<p>For those of you who are thinking about getting rid of your land lines, you might want to consider my story - back in July we were burglarized in the middle of the night. H and I were in bed - he was asleep and I was awake, so I heard someone come in the back door. When it hit me to call 911, I picked up my cell phone, which I keep next to my bed, while H went to check out what was going on. I got kind of aggravated when the dispatcher asked me for my address, thinking she was obviously wasting time. Of course, you all probably realize what my mistake there was - I assumed because I was calling from my house, that they’d have my address on the caller ID - I was in such shock of what was going on that it didn’t occur to me that I was on my cell phone and not my land line. Anyway, of course I was wrong to get aggravated, but hey, I was listening to someone downstairs in my house and was a bit irritable.</p>
<p>About two minutes after we hung up, I got a call on my cell phone from our village’s police department. The dispatcher stayed on the line with me until the police showed up. It was then that I realized that I had not reached our village police department when I called, but our county’s dispatcher. We live in a part of our village that is very close to unincorporated areas, so some 911 calls go to the county as opposed to the village, although we are in the jurisdiction of our village. When the cops arrived, they asked me what time I called initially - I looked at my cell phone and saw it was 1:16AM; the cop told me that they did not receive the phone call until 1:19AM, so there was a three-minute delay between my call, and the cops getting notified. Three minutes really did not make a difference in our case, as the burglar was long gone, but in many cases, three minutes could make a huge difference in an emergency. Of course, in the future, I will always call 911 from my land line in emergencies.</p>
<p>I have been told that some cities/villages allow you to contact your city/village and register your cell phone with them if you don’t have a land line, but our village doesn’t offer that yet. My bet is that, sometime in the future, there will be some equivalent of a ‘panic’ button that calls our police/fire departments directly that doesn’t require a land line… sort of like the , “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” pendant for the general public. Making emergency phone calls would be the only thing they can do.</p>
<p>We havent had a land line for years, throughly enjoy it.
I use my Hs iPod or my iPad to find my phone, and since I have a wallet case, I also find my wallet.</p>
<p>Ooma needs electricity to power the device. Once the device is connected to 1 jack on the wall, all other phone jacks in the house work transparently like the old landline. Or you can connect your phone directly to the device if you only need 1 phone. All old phones work the same way (regardless the phone uses electricity or not. I tested it). Ooma also has wireless mode (you need to buy Ooma wireless adapter which also requires electricity). International call is very cheap with Ooma.</p>
<p>But If I understand correct, the phone company provides electricity to the phone line, is that not correct?
I mean is there any chance that the ooma does not work the same as the land line?</p>
<p>Yes, Ooma provides the electricity to the phone wiring in the house. You need to disconnect the connection from the phone company first. Very easy. Just pull out the connection from the street. It works exactly like the old landline.</p>
<p>I have Ooma. It is VOIP, meaning it requires an internet connection and electricity to run the router (and the Ooma itself, which has a little power brick of its own). My router has a backup battery - which means I have to call the cable company if I want to restart it or take the freaking thing apart. </p>
<p>If the internet goes down or the power goes out and the battery backup isn’t working, the Ooma will automatically forward my calls to my cell phone. I’ve had VOIP with 2 different cable companies and I couldn’t do that with them, though it may be possible now. </p>
<p>With Ooma, I also get texts when I get a voicemail and can listen on my phone or go online to listen and delete.</p>
<p>I pay the extra $10/month for extra features so my total phone bill is about $13.47. And as noted, it’s easy to get very cheap calls overseas, etc. </p>
<p>My parents have been using the full version of Skype for more than a decade overseas. That includes Skype In and Out. Unlimited calls to US is 3 dollars a month. The U.S. numbers are an additional 5 dollars per month. When the power goes off, it stops the landline as well because the commuter box goes poof as well. Their computer and cell phone have a UPC and that ensures an additional window of power. </p>
<p>I went to Costco today and finally got a sneak peek at the iPhone 6 plus. The guy said it’s bendable if there at least 90lbs weight. It looks nice but I won’t buy it not because of the bendable but I think I might buy the cheap iPad and use wifi instead. Honestly that’s what I use the iPad for playing poker and looking at houzz pictures. My husband said he doesn’t like the small screen anyway. So I save $30 don’t have to upgrade him. We both get the bigger iPad to share and it’s cheaper only $297(?). The iPhone is only $277 plus tax on the small price vs buying at Verizon for $299 plus tax on $800. But I wonder what’s the difference between all the different iPads as far as features are concerned. Plus I don’t have to get new purse to store the iPhone Plus. A win win situation.</p>
<p>Didnt look at the plus, but I was at the Apple Store today and looked at the 6.
I really like it. Like almost bought one then and there.
Since I may have saved repair bills dory laptop, upgrading the phone may be more practical than waiting for the new ipad mini.</p>
<p>I am interested in the anti reflective screen, the touch Id & being easier to hold than the full size ipad.
But the mini is still too big to read with in bed without my glasses.
However the iphone 6 is also big to hold with one hand.</p>
<p>The big news though, is that iOS 8.1 will finally bring Continuity compatibility to the party. That means that you’ll be able to make and receive texts and phone calls from your Mac (it needs OS X Yosemite for this, of course).</p>
<p>That is for Monday, and we can safely assume that by Tuesday there will be millions of users with various sets of problems. </p>
<p>Perhaps Apple should concentrate on making a few improvement on the “antennas” on the iPhone 6. The second and third have been just as bad as the first one. The reception of the 6 Plus is still a lot worse than on generic 4 and 4s. Overseas roaming has been atrocious on the 6 Plus. And, next to it, there is an old Motorola Razr that gets perfect connections and reception with crystal clear voice without “I cannot hear you!” </p>
<p>I like the iPad mini because I can hold it up pretty easily and watch movies on Netflix in bed. The regular iPad would be less comfortable for that, I think.</p>
<p>True, and especially for the older iPads. Yet, you can add a case that helps or use a pillow to rest the iPad. It also helps when it gets hot. </p>
<p>An interesting twist might come from the announced continuity if it transfers well to the Mini. Some, beyond the SUMO dudes might look at an option to use it as a phone. One might be able to drop the added fees for a smart phone, get a dumb one instead, and use cellular or wifi on the iPad. This might start to make sense considering the increasingly shoddy development on the iPhone since the days of the 4S. </p>
<p>Steve Jobs might have been right after all. The jumbo phones are not great and a PITA to use. I can see a return of simpler but powerful clamshells with solid battery life. Those 700 to 800 dollars phones are getting old. </p>
<p>By the way, in a further proof that Apple still does NOT get mobile photos and effed up with the prior release, it brings back the Camera Roll feature – a feature that was removed in iOS 8 – but also makes available the beta of iCloud Photo Library. Spending enough resources on focus groups that are not insiders might help figure out what the users want and … should have. Photos on mobile Apple are a joke, and will remain so until they develop a fully exportable system. But then, that brings us back to the lack of external USB or storage. </p>
<p>They really are messing with their success. </p>