Come here Watson, I am confused

When Alex beckoned his colleague in the next room to come and give him a hand, little did he know that his voice carried over that wire would reverberate well into the next century. Since it’s inception in the late 1800’s the phone system and phones themselves have changed little. Sure they got clearer, sported colors (remember that ugly green) and rotary dials gave way to push buttons. Nevertheless the basic system, running separate individual wires (party lines aside) from each phone back to a central phone company office remained the same. We all accepted this with almost blind obedience. In fact many were afraid to even add an extension phone in the bedroom or den without getting permission (and a bill) from Mother Bell.

This all seems quaint now. Wired phones are throw-away items purchased at K-Mart. Phones with caller ID, message recorders and hands-free wireless features can be purchased for far less than a tank of gas.

Many wonder if it is time to sever the entire relationship with the “Good Mother” and sign up for digital phone service from the cable company or another carrier such as Vonage®. Here are a few things to consider:

How reliable is your electric power at your home? It seems that where I live in Harrison Twp., the VCR clock is forever announcing a disruption in Duke’s service. Cincinnati Bell provides the most robust service since they do not rely on the electrical power at your house to provide basic phone service. In a power outage, in most cases your Cincinnati Bell phone line will continue to be operational and the Cable provided phone service will not. You have to decide if this is a big deal. For me, since my mobile phone works just fine at home, I can still place a call even if my wired phone is not working. If I lived in an outlying area with sparse cell coverage this would be a bigger deal.

So if you decide to sever your relationship with Cincinnati Bell, should you go with Time Warner Digital Phone or one of the other providers like Vonage®? Well for sure the easiest, if you already have cable service from Time Warner, is to go with them. They take care of setting everything up and making the changes to your wired phones in your home.

Vonage®, apart from having that catchy jingle on the TV, provides a good service but it requires a bit more “work” on your part. You need to buy the equipment which is easily obtained from several electronic retailers. You must already have a broadband connection to the Internet at your home. You need to make the connections in your home, severing the wires from the Cincinnati Bell line and connecting them to the new Vonage® box. I think you get the picture…all the stuff that Time Warner will do for you, you end up doing for yourself. I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but if you are adroit with all things electronic, go for it. You will save a few bucks. If you don’t want to, or feel confident, messing with these things, go with the cable company.

One last thing, make sure that if you move from a hard wired Cincinnati Bell line that you make sure you set up the 911 options. Time Warner does this for you but the Vonage® service requires you to do some configuring.

Will you save money? Once all the signing discounts and other incentives go away, a single line from Cincinnati Bell runs about the same as one from Time Warner. The savings come from signing up for a package deal, i.e., TV, home and mobile phone service and Internet access. By my calculations the Bell and Cable services end up costing about the same. You need to compare for yourself based on your needs and calling patterns.