[PLUG] Buying a cable modem instead of renting...

[Patrick J. Timlick]

With some amount of pain, you could use any old modem and go to a third
party VOIP provider, (I use vitelity.net), and a linux based pbx, (I use
freepbx).  Freepbx will run on a very modest pc, although it costs me about
$4/mo for electricity for it.   For a $99 you can get a plug pc, said to be
able to run freepbx using much less power, (let us know how that works).

You will also need a Voip phone (I use a Cisco SPA942).  I haven't had any
luck hooking Freepbx to the analog house phone wiring, although many others
have.  I have had some luck with running ethernet through the old phone
wiring to run a remote Voip phones.

The main advantage is the cost, I pay some cents per minute, and I don't
talk much, so my Voip phone bill is low, less than $10 month.  I just added
another line and it costs $1.50/mo + talk time.  Also, you have more
capabilities, e.g. I email myself the .WAV files of  voicemails that are
left for me.

-- Pat
On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 10:07 PM, Michael C. Robinson <
plug_1 at robinson-west.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 2010-12-16 at 11:12 -0800, Paul Heinlein wrote:
> > On Thu, 16 Dec 2010, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> >
> > > About three years ago my original modem died (during a
> dist-upgrade,
> > > of all things - gawd what a mess that made!). I googled for good
> > > quality replacements and ended up with a Linksys CM100. I don't
> > > recall how much I paid, but you can get it for $53 with free
> > > shipping here:
> > >
> > >
> http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Cisco-Cable-Ethernet-Connection/dp/B000WIK61I
> >
> > These days, I think you want a DOCSIS 3.0 device if you have a
> choice.
> > The CM100 supports DOCSIS 2.0, which will work fine with the
> > lower-tier Comcast offerings but will prevent you from moving to the
> > "wideband" (50 Mb/s) speeds in the future.
> >
> > --
> > Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> http://www.madboa.com/
> > _______________________________________________
> > PLUG mailing list
> > PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org
> > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
> >
> Thanks Paul, I think I'm stuck buying a different modem though because
> this one doesn't support VOIP.  Apparently, Best Buy is the only place I
> can purchase an Arris TM722G and according to Comcast it will run me
> $250.  Scratch this, Best Buy claims that it has never carried
> Touchstone Arris modems.
>
> Apparently, if I drop digital voice service I can purchase the above
> modem and stop renting, but I kinda like the voice service.
>
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>



-- 
p.j.timlick at ieee.org
www.timlick.com
503-476-3119
10990 NE Paren Springs Rd.
Dundee OR 97115