Phone Line for $60 per year

At Christmas I bought a wagjag deal for a phone from talkit.ca. I was a little skeptical as it was only $60 for the year for the phone line (plus you have to buy the box) and seemed too good to be true, but I had some wagjag credits and thought why not!

It turns out it's an awesome phone. I had my phone number ported and have had it up and running now since Christmas with no issues. My parents have since bought one for themselves and their cottage and two friends have got it as well.

It's a VOIP phone, so you have to have high speed internet.

Anyways, there are lots of different companies that offer this service, but I thought I'd share this as it is the best money saving thing I've done this year!

They are having a valentine's day sale on so you can save $40 on the cost of the box. Go to Talkit.ca for details.

But like I said, there are lots of other companies offering the same services so check around and be sure to read all the fine print!

you never hear about magi jack?

I have heard of MajiJack, but it had such mixed reviews I was nervous to try. Talkit.ca is actually based in Hamilton (where I live) and thier office is just down the street so I was able to go and actually talk to someone.

Do you use Majic Jack? How is it?

For ADSL users VOIP is not an option. A Dry line + VOIP is more costly than Bell. And I will not switch to Cable since I didn't saw yet a cable co that have real illimited internet.

But thanks for the advice :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Derton

For ADSL users VOIP is not an option. A Dry line + VOIP is more costly than Bell. And I will not switch to Cable since I didn't saw yet a cable co that have real illimited internet.

But thanks for the advice :D

---

Actually, I only pay $8 dryloop fee through techsavvy. $8 dryloop and $5 a month for phone is still much cheaper than Bell.

My Dad has Acanac and they have a deal where if you sign up for a year there is no dry loop fee.

Thanks, what a great way to save money.

how much internet is used up by doing this method? (i wouldnt want to go over data...)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Derton

For ADSL users VOIP is not an option. A Dry line + VOIP is more costly than Bell. And I will not switch to Cable since I didn't saw yet a cable co that have real illimited internet.

But thanks for the advice :D

---

I have VOIP and use VOIP.ms as my service. I have a dryloop line from Bell at no charge.

I use Vbuzzer for $50 per year

what's a dry loop line?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tantum

what's a dry loop line?

---

When you have internet over your phone line (with a company other than Bell), but you don't have a bell phone they often charge you for the use of the line as Bell owns the phone lines.

I have Primus for internet so I have no limits on my data so we were totally looking into something like this. Thanks

I have been using this since March 2011 paid $129 for the unit and shipping and have had no issues. Once a call was dropped, but my internet went down. So not a freephoneline issue.
I also have magic jack. Majic jack works best between other majic jack.
If i was rating i would give freephone 10/10 and majic jack 9/10 since you have to pay $69 for 5 yrs, i think now 99 for 5 years.

Please people, be very careful with VOIP and 911 calls, they don't always get routed to the proper city. Do some research, it could make the difference between saving or ending a life.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gmck

Please people, be very careful with VOIP and 911 calls, they don't always get routed to the proper city. Do some research, it could make the difference between saving or ending a life.

---

You definitely have to do your research. For the 911, you have to make sure to register your current address as this is the info that the 911 operator gets. If you move, and you haven't changed your address, the 911 operator will have no way of knowing where exactly you are.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sampler

how much internet is used up by doing this method? (i wouldnt want to go over data...)

---

Internet used which is your bandwidth using VOIP is very insignificant. That shouldn't be your concern at all, even if you have 20GB or 30GB which is very little for total bandwidth usage per month. These days, most plans are 60 and up. When you use VOIP, you download data (voice you hear) and upload data (your voice as heard by the person you're talking to). Most plans that I know of, has pretty good download speed, so that shouldn't be an issue. The more important thing you need to know is your actual upload speed. You can't really rely on what your service provider promises since 10 out of 10 times, you will not reach it's promised speed, actually not even remotely close to it. But, having a better speed plan will probably be a good idea, since your speed you'll get is all relative, in other words, if there's 2 plans, A and B. Plan A has better speed than Plan B, even though you will not reach what either plan promise, Plan A will give you relatively better speed than B. Upload is usually the problem when dealing with VOIP. (the person you're talking to will hear bad connection from you, but you'll probably hear them very clear) That's because the upload speed are usually much much less than download speed. I found this true for Teksavvy and Rogers (especially if you engage in lots of downloads during a call. Rogers tend to throttle, meaning make your speed much much slower, which is already not great to begin with since you never reach their promised potential) For those who want to try VOIP (I think EVERYONE should. I don't understand why anyone would still want to pay an arm and leg for the major landlines), go for it. Try it with your existing internet plan. If your connection is not good enough, just upgrade to a better plan. The little money you spend in upgrading to a better plan will be paid for and more from the money you'll save from using a VOIP phone. Most VOIP companies comes with a lot of cool features. It's just like a regular phone, you can't tell the difference, and no, you don't need to make phone calls from a computer. One of the best features for my VOIP company is that it includes a "softphone" feature. What it means is that on top of having a regular line at home, you can also install this softphone on your computer/laptop. When I travel or away for an extended period of time, I can use this softphone on the computer to recieve and make phone calls as though I'm still in Toronto. There's so many cool features to list. I also like the fact that my mom in California can make long distance calls to other countries using my phonelines in Toronto (Again using her regular telephone) for practically free (I get 1 free hour per month for almost anywhere in the world, and after that, a few cents a minute). I'd be glad to answer any questions if anyone needs further clarifications.

Bump...there is a wagjag deal for this on now....anyone have any current comments? I'm thinking of switching....

j

magic jack, and other products are scams, they all use your internet signal just like call centers from india do (thats how they are able to go through the phonebook without it costing them anything)

there is a way you can just use your computer/internet for phonecalls without having to pay magic jack or whoever etc etc

but i cant be bothered.

I live in a rural area and I have checked alot of these companies...i have heard that the sound quality is poor and over all service is not good...could somebody recommend the best one...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jezz

Bump...there is a wagjag deal for this on now....anyone have any current comments? I'm thinking of switching....

j

---

I will be switching and using my telus $10 credit too. $39 even better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lisalovlee33

Internet used which is your bandwidth using VOIP is very insignificant. That shouldn't be your concern at all, even if you have 20GB or 30GB which is very little for total bandwidth usage per month. These days, most plans are 60 and up. When you use VOIP, you download data (voice you hear) and upload data (your voice as heard by the person you're talking to). Most plans that I know of, has pretty good download speed, so that shouldn't be an issue. The more important thing you need to know is your actual upload speed. You can't really rely on what your service provider promises since 10 out of 10 times, you will not reach it's promised speed, actually not even remotely close to it. But, having a better speed plan will probably be a good idea, since your speed you'll get is all relative, in other words, if there's 2 plans, A and B. Plan A has better speed than Plan B, even though you will not reach what either plan promise, Plan A will give you relatively better speed than B. Upload is usually the problem when dealing with VOIP. (the person you're talking to will hear bad connection from you, but you'll probably hear them very clear) That's because the upload speed are usually much much less than download speed. I found this true for Teksavvy and Rogers (especially if you engage in lots of downloads during a call. Rogers tend to throttle, meaning make your speed much much slower, which is already not great to begin with since you never reach their promised potential) For those who want to try VOIP (I think EVERYONE should. I don't understand why anyone would still want to pay an arm and leg for the major landlines), go for it. Try it with your existing internet plan. If your connection is not good enough, just upgrade to a better plan. The little money you spend in upgrading to a better plan will be paid for and more from the money you'll save from using a VOIP phone. Most VOIP companies comes with a lot of cool features. It's just like a regular phone, you can't tell the difference, and no, you don't need to make phone calls from a computer. One of the best features for my VOIP company is that it includes a "softphone" feature. What it means is that on top of having a regular line at home, you can also install this softphone on your computer/laptop. When I travel or away for an extended period of time, I can use this softphone on the computer to recieve and make phone calls as though I'm still in Toronto. There's so many cool features to list. I also like the fact that my mom in California can make long distance calls to other countries using my phonelines in Toronto (Again using her regular telephone) for practically free (I get 1 free hour per month for almost anywhere in the world, and after that, a few cents a minute). I'd be glad to answer any questions if anyone needs further clarifications.

---

I am currently w talkit up for renewal September 1 2014 need help with deciding to renew or change. Only used for fax but now switching home currently w bell(internet as well- just upgraded to high speed fiber optic line). Love idea of softphone. Unsure of dry loop charges none I believe at present but want to cancel phone so will that change? Need call waiting call answer call forwarding might be beneficial fax 911 support unlimited local and long distance Canada wide a must. Suggestions concerns gladly appreciated. Thanks

This may be coming a little late, but why don't you go and check gonevoip.ca - there are quite a lot of providers in there with users reviews/comments and so on.

I am kind of glad I have high speed cable with 80 up and 80 down. And not bandwidth limits. Perfect for VOIP but I stick with my cell phone.

If I need to make lots of long distance calls I try to use skype as its free, BTW anyone on PEI should try to get the student rate for internet its only 55 bucks a month for high speed cable.