The biggest issue you will have (in my mind) is getting used to the amount of living space and paring down what you take with you. Make sure you allow for a dedicated "work area" --- otherwise it will takeover your whole living space. Weight is a consideration in an RV so you will need to learn to live with less. Remember amp usage will need to be considered whenever you use heat-producing products (such as the microwave or a blow dryer when you have the AC on) --- don't load up on electric kitchen appliances until you've been RVing for a while full-time. You learn to make the bed when your feet hit the floor; do the dishes immediately; layer things in closets, cupboards and draws (always a puzzle to remember what is behind what!). I mentioned it to my friend and she said her hubby lived that way in their house --- but he spent 20 years as a submariner!. Lessons learned.

I really feel that will be your biggest problem to overcome --- the 2 of you living together 24/7 in a small, confined space. And while you are working what will he be doing with himself?

Feel free to email me privately if you'd like to discuss this in more detail. Personally, I love it. I have 2 huge (75-80 lb.) dogs and we do a little dance. They've found their own little cubby holes to get out from under my feet when I'm moving around. There's less to maintain. And you can move if you don't like your neighbors!!

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Karalyn J. Eckerle
"The RVing VA"

Wow I didn't know skype had a program like that. Glad to know. I'll look into that. It sounds really good. I've been primarily using my cell phone for the last several years. I don't even give out my land line number anymore. I'll probably get rid of my landline sometime soon.

I find most of my clients use their cell phone anyway -- or have a landline with free long distance, so the telephone number doesn't matter like it used to.

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Karalyn J. Eckerle
"The RVing VA"

I have kept my phone line only for 1 reason...to keep my personal and business call separated.

I make all my calls to clients off of my wonderful magicjack (love the service and the price, can you tell? lol). I like it because it keep me in line - I often work WAY too much and part of the process of working way too much is ALWAYS answering the phones in my off hours. By turning off my computer, clients leave messages for me to pick up the next day...very empowering (and my husband loves it too!).

My land line is for staying connected with friends and family. My family does not call my business line (which makes it lovely when working - I can let that go as well) and my clients don't call my personal line (well 1 client does - in emergencies and only because he has been with me for over 7 years).

I also use RingCentral for all faxing etc and was thinking about using their Voip service at one time but decided, no matter where I go, 19.95 per year for unlimited long distance through America and Canada is tons better than any other price out there (well where the quality is consistently good at any rate ;-).

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Crystal Curran of www.revaville.com

I use my cell phone for all of my calls and I continue to keep my land line for two reasons: I plug in my old-fashioned fax machine when needed, and here in Florida we have power surges and lightening storms that can knock out my computer and Internet connection. I have a old school non-mobile phone that doesn't require electricity in the event the power goes out (which it does for many days during a hurricane) and also because when we're having a hurricane and the power is out, the cell phone circuits are all totally busy. But the land lines are fixed quickly.

That's my two cents for what it's worth. Best wishes!

Hello

After reading the thread about the Magic Jack, I checked out their website and read about it. I like what I read, especially the part about having long distance services to the Virgin Islands, a real big plus.

I also researched the pro and the cons; the pros out weigh the cons. Two days ago I purchased one, tried it out and I am loving it. The number that was given to me I am using as my second number for my new business and it has been forwarded to my 800 number to handle my calls.

Vonage is out of here. I am keeping my landline, because of two reasons: I live in New York City and during the crisis on 9/11 cellphones was down but the landline worked, (found my sister with my landline). During the last Northeast blackout, my cellphone wasn't charged and lost power, but my landline worked, went on line with my Laptop and I found out that there was a major blackout in the Northeast.

I am getting rid of my long distance service, but keeping my local service with the landline.

Oh by the way, I will purchase another Magic Jack and sent it to my mother she lives in the Virgin Island, long distant charges from the islands to the mainline is ridiculous.

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Phyllis L
UNIQUELY40, LLC
http://www.uniquely40.com

Originally Posted by MountainVA

I've been considering MajicJack, but they don't offer 800 numbers. I was wondering if this would pose a problem to new customers who are not in your local area? How do you handle this? Thanks!

Well I never heard of any providers who provide 800 numbers. Usually they can only give you local number or port your current number. I'm pretty sure there's a provider out there but the norm is they don't offer 800 number.

If you want an 800 number then you can buy one but you pay for every call of your customer and for small businesses this is not a good practice.

On MJ, I also use MJ but mainly as a back up service only as I need to turn on my PC to be able to use it unlike Onesuite or other voip providers which you can set it up on ATA and just connect it to your router and phone and voila you have a voip connection with no need for a computer 24/7.

About power and internet downtime, I think thats the main disadvantage of using voip BUT in this digital age, how many areas experience brown outs and internet connection interuptions on a regular basis? Most prolly that would be less than 1 percent of the time so I think I can live with that and besides I still have my prepaid Tmobile phone just in case.

I have the Magic Jack and do plan to keep it. However, since I use a USB aircard on my laptop, I DO have to have my computer up to use it. But it's a workable solution and cuts down my cell phone usage during the day.

One thought on the cell phone vs. land line issue: get yourself a car charger for your cell phone. It's worth the investment and allows you to recharge it if the power goes out or you are on the road somewhere.

Generally if you are only keeping your landline for emergencies you can get a metered rate which is far less then the normal monthly rate.

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Karalyn J. Eckerle
"The RVing VA"

After reading all the posts on this thread, I bought a magicjack and it works great. Since I'm in a very remote area of WV, I had to take a phone number from the nearest large city but that is no real problem. I plan to drop my landline to the basic rate since I have to keep it for the DSL and will drop long distance all together.

Jenny

Originally Posted by Offsite Office Professionals

After reading all the posts on this thread, I bought a magicjack and it works great. Since I'm in a very remote area of WV, I had to take a phone number from the nearest large city but that is no real problem. I plan to drop my landline to the basic rate since I have to keep it for the DSL and will drop long distance all together. Jenny

I suggest you keep your landline for a few more weeks and check if MJ is reliable in your area. This goes for all voip providers too, don't drop your landline just yet unless you know the ups and downs of your provider.