I am going to show my ignorance here so apologies.

We presently have a land line through Bell and a basic cell phone package with Rogers. We communicate with my parents via messenger video and very infrequently use the phone but for hubbies mother who is in her 80s we have to phone and use the 99 cents package.

Now the question is, can we make calls to land lines and vice versa using the computer. I notice with skype and google they say you can call a land line but can a land line call the computer. Our laptop is connected 24/7 to our main tv screen so it will always ring if a call was to come through - I am just wondering how you get an actual number to call.

if you understand my gibberish above and know an answer please let me know.

thanks

Hey - yes you can purchase a number from Skype to receive incoming calls on so people can call you from their normal land line. Even better option is buy a cordless home phone with Skype facilities built in (see Skype web site) and plug this in to your router.

Then you can make and receive calls as you would do on a normal land line.

One thing I would make sure is provided before I dumped a land line is 911 service. Does Skype or any other none land line service give your location to the 911 operator if you need to call 911.

May not sound important now but you never know when you will need that service.

I can call 911 on my cell phone so that would not be a problem.

We are paying nearly $40 a month for a landline when we use it for 2 calls a month if we are lucky - the important thing is for them to be able to phone us.

We would rather have more updated phones with facilities but can't afford this and the land line.

No you can not currently call emergency services on Skype. So you would need to keep your land line (some of the cordless phones support regular land line and Skype) or a cell phone for that one!

I know you can call 911 on your cell phone but does your cell phone have the capability to give the operator your location.

Edit: Disregard the above apparently all cell phones have the capability through triangulation of the cell towers used. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/t1035.htm

I just did a re-cert for my first aid certificate at work. We discussed cell & land lines at length. Not sure if you would remember this but a couple of years ago a family dialled 911 in Calgary via their internet phone as their child was in respiratory distress - the ambulance was dispatched to an address in Toronto where they used to live, all because they did not call from a land line in the first place. The child very sadly died as it took 30 minutes for them to get there.

http://www.ncbuy.com/news/20080731/0...aces-suit.html

A 911 operator can locate you within 10 seconds calling from a land line, best hope from a cell phone is 8-10 minutes if you are lucky. If you are at home and are choking, dialling 911, police will respond to the "no response" call, usually within minutes. You wait 8-10 on that cell phone and you're gone.

KEEP THE LANDLINE

That's not what the folk in the Lab said when I asked about incoming Skype numbers last October.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=690252

I'd be very happy if you're right and they're wrong.

Bloody hell. That has to be some frickin ambulance

There's no point whatsoever in having a landline if you're not using it. The Calgary thing, tragic though it was, was an IP phone service issue (the call centre operator didn't follow the standard operating procedure) and it appears the family hadn't told Comwave they'd moved house anyway. It had nothing to do with cellphones or Skype.

Ditch the landline. Get a Skype In number (you may have to mess around with area codes - they didn't have many for Canada last time I looked) and a phone you can plug straight in to your router. I would do the same if we didn't have excellent (and cost-effective) VoIP phone service through our cable provider.

on edit: seems the CRTC backtracked - I thought they were allowing voIP services to use Canadian area codes. Perhaps this still doesn't apply to Skype. Unlikely to be worth holding breath while waiting for CRTC to move into 21st century.

I was told that there aren't any (free) ways of doing that in Canada.

Is that duff info?

I edited while you were posting. I haven't done it but I had heard it was now possible. It seems I heard wrong.

although apparently www.ring2skype.com offer Canadian numbers and don't appear to charge for them. Might be worth investigating for SWMBO's iPod?

We have a UK SkypeIn number that allows our friends and family in the UK to call us for a UK call cost. Don't see why you'd need a Canadian SkypeIn number (which isn't available due to the 911 thing) anyway if you have a cell phone. Having a Canadian SkypeIn doesn't help people calling you from the UK.

Yes they are free only catch is the free numbers all have an ext' number that also needs to be used once call is connected, another option is Jetnumbers
you get a Canadian number and it's directed to your Skype account so you receive incoming calls via Skype for free but jet numbers charge you about $5 month for the number, you also get free voicemail to email if needed.