Do I need an Active phone line for Comcast Internet?

No phone line = free dial up internet?

• Basically, I don't have a standard phone line. I have something called an ooma which lets me get free phone service through the internet. Therefore, I just have to plug in my cable modem to the ooma then to the router which then goes to my computer. My current ISP is comcast, therefore I am using a cable modem, no phone lines needed, unlike AT&T which uses the phone lines. The ooma system doesn't go through the phone lines either, rather through the ethernet plug on the modem. Therefore, my family doesn't use the phone line for anything. My question is, if i sign up for free dial up internet, like Net Zero, (even though i already have internet), would I get billed for dialing a regular number, not toll free? Note: I know that dial up is slow, its just that sometimes Comcast dies for a few hours and I need to use the internet for my homework.

• Answer:

  You cannot get free dial up internet unless you have a land line. When you connect the land line to your computer's dial modem port, and call a dial up Internet service, then your computer's modem and the dial up Internet Modem will send out signals to determine what data rate they can support. With any VoIP service you do not have a dial up modem so when you call the number of the dial up modem for the ISP then it will send the signals to your computer and when it does not respond properly then it will disconnect the call. I also recommend that you find out why Comcast dies. So when Comcast dies then your ooma system should not work either, or it is not a Comcast problem it is a problem with the connection between your cable modem and your computer, and you will need to troubleshoot that problem.