What is cheapest way to get a house phone?
-
At a place I work, they want me available on my days off for those "just in case" times. They compensate this availability by paying part of my cell phone bill.
My main forms of contact are going to just be my phone, wife's phone, and Slack if I'm at my home computer.
In this case, everybody at the office magically forgot Slack existed. And my phone died just seconds before I plugged in to charger so I didn't even realize it was off most of the day.In any case, with only two phones and computer chat, it's still possible they might not be able to reach me for a length of time. If wife is out, my phone is off or in another room or something. I want to add one more form of contact and I figure a house phone is a good option.
With VOIP options today, I think this could be a pretty cheap enterprise.
So what is the cheapest path to getting a house phone just so there is something else that can go "ring" if they need me?
I'm guessing your answer will be something along the lines of voip.ms and a cheap $30 voip phone or something?
If the voip phone thing turns out to be pretty cool, I may eventually expand it to become a house line for my home business itself, so I want to keep the option open for things like toll free number, most extensions around the house, voicemail, fax, stuff like that.
-
Just get a SIP account from voip.ms and tie that to a softphone, or even a "cheap" yealink phone that gets PoE.
-
@dustinb3403 said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Just get a SIP account from voip.ms and tie that to a softphone, or even a "cheap" yealink phone that gets PoE.
I'm not sure why POE really matters in this case.
But yeah - get a SIP phone, a VOIP.ms account and register that with VOIP.ms - done. Of course you'll need to buy DID, etc, etc, etc.
-
Or jsut say, sorry my phone battery died and I did not notice. Will not happen again.
And move on.
-
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
At a place I work, they want me available on my days off for those "just in case" times. They compensate this availability by paying part of my cell phone bill.
Doesn't seem like a fair trade. Unless you bill is thousands of dollars.
-
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
At a place I work, they want me available on my days off for those "just in case" times. They compensate this availability by paying part of my cell phone bill.
Doesn't seem like a fair trade. Unless you bill is thousands of dollars.
Nothing out of the ordinary about a boss who wants to keep IT on a tight leash. I'm the only one who can fix or research or do anything of technical importance. Naturally they want quick access to me.
@jaredbusch said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Or jsut say, sorry my phone battery died and I did not notice. Will not happen again.
And move on.
Nah, not these guys. Once I was unavailable for over 4 hours (starting at 3am mind you) when a forum got hacked and defaced. Didn't fix it until noon. On my day off, on a Sunday. But they decided to grill me and black mark me anyway for having "more than 4 hour turnaround time in an emergency". And of course, this 4 hour rule was literally invented AFTER this happened, just specifically so they could black mark me for not having met it.
Hey, if I can put a wingding in my house that rings if needed, and it's only 85 cents a month, I guess I can justify that.
-
Any reason that they aren't just giving you an extension for home like usual?
-
Your boss should provide you a work cell phone.
-
Uh wtf are you still going working for these guys?
-
Why do you need to be available when you are off? i did it once this year and I said I would not do it again. Which Inhave not done and told Evernote in staff and then administration.
-
@dbeato said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Why do you need to be available when you are off? i did it once this year and I said I would not do it again. Which Inhave not done and told Evernote in staff and then administration.
I can understand being on call... Providing he is compensated for it.
-
I bought Ooma 5 years ago for my home phone use. I have not paid a cent since for all my US calls.
-
@coliver said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@dbeato said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Why do you need to be available when you are off? i did it once this year and I said I would not do it again. Which Inhave not done and told Evernote in staff and then administration.
I can understand being on call... Providing he is compensated for it.
Happens to everyone.
-
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
At a place I work, they want me available on my days off for those "just in case" times. They compensate this availability by paying part of my cell phone bill.
Doesn't seem like a fair trade. Unless you bill is thousands of dollars.
Nothing out of the ordinary about a boss who wants to keep IT on a tight leash. I'm the only one who can fix or research or do anything of technical importance. Naturally they want quick access to me.
@jaredbusch said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Or jsut say, sorry my phone battery died and I did not notice. Will not happen again.
And move on.
Nah, not these guys. Once I was unavailable for over 4 hours (starting at 3am mind you) when a forum got hacked and defaced. Didn't fix it until noon. On my day off, on a Sunday. But they decided to grill me and black mark me anyway for having "more than 4 hour turnaround time in an emergency". And of course, this 4 hour rule was literally invented AFTER this happened, just specifically so they could black mark me for not having met it.
Hey, if I can put a wingding in my house that rings if needed, and it's only 85 cents a month, I guess I can justify that.
Time to walk away. Those are asshats.
-
-
@scottalanmiller I am pretty sure we have been down this road with @guyinpv before.
-
@jaredbusch said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@scottalanmiller I am pretty sure we have been down this road with @guyinpv before.
Yep. I asked the same question last time they did something stupid like this.
-
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
At a place I work, they want me available on my days off for those "just in case" times. They compensate this availability by paying part of my cell phone bill.
Doesn't seem like a fair trade. Unless you bill is thousands of dollars.
Nothing out of the ordinary about a boss who wants to keep IT on a tight leash. I'm the only one who can fix or research or do anything of technical importance. Naturally they want quick access to me.
@jaredbusch said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Or jsut say, sorry my phone battery died and I did not notice. Will not happen again.
And move on.
Nah, not these guys. Once I was unavailable for over 4 hours (starting at 3am mind you) when a forum got hacked and defaced. Didn't fix it until noon. On my day off, on a Sunday. But they decided to grill me and black mark me anyway for having "more than 4 hour turnaround time in an emergency". And of course, this 4 hour rule was literally invented AFTER this happened, just specifically so they could black mark me for not having met it.
Hey, if I can put a wingding in my house that rings if needed, and it's only 85 cents a month, I guess I can justify that.
Excuse my french, but are you are fucking kidding me? I am going to go out on a limb and guess they are only paying you like $20 an hour or something... Am I right?
-
They are compensating you for being available 24/7 by paying for half of your cell phone bill?
re-read that sentence dude
-
I used to use Vonage and it was like $24 a month and then when I cancelled, they tried to lower me down to $10. Vonage was great and the only reason I cancelled was because we have cell phones.
-
@dave247 said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
I used to use Vonage and it was like $24 a month and then when I cancelled, they tried to lower me down to $10. Vonage was great and the only reason I cancelled was because we have cell phones.
We moved from Vonage to the company PBX. Now I just use extensions at home, no reason to have my own service.
-
OT:
Ooooooh, a @wirestyle22 sighting!!!!
-
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
OT:
Ooooooh, a @wirestyle22 sighting!!!!It happens from time to time.
-
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
OT:
Ooooooh, a @wirestyle22 sighting!!!!I'll be around more soon
-
@wirestyle22 said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
OT:
Ooooooh, a @wirestyle22 sighting!!!!I'll be around more soon
something change?
-
@irj said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@brrabill said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
At a place I work, they want me available on my days off for those "just in case" times. They compensate this availability by paying part of my cell phone bill.
Doesn't seem like a fair trade. Unless you bill is thousands of dollars.
Nothing out of the ordinary about a boss who wants to keep IT on a tight leash. I'm the only one who can fix or research or do anything of technical importance. Naturally they want quick access to me.
@jaredbusch said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
Or jsut say, sorry my phone battery died and I did not notice. Will not happen again.
And move on.
Nah, not these guys. Once I was unavailable for over 4 hours (starting at 3am mind you) when a forum got hacked and defaced. Didn't fix it until noon. On my day off, on a Sunday. But they decided to grill me and black mark me anyway for having "more than 4 hour turnaround time in an emergency". And of course, this 4 hour rule was literally invented AFTER this happened, just specifically so they could black mark me for not having met it.
Hey, if I can put a wingding in my house that rings if needed, and it's only 85 cents a month, I guess I can justify that.
Excuse my french, but are you are fucking kidding me? I am going to go out on a limb and guess they are only paying you like $20 an hour or something... Am I right?
I've ranted about this company before, some around here get tired of it. They are old school bosses, they lead by "better to fear me than love me" thing. Black marks, performance meetings, threaten my job when they don't like something, etc.
But, long story short, small town, few tech jobs, low wages.
I'll be leaving when my own business is built up more. I've talked on here about that too. In fact, my home business income is up to making about half my income of this place already. Still not ready to fully make the switch though.
-
@guyinpv never too much ranting about shitty employers.
-
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
They are old school bosses, they lead by "better to fear me than love me" thing. Black marks, performance meetings, threaten my job when they don't like something, etc.
But, long story short, small town, few tech jobs, low wages.
Sounds like they don't have a choice of many techs either well at least at what they are offering to pay.
-
@irj said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
They are old school bosses, they lead by "better to fear me than love me" thing. Black marks, performance meetings, threaten my job when they don't like something, etc.
But, long story short, small town, few tech jobs, low wages.
Sounds like they don't have a choice of many techs either well at least at what they are offering to pay.
Ya. Basically population is around 40k in the city. Best jobs are all government/city/town, and colleges. But even then they'll max out around $60k-$70k for city government IT.
Then all the tech shops are mom-n-pop. If they hire employees at all, they'll be $10-$18/hr.
So I work for an ecommerce/manufacturer company doing their tech stuff, which includes some IT but it's not pure IT. I do some programming, social media, web development, SEO/marketing, and all the office tech chores. Jack of all trades. Still only about a sub-$40k income and I had to beg to even get there after 5 years.
Bottom line, you have to own a business out here to make a good living in tech. And I'm moving into web dev over IT (remote work). Every other tech out here who can't find a job starts a computer repair company. I see their cars all over the place. "Bob's Nerd Shop", "Hire a Geek", "Mobile Nerds PC Repair", "Cool Geeks PC Services". The names get worse every year.
The couple of people who manage to have a physical computer store either hire their own kids, or get part time helpers on commission.It is what it is. I would have a hard time finding another job, but my boss would also have a hard time finding someone who knows all the things and willing to work for $15/hr. So I'm not sure which of us has the upper hand here.
-
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@irj said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
@guyinpv said in What is cheapest way to get a house phone?:
They are old school bosses, they lead by "better to fear me than love me" thing. Black marks, performance meetings, threaten my job when they don't like something, etc.
But, long story short, small town, few tech jobs, low wages.
Sounds like they don't have a choice of many techs either well at least at what they are offering to pay.
Ya. Basically population is around 40k in the city. Best jobs are all government/city/town, and colleges. But even then they'll max out around $60k-$70k for city government IT.
Then all the tech shops are mom-n-pop. If they hire employees at all, they'll be $10-$18/hr.
So I work for an ecommerce/manufacturer company doing their tech stuff, which includes some IT but it's not pure IT. I do some programming, social media, web development, SEO/marketing, and all the office tech chores. Jack of all trades. Still only about a sub-$40k income and I had to beg to even get there after 5 years.
Bottom line, you have to own a business out here to make a good living in tech. And I'm moving into web dev over IT (remote work). Every other tech out here who can't find a job starts a computer repair company. I see their cars all over the place. "Bob's Nerd Shop", "Hire a Geek", "Mobile Nerds PC Repair", "Cool Geeks PC Services". The names get worse every year.
The couple of people who manage to have a physical computer store either hire their own kids, or get part time helpers on commission.It is what it is. I would have a hard time finding another job, but my boss would also have a hard time finding someone who knows all the things and willing to work for $15/hr. So I'm not sure which of us has the upper hand here.
Ugh... I used to make $15/hour working as middle management in retail. I finally got fed up and put the pedal to the metal and landed an IT admin job making over double what I used to. It's a very small town but luckily I work at decent place.
