"Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in
message news:61r1l3F20jkuvU1@mid.individual.net
: : Now and again I look seriously at the viability of
: : using voip rather than POTS.

[snip]

: : Under what circumstances is voip a better deal, or have
: : I got my sums very wrong ?

It's not a question of cost to me, it's versatility. I can have several
numbers ostensibly in different locations (I have one London number, one
Birmingham one, two on my "local" exchange code, one in Germany and one in
the US. People in those places can call me for what is to them a local
call and it doesn't tie up the main BT line (which I use for the fax
machine).

Also the numbers work wherever I am in the world, so if I go on holiday
and take the laptop with me, all my numbers are available anywhere I can
get a broadband connection.

If you want to factor cost into it, think how much 4 "out of area" BT
lines would cost. Also, for the limited number of outgoing calls to POTS
lines I make (most are to other VoIP users) then the simple fact of no
"connection" or "call setup" charge means that a 30 second call to say
"I'm on the way" costs me just over 1p rather than 5 or 6p via BT.


Ivor