rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
| reply to rradina
Re: Bells
Does this mean that $14.95/month DSL is being funded with POTS revenue?
Something has to be wrong when SBC charged me $50/month (including taxes/fees/regulations) for a POTS line with no features and no long distance. The only plus was it was a metro calling number so that I could dial most STL folks on the MO side of the Mississippi River for free. If I get in my car and drive three miles east, the price drops to ~$40. If I continue driving, folks in the actual city of STL pay even less. I call this rotten. Dirty, stinking and rotten.
I don't deny anyone a fair wage, with benefits. I don't think $50G/year will break any company that's efficient, well managed and that builds an employee base that feels they have a stake in the success of the company. |
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realist
@ca.frontier
| reply to rradina
I've noticed this site has so many liberals. My point was:
The very same liberals who want dirt cheap broadband and dialtone are also the very same ones who complain about wages and benefits. There is a direct correlation between product pricing and employee wages and benefits.
BTW: According to some of the Bell workers I've talked to (specifically SBC) they claim management has them running with the bare minimum headcount nowadays. |
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rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
| reply to realist
*Sniff* *Sniff* I thought I smelled a socialist.
Until the socialist take total control of this country, that's an awful niave view. What stopped Wal*Mart? What will stop VOIP?
I don't think the average salary of the Bell worker is the problem. The problem stems from the fact that there's TOO MANY of these folks for the true work load. I'm not suggesting 60 hour work weeks. I'm suggesting the average employee probably doesn't work efficiently because of poor leadership. |
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KSC519
join:2002-03-14
Chicago, IL
 ·Lightning Bolt DSL
| reply to refreshme
Even your average, bottom-of-the barrel user can handle plugging in a cable, all you have to do is run a line to the input on the phone box outside, its REALLY simple. Now, if you're just lazy, you can hire any neghborhood kid with a little technical knowledge to do it for you. Vonage, in my opinion, is one of the best offerings out there, their combination of pricing and features blows any standard land line away. And VOIP, like most technical things, is not for everyone. My opinion is that if you're unwilling to take a little initiative, you shouldn't use a certain product. (People who can't change tires shouldn't drive, people who can't understand basic internet security should not be online, and so on) |
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nozzer
join:2004-06-25
Waltham, MA | reply to refreshme
1. Call up previous "supplier" (bell company or cableco) and tell them to come over and completely disconnect their shit.
2. Connect VOIP box to unused wall jack with phone cord.
Just how freaking hard is that exactly? |
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mckenna797
join:2004-08-25
Astoria, NY | reply to refreshme
i am a time warner digital Phone subscriber since March an i am a very happy camper |
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realist
@ca.frontier
| reply to rradina
"I can't think of any good reason why the incumbent LECs cannot offer $19.95/month telephone service with free long distance and every bell-and-whistle feature."
The large telco employees are unionized. Their average annual salary at the top end is $55000 + benefits. That's one reason why your telephone service is more expensive than you'd like. Deal with it "for the good of the whole" unless you like Wal-Mart like prices and wages. |
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Kizaki
join:2000-05-19
Fort Myers, FL
| reply to rradina
The problem is the taxes the government forces people to pay when using this line. Its all politically annoying, but what are you going to do. From what I understand so far, by using VOIP they can doge these taxes. Thank the politicians not the phone companies |
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hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs: | reply to DreamWraith
It does happen why i put my edit in there. I was confused!!its all good. |
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DreamWraith
Premium
join:2004-04-07
Mount Vernon, WA | reply to hayabusa3303
i wasnt replying to you actually. must have been some weird forum glitch, where you posted right before me. was replying to the person above you. |
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rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
| reply to refreshme
said by refreshme:
When Bells enter VOIP with full force, then it will be that way it is supposed to be. What way would that be? Overpriced? Less features? Pay a fee for every phone/VOIP router?
What's even harder to believe is that you believe the bells need to enter the VOIP landscape at all. The bells don't need a different transport to provide the same service. They have a great network that isn't built around VOIP but they charge too damn much for it.
Right now they could restructure, drop the price of their existing analog service and drive VOIP from the market. I can't think of any good reason why the incumbent LECs cannot offer $19.95/month telephone service with free long distance and every bell-and-whistle feature. Why would anyone bother with VOIP? It's less reliable. It goes out when your Internet connection goes out. 911 might work. Why would I want VOIP if I could get a better service for the same money from the ILECs?
I also think 95% don't know how to hook it up is more like 25% who don't know. As older, less technological savvy generations pass, that number will eventually dwindle to 2%.
What's really changed about the standard HTTP browser in the past 10 years? Is it easier today than it was then or have people adapted? (There's certainly more risk today but have we really changed the "http://www.xyz.com" address format and how it all works?) I think most folks have adapted just like they'll adapt to the wiring difficulties of VOIP. |
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hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs:
1 edit | reply to DreamWraith
i have two vonage lines hard wired into the house. If you can read i am using a PAP2 so i think thats voip last time i checked.
Edit myself: only if your talking about my last post does this apply..lol |
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DreamWraith
Premium
join:2004-04-07
Mount Vernon, WA
| reply to refreshme
are you a VOIP user? you sure dont seem like it, you make it out to be a hundred times more complicated than it is. my mother, who can barely use a mouse was able to set up her own VOIP. Oh, and did i mention it took five minutes to hook it into the existing house wiring, withou using any splitter? |
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hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs:
 ·QuantumVoice
·AT&T Southeast
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to refreshme
i know i shouldnt feed the trolls but..
All you have to do is run a main wire like i did from the PAP2 to the phone box outside. Disconnect the bells and put yours in place of the bells and bang all of 6 phones ring and no splitters. Shows how little you know about wiring.
As for Tech support i have never had to call them. I have called sales and they where the best. Better than Tw CSR who dont know what they are talking about. |
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refreshme
@optonline.net
| reply to hayabusa3303
when was the last time that vonage employee came to your house to make whole house wiring or even disco cables from main line?Oh wait. They don't do that. You are on your own. I understand that some BBR readers know enough to do it on their own, but 95% of others don't. So if you count it all in perspective, you can't get much with vonage and all of their features pale in comparison to simple old line. TW will at least rewire your house. Vonage won't. try to reach vonage tech and if you spend less than 1 hour, you are lucky. I agree VOIP is the way of the future, but it is not the way with companies like Vonage. When Bells enter VOIP with full force, then it will be that way it is supposed to be. My view of voip is close to one offered by cableco where voip replaces traditional line not one by vonage where you must run multiple splitters to connect all phones in your house. |
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