Back to dial-up
 

As some of you may know, I was laid off last November after 12 years with my company. Fun times.
So...in an effort to economize, we are back on dial up service. The problem is, I cannot receive incoming phone calls while searching for jobs online. Nor do the calls go to the answering machine. This raises the issue that potential employers would not be able to call in. I could be missing out on an opportunity while looking for something else. Not good.
The question then becomes, is there some software out there (free would be good :) ) that alerts me to an incoming call, and might even have a caller id that lets me know who is trying to call in? I have to think that there is something out there, but I'm having no luck in finding it.

a quick search yielded this: PhoneTray Dialup at SoftEmpire.com. Phone, tray

I have no experience with the program, so I don't know how well it works.

I'm not sure about getting this for free. From what I've read with preliminary research on Google, any of the following requires a "call forward on busy" service from your phone provider for them to work (it should cost $1 or $2 per month):

CallWave Internet Answering Machine - Stop missing important calls ($8/month)
Pagoo - Tell Me More ($5/month)
BuzMe - Internet Call Waiting ($15/year)

I don't think you can easily get these services for free, as it might require actively managed network protocols. That comes at a price.

The bottom line? Figure out if you can do this for cheaper than high-speed Internet + similar phone services.

Good luck.

I have to ask: Since dial-up is about $10-$20, and low-end broadband is $25-$30 per month, can't you just not eat out once a month and get broadband instead? Maybe you're getting a super cheap $5 dial-up plan or something. Otherwise the $10 a month for broadband is totally worth it, even the "slow" broadband which is still 25 times faster than dial-up and doesn't take up the phone lines.

Are there any wi-fi hotspots near you that you could get Internet from?

if you add call waiting to your line, the alert beep will make your connection freeze, which is your cue to pick up the phone connected to the modem, hang up the modem, then hookflash.

I'm currently unemployed. Have been since November 24th. Do you really think that we're eating out? ALL unnecessary expenses have been pared. Eating out is decidedly not in the budget right now.

possible to use POTS voice mail system?
-----Added 7/1/2009 at 08 : 02 : 06-----
agreed... old school mentality is paring down is paring down, not slightly altering your budget.

even with our planned taking of a package and savings, we've slimmed down the budget, and are prepared to pare everything down when certain thresholds are met.

does your phone provider offer a 'voicemail' service (i.e. an answering machine on their servers)? This would be one way to make sure you getting messages without interuptting your surfing? Not sure of the cost (because I don't use this service myself, but my mum and dad do), but I'd guess it is only a few dollars a month.

How about a pre-paid cell phone? You can use that number to give to potential employers.