Howard

While this might be universal I am guessing it only involves Amazon UK. They have some very different issues in the UK versus what we have. They have a television tax of something like 75 pounds a year and if you don't pay for this licence they actually show up with cops and arrest people for stealing BBC for free.

What are you thinking about flying between houses? You do know these things are generally VERY loud. The better ones these days are all GPS guided and with some you can pre-program a flight plan with specific points to hit along the way. You could actually program it to circle your house and then land with no input other than you than telling it to take off.

There is no water within six feet of my garage. GFI requirements suck. Much of house was built in the 70's where they put one freakin GFi breaker for all the bathrooms and outside outlets, such when you have driving rain they trip and you have no power for two days still stuff dries out. Have had to make lots of changes to fix this mess.

Is this something "newish". The outlets in my garage are not GFI and I don't know anyone around me that has GFI for outlets in their garage.

I put in for some permits 15 days ago in Randolph and was told yesterday they would either be ready this Thursday or next Thursday and that is because the person that has to sign them is out on two weeks of training and is only in on Weds. Would have been done a week earlier but one of my references was slow getting forms in and delayed the process.

While mipafox is probably correct about the technical analysis about the site this is more than a matter of fact. Down the road it could be hard to sell just because the potential pool of buyers will be deminished due to them also having concerns and stopping the investigation without going through a detailed search.

I would not buy that house even with your money. Even if everything tested ok today in the future they might never be able to sell it. Run don't walk away from this.

If you don't have ethernet where you want to locate a VoIP system a viable option is a powerline adapter. Here is one I have used that is $35 with free Prime shipping from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerline-Adapter-Starter-TL-PA4010KIT/dp/B00AWRUICG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490366854&sr=8-1&keywords=tl-pa4010+kit The above is a device that you plug in by your router or switch and connect it via ethernet to that device, you then plug it's mate in where you want an ethernet outlet and plug an ethernet cable into it. It uses your home electrical wiring to transmit the ethernet signal. I had very good luck with this system to get internet to my basement.

While what she said may be technically true, there are sometimes ways around it. Check online for deals CenturyLink might be running for new customers with a one year contract, sometimes those special deals are excellent and technically you would be a new customer for them.

If that is the case can you deal directly with CenturyLink? Also sometimes these guys have partners you can buy the service from at a lower rate. Do some more research.

Hey, I don't have a horse in this race and really don't care if you go with Ooma or not - they don't pay me I have had good luck with it. I read through some of those reviews and find the bulk are either old or based on installation problems - the instructions are very confusing. I think those with quality issue are using a WiFi Connection. As for porting their web page told me it could take two weeks, it took 36 hours. I've called with questions twice and immediately got a live person who was able to help me. I investigated the other device you are talking about it and liked that it was cheaper and there were no fees. The only problem I see with it is that it uses Google Voice and there is absolutely no support with Google. Trying calling Google, you can't. Also Google has a tendency to just drop services at times, so who know what the future of voice might be. Finally I could find no easy way to port my existing Cablevision phone number to them and I wanted to keep my number. If you go with the Obi box please get back to me and let me know how it works out.

I hear what you are saying and was hesitant because of those Amazon reviews. Thing is a lot of Amazon reviews are fake. I decided to get input from people I know or people I associate with on Facebook or forums like this. Of real people I contacted I don't recall any of them having anything bad to say so I gave it a try and have been very pleased. I also think most of the bad reviews online were quite a few years old and may not be representative of the way things are today. I do understand and appreciate your apprehension as I felt that way going into this as well. I should add a few general comments as well, how you hook up a VoIP system will have big impacts on quality. They should where ever possible be hooked up via Ethernet NOT wifi. You should either set QOS up in your router or have the VoIP unit plugged into the modem and then have your router plugged into the voice box.

Ooma actually automatically gives you two number. They do charge something like $35-$39 to port a number but if you sign up for $99 for a year of premium that includes porting one number for free. You can find the device for like $70 re-manufactured on the internet, but I bought mine from Costco online for around $129 which included the unit and one of their special receivers and a wireless dongle. I did this for the added features but also because if I did not like it Costco takes stuff back forever at full refund. If you were going to use your data plan you would need to hook Ooma up wirelessly which could have a negative impact on call quality. The bandwidth used by Ooma is not that large, I am sure you can search for that with Google and get an answer of what it uses per minute of calling. I think there is an always on component to usage so that there is always a dial tone available too but that is very small. Don't know what would happen when your cell signal is not present - I don't think this a good way to go. What are your choices for Internet?

I think there are some people that for some reason like to bash Oooma, not sure why. It has been around for quite a while and I have found it very reliable. I also have Magic Jack which is less reliable. I have had two number for eons going back to copper service when you used dialup. I wanted to keep the second number but wanted to cut cost so I switched one line to Magic Jack. I got that four or five years ago and for $99 you got five years of service. The quality has gotten better but it still is not perfect, but for that price you can't beat it as a second line. I had switch the other to the Cable Triple Play but ditched that a few months ago when I got rid of Cable TV. I switched to Oooma and find the call quality better than the Cable VoIP and it has been very reliable. I have my modem, router and Oooma on a UPS and have had service even during two small power failures. I also like their phone app where you can make calls over WiFi or LTE using your Oooma number and answer calls on your cell as well. Very happy so far.

Perhaps they changed it since you got yours. The regular service is actually FREE, you just pay the monthly taxes and 911 fee which in New Jermany comes to about $4.08 a month. The premium service is an additional $10 a month, but they have a plan where you can prepay and get 12 months for $99 up front. They also have an International plan but I am not up on it as I don't make International calls and never read it.

Not sure what you mean about pay once services like Ooma. You don't pay once with Ooma, you pay by the month just like Verizon. Magic Jack has poor quality and poor support. Ooma quality is as good or better than the VoIP service I had through my cable company. Further they have real life people you can talk with and are quite reasonable - you really should check into it more.

For $99 you can get a year of premium service including porting a number for free.

Before you drop the triple play port the phone number out and drop phone. Then call retention and get a better price on internet. I got them to take $5 off a month and raise the speed from 50/25 to 200/35 Mbps. Last take your cable boxes to the store and drop TV. When they try to raise the rate just tell them you told retention that is BS and you had told them you were only going to keep Internet if they did not drop the price. I dropped $100 a month off my bill keeping only Internet and PS Vue and Ooma for phone which will do fax too.

Well there are all different versions of Roku, and you don't have to spend $120 for them. The cheapest one, the stick, is about $29. I have a Streaming Stick which goes for about $49 that I got for free by signing up for a month of SlingTV Blue for $25. If you use a computer you either need one of these devices, or a chromecast or run a cable to you TV to watch content on a big screen. These dongles are limited purpose mini computers that just plug into an HDMI port and allow you to get content via WiFi, while some can also be wired. The bottom line is people really have to consider what they are trying to achieve and then look at the various devices to figure out which ones best meet their needs. I think most people will find that the Amazon FireTV box or the cheaper FireTV stick will yield the best mix of price and capabilities.

I am not a big fan of Roku devices, but I don't think your analysis is fair. None of these devices provide content, they are just gateways to get content. You go on to say YouTube is better than Roku free channels, but you can watch YouTube on a Roku so that makes little sense. I guess the big issue is are you looking for legal content or pirate content. If the latter, then yes something like an Amazon FireTV device or a computer is better because you can load them up with Kodi and other pirate content. You can do that on Roku do some degree with channels like Channel Pear. The biggest issues I have with Roku is the guide on it for PS Vue really sucks and not nearly as usable as on AppleTV or FireTV. Also Roku has no app for Direct TV Now yet, but they claim that will be out by the end of this month.

Here are two of my crew:

Why not check what similar ones are going for on Gunbroker or Armslist.

Interesting, I think I will carry an old phone with me so I can had that over if anyone ever asks for "MY" phone

Thanks, but I don't need any wine, just went on a small shopping trip on Weds:

Interesting, I was wondering how they were not charging tax.