM
I pay $53 a month, give or take a couple bucks—depending on my long-distance calls—to Verizon and that includes my land-line service and my internet connection. A couple weeks ago Verizon lost the internet for some reason and it took them a couple hours to get things back in order. I still had my phone. Couldn't use my computer to connect on-line, but I could call my friends, sister or emergency services if I needed/wanted to. It's going to take a lot to convince me to change from this arrangement.


Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?
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Western Massachusetts
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: Rolando
Date: April 25, 2012 11:28PM
Analog phone line work in a power outtage because they have their own power. Can you use this in an power outtage?

[www.dealextreme.com]



San Antonio, TX (in the old city)

"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
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Re: Any reason to stick with analog vs. digital phone service?
Posted by: Jem
Date: April 26, 2012 12:45PM
Quote
comaplate
Reliability. Should POTS go out, they have like a century of experience figuring that stuff out, with crews who focus on line work.

During the October storm here in New England, I had a branch bring down the Comcast line to my house. No phone, because the wire was in the yard.

I had to deal with the *nightmare* that was Comcast customer service. Endless hold times, no way to speak with someone on the ground here, dealing with overseas customer support, conflicting answers. Finally got a person out here four days after the outage. He took a look at it, decided he wanted to move the service wire to the other side of the house -- never came back the next day.

Took three additional days to finally get a subcontractor out here. While he did get my Comcast wire hooked back up, he also drilled through the romex line that supplied power to my garage. That took another week or so to get sorted out.

In short, the biggest disadvantage of internet phone service is having to deal with my cable company, because they suck.
agree smiley
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