No, for once, I'm not asking my friends to help me move, much to their releif! The house closes THIS FRIDAY and then the fun begins, but before that fun starts, there's plenty of planning that needs to be done. Since outfitting a home for long-term residency and ownership is so very different than the transience of the rental lifestyle, Rachel and I have been very busy, refrigerator and washer/dryer shopping, planning for movers and carpet cleaners, speccing out a new water heater and other stuff.

On the telecommunications front, I'm considering going out on the bleeding edge of technology and I'd love to hear any relevant experiences you've had. Instead of DSL or cable, I'm investigating hooking up with a wireless provider, most likely Etheric Networks, for a connection less fettered and faster than either cable or DSL. On top of that, I'm considering using voice over IP (VoIP) instead of a regular landline for telephone service. For that I'm leaning toward Vonage, or possibly AT&T's offering.

This would mean I wouldn't have a telephone line coming into my house at all, which is taking a lot of faith on relatively new technology. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience, anecdotal or otherwise, about using either of these companies, or the technologies in general. One downside of this plan is that if the power or net goes out, so does our phone. This can be a significant issue if we decide to hook in with a security company that requires a landline to hook to the system.

Basically, I'm really tired of the telephone company, and excited to find the next big thing, especially if it means cheaper (or free) in-state calling, because calling down to Los Angeles is already far too expensive.

Got any advice? Thanks!