With technology advancing so quickly, new products come out practically every week. In this case, it is great to see that there are some that don’t try to make your life more complicated - taking something as common as using the phone and finding new ways to make it cheaper and simpler than it’s ever been before…and forget the long wait for the phone company’s workers to drive out and do the installation. Z-Group has a great product that uses the new Voice Over IP (VoIP) technology, which allows the use of a regular telephone to talk over an internet connection, effectively replacing the need for a dedicated phone line. You connect up a small device called a Linksys PAP2 to your internet connection, and then your standard telephone plugs right into it. You can actually have two phone lines using a single VoIP device! In fact, having VoIP breaks through a lot of limitations that are inherent in standard telephone service.
Over the past several months Telus had an employee strike causing major delays on phone line installations everywhere. Most people were waiting up to 3 months to have their phone services installed or transferred. Setting up a VoIP device is so easy that you can do it yourself – all it takes is plugging the device into your existing internet connection and off you go. One particularly unique feature is that your phone number becomes “portable”. As long as you have access to a high speed internet connection, you can move your VoIP anywhere you go, and your number is automatically routed to that location. You can just disconnect the VoIP box and take it with you to work, or to your next place of residence. When you plug it back into the internet, your phone is back up and running. You no longer need to pay service charges for scheduling installs, moves, or even call forwarding in some cases! This is a perfect solution for people who frequently travel, or for those who just need affordable and flexible service for their home phone.
There are two costs to the VoIP service: the first is the one-time cost of buying the VoIP device (the Linksys PAP2 unit runs for about $99.00 CAN). After that, you have the monthly service fee. Shaw offers a VoIP plan that provides unlimited long-distance across Canada and United States for $55 per month when you have Shaw high-speed internet services, or $65.00 per month without their service. Telus’s pricing starts at $23.86 per month, but you have to pay for all the additional services like Voice mail, Call Display, Call Forwarding and of course long distance. Z-group offers the same package with all the bells and whistles for just $28.99 per month – an awesome deal! If you don’t need the long distance, you only pay $16.99 per month, with the option to advance purchase long distance minutes for 2.9¢ per minute. What’s more, the plans are all monthly, so you don’t have to worry about getting locked into a long-term contract. As an additional bonus, you can link your cell phone’s long-distance plan into your Z-group package. You can choose to pay by credit card or you may have your chequing account auto-debited for the service.
Additional services are included in both Z-Group packages:
Caller ID – Allows you to see the phone number and name of the person calling. If the people you call subscribe to the same service, they can see the same information for you every time you call them.
Call Forwarding – Forwards your calls to another phone automatically. This is great if you have a cell phone and want to make sure people can still reach you when you are not at home.
Do Not Disturb – You can force all calls to go directly to voice mail instead of having your phone ring. This is ideal for those people who party late or work graveyard shifts, so that those early morning phone calls are no longer an annoyance.
3 Way Calling – Allows you to talk to 2 people at the same time without needing an additional phone line. No doubt this would help the “tell-a-fag” network spread the latest gossip even faster.
Music on Hold – Press your phone’s FLASH button to put your caller on hold. They’ll be listening to hold music instead of total silence.
Call Return – Dials the last phone number that called you.
Voice Mail – Lets callers leave you voice messages if you are not available. If you have an email address, the voice messages are forwarded to you as audio attachments.
International Calling – Allowing you to make calls anywhere outside of Canada and the United States. You can check out the Z-Group website for rates to each country.
Emailed Statements – Every month you can have your statements emailed to you rather than waiting for them to come via snail-mail.
Online Account Management – You can log into the Z-Group website and view your call history, purchase calling cards, modify your profile and view transactions.
If you already have a phone number with another provider, you can have it transferred for $35.00, providing that the number is portable. If it is not, you can always select a new number that’s as close to your old one as possible. Currently numbers are only available with the 403 (Southern Alberta) and 250 (BC interior) area codes, but other areas are coming soon.
Theoretically, degradation may occur during periods of heavy internet usage, however GayCalgary.com Magazine tested the product for the past several months, and found no noticeable degradation in sound quality.
When you compare what else is out there for phone services, this is a particularly attractive alternative. If you are seeing your phone bills exceeding $30.00 per month with your current telephone company, we would highly recommend that you to look into this product.
This Christmas, cut to the front of the queue and get VoIP service from Z-Group!
Z-Group
(403) 770-1940
http://www.zitsp.com/ca
