I know very few people under the age of 35 who have a traditional landline telephone. What was once a staple of virtually every Canadian home is now seen by some - especially younger urbanites - as an unnecessary and expensive throwback in the age of ubiquitous cellphones.
But there's something to be said for having a physical telephone in your home. For people who work from a home office, it's helpful to have a separate line, and I know from experience that it's often easier to talk on a traditional phone handset, rather than moving around to find the spot with the best cellphone signal strength or hoping your Bluetooth headset doesn't crap out.
Enter voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP. This is the technology that allows you to use your Internet connection as a phone line, and it's been around for years - VoIP actually forms the backbone of the so-called digital home phone services offered by many Canadian telcos and cable providers.
But there are now inexpensive, all-inclusive products that allow consumers to basically buy a phone service in a box without shelling out a monthly fee. The NetTalk Duo ($79.95) is one such gizmo, and while it's been kicking around the U.S. for some time, the company is now offering service to Canadians.
Like the MagicJack we looked at back in March of 2010, the NetTalk Duo connects any standard telephone to the Internet, transforming the phone into what for all intents and purposes is a traditional landline.
Unlike the MagicJack, the NetTalk Duo doesn't need to be plugged into your computer (although that is an option, and is especially useful for travelling). Instead, it connects directly into your broadband Internet connection, which for most people means plugging it into a port on their cable modem or router.
The tiny device includes a year of free local and North American long distance calling, with additional years costing $39.95 each. Setting up the NetTalk Duo is done via the www.nettalk.ca website and takes only a few moments, at which time you choose the area code you want for your phone number. It doesn't have to be a local area code, either - you can live in St. John's and have a Vancouver phone number, if that's somehow beneficial to you or your business.
Once the device is activated, you simply plug any standard telephone into the NetTalk Duo's phone jack, and off you go. Pick up the phone, hear a dial tone, press buttons, talk to Mom. It couldn't be easier.
Having your phone mated with your Internet connection offers both advantages and disadvantages. The main perk is price - for $40 per year, you get the same services that cost $40 per month through traditional telcos, including call display, call forwarding and voicemail. One great voicemail perk is that once someone leaves a message, the recipient immediately gets an email with it attached as an audio file. You can also go online at any time and review call history and voicemail messages and download them to your computer.
The downsides of plug-and-play Internet phone gizmos are a reliance on the stability of your connection. If your Internet goes down, the phone does too. If your connection is slow or otherwise poor, it can affect call quality. And even with a robust connection, the normally clear calls on the NetTalk Duo can waver. People I talked to said my voice sounded fine, but there were regular half-second hiccups where I cut out.
But it's a small price to pay, literally, for having an old-school desktop phone in my home office that I can use to call anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. I won't be ditching my cellphone, but I will be giving it more rest when I'm at home.
NetTalk Duo
Price: $79.95, including one year of local and North American long distance calls; additional years are $39.95. Available at Sears, Zellers and most major electronics retailers. For more info, see www.nettalk.ca
Verdict: While call quality will depend on your Internet connection, the NetTalk Duo offers a suite of attractive features, free North American long distance calls and solid customer support for a very affordable price.
Other options
If you want a more traditional telephone experience at home but don't want to shell out big bucks for a landline, here are some other options to look at.
MagicJack - The darling of late-night infomercials, the MagicJack (www.magicjack.com) is another easy-to-use Internet telephone device, but with one key limitation - it must be plugged into your powered-on computer to work. But the device does have a desktop software interface with a few nice bells and whistles.
Vonage - Like NetTalk, Vonage (www.vonage.ca) offers a device that plugs directly into your broadband Internet connection rather than your computer. The service costs more ($20 to $30 per month), but the plans offer more features, and the top-tier package includes free calls to dozens of different countries.
Retro handsets - If you don't want an Internet-connected phone thingamajig but still crave the physical sensation of talking on a phone, handsets such as the Yubz Retro Handset ($49.95, available at Roots stores) can be connected to most mobile phones to give you an old-school telephone sensation.
