[ale] VoIP, CATV if fiber-served

[jc.lightner at comcast.net]

Google Fiber became available in our condo building at the start of the
year.   They pre-ran to the outside of each unit door.

One neighbor had them go ahead and setup his  unit even before they finished
laying the cable up the road.   I happened to ask him 2 days ago if he'd
gotten it turned on once it was available at the start of the year.  He told
me he did and it has been working great for him.  That is primarily internet
but he noted it comes with free VoIP.   

I haven't signed up since Google thinks they own all your data but the free
VoIP appeals to me. 

My Awful Telephone & Telegraph POTS service failed a couple of years back
and I finally had them turn it off permanently after they closed several
successive tickets as "resolved" without ever actually fixing the "service"
or even contacting me to see if it was repaired.   I've since read that most
of the big wireline providers are eliminating POTS altogether.   That was
the last AT&T dis-service I had or ever will.   My cell is T-Mobile and it
works great.   AT&T reminds me of Terminator 2 in that it has been
reconstituted from disparate pieces that were separated from it in the 80s.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ale <ale-bounces at ale.org> On Behalf Of DJPfulio--- via Ale
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2026 10:17 AM
To: Ken Cochran via Ale <ale at ale.org>
Cc: DJPfulio at jdpfu.com
Subject: Re: [ale] VoIP, CATV if fiber-served

I've been using VoIP since 2002.

Tried a number of different services over the decades, including Comcast
VoIP which had outages every Thursday afternoon at the time and refused to
connect with my Mother's POTS line. I'm sure that stuff is all fixed, but
they wanted so much $$$ every month for simple phone service.

My referral code https://voip.ms/en/invite/MTI0OTUw . $10 off for you and
$10 for me for the referral. That's enough for 2 months free under the plan
I use.  There are different plans. Can't hurt to try them out.

For home use, Ooma is probably good enough. When you want higher quality
audio, maybe not. That's where quality voip services come in like VoIP.ms.

For home, I've been paying $5/month for an account with unlimited inbound
calling around 15 yrs.  I seldom need outbound calling, since callback
methods are convenient and available for free. For direct outbound when very
high quality audio is needed, there's a $0.009 per-minute charge. It is
tiny, but for a business that might matter if you call and sit on the phone
all day.

Yes, the regular phones can be connected to an ATA device. I use a HT502 or
is it a HT702?   Voip.ms has example configurations for popular ATA devices,
which removes much of the guesswork. Free SIP applications for all your
devices exist when you have a data connection (tablet, phone, computers).
I've used them all.

Voip.ms has all the expected free features like IVR to challenge spam
callers, NPXX controls to block "neighbor calls", voicemail+transcripts,
BYON, disable/enable SMS and lots of others I don't use. No contract.  I
pre-pay ~12 months at a time ($60) to keep life easy.  That includes E911
federal charges, but you can decline that to have cheaper monthly costs.
There is a $95 charge when 911 is called from the line, if E911 isn't
included, but you have the choice.  Something I really like is having
control over my CallerID number while still having controls that provide the
correct information for E911 services.  I have a 1-number for inbound calls
and just give that out, never my cell phone or VoIP numbers.  Having the
callerID from the VoIP account set to the 1-number prevents confusion. Also,
if any of the direct numbers get spammy, switching to a different number is
trivial.  I only remember the 1-number, simplifying all sorts of things.

Faxing in/out works, which isn't the case with every VoIP provider.




On 3/14/26 00:33, Ken Cochran via Ale wrote:
> Hey again ALE people :)
> Hopefully not too-OT, y'all have any favorite or non-favorite VoIP 
> providers?  I need to find something for the office (1st) & later for 
> home.  Ooma looks pretty good but I should look at others too.
> 
> Right now I have nothing but POTS via Spectrum & I just got a sudden 
> big price jump & I need to do something else.
> Q: What's the box called that is coax in & RJ-11/14 & Ethernet out?
> Is that an ATA? SIP?
> 
> AT&T is pulling fiber all over town, now available at my house & it's 
> been available at the office building for a few years now.
> 
> Hasn't ATT left the cable TV biz? If I were to do ATT fiber, what to 
> do about TV?  In my locality, Spectrum is the only cable (TV) co.
> Thanks, -kc
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