[Hidden-tech] Telephone solution for kids?

[Robert Heller]

At Fri, 18 Apr 2014 22:16:23 -0400 John Snyder <john9000 at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Howdy! 
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> Quick telephony question for the hive:
> 
> I have an iPhone (AT&T) and MacBook Pro, neither of which I'm inclined, nor
> always free, to share with my boys, aged, 12 and 8.
> 
> I would like to outfit my apartment with a landline or other dedicated phone
> for the boys to be able to call 911 and local and, say, two long-distance
> numbers.
> 
> AT&T offers a residential One Rate® 10¢ Nationwide Direct Plan at
> $3/month, 10¢/minute, and various fees (which isn't unreasonable on the
> surface, I suppose).

Is this a true landline or is it a wireless (Cell Phone) mounted on the wall? 
If the latter, it is dependent on Reddi Kilowatt.  Or is it some kind of VOIP 
phone?  This sounds way too cheap for a true analog landline.

> 
> Is there a better deal or arrangement? My goal is to mount something to the
> wall and know that the kids aren't going to 1) lose it, 2) play games on it,
> 3) fight over it, or 4) cost me more than the minimum to know they can reach
> emergency services, their mother, grandmother, and the odd friend. (When I'm
> flopping around on the floor in medical distress I'll be wishing my loving
> sons had the finest NASA-enabled uplink money could buy, but until then I'm
> pinching pennies.)

Asside from LD, it is possible to get a bare, analog landline from Verizon for
about $25/month (I think that is the bottom price). Good enough to jack a $30
Radio Shack phone into. Yes, Radio Shack still sells plain old *wired*
telephones and you can also get them from Amazon (better quality). There are
various calling card options for LD.

> 

> Also, and I could just test this but it's easier to ask you: I don't pay for
> landline service at the moment. Were I to plug a phone into a wired jack
> anyway, would it by default find 911?

No.  The other side of that jack goes nowhere, unless you pay Verizon their 
pound of flesh...


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> Thanks,
> John
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> John Snyder
> Advance The Story
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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