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General discussion

Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home?

Oct 18, 2007 9:56AM PDT

Do you use VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service at home?

- Yes, and I love it. (Tell us why.)
- Yes, but I don't recommend it. (Why?)
- No, but I'm considering it. (Why not now?)
- Not anymore. (Why not?)
- No, I'll always use a landline. (Tell us why.)
- No, I only use cellular service.
- VoIP? What's that?

Discussion is locked

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Yes, but I don't recommend it
Oct 19, 2007 12:27PM PDT

We signed on with Packet8 two years ago, the only Voip service available at the time in our area (we now have several available). At the time, we thought hey, under $20 bucks to call anywhere, anytime. Super! Well, in just two years' time -- maybe less than two years actually -- we now pay $27. Practically each month, there's a "rate hike."

From that perspective, it's a rip off.

We also had terrible trouble at first with the phone just being "dead." People dialed our number and just heard dead air. And at home, we heard no ring -- yet we had a dial tone.

My husband despises the service and we're thinking of ditching the landline altogether.

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YES, I USE VOIP
Oct 19, 2007 12:33PM PDT

I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THE VOIP SERVICE I HAVE FROM www.zerafone.com/phonewise. THE PREMIUM SERVICE IS WHAT I HAVE FOR $19.95. I REALLY LOVE THE FACT THAT MY BUSINESS AND HOME PHONE HAS MUSIC ON HOLD, WAKE UP CALL AND MANY MANY MORE FEATURES. I REALLY LIKE THAT I CAN LISTEN TO MY MESSEGES IN MY EMAIL OR THE TRADITIONAL WAY. NO ONE CAN EVER SAY THEY LEFT A MESSAGE WHEN THEY HAVEN'T. NO ONE CAN DELETE MY MESSAGE ON MY EMAIL EVEN IF, THEY DELETED IT ON THE PHONE. I REALLY LIKE THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY. WHAT A SAVINGS FOR ME AND MY BUSINESS.

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Yes, and I love it. (Tell us why.)
Oct 19, 2007 12:33PM PDT

Inexpensive, portable and reliable. I have used Lingo for the last few years and really like it. I am living in the Philippines and still use my Utah phone number. My kids are a local call away. Although I only have a 384K DSL connection I can use the phone and the internet together without any problems. It's a win win combination.

FordmanLaoac

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Yes and no
Oct 19, 2007 12:57PM PDT

I have service with Mediacom. It is not VoIP, it is broadband, transmitted over the cable. The installation included everything so no extra wiring was needed. All 3 house phones work on it. The quality is better that I had with AT&T. I elected to keep my old number so it was 9 days before I had service. This was explained when I called to sign up, so it was no big deal. I could have had service immediately if I had gotten a new number. I have lost my service once when some dummy hit a pole. Other than that, I love it. I got the pkg.,phone, tv, broadband internet for $89.95. A lot cheaper than what I was paying for what I had.

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Vonnage A+
Oct 20, 2007 5:02AM PDT

Have used Vonnage for years, great quality, features and unbeatable value. Have recommended it to many. Just hope they get their lawsuit junk settled and stay in business. I would hate to change... I like the simul-ring and the easy to set forwarding, and all the stuff you pay extra for is included.

But personally I wouldn't do a bundle with my ISP, I just don't like bundles & commitments.

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Why: SAVINGS !
Oct 19, 2007 1:20PM PDT

My average ma bell and at&t phone rip-off bill was about $150.00, not including my cell. Now my home and cell costs are less than $65.00 a month. Real saving from a phone network that was out of control and a total rip-off with little or no innovation since the 1932 World's Fair when they showed off a video phone demo. They never produced it. Bye-bye monopoly. (can micro$oft please be the next to be DE-monopolized ??)

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Land Line all the way - I ditched Vonage and am SO HAPPY!
Oct 19, 2007 1:32PM PDT

This is why I quit Vonage after 11 months:

*Poor quality - I have a broadband connection and bought a Vonage phone, but the party on the other end always complained that I was "echoing" or sounded "robotic." Sometimes I couldn't even get a dial tone. Constantly had to reboot.

*Poor service. I spent countless hours on the phone trying to remedy quality issues, phone number assignment issues, etc. - I can't even begin to start with all of the problems.

*Do you enjoy deciphering thick Indian accents? I don't! Especially when I have been holding for over 20 minutes just to get through to Customer Service. I can't understand one word "Brian" from India is trying to tell me when calling Vonage's C.S. line.

*It will cost you! I couldn't take another minute of it, so I cancelled 1 month early and had to pay the $40 penalty fee for opting out before the 12 months was up (more awesome Customer Service). At this point in time, my phone was failing on a daily basis.

*I couldn't be happier with my AT & T land line - I pay $50 a month for unlimited local and long distance calls. I can actually pick up the phone and it works!

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yes , but.....
Oct 19, 2007 1:40PM PDT

Okay, totally redundant services - landline, VOIP (Vonage) and cellular. (I am about to delete or transfer the landline.)
VOIP has only been a problem when the cable modem crapped out. Despite power problems elsewhere, we have not been plagued with them (even when major weather killed power to neighboring swatches for several days.) For those who mention the difference in the event of a power failure, realize that most have non Western Electric phones that require separate power to function anyway (although many have batteries.) Only the ole Ma Bell Western Electric throughly wired phones are able to function soley via the phone line itself. (Yes, I do have a few of those in storage!)

The only significant problem with the VOIP line has been the inability to filter out the interference from the nearby radio antennae. Filters are otherwise able to negate any transmission on the landline (and not needed for cellular.) (This does provide some safety against wiretaps!)

The other is the Fax thing. Individuals pay extra for the fax capacity with Vonage.

A couple issues not mentioned by others:
1) Legal differences of telecommunications via Internet/cable/DSL based versus traditional lines.
This implies differences in protection regarding wiretaps, privacy and types of taxes. (Only relatively recently has the Federal Excise (luxury) tax been dropped for the landlines! LOL)

2)Consider the problem recently when the SKYPE servers got overloaded and crashed, despite their planned redundancies.

Note that many of the differences in satisfaction for VOIP appear to be carrier dependent. So, be certain to do careful comparison shopping.

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Vonage is terrific
Oct 19, 2007 1:52PM PDT

I used to have Vonage and loved it-would have it again. I don't have it right now because where I'm living has telephone service through BrightHouse Networks (the cable & internet provider as well). No one ever complained about the voice quality and I loved getting my bill online. Even when I canceled the service, they were courteous and professional and did not hassle me about it. I get to keep the router and when I sign up again, it's already there for me. My hope is that the prices stay low.

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Yes, we have SKYPE and we love it!
Oct 19, 2007 2:01PM PDT

We got a trial of Skype when my husband got his new laptop. We tried it and we love it! It is only $29.95 per year, so that is about $2.50 per month! You can't beat that price! We have been calling friends and family, who we didn't call often because of the high long distance charges on our land line. We were using a phone card for awhile, but you have to recharge it and it is about 3 cents a minute. With Skype, you don't have to worry about recharging or how long you are talking! It is great to keep up with everyone! One person mentioned the "echo" that is heard by the person you are calling. We had that problem at first with an ordinary headset. If you get a noise cancelling headset, or phone, you do not have that problem. People we call say that we are as clear as when we call on our regular land line phone! Plus, it is nice to have your phone directory right there on your computer. You just select the person you want to call, click on the call icon, and Skype does the rest! We have told everyone we know about it, and would recommend it to anyone! We don't plan on giving up our land line quite yet. We just are using for the long distance savings.

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Skype
Oct 19, 2007 2:19PM PDT

I connected my SKYPE service to an adapter that connected to my phones. I had 4 cordless handsets connected to my SKYPE network and one that was not cordless. It was great. Dialing numbers was a little tricky though and I had to dial 011 preceding all the numbers. My husband didn't like that. The phone quality was excellent but I found the best phone quality with an old fashion cheap handset that was not cordless.

My computer crashed and I have a recycled one now that is really old. I sold the adapter on Ebay.

Oh.. I have dial up access through my school and SKYPE still worked good. I would recommend SKYPE over any other VOIP provider.

Oh.. I paid $14.95 for a year of unlimited dial out calls last January.

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Do you use VoIP services at home
Oct 19, 2007 2:09PM PDT

Yes and I love the financial advantage that VoIP offers. All my family is interstate which means all STD calls but with VoIP I can talk to them anytime - I never use up my 500 minutes a month allocation and save around $30 a month of my land line bill. It was easy to install and the service is very reliable. I recommend it to all. And yes I am also puzzled about why other people haven't cottoned on to the advantage of VoIP.

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I use Earthlink VoIP and I love it!
Oct 19, 2007 2:38PM PDT

In all of this discussion I don't understand why the Earthlink VoIP service has not been mentioned. I get 500 minutes, all the phone company extras (caller ID, etc.) and my cost is $0. It's all included in the $49.95 cost of my internet service. The service is available on all of my phones and my Fax works just fine. I've been using this for more than a year and have no complaints.

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VIOP
Oct 19, 2007 3:12PM PDT

I use a service from JaJah.com

It requires the recipient to have signed on as well { As most do } to be TOTALLY FREE.
You can call other numbers not signed on, this though requires a payment into the system so as to be in credit.

You use your computer to instigate the call which is then switched to your normal telephone handset, this saves messing about with headsets, extra phones etc.

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yes, but I don't recommend it.
Oct 19, 2007 3:23PM PDT

I have used Skype for about a year. It was early days, it improved and now it it deteriorating again. Calls crash, but mostly it is the delays, the missing words that make it frustrating. Forget video. It is cheap, that is the only attraction. I am considering taking a long distance plan out again with Telus. No matter what the price, it is a waste of money if you can not carry on a conversation.

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Yes, but I'm switching back to a land line.
Oct 19, 2007 4:50PM PDT

I use Comcast's VoIP phone service. It's been a good value and the call quality is good. (I used a cheap VoIP service called ITP before and the call quality was crap.) The one problem I have with VoIP is a DEAL BREAKER though: if the cable OR power go out... so does the phone! Recently the cable went out after a small storm- and all the services bundled with it (internet and phone). Cable TV and internet are back but we've been w/o phone service for DAYS. We live in one of those little valleys that gets ZERO cell phone signal, so we're SOL if there's an emergency. Plus the fact that it's damn inconvenient not being able to make or receive any calls from home. For me... reliability trumps cheap. I'm going back to a good old fashioned land line.

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VoIP
Oct 19, 2007 6:32PM PDT

i have never herd the term VoIP before but how does Skype works whitch i use especialy for international calls

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VOIP Is Great. It is the old phone service with much more.
Oct 19, 2007 6:34PM PDT

I have VOIP from Lingo. The quality is excellent, much better than my land line. And the cost is about half of the cost of my land line, but I get FREE UNLIMITED calling Europe and North America. Voice mails can be retrieved the old fashioned way but I also get them as email attachments making retrieval easy. The best of all is that when I stay in Europe, I just plug the little box in and plug my phone into it and I have the same service and phone number. Everybody can reach me as if I were home in the States, and I still have the low cost service. I have traveled and worked around the world for years, and this VOIP is really a new product/service as far as I am concerned and it enables my life style. And I never have reboot or other problems.

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Love it!
Oct 19, 2007 7:40PM PDT

I have Time Warner/Road Runner service which allows me to make unlimited calls to anywhere in the US and Canada. No more being annoyed that being on hold is costing me money...just time. Don't have to track minutes, have a predictable phone bill, comes with caller ID, etc.

The quality has been great with no one complaining of any interference or echo. I have phones from the basement to the 2nd story bedrooms. I only use my cell phone at home for power outages which are infrequent and brief (maybe a couple of times a year). I dislike having to carry a phone around with me when at home and find the digital phone sevice an asset. I save the cell minutes for when I'm out and/or using VZ Navigator.

Only caution as far as I'm concerned is a power outage if someone has poor health. If you don't have a cell service, probably should have a cheap thow away cell phone as a back up. For me, the odds of needing emergeny care during one of the extremely rare period that the cable/electric is down, are extremely slim.

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Cheap cell as back up
Oct 20, 2007 12:00AM PDT

Excellent and cost effective suggestion.

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Love it and left it for better bundle deal
Oct 19, 2007 8:23PM PDT

I was with AT&T Callvantage for two years and loved the rate ($35/month) all you can talk, local, long distance & Canada. However, I went through the annoyance of losing Internet connections and having to register the E911, a minor but frequent annoyance. The straw that broke the camel's back was when we lost our Comcast Cable connection during a nasty storm that blew the line right off the pole. No Internet, no phone, no alternative but cell.

About that time we switched to AT&T wireless for rates and phone selection and found that if we went back with AT&T POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) that we could get a break on both with a bundled service. The result is that:
a.) Our phones are no longer a periodic "issue" although that line could also be blown down but won't need to be reconnected periodically.
b.) While paying a difference of about $25 more /month, I have also been able to lower my wireless rate by a small percent as well.

I would like to salute Watzman for a superb answer to the original question. He/she was both succinct and yet thorough enough to answer a lot of people's question. I have visited many forums and listened to a lot of computer shows on radio and podcasts (I do one myself: www.internetadvisor.net) and he is one of the best. Kudos

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Voip et al!
Oct 19, 2007 9:38PM PDT

Using a voip service isn't an 'either or' situation. I'm based in the UK where landline prices range from next to nothing to exorbitant charges that are pure greed.
I use voip for free international calls from my computer to almost any other pc; I use more than one voip provider, one of whom offers FREE worldwide sms. For a relatively small charge (approx US$1.50 per week) I can also phone landlines in many countries globally. The reception, for me, is always good to excellent and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't try voip as it's a small download and as free as you like!
It's also helping to breakdown the greedy monopoly that corporations are desperately trying to hang on to in various places worldwide.
MS
Glasgow.

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VOIP can be a great deal!
Oct 19, 2007 10:16PM PDT

I've been using Vonage for years, migrating over cable, DSL, & optical cable DSL internet providers

Can & does work well, and is an excellent value, with excellent support.

But quality ultimately depends on the broadband connection which depends on the IP and traffic from time-to-time.

In the case of TW cable, after 2 years, the connection suddenly deteriorated, and the IP could not/would not correct the problem. Finally they offered their own new, VOIP service (surprise!), which they described as having "priority" on their servers and thus superior, albeit at 3 times the price, for less service. (Is this a level Internet, or what?) I chose to drop TW cable instead; saved my Vonage VOIP & $10/month.

Recently switched to optical cable DSL, dropped my landline, gained 500kbps and saved another $25/month.

Use free services like testmyvoip.net to evaluate your connection before and after you sign-up for VOIP, then enjoy your phone again.

ATT optical cable (3Mbps/1Mbps for $3o/mn) & Vonage (limited minutes, less than $20/mn) seems like the best quality at the best price.

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Use VOIP and Love It.
Oct 19, 2007 11:08PM PDT

I recently retired from a major corporation as an IT Professional, specializing in Telecommunications. Since I worked from my home office prior to leaving, I was part of a pilot program comparing AT&T CallVantage and Vonage. I selected AT&T CallVantage and it was great. I used it for all of my business calls, while maintaining a traditional land line for personal use. Upon retirement, I switched my personal phone service to Verizon VoiceWing. While not as feature rich as AT&T, the Verizon service is very satisfactory. The quality is excellent and the customer service is great. Since the voice is packetized the same as data, one consideration is bandwidth. Too low a bandwidth can affect voice quality, due to drop outs. I have Verizon FIOS with 15Meg upload and 2Meg download.

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Yes, but I would rather use my cell phone
Oct 19, 2007 11:36PM PDT

I use the Time Warner VOip. It works well and TWC includes a backup battery in the modem in case of a power failure. I also have a 750 watt APC battery backup. The only reason I got the VOip is because my home is in a dead spot for my cell phone,other wise I wouldn't use it at all. My problem is that I am living in Arlington Texas ,but all my freinds and family live in Dallas. In order for them ro call me they have to call collect because TWC doesn't offer an 800 number like ATT
Akintundef

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VoIP on the road
Oct 19, 2007 11:45PM PDT

My use of VoIP is twofold...
One, with friends that share the same software. Phone calls and video conferences are free.
Second, when on the road and I need to make call out of the country. I put on a headset and call much cheaper than land lines or mobile. Really helps a lot when I am traveling abroad. AND, I get to see my familiy.

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RE:Do you use VoIP service at home?
Oct 20, 2007 12:05AM PDT

Our Comcast service is to unreliable to even consider it. A hard line is almost always there for me.

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Vonage VoIP user
Oct 20, 2007 12:08AM PDT

I have been using Vonage for 30 months and have only had one problem. the Vonage phone box/router went sour and Vonage sent me a new one that I have been using for the last 29 months(so much for Quality Control). I have great reception, sound quality, and voicemail delivery. I have found that MANY times the QUALITY/TYPE of phone used comes into play quite often. I have a Panasonic 2.4GHz and do not have any troubles. I have a friend who has a Uniden 5.8GHz and he has some ongoing minor problems.
The bottom line is that you NEED to see(on the phone model you are thinking of buying) WHERE the uunit is produced! My unit is not made in China and I do not have problems, whereas my friend's unit is made in China. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I hope this helps someone and they enjoy the service and savings over AT&T as much as I have.
Tony

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VoIP - highly satisfied!
Oct 20, 2007 12:13AM PDT

I am on my third VoIP provider. I initially tried Vonage and after two months dropped it due poor reliability. I moved to Comcast, who was my broadbrand provider at the time. Thier service was outstanding, albeit a little pricey considering the competition. When Verizon came into our neighborhood offering their Fios service I dropped Comcast and moved to Verizon's VoIp service - Voice Wing. It was a little challenging to get the service since Verizon really pushes their landland service. But after reaching the right number I was able to get their VoIp service, which I have had for almost a year. I've been very satisfied and pleased that I don't have to pay the $10+ per month in additional federal and state taxes associated with land line service.

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Not using VOIP yet
Oct 20, 2007 12:34AM PDT

We are not using VOIP yet, as we are planning a move to Northern GA and there is no cable to our home site as yet. However, with housing market the way it is now, by the time we get this CA house sold, it may be available!