I have had 4 of them. They all burned out. And, yes, wireless phones do require electricity. But, plain old non-wireless phones don't. In a power outage, all I need is a standard phone and a plug.
Had Vonage for a year and a half and am pretty happy with it. If you're not in tune with your internet setup (able to fix/tweak things when/if it gets flaky), it can be trouble. It does suck if the power goes out, but if you set up call forwarding online, Vonage can redirect the calls to a cell. All in all, it beats the pants off of SBC's extortion racket. Free long distance, voicemail, call ID, etc for less than a bare bones SBC monthly rate. Evan
That's my favorite part of Vonage. If my internet connection goes down for any reason, calls just go straight to my cellphone. If I'm travelling and I need to get my phone calls, I can just turn on the forwarding. Plus you can do neat stuff like have your calls ring on your house phone and cellphone at the same time, or get an extra number in any area code (or even an international number in some countries). And then my favorite feature -- my voicemail is delivered to my email inbox, so I get it immediately at work and can listen to it on my computer. Then there's the online call log, complete with caller ID. And there's more. It's like phone service on steroids.
Do your local phone service providers (BellSouth for me) offer a flat-rate plan? I just noticed it around here this month for the first time. It's about identical in base cost (may be something lurking there). I have no real complaints about RoadRunner except they are about a year overdue from offering 3-way calling and second lines.
Giddyup, If you still have your Vonage adapter, you may be able to "unlock" it and use it with some other VoIP company that offers 3-way calling. You can hook it up to your router and have a second line alongside your TWC digital phone service. I've just started playing with the VoIP offerings, and have set up a second line at my mother's house, and it works well. She also has TWC digital phone. I've not tried 3-way calling though.
