ATA [Analog Terminal Adapter] for VOIP

The ad says it allows VOIP without a PC but it also says it works through a router. Why would you have a router unless you had PC?

I use Skype which works for me. For a relatively small fee Skype can provide you with a phone number even one that is local to your area so neighbors do not have to call long distance to reach you. Google has introduced Talk phone and is offering it free until end of Decembe 2011. Drawback to that is someone cannot call you, its only good for calling out.

Both skype and Google phone has in recent months suffered from traffic overload. Dropped calls or interference causing data drop out has become more frequent.

If we could only get rid of the spammer traffic the available bandwidth might be able to handle the real traffic.

You would have a router without a PC for voice only. You would need internet service for the router which would cost considerably more than digital voice service alone.

If you just wanted digital telephone service, you could use an EMTA, but would need support from the service provider which costs money as well, but considerably less than internet service.

You could purchase a wireless card for your computer and ask a neighbor is they mind opening a port for you if are only going to use it for voice. There is so little bandwidth for the phone they wouldn't even notice a performance hit, I am sure. Or set up a wireless router yourself and network it to your neighbors and run your voip phone through that. Again, your neighbors would want to allow your port access.

Keep in mind that some service providers specifically disallow sharing of network access between "customers" and in some locations it is actually illegal.

Assumptions assumptions. Ask what neighbour. I live 50 mile out of town. Right now I am piggy backed on the provincial fire station optical fibre network and it cost me almost the same as what a land line phone would cost except the PC does a lot more..

any suggestions for providers I must not using the right search terms, I'm getting the vonage & skype kind of results

net talk looks ok & $30 a year

Garth I saw a price of $69.95 Does this mean they alter the price depending on what region you come from based on server IP adddress?

I get this problem all the time. My ISP server is located far from where I live. The banner ads and spam coupon offers are geared to the geographic locale of the server, not where I live.

the other $40 is for the hardware

the service is $30

I would prefer to choose my own equipment

You might also still want to talk on the phone while your computer is out for repairs or just down for a host of reasons. Even in a power outage, with a good UPS you will still have service for quite a while.

It is not clear to me how this box, router, or whatever will work. If my computer is down I cannot log into the fire station radio and get online.

The device in question has it's own IP address, and operates independently of the computer. All it needs is an internet connection to give you a dial tone. Hince the need for the router.

Looking at their website it appears some hand shaking must take place.

I also need a special modem and router to log into the radio device providing the connection to the internet. The service seem to be PC specific because my wife cannot log into my account on her Linux machine and I cannot access her acount from the windoze machine.

And we need to phone by voice to activate the connection. For that I need Skype or Google talk phone. If you live in place without cell or land line it will not activate.