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So... in a few months, we'll be moving and downsizing a bit. We also want to lower our bills for the aforementioned services.
I've called the phone and cable companies. The cable company has the lowest price of the 2.
I need internet. So I'm thinking.... and discussing with my wife..... Solitary internet.
With a fast cable speed, I can place my 2 phone lines on Magic Jacks.... one for residential ($3/mo) and the other for business ($15/mo) I'm considering going this route because much of my business is conducted by email and not fax.... even though faxes are still supposed to work with MJ.....and customers are using my cell number about half the time.
However, the main reason is cost. The phone and cable company want a premium on top of their already high prices to port my old numbers to the new service. It's amazing that I can port my numbers to cell phones and between cell companies but not on a land line phone. (I call bull on that) And I know that the days of copper lines are gone, it's all VOIP anyway. Just a simple matter of setting the IP address and the phone number can ring anywhere in the world.
Another phone option is porting my wife's residential number to a cell phone. Cost would be about the same as paying for a land line but she could keep the number. Currently, she has a cell phone that is an old, old phone. I think it does phone calls and maybe text messages. She pays only for the minutes used and no monthly minimum. As long as that phone is still compatible with the network hardware, Alltel has agreed to keep the account open.
Next issue is cable TV. I've had people telling me to get ROKU. Almost every channel is available streaming on the internet and it's no or very low cost. We currently have a NEO/TV box for netflix. As long as my wife has the channels she watches, she's happy. HGTV, local news/weather, oldies movies, etc. All I need is AMC for the Walking Dead on Sunday nights. But... I could wait 12 months and watch it on Netflix.... ( wouldn't bother me to not have TV ) I understand... ROKU is a one time buy like the Neo was.
One last thing: The cable co has offered a 12mo package with internet, cable TV and a residential phone bundled for under $100/mo. My thought was.... take the promo 12 mo deal. That way, I have cable, and a residential phone line. The number would not be ported but.... I can still get the ROKU and the 2 magic jacks...... port my numbers to the MJ's, run the ROKU on a second TV and see how well the streaming things work on the cable internet. If they do good....when the promo ends, cancel the phone and TV, and go with the streaming. If they don't work well, keep the cable package.
I have used MJ in the past on my existing internet service which is really slow by today's IP speeds. It was to call long distance for "free" since the biz phone I had at that time charged for all long distance outgoing calls and at the time, I was working on a project all over the state. Calls were mostly good and I had the occasional one that I needed to hangup and call back for a better connection.
Essentially, I'm considering: Relatively fast residential internet with a ROKU and 2 magic Jacks and calling it done.
Has anyone considered doing this as well, or have you already done this and if so, how well is it working for you?
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Herb, have you talked to anyone in your area about Magic Jack? The reason I ask is because my brother-in-law had it for a while. It started out good but soon he had many problems with the biggest being cross talk. By that I mean two or more conversations going on at the same time within his number. I would call him and get someone else and/or two or three different people in different locations would all answer. Or as we were talking all of a sudden another conversation could also be heard. Plus they could hear us. Something like an unscheduled conference call. After many calls to the company with no satisfaction he cancelled the service.
I don't know if this is an isolated case or if problems like this have been solved. If you haven't already you might want to investigate.
Me, it's not about how many times you fail, it's about how many times you get back up.
Cop, that's not how field sobriety tests work.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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I tried it for a while, but none of the streaming services I know of have live sports and I don't want to miss a Browns game or wait to see them on a replay after I know how much they lost by. I also got used to watching The Big Bang Theory on Thursday nights, though I could see it online the next day. I have a Roku and a Firestick. I can watch archived shows that way. So much of that revolves around what you watch. If your local stuff is not critical, because I don't know that you're a big sports guy or not, then streaming will do you. Where I live the digital antenna doesn't do much for me for local stations. I have one, but to work at all I have to have it upstairs aimed on a particular azimuth, and to get the local feed of the CBS station I have to aim it on a different azimuth, so I am running back and forth up and down the stairs. (Living alone, I can't be downstairs to see if the station came in when I moved the antenna. And this damned dog doesn't help me!)
Magic Jack units will do you just fine. I had one for a while that I bought after seeing the hyped up ads on TV, but realized how little it means to me. Why have a home number that people can call when I am not there to answer it when they can call my cell and I can answer it anywhere? I haven't had a land line phone for almost 20 years.
Pretty much comes down to what you require. You are probably not a lazy slug like me who likes his daytime court shows and his sports. From 2 to 4 every day I am here for People's Court and Judge Judy. And if there is a Cavs, Browns or Indians game on, I am here watching it. I pay a good amount for internet and cable, but for me it is worth it. I have 70mb down and 6mb up internet and a premier cable package to get the channel tiers I want and I pay about $200 a month. And another $100 for my cell phone. Here we have Spectrum, formerly Time-Warner.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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It started out good but soon he had many problems with the biggest being cross talk. By that I mean two or more conversations going on at the same time within his number. I had that too Mario. One time I was talking to my girlfriend of the time and there was a loud CLICK on the line and suddenly somebody else was on the phone. I got switched to a completely different call. I said "I don't know what happened but you aren't Lori" and the woman laughed and said "No I'm not." So we chatted a bit and I found that she was somewhere like Arkansas or somewhere. She had been talking to someone local to her and heard the same CLICK. I called Lori back and asked if she was suddenly switched to another call, but she said our call just dropped. Thought that only happened that one time, I DID quite often hear faint traces of other conversations in the background. Now, their technology may be much better by now. I was dating that girl in late 2010, so 6+ years have gone by. (And I haven't missed her yet!)
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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Herb,
I would get an attorney's opinion on charges to port telephone numbers. Telcos are required to do it, but, like you, I feel that paying extra is BS.
We get Internet and TV through Comcast/XFINITY for $100/mo. Five years ago I signed up for Internet only at 12 Mbps; they have continually bumped that up—today it is 50 Mbps. Service has been consistently good, with 24/7 support. TV is much better than it was, within limits, but extras like pay per view can be costly.
I got cell service through Verizon in 2002. Service is bulletproof, but the most expensive of any provider. It made sense when I was driving a taxi back then, and any two trips to the airport paid my monthly bill. But we are paying an obscene amount today, which isn't working on a fixed income, and we each feel we have been screwed in different ways. I love their technical side, but the marketing model sucks. As soon as our contracts are up, we are out. Stay away—there are much better deals elsewhere.
HTH,
Richard.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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One good thing about the Roku player (and I have four of them) is that you hook one up to each tv in house, Download the Plex media servier to you main pc, and add all the contect you want to it such as music, pictures, old movies even a lot of your home camcorder video.
Then either buy for a small cost the plex app in the Roku store, there is even a free open source that can be sideloaded onto the roku, and hey presto your content from main pc is streamed all over your house. Will stream to your ipad or android device as well, though you will probably have to buy the Plex app on Apple store or Google play.
While you are streaming over the network to your TV's or devices the main computer can be used as normal, the content won't be playing on it as well.
Musiclover
Last edited by musiclover; 03/20/17 05:45 AM.
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I would get an attorney's opinion on charges to port telephone numbers. Telcos are required to do it, but, like you, I feel that paying extra is BS.
Though I'd make sure how much that attorney will charge you for that opinion.... It may be way more than the porting charges. The parasites sharks barracudas lawyers I know charge you a consultation fee if you pass them on the street and say "Hello".
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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Herb, check out my thread on the Tech S.O.S. forum, there are lots of different ways to do what you want with one big caveat, live sports. http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=362277#Post362277If live sports is not a problem with you it's a whole lot simpler. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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I've used majic jack for the past several years, and have never experienced the cross talk you mention. I have noticed a semi-recurring trend of getting kicked off after about 60 minutes, (especially during calls that would be considered long distance.)
I think when I got it I paid $99 total for 5 years of service, which included being able to keep my old phone number. With Southern Bell I had been paying almost that much each month, and didn't get caller ID or free long distance as I did with Majic Jack
But when that expires and they try to charge me again, I'll probably let it lapse because I rarely use the phone, and it makes more sense to have only a cell phone. I don't need both. Your needs are different, having a business.
Regarding your question about the quality of service: for me it has been indistinguishable from a regular land line... except that if the internet goes down, your phone does too. That can be a bummer.
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I don't watch live sports so that's not an issue.
Never had crosstalk issues with my old MJ.
Thanks for the input.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Will you have bandwith suitable for HD streaming with the Roku or similar device?
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Will you have bandwith suitable for HD streaming with the Roku or similar device? Yes. From what they told me, they are no longer selling the low speed package I'm on now. The minimum, according to the sales person on the phone is many times faster now. They advertise "up to 100 Mbps" We currently have: Ping: 1ms DL: 8.78 Mbps UL: 391.7 Kbps We can stream Netflix movies without any issue
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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If you are streaming with no buffering on 8mb down you are golden. I am researching options on cable cutting AND keeping live sports. Not going well, but I am learning a lot about options as I go. Most of the reading deeper explanations of everything that has been provided in this thread. Good stuff.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Update Your PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 Today!
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The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
This free update is available to all RealBand 2024 users. To learn more about this update and download it, head to www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#20245
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Did you know... not only can you download your Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase - you can also choose to add a flash drive backup copy with the installation files for only $15? It even comes with a Band-in-a-Box® keychain!
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Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.
Already purchased your e-delivery version, and now you wish you had a backup copy? It's not too late! If your purchase was for the current version of Band-in-a-Box®, you can still reach out to our team directly to place your backup copy order!
Note: the Band-in-a-Box® keychain is only included with flash drive backup copies, and cannot be purchased separately.
Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
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A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
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The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!
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If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.
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Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed!
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