question for the WERA Hall of Wisdom, all the new whizbang methods of telephonery I do not really understand.... I am opening my shop to be a 'public' business (I've rented this building for years to keep my lathe, mill, welders and work on our personal motorcycles and jeeps). I need to establish a phone line: 1) to make available for customers 2) internet access 3) alarm co. monitoring Currently there is no operational telephone service in the building but in the past it had a land line. Is there some type of service other than the 'phone co' that better/cheaper/faster -- that I should be looking at before I call Ma Bell?
There is no alternative to a land line for alarm system monitoring that is anywhere near the price. Apart from that, if you have broadband Internet available to that location, you can use it for both Interet access and phole lines for your customers. I use Packet8 for my Internet phone service, but there are several available. You pay one flat fee every month and it covers all of your local and long distance. In my case, it's $15.95/month. Actually, I know that some alarm co's can set you up to use a cellular monitoring service, but it's so much more expensive that it's not worth bothering.
If you can get broadband Internet service you'll have the voice covered with VOIP (Vonage, etc.). You can then try to get a "dry pair" (sometimes called LADS or BANA or PANA) for the alarm circuit. Essentially a pair of copper wires not connected to the CO switching network that the phone company will rent to you. Most ILEC's have stopped offering them because geeks and enterprising ISP's were ordering them for homebrew DSL, but it's worth a try. Talk to your alarm company, they should know about dry pairs, commonly used for alarm service when they're available. Dirt cheap, about $15 a month.
Don't forget a video security system that sends images to a hard drive, so you can actually see who breaks into your place. Buy one that is triggered by motion, which does not require as much drive space as others.
Depending on your phone company, you may want to go with them anyway. Verizon here in DE gives us a business land line for $62 (including the taxes, fees, etc). They then offer business DSL for $40 at 3M/768K which is perfect for VoIP (Voice over IP) because of the large upstream. I went with AT&T callvantage for that ($30) as they don't have a problem with small business use (less than 5000 minutes per month) in their terms of use. So ... grand total for a land line, Internet, and a VoIP line (long distance is free): $132. That's a pretty decent setup. And in all honesty, it's hard to beat the reliability of a land line. The problem with DSL is that it is distance-based. Depending on your location you may not be able to get adequate speed for VoIP or worse, no service at all. You need to be within 15k feet (copper cable length) of the phone company's switching building, unless they have what are called "Remote terminals" in your area. If you can't get DSL, Comcast will hammer you for $80 a month for a "business" (i.e. you're a business, so we're going to charge you twice as much) cable internet connection. - Roach
Roach, the distance problem for DSL goes away (yeah, right!) for AT&T/BellSouth customers by the end of next year if the FCC gets its way, they'll have to provide DSL service to 100% of residential customers. Plus, existing dial-up subscribers get a free ADSL modem and 768k broadband service for $10/month with at least a 1 year commitment. New subscribers get the same deal, just no free modem.
It'll be interesting to see how all that shakes out, I've been reading about it. Basically, the telcos don't have to offer a complete build-out currently because DSL isn't regulated the way voice is. I don't know if that's a particularly good thing, however. It's causing some problems in areas where FIOS is being rolled out, and the local governments are whining that it isn't being offered to every resident (as per the phone & cable TV rules), even when there is already cable internet service and DSL available as a viable alternative. As for the cheap DSL ... we already have that here, if you're residential. Verizon offers $15/mo basic DSL to any residential verizon land-line customer that can get DSL. Unfortunately, once you slap the word 'business' into the equation, prices suddenly go up (though I honestly think $40 for 3M/768 DSL is very reasonable). And of course, if you don't want a residential land-line phone line ... you pay the $40 - $50 a month for DSL from Verizon, so the savings of having a VoIP line are diminished. I hate both the phone and cable monopolies ... unfortunately sometimes you are forced to pick which one sucks less. - Roach
^ Yeah, what he said - If theres a way you can "list" your place under a residental dwelling, do it ! when the phone/cable company sees your a business, things slow way down - like repairs, installtion, etc. - it took me about 3 mnths. to get my cable installed in my building , and it would have been longer if I hadnt called them everyday, raising total heck everyday for about the last 2 weeks ! Good luck with your new endevors !
Actually, I've found it to be quite the opposite with Verizon. Any issues with the phone line are resolved within hours (try that with your home phone) and while we've only had one issue with the DSL in 6 years, it was also corrected immediately. - Roach
