I must have spent over an hour in an on-line chat window with the dude from the local cable company. Seems that they really want people to do this shit online and they heavily discourage (as in "it costs you more") signing up by finding the local office.
The local cable bastards offer phone service. But the phone has to have a USB port. And if your phones don't, because Western Electric wasn't building them in in the 1950s and 1970s, yer shit outta luck.
Some times I miss Ma Bell.
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You can find RJ-11 to USB connector around $5.00 dollars not including shipping.
It may work, it may not depending on the type of Western Electric phone, (Rotary no, keypad yes) Trimline and Princess phones have incandescent light bulbs, and they required an external 6.3 Volt transformer that was connect to the phone circuit. This transformer was used to provide additional power on pins 2 and 5 so that the light would work.
I suspect that it will work, you can use it, but the backlight for the the keypad will not.
Or get a Vonage box, it does have an RJ-11, but it may not work in some situations when and where the cable network is down. It might have the same issue with providing enough power for the backlight for the keypad
Or you can still get a land line, they do cost more, and it will have an RJ-11 interface, and the phone company is required by the FCC and PUC to keep their network functioning during most if not all emergencies. The cable company phone has no such requirements.
I think you might want to check further. We have VOIP with ATT U-verse (as well as a stand alone land line) and the cable multi-box has RJ-11 plugs on the side in addition to USB ports. this is consistent with most cable cos.
Bob, for the "most emergencies" reason, I've always had a land line. I'll stick with that.
Bad Yogi, I only reported what the cable co told me. If they've given me bad information (and lost my business), too bad for them.
I live in the Ca. Sierra Foothills. Despite being only an hour from Sacramento Ca., our only service provider is a local company. Phone, internet and TV are all distributed by one company. If I want anything other than satellite I have to at least get their phone service first. And of course I have No cell service at my home. To be honest the service is mostly good, but the services are very limited and pricey.
It's the cost of living where I do.
w3ski
AT&T offers both "u-verse fiber" and two-wire. Only two-wire supports pulse-dialing, so that's what I've gotten.
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