OT: heard about internetto?

[geoffrey mendelson]

On Aug 19, 2010, at 10:15 PM, Stan Goodman wrote:
>
> I've read with great interest your description of the "Internetto"  
> service
> on your website, and intend to drop by the Bezeq business office  
> early in
> the coming week to make the change in my Bezeq service.


I'm not sure it's really worth it. Last I checked, you could get a  
voice line from BEZEQ for 15 NIS a month, if you only used it for a  
small number of calls a month. For that price, I would rather keep a  
line from them and have a dumb phone on it to make calls when my VoIP  
line was down.

They offered it to me when I called to drop a dedicated fax line, but  
I just kept one line (voice/aDSL) and let the fax machine get it if no  
one answers. We are curmudgeons or luddites if you will, and do not  
have voicemail on our BEZEQ line.

The most reliable VoIP line is worthless without a working internet  
connection, and my experience has been when HOT or the aDSL side of  
the line was down, the regular phone line still worked.

If you shop around you can get an BEZEQ number diverted to your SIP  
device for 27 NIS a month, and a HOT one for 17.

If you own your own SIP device, use a softphone, or have an Asterisk  
system, and are willing to do 99% of the support yourself, it's a good  
deal. If you want someone to deliver a box that "just works" and fix  
it when it doesn't, I can recommend a company, but you are talking a  
lot more money.

I really don't know where the saving hundreds of shequels comes from.  
If you move to a VoIP provider, from a cheap one to an Israeli carrier  
like 012, Netvision, Orange, etc it does not cost that much unless you  
make a lot of calls. For example, their 2.5m ISP package, land line  
and 600 minutes a month to ANY Israeli phone package, including 1/36  
of the cost of  the "box" was 130 NIS a month. That's 20 minutes of  
outgoing calls a day.

IMHO if you talk more than 20 minutes a day on your home phone, you  
either need to expect to pay a lot more,  or find a cheaper  
alternative, such as an unlimited (really 2500-3000 minutes a month)  
VoIP plan. SKYPE's unlimited plans are 10,000 minutes a month, but  
there are restrictions how many unique numbers you can call in a day,  
how many calls you can make, and how long each call is. Beside's it's  
SKYPE, which may not be a good system for you.

IMHO the 15 NIS difference between the "dry" (no voice service) aDSL  
line and a "wet" one is trivial.

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson,  N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must  
order dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are  
forbidden to eat it. :-)