As I mentioned in Part 1 of this post, I have taken the plunge and become one of the 14%.  I have completely given up my landline service and am now living with just a wireless phone.   The holdup in doing so was my desire to keep my current landline phone number and to reduce my charges by a significant amount.  I was able to accomplish both using a great service called RingCentral and it's working out wonderfully well. 

What happened was that I wanted to find a way to port my number to a service that would simply serve as a message center - AT&T offered a way to do it but it was ridiculously expensive for what it offered and I wanted something that would give me a more full-service approach but still keep the costs down.  

RingCentral is very similar in concept to GrandCentral.com, which was recently purchased by Google.  The service serves as an online, virtual switchboard with extensions, voicemail, call out capabilities, faxing and much more.  The basic service is only $10/month and comes with 100 minutes of calling (in or out) per month, which would be plenty for me because I'm using the service to take messages only... if I was using it to get calls forwarded to my wireless phone I'd probably have to purchase some additional minutes but even at that it would still be a lot cheaper than other solutions.  

The big key here is that you CAN port a number to RingCentral - it's the same process as porting a number from your current landline provider to a VOIP service or to another landline provider; just fill out a form, sign it and the provider to which you're moving takes care of the rest.  Now, the number hasn't been ported yet - it's in the process - but I don't expect any problems because it's coming from AT&T, not some fly-by-night VOIP operation, and in the meantime I have a working RingCentral number that they've provided to me on a temporary basis.  So I went ahead with the porting of the number and, until the number is ported, have simply forwarded my current landline number into the temporary RingCentral number.  

RingCentral's web site is a joy to use.  It's clear, easy to navigate, fast and packed full of cool instructional videos that show you how to do everything from recording a message to setting up extra extensions.  If all the services I used were as straightforward as theirs I'd be in 'net-Nirvana.  It took me about five minutes to set up the system the way that I wanted (messages only, no "follow-me" calls, inbound faxes, notifications via text message and email with links to their web site instead of receiving .WAV attachments that would use bandwidth and clutter my mailbox, etc.) and then I forwarded the calls from my landline into the temporary RingCentral number.  I've already received a few calls on my landline number since then and they've gone straight into voicemail (via the forwarding into the temporary number), sent me an alert via email (text alerts are available, too, but I get my email on my iPhone and have a limit on the number of texts I receive monthly but am on the iPhone unlimited data plan so emails are virtually unlimited) and I clicked on the link in the email (either on the iPhone or on my desktop) and was able to listen to, store or delete the message with ease. 

So all of this solved the problems of how to keep my number (I ported it to RingCentral) and keep costs down ($10/month keeps my number and gets me all of these terrific services).  Great stuff - so far I'm loving life.  And what about using the iPhone as my absolutely one-and-only-phone?  So far, so good. 

I actually removed my reliable desktop two-line phone from my desk and put the iPhone's dock in its place so that when the phone rings I reach for it in the same natural motion as I did for my desktop landline phone.  It stays charged that way, too, whenever I'm at my desk.  When I make a call I have my entire phone book available (synced from my computer's address book) without having to sync or re-enter the data into another phone.  I use the speakerphone function on the iPhone to make lots of calls while it's still in the dock and then pull it out of the dock and switch to the handset mode when the caller comes on the line.  If I'm on hold with customer service, tech support, etc., I just leave it in the dock and on the speaker, which works just fine (I think Apple actually raised the volume of the speaker in one of the software updates much to the relief of iPhone users everywhere). 

One of the side benefits that I didn't anticipate is that making conference calls (3-way calls) and adding, merging or shifting between callers on call waiting is so much easier on the iPhone than on a regular landline phone I find myself using those functions much more often.  I was already known as a conference-call fanatic (if you haven't used 3-way calling you're really missing a great tool - you can't imagine how much phone tag you save by saying, "hang on a minute and I'll add Joe onto the call, that way we can all take care of this in one conversation instead of going back-and-forth") and now am using it even more - and even more effectively - than ever before.  

Another side benefit that I hadn't even considered is that your phone number with RingCentral becomes your fax number, too, so I was able to cancel the $15/month service that I've been using for years (JFax) - it was crazy to pay to have yet another number in order to send or receive a couple of faxes a month.  Now I can use the same phone number for phone and fax without any additional charge for those rare times when someone has to fax something instead of attaching it to an email.   

One more side benefit - a very clean, very cool-looking desk.  Wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, wireless phone in a small dock.  No phone lines, no handset cords connecting the phone handset to the base and no big, clunky phones cluttering the desk.  

My phone bill will be significantly reduced, my life is simplified and I've even gotten a better level of service through the flexibility that RingCentral offers in voicemail and notifications.   There's no need to re-enter data into multiple phones in order to have all of my contacts handy and the iPhone is so simple to use that it's like having a micro-PBX in your hand. 

Yes, I do have to carry the phone with me.  So what?  I seem to have it all the time anyway.  And yes, there's always the possibility of a cell site failure.  Again, so what?  When was the last time that happened?  And yes, if there's a natural disaster (earthquakes, to be specific for where I live) there's a possibility, however slight, that a traditional, corded landline phone might, and I do mean might, work where a cell phone won't.  I'm willing to take that risk in exchange for the vast convenience upgrade and cost reduction of going completely wireless.