uh, dude? check with local parents of kids slightly older than yours... I dont think I've ever had the price/kid/year go down. There's always "extra" costs that the school system doesn't tell you about.
for example: You thought your taxes already paid for that building and the lockers in it? foolded ya, that'll be $10 please. Your kid'll be in Phys Ed class right? It's mandatory, and oh by the way that'll be $15 for the uniform t-shirt and another $10 for the gym locker. and on it goes...
No big TV in this house either. And no cable. I cut out that cable habit eight years ago, and have been $540 per year richer ever since. My wide LCD monitor is 23", but the TV I do watch is a on a 2-inch Casio which is absolutely dwarfed by the computer monitor it sits next to.
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"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
One reason I have not gone to VoIP and kept my local phone comany, Andy, is that when the electric power goes off, the VoIP phone is out ( isn't it??) , whereas my hardwired local phone still works, even if the elecricity is finito, and I can notify the power company about the electrical outage.
Maybe my electrical power is less stable - we used to lose power at least once a month for several 6-8 hours. It has been better the last year of so.
One reason I have not gone to VoIP and kept my local phone comany, Andy, is that when the electric power goes off, the VoIP phone is out ( isn't it??) , whereas my hardwired local phone still works, even if the elecricity is finito, and I can notify the power company about the electrical outage.
I have the Comcast 'threeway' combo product, that includes this VoIP service. The VoIP <-> wired telephone interface box they gave us has a rechargable battery on it. The box is actually both the telephone interface and our internet gateway. If I believe what the installer says, the battery will keep our phone system working even if we loose power. I have not had the need to test this out yet though..
The box actually has slots for two batteries. Ours came w/ only one battery. I assume that you could ask for a second battery if you have more frequent, prolonged outages.
We are fortunate. Our neighbors tell us that we are on the same grid as the hospital down the street and that we rarely loose power.
I've had this 'threeway' combo product for about 1 month now. So far I love it. The VoIP service is just fine. (Truthfully I have a cell and could care about wired phones. My GF is a gabber, especially to mum, and she insisted on a land line.) Although I could honestly deal w/o the voice-mail service. I prefer a physical answering machine w/ a big red blinking light to tell me when I have a message. We have not yet figured out how to disable the voicemail service.. I'm sure I can though.
Mostly what I wanted was the HDTV service.. and sadly that was an extra. We now pay about $115/mo + taxes because we added a HDTV receiver box ($7.50/mo) and dual-tuner HDTV DVR ($7.50/mo) to the 'package'. I have yet to get a bill that does not include the installation charges, so I'm not sure about what the '+ taxes' bit will add up to. It can't possibly be more than we were paying for all the seperate services though..
Our main telly is nearly 10 years old. It's a 38" monster from Sony. Must weigh about 300lbs. Well, when I was last in SmugMugVille, I got to see Baldy's new setup, a sweet DLP rear proj HDTV and man, I was poisoned from the get-go! Kinda like the first time I used L-glass
www.onecall.com a great business. I've dealt with them for a couple years now. A package just arrived, and in it, a thank you note, a Foam Finger, a whistle, and a box of popcorn
No, but me, a foam finger, a whistle and a box of microwave popcorn, could be!
We are waiting on a picture of that. Don't tell me your camera isn't around.
"A photo is like a hamburger. You can get one from McDonalds for $1, one from Chili's for $5, or one from Ruth's Chris for $15. You usually get what you pay for, but don't expect a Ruth's Chris burger at a McDonalds price, if you want that, go cook it yourself." - me
One reason I have not gone to VoIP and kept my local phone comany, Andy, is that when the electric power goes off, the VoIP phone is out ( isn't it??) , whereas my hardwired local phone still works, even if the elecricity is finito, and I can notify the power company about the electrical outage.
Maybe my electrical power is less stable - we used to lose power at least once a month for several 6-8 hours. It has been better the last year of so.
Feels good doesn't it? My wife brought this home to me, just before Christmas.
(My little Vanna White's!) Nothing like 42 inches of plasma HDTV....football has never been better! But for the record the game in this picture wasn't in HD, I had to wait for the cable man. It's a Samsung...the official HDTV of the NFL...
Oh, as for Vonage...I don't know if you live in the CITY of NYC or not, but remember that if you lose power you also loose your phone. (Of course most people do have cell phones nowadays.) Also, if internet service goes down you again have no phone. I live in a rural area so power loss (mostly due to bad weather) and disconnects happen.
Friends of mine switched over to Vonage last year and were without a phone for a week because the idoits couldn't set it up right. They demanded a refund and returned to their phone service provider.
One reason I have not gone to VoIP and kept my local phone comany, Andy, is that when the electric power goes off, the VoIP phone is out ( isn't it??) , whereas my hardwired local phone still works, even if the elecricity is finito, and I can notify the power company about the electrical outage.
Maybe my electrical power is less stable - we used to lose power at least once a month for several 6-8 hours. It has been better the last year of so.
There's a simple (and relatively cheap) insurance policy for that at your local sam's club/costco/office depot/staples/etc... or online I picked up a slightly larger one, because I'm keeping a pair of home servers alive through our minor power bumps and brownouts with it. But you simply need to power your cable modem, your broadband phone adapter, and any hub/switch in between them off the battery backup. In our area we get minor weather related power glitches maybe a dozen times each spring and another dozen in the fall/early winter every year, plus in the past we got outages on super hot days in the summer (I think they fixed that capacity issue 3 years ago now). So far we have not had a power outage that took out the cable infrastructure. Even the big ones that took out a 1/4 of the city for several hours didn't take out the cable plant. It's been quite nice to be able to plug in my laptop's ethernet connection and hit the web to track the progress of the storm that just took out our power.
Oh and congrats on that consolidation Andy! I've seen that Samsung display... it's amazing. Quite possibly the one I'd pick if our current screen went belly up beyond the ability of the local techs to repair. (at least as long as they stay in business... this disposable lifestyle that a lot of folks have is really eating into their business.)
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I work on VoIP for a lving. I love the audio qaulity over traditional analog, I love the ease of deplyoing extras like Caller ID, Voice Mail etc. I love the abvility to call anywhere in the world for nothing (assuming the other end is on VoIP of course).
I will not have a VoIP phone as the only phone in my house for the very reason just quoted. If there is a power outage=, and you do not have some kind of UPS/generator at home, you will not be able to call out of it. The telephone company has Generators and batteries on their switches, they will stay up in the case of power outages, I will be able to call 911 in an emergency should I need to. Cell phones can help, but have you ever tried to use one in th emiddle of an emergency 'Im sorry, all lines are busy at this time'. Yes this can happen with traditional phones as wll, but they tend to have more lines available in a given area than cell capacity in the same
Sorry to rant, but I feel a lot better now
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uh, dude? check with local parents of kids slightly older than yours... I dont think I've ever had the price/kid/year go down. There's always "extra" costs that the school system doesn't tell you about.
for example: You thought your taxes already paid for that building and the lockers in it? foolded ya, that'll be $10 please. Your kid'll be in Phys Ed class right? It's mandatory, and oh by the way that'll be $15 for the uniform t-shirt and another $10 for the gym locker. and on it goes...
At least the colleges list their fees up front.
my words, my "pro"pictures, my "fun" pictures, my videos.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Hm - how about using the cell phone?
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You need one to have sattelite tv or broadband!
so I have to pay british telecom £8 a month and i dont use any of there services!
My www. place is www.belperphoto.co.uk
My smugmug galleries at http://stuarthill.smugmug.com
The box actually has slots for two batteries. Ours came w/ only one battery. I assume that you could ask for a second battery if you have more frequent, prolonged outages.
We are fortunate. Our neighbors tell us that we are on the same grid as the hospital down the street and that we rarely loose power.
I've had this 'threeway' combo product for about 1 month now. So far I love it. The VoIP service is just fine. (Truthfully I have a cell and could care about wired phones. My GF is a gabber, especially to mum, and she insisted on a land line.) Although I could honestly deal w/o the voice-mail service. I prefer a physical answering machine w/ a big red blinking light to tell me when I have a message. We have not yet figured out how to disable the voicemail service.. I'm sure I can though.
Mostly what I wanted was the HDTV service.. and sadly that was an extra. We now pay about $115/mo + taxes because we added a HDTV receiver box ($7.50/mo) and dual-tuner HDTV DVR ($7.50/mo) to the 'package'. I have yet to get a bill that does not include the installation charges, so I'm not sure about what the '+ taxes' bit will add up to. It can't possibly be more than we were paying for all the seperate services though..
www.onecall.com a great business. I've dealt with them for a couple years now. A package just arrived, and in it, a thank you note, a Foam Finger, a whistle, and a box of popcorn
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my words, my "pro"pictures, my "fun" pictures, my videos.
You left out the TV tax...
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We are waiting on a picture of that. Don't tell me your camera isn't around.
Or...if you travel, you can have it forwarded to your cell too.
It's just a simple click on their site and it's done.
OK can I just say that HDTV on 46" screen is the Zeiss Distagon of Television! :jawdrop
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60" would be better...
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
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Feels good doesn't it? My wife brought this home to me, just before Christmas.
(My little Vanna White's!) Nothing like 42 inches of plasma HDTV....football has never been better!
I love mine!
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I need to hook my pc up to mine....:D
Oh, as for Vonage...I don't know if you live in the CITY of NYC or not, but remember that if you lose power you also loose your phone. (Of course most people do have cell phones nowadays.) Also, if internet service goes down you again have no phone. I live in a rural area so power loss (mostly due to bad weather) and disconnects happen.
Friends of mine switched over to Vonage last year and were without a phone for a week because the idoits couldn't set it up right. They demanded a refund and returned to their phone service provider.
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Equine Photography in Maryland - Dressage, Eventing, Hunters, Jumpers
Yay for Boomer (Esiason)!
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Equine Photography in Maryland - Dressage, Eventing, Hunters, Jumpers
Except it's not a tax, it's a license fee, and I'll gladly carrying on paying it for the BBC, it's incredibly good value and quality.
Charlie
There's a simple (and relatively cheap) insurance policy for that at your local sam's club/costco/office depot/staples/etc... or online I picked up a slightly larger one, because I'm keeping a pair of home servers alive through our minor power bumps and brownouts with it. But you simply need to power your cable modem, your broadband phone adapter, and any hub/switch in between them off the battery backup. In our area we get minor weather related power glitches maybe a dozen times each spring and another dozen in the fall/early winter every year, plus in the past we got outages on super hot days in the summer (I think they fixed that capacity issue 3 years ago now). So far we have not had a power outage that took out the cable infrastructure. Even the big ones that took out a 1/4 of the city for several hours didn't take out the cable plant. It's been quite nice to be able to plug in my laptop's ethernet connection and hit the web to track the progress of the storm that just took out our power.
Oh and congrats on that consolidation Andy! I've seen that Samsung display... it's amazing. Quite possibly the one I'd pick if our current screen went belly up beyond the ability of the local techs to repair. (at least as long as they stay in business... this disposable lifestyle that a lot of folks have is really eating into their business.)
http://wall-art.smugmug.com/
I will not have a VoIP phone as the only phone in my house for the very reason just quoted. If there is a power outage=, and you do not have some kind of UPS/generator at home, you will not be able to call out of it. The telephone company has Generators and batteries on their switches, they will stay up in the case of power outages, I will be able to call 911 in an emergency should I need to. Cell phones can help, but have you ever tried to use one in th emiddle of an emergency 'Im sorry, all lines are busy at this time'. Yes this can happen with traditional phones as wll, but they tend to have more lines available in a given area than cell capacity in the same
Sorry to rant, but I feel a lot better now
Canon 5D Mk III
Canon 24-105L IS USM; Canon 16-35 f/2.8L USM; Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM II
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM; Bigma 50-500 f/4-6.3 EX DG HSM
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