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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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cheap cheap cheap (good cheap)
Oct 20, 2007 12:43AM PDT

i've had VOIP in Canada for about 3 years now and couldn't be happier with it. there's been the occasional glitch but only about 2 or 3 times in three years and for $16 a month i don't plan on ever going back to a landline unless i have no choice. sound is clear. it's not expensive and it's NOT expensive.

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Voip telephone system
Oct 20, 2007 12:53AM PDT

We are making this way to complicated a discussion regarding a system in which is hooked up to you internet....
1st. Landline is just a waste of money. You don't use it and you still get to pay a Monthly fee, plus plus plus $ $ $. Landlines have been ripping off the public for years... Overcharging for a phone service. Like nobody has called regaring their billing, there always seems to more charges, yours theirs etc. etc. I cannot count the many calls which I have made to ground line customer service....
There are no problems with a Voip System/Vonage is what I have... 3 years I have had the system and only once did my internet carier go down... You can set it up for 911. And you can hook up via internet a free 411 service.
What !,you never had a ground line go down etc. etc. etc.
What you pay for Vonage is $24.99 (unliimted calls U.S. & Canada) with all the bells and whistle's.. 3 way calls 4 way calls 5 way conference calls and you only pay $24.99, "that's all".... You can leave your phone working for 24/7 and your base fee will stay the same. And the tax's are minimal on the Voip system, about $5.00..

The clarity of sound is great. You can received your voice messages via any phone in your home. You can receive your messages on your
P.C. via E-Mail, which will take you to your voice message and most people have speakers in which they would be able to hear their voice mail...
No need to attempt to use ground line phones.. You can buy any phone system with one, two, three phones wireless and they work that easy from your base unit... " Just plug them into the wall", no wiring..
I am not a Tech person just plug in the phone, phone's and they work....
Vonage will send you a box in which you would install with the assistance of Customer Service step by step. After installing the box you will not need a firewall...( that's another plus
What's the big issue with your existing phone number, it is now law. The phone company has to let ou have your existing phone number..
You think the ground line volunteered to give you your existing phone number without charging you, "you bet".
The transfer just takes a couple of weeks, not Months ? ?
You do not hook up vonage till they confirm receiving your old phone number..(Why are some people trying to make this so complicated)
Ground lines will cease to exist in 10 to 15 years...The internet phone system is far superior, there is no comparision....
Have'nt you noticed all the big carrier, are buying into the internet communication and internet services.
The Voip system is simple..
The Voip system is cheap ! ! !
Why does not everyone sign up ! People are afraid of something new.
They think it is to much Tech, to complicated etc. etc.
They rather pay a ground line person to come out and do whatever, to charge you for their service's which you will pay again and again and again.......
If you don't have a Voip system. You are making a big mistake..
What is their to be afraid of. Since I have given up my ground lines I have had a perfect communication system for 31/1/2 years....
Ground lines have been ripping people of for years.
An exorbant Monthly fee ! ! ( just for having their phone line )
Charging you for calling a short distance away. (long distance)
Everything seems to be long distance. And they love to send someone to your home. This is not free. Pay a yearly fee or per visit....

Don't wait, save money and end up with a far superior phone system in your home,the phone lines cannot give you. The compnay which I work for, which is 52 state operation, In which their business is based on communications....They changed over to a voip system for their communications.... They have reduced their cost by about 70% to 80%.......
Rich, the non tech guy.....

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I use VOIP at Both My Homes and Office
Oct 20, 2007 2:18AM PDT

VOIP is great for a number of reasons. At the office I can reprogram and obtain new numbers virtually at will. At home, I use Cablevision. When I get a voicemail, I have it set so I get an email sent to my cellphone with the time and number of the call. Unlike with the Telcos, I can set any feature from my computer, including call forwarding, caller id, distinctive ringing, three way calling, etc. All these features are included in my monthly price. The Telcos have cut their prices so there probably isn't much savings anymore. VOIP is just more flexible than land lines. The negative is that if you don't have battery backups on your router and phone equipment you will lose service in a blackout.

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Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home?
Oct 20, 2007 2:41AM PDT

Our monthly phone bill between $150 and $200 every month. Went to help someone setup their Vonage equipment and when I got home I did some research. Signed up and received the equipment a few days later. Our phone bill went from $150-$200 per month down to $40.52 (we had added a virtual number and an 800 number at $5 each per month). I work for a WISP, and when we came out with our own, went for the free service.

VoIP includes most, if not all of the features for which you pay the incumbent telephone extra.

Another thing I really like about VoIP is that your phone number is associated with your adapter, not your physical address. If you go on a trip, you can take the adapter with you and plug it into the data connection at your hotel/motel, and voila -- you have your home phone with you.

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Yes, I have it
Oct 20, 2007 3:01AM PDT

I love it because it's cheaper.

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I got Scre**d by Vonage.. That's why...
Oct 20, 2007 4:57AM PDT

I ordered vonage when they had a special order for a month free. When I ordered I said that any local number would be fine. They sent me a number with an area code from NW Oregon. I live in SW Oregon, so I called them and they said no problem, just log onto their site and request a change. Well I did and there were no area codes for here! I told them they said sorry, but pay us for shipping the equipment and the month of service and pay to ship back the equipment and we'll add a few more items. It ended up being over 100 bucks to find out I could only have a long distance number not to mention the dent in my bank account.

Jack

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As a replacement service
Oct 20, 2007 6:26AM PDT

I have a home in the woods and cell service doesn't work reliable or at all many times. I use Skype (VOIP) to make long distance calls but not to receive them since my home phone works fine. The cost of long distance calls on my home phone is out of sight and the VOIp is the best bet.

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nopr can not live without land line
Oct 20, 2007 7:16AM PDT

Untill voip gets the 911 problem fixed, got to keep the landline Also, DSL requires a land line

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I don't "love it"...
Oct 20, 2007 8:41AM PDT

but it serves the purpose. We had MCI for a land line at $65/mo and a pay as you go cells phones with Verizon. We added this feature to our cable TV an high speed internet. We have not had any problems with this Comcast service. But, time will tell.

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Broadband phone vs. old shcool
Oct 20, 2007 10:32AM PDT

Sorry but I will stay with the old 'Ma Bell-aka 'Land Line'. The 911 on 'Broad-band- is totally the different than the phone company ['Ma Bell']. The phone company knows where I am calling from where 'broad-band' only worries about the bill. I have nothing on the internet that I need that fast (if you do, work on what you need to finish, and what you don't have to look at, e-mail etc. or 'google')

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Our VOIP experiences
Oct 20, 2007 2:52PM PDT

Just want to warn people about VOIP companies and their questionable longevity.
Three years ago we tried a VOIP called Lingo. It was a horrible experience with Customer Service, call quality, service stability, billing and cancellation. Due to that experience, we waited a couple of years for the technology to mature before trying it again.
We then tried SunRocket. We loved it so much we prepaid for a years worth of service. Too bad they went out of business 2 months without any hope of refunding our money back to us.
Vonage would have been our next choice however it is struggling to deal with a major lawsuit from Verizon. Until Vonage is able to pull out of their nose dive, we will stick with our cable company's VOIP service. It is more expensive and doesn't give free long distance to Canada, but it is stable and will be in business for a while.

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NOT ANY MORE
Oct 20, 2007 11:25PM PDT

Used to have VOIP, to stop the service cost me over 165 bucks! I couldn't believe the cancelation fees.
I couldn't ever update my DirectTV with VOIP - so I had to stop it and get a land line. It was cheap, to use not to stop. But if it couldn't help me to update DirectTV . . then why use it.

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The Killer VOIP Service
Oct 20, 2007 11:49PM PDT

T-Mobile HotSpot at home is the killer VOIP service,because it makes the home phone line obsolete. Unlimited talk time at home for only $10 a month with a special router used on existing broadband service. When leaving my home an ongoing call is picked up on the T-Mobile wireless network. The know on VOIP is that if the power going out you lose phone service, but with wireless access as a back up to VOIP it really doesn't matter. Outside my home the Blackberry curve I have can place VOIP calls on any open WiFi network most noticeably T-Mobile Starbuck HotSpots. I haven't had a land line at home for over 8 years and now with VOIP being combined with wireless I think more people will see the wisdom of dropping the "home phone".

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VOIP
Oct 21, 2007 3:02AM PDT

I have been using the service for over 3 years now and I personally love it. I believe others have done an excellent job of comparing VOIP with analog. My comments is in regards to trends and the future of telecom. The service has improved dramatically since I personally started to use it. The main difference for this is the quality of the high speed connection. This speed is always increasing and will continue to increase and therefore the quality should get better and better. In fact with the new WIMAX standard we can expect up to 100 meg in the AIR (wireless). In terms of other disadvantages, solutions will be found.

Is it for everyone? No - Do you believe that eventually you won't have a choice? That day will come.

Numerous studies both in the USA and in Europe predict that over 80% will be using VOIP (digital) as opposed to analog.

Everything is going digital and telephone communication is no different. Just ask yourself the following questions.

Of course it depends on how old you are but these are the questions.

How did you listen to music in your youth? (records for most and now mp3) (analag and now digital)

How do you take pictures today? (most used to have film and now most have digital cameras) (analog and now digital)

Anybody remember the first cell phones? BRICKS (analag and now digital).

Telecommunications is no different. It is taking a little more time since billions have been spent in laying those copper wires and other infrastructures but jetsons is around the corner. We will talk and see each other in real time whether we are talking on our cell phones or our home digital phones.

Just remember is date, in the not to distant future 5-10 years the majority will have digital and not analog.

Like anything else it is a question of time. There are early adopters and then there is the mass. We are still at the early stages.

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I use voip
Oct 21, 2007 7:08AM PDT

I am really satisfied with my Voicepulse Voip. This service uses a Sepuri box which connects via cat5 cable to my router or cable modem.It does not interfer with my computer connection as it is just like another computer plugged into the network and does not broadcast an ip number and require the computers down stream in the network to configure to it as is the case with some voip providers boxes. My friend David had a box which required that it be first in the cat5 chain off the cable modem and the computers had to aquire it's broadcast ip number.So he had problems connecting to the internet until he dumped that voip company.

Voip make best sense if you have cable as opposed to adsl broadband as you must have a landline to have adsl.
As for the Pros : I have a phone for $24.00 with every possible feature available on a land line and some that are not-like "do not disturb" which turns the phone off between hours that you set not to receive calls.
I use this voip phone as my main line in my business. As my voip number is contained in my Sepuri voip box my phone is availiable where ever I take the box and there is a broadband cat5 connection.
I live in New Orleans and during Hurricane Katrina when I evacuated I took my voip box with me. While I was exiled to Mobile for the Sept 05 after the storm (you could not enter New Orleans until Oct 03.) I plugged the box into a broadband Comcast cable internet connection (I have cox cable here in NO.) My customers were able to call me just as if I were in New Orleans! I might add that after I returned to New Orleans I had my cox cable back after 2 months but it was 4 months before I had a landline. I got a cell phone during that time.

Cons:
(911 emergency location from the phone does not work so you should have a second landline phone or cell phone for 911.
You must have electric power to the box and cable modem or asdl modem for voip to work as opposed to landlines which have their own power.

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VOIP is great
Oct 21, 2007 8:52AM PDT

My calls are fine and I get to call the Continental US and Canada for less than I paid for the old phone line.

Ron

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Skype plus T Mobile Hotspot at Home are great money savers
Oct 21, 2007 11:02PM PDT

Over the last year I have been using Skype daily for my international calls all over the globe. I use Skype-Out frequently to reach people in various countries on their cell phone and despite making on average twenty to thirty calls a week, I do not think my total tab has exceeded $60 over the past twelve month. The quality is generally acceptable although there are some trouble spots around the world, when Skype to Skype is not great and you better switch to Skype to land or cell line at a small nominal fee.

However since two month nearly all my cell phone traffic is now routed over VOIP, both from home and office using T-Mobile Hotspot at home. This service works very well (sound quality is good) and for me it solves poor cell reception at home. Using this service limits my cell minutes to the lowest available plan, while my actual day time calls are triple the number allowed under my plan.

But the biggest bonus of all is the fact that the VoIP portion of the T-Mobile service works no matter where you are around the globe. Being in Asia for most of the time, my cell phone is my no-cost option for calling anybody in the US and for anybody in the US calling me (by making a local or domestic call). I now even carry a little wifi router in my bag, so I can use the phone in any hotel I stay.

One thing I have noticed with the Hotspot@home service from abroad is that the phone may take a few minutes to establish presence on the US network. On occasion I have to reboot the phone to establish myself. But once presence is established, connections are lightning fast and sound quality is virtually indistinguishable from land line or a good cell connection. In short: It works and the cost cannot be beat.

In conclusion, probably 90% of all my calls are now VoIP. I have seen my cost reduced by 90% and I have the quiet satisfaction of knowing that my costs are essentially capped (no more horrible surprises.) All my business associates and family members can talk to me as often and as long as they want, though I am 10,000 miles away, without any financial consequences and with unsurpassed voice quality.

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Not any more
Oct 22, 2007 12:15AM PDT

Poor service. Took a week to get a Time Warner technician who, even then, couldn't tell me why I stopped getting dependable service, i.e., dropped calls, calls not going through, bad reception. I switched back to Verizon: more expensive, but so far much more dependable; I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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ready for prime time?
Oct 22, 2007 1:16AM PDT

I work out of my home office and I jumped on the VOIP wagon early this year with SunRocket figuring that the technology was mature enough only to have SunRocket to 'Go belly up' a couple months later. My Sunrocket experience with Voip with was positive and I particularly liked the features such as email notification of messages and various call forwarding options and the price was attractive as well but there were several time-consuming tech supprt issues I endured to have get the system working properly. Once SunRocket ceased, I scrambled to have my old # ported to Vonage (the VoIP stalwart of the market) Now that I have Vonage, I am disappointed due to lower voice quality and less features compared to SunRocket. Porting process takes about 30 days
Bottom Line: If phone communication is critical for work or other, think twice before jumping from landline to VoIP, a few pros but a lot of cons.

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VoIP - Not yet from Comcast
Oct 22, 2007 1:16AM PDT

Overall, I am satisfied with Comcast. I had a very good recent customer sat experience with my internet service. When the service guy was through, I inquired about VoIP. Long story short, he suggested I wait.

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Land lines - watch out!
Oct 22, 2007 1:19AM PDT

I have been using LINGO for several years now. I got it to save money, especially as we call the rellies in the UK alot. Now we can talk forever for just $25 a month. I like being able to manage the account on line, caller ID, etc, etc. the 911 issue is not an issue if you keep your address up to date with your provider, and we have very few periods when the internet is down. ANd people are saying it is getting better... way cool.

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Hello
Oct 22, 2007 1:55AM PDT

I use packet 8 telephone over internet works fine for me local and long distatice price is right .

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voip
Oct 22, 2007 2:11AM PDT

I have been using Vonage for about 3 years. I was about to dump my landline that I have had for over twenty years in a dispute with Verizon about some prisoners charging calls to my phone number. I saw an ad for Vonage, switched my number to them and its been good. For less than a third the average cost I got twice the features. But your voIP is as good as your IP. I use Comcast cable internet and there are frequent outages in our area, some last days or even weeks. And comcast is the only decent game in this town. So, if your internet service is good your voIP should be ok.

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bandwidth problems with VOIP
Oct 22, 2007 6:06AM PDT

When talking on the phone (Vonage business line) and transfering files (up- or down-loading, using VPN) I very often lose parts of the voice communication. This has happended with both cable and DSP internet connections. Therefore, I am now considering getting a second landline to my house for my business.

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VOIP?
Oct 22, 2007 9:46AM PDT

Yes, I had been using voip for 2 years now and very happy. No regrets in replacing my land line.

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VOIP--No problems
Oct 23, 2007 11:50PM PDT

We tried Vonage, one of the VOIP services, early this year. After an initial day or two of fussing around to get the modems organized , the service has been entirely trouble-free. The service is quite cheap (cheaper than Comcast, my ISP)at $24.99/mo, which includes all calls to anywhere in North America and a bunch of other countries, and we were able to use all of our existing phones. We kept a single land line for faxes and as a backup in case we had problems (several of our phones are designed for use with two lines) but we soon cancelled that, too, in favor of a free eFax number (faxes now show up as e-mail). We will use our cell phones for backup if we ever need to. Also, there is no need to keep your computer running since the Vonage modem does all the work. If there is any difference in sound quality between Vonage and conventional land lines we have not been able to detect it. Of course the VOIP service depends on a good internet connection, so any occasional interruption in service from my ISP means there is temporarily no VOIP service. That has happened only rarely, probably a little less frequently than occasional interruptions of our land line service. Some months ago there were media questions of whether Vonage would survive but I have seen nothing recently. Meanwhile the service works far better than we had expected and we are SOLD!

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Vonage's legal issues are behind them
Oct 29, 2007 6:56AM PDT

As a satisfied Vonage customer, I was pleased to hear the announcement that they and Verizon had settled their patent infringement case. This came less than a month after Vonage had settled a similar case with Sprint. The only clouds on Vonage's horizon have therefore been lifted.

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AOK for little ole lady
Oct 24, 2007 4:30AM PDT

We set this up for my 85 yr old mom-in-law, so she could talk as long as she wanted to her wide-spread family. She's on Brighthouse (Orlando, FL) and VoIP is bundled with her cable. Has worked great from day one, one modem is setup to run every phone in the house, and yes it is backed up by a UPS. You know the saying "Ain't anybody happy if Mom's not happy" .. well, Mom's happy.

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Comcast VOIP = good, Vonage = bad
Oct 24, 2007 4:23PM PDT

I used Vonage for 18 mos and had great service until the last 2 months. I started having serious problems with my upstream bandwidth (Comcast is my Internet provider). Even with my router QOS controls reserving bandwidth, callers could not hear me clearly, even though I heard them fine. No one at Vonage could help me, especially Level One tech support (now moved to India, and very difficult to understand their accent, which doubles the length of any tech support call due to me asking them to repeat until I understand)--they were all working off a cookbook script, and were scaring me with the ludicrous things they were asking me to do. I finally got through to Level II (also now in India, but deciferable accent), and the tech was much more savvy, but after 4 very long sessions (and extremely long hold times, sometimes over an hour, to reach a real person) he finally gave up and told me I needed to buy a new router. Before my service went down hill, I had referred my daughter and son-in-law to Vonage which they installed. They now have the same problems. When I call her I can't understand what she's saying.
I switched to Comcast VOIP, and haven't had any quality problems at all--as someone else noted, you can't tell the difference from the phone company. All my network equipment, including my Comcast cable modem, is on UPS's, so I don't worry about power outages. Comcast's VOIP cable modems have a battery backup internally. When I have any tech issue with Comcast, I always get a real person without holding who actually speaks English as a native language and is always tech savvy. If the problem is serious, they always roll a truck within 24 hours to solve it in person.
BTW, Comcast's VOIP does not traverse the public web, but runs on their private network, which gives them complete control over the quality.

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VOIP
Oct 25, 2007 9:40AM PDT

I live in Australia, Western Australia, and use VOIP very succesfully.
The company I use, Engin, has a variety of plans but I use the $19.95 one which allows me to talk to my family overseas for either free such as in England or for a 20 cent charge elsewhere and all local and long distance calls are free and untimed. Mobile (cell) calls are 22 cents a minute.
Yes, it's true that there is no VOIP phone when the power goes out but I have retained my land line for that very purpose and would have to have it anyway for broadband to happen.
I have been using VOIP for well over one year now and have had no problems. I bought a separate cordless phone for the Egin box and make all outgoing calls on it and all incoming calls are on the landline. This works extremely well as I am the Shire (district) Fire Management Officer and work from home most of the time.
The call quality is very good and most people don't realise that I am talking to them on a VOIP phone, I do have 512mbs speed and I have heard elsewhere that it doesn't work well with a lesser speed, the calls drop out. However, most people I know use 512mbs anyway.
I would highly recommend VOIP but you do need to check terms and conditions and to shop around to some degree.

I do believe this is probably the way of the future, I have gone from a bill of around $250 per month plus broadband to a bill of less than $100 for line rental, broadband and Engin.
Cheers,
Terese