2011: the year i plan on going VOIP
So, i have been thinking about my home phone setup, and more specifically, my mobile and internet phone setup, and have come to the conclusion there has to be a better way of doing this… here is my “problem” and here is what i am trying to figure out…
I carry, on most days, 3 phones (LG Optimus 7 running Windows Phone 7, an iPhone 4, a BlackBerry Curve) , an iPad (32Gb 3G model) and a MiFi (a Huawei E583C). And if you include my Kindle, that brings my SIM card count to 6. now, of those 6, 5 of them have phone numbers, some of which are not accessible as such (i cant call or send texts with the iPad, but can send texts with the Mifi). Then, we have a house phone… pretty standard stuff there. plugged into the UPC Cable modem, we have a land line phone number, and that’s all good… Finally, i have Skype, Google Voice, and a couple other VoIP service accounts…
What i want is a way of linking as much of this together as i can possibly get away with. I have a VoIP number in the US, which is linked to my Google Voice account. I would like to get a Skype in number in the US so that can be linked too. Skype on the iPhone allows calls over 3G (which works grand for me in Ireland) but i could setup a Skype Call Forwarding system, so if i don’t answer after a few rings, redirect to my mobile. Skype can do Voice Mail, send SMS with my real mobile number, make calls with my real mobile number (though wondering if it would be possible to set it per call… if i am ringing the US, show my US Skype in number, calling the UK, UK Skype in, Ireland, my mobile… you get the drift).
Anyway, this is a question post as well as a planning post, and more questions that answers… Any VoIP providers in Ireland that would give me cheap redirect calls to my mobile, or should i link a PAYG mobile to a Astrisk box and use the free “Vodafone to Vodafone” calls? is there a service that is doing a lot of this in the cloud, as opposed to me running extra servers in house? anyone tried this before? how well did it work? as usual, comments welcome!