atw: Re: FW: Phones and all that stuff - seriously off topic

Hey Christine (K)

IMHO

Try Primus Telecom.
They resell Telstra lines (or put you on their own copper network) for less. Their home phone service has worked out much more reasonable for me.
Just beware that, once you go onto their copper, which they tend to do without asking you (as with Optus and theirs) no other ISP can offer you broadband because they cannot test your lines to provide you with a service while you are on a phone network that is effectively invisible (off the main grid) to them. I have been trying to get this sorted so I could at least compare plans with other ISPs for some time, with no success, until last Friday, when a helpful Primustel chap told me that he could ask their provisioning people to call me, to move me back to the standard (external) copper network.
Now, whilst I am looking forward to their call, my research shows me that I might as well go for an ultra cheap (say ten bucks a month) dialup plan with my current ISP to keep my Web and E-mail addresses and simply go through Primustel to keep my existing phone plan in a cost effective high speed bundle. 

Anyway, see: http://www.primustel.com.au/PrimusWeb for more.
They have some mighty reasonable bundled deals, just make sure you get line shaping once you reach your monthly download limit, so you don't cop an unexpected excess megabytes charge (usual with most ISP business plans, not with most home plans, so go for a home plan). 

A VORD ABOOT VOIP
That said, folks, given my experiences documenting VOIP products at possibly the biggest developer of same in Australia, be very, very careful of VOIP. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. You can say goodbye to any semblance of privacy and call security.
Remember that, on VOIP, your calls are no longer a simple amplified signal over one hard-wired transceiver to another, suddenly everything you do say over the phone becomes compressed but unencrypted files, copied across the Internet to and from who-knows-where. Just like old E-mails can come back to haunt you. all of your calls will be recorded somewhere (anywhere? everywhere?) on servers and maybe backed up on to various data storage media forever. 

Something that the VOIP providers are loathe to acknowledge, let alone discuss.
Stick with a real phone line. It also lets you make emergency 000 calls when the power is out and an OS or software disaster in not going to leave you without a home phone. 

000/911/112
BTW, for emergency calls on a mobile, use "112", the international mobile / cell phone emergency number. All you need is a charged, functioning mobile phone (no SIM card is needed as 112 grabs the first available network if you haven't logged in to your locked SIM or no SIM phone yet). In fact, without using your phone's SIM, 112 is the only way to make truly anonymous calls to the emergency services. Just tell the operator where you are and what service you need.
So, over Summer, keep an old, charged up and working GSM mobile (sans SIM) in the glove box of your car. You never know, it could save a life. 

Have a happy and safe festive season, whatever you celebrate.

Cheers,

Micky G.






Michael Granat
Write Ideas
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