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Broadband: Broadband Phone Service
Voip Service
by arshad26 - 10/15/05 9:35 PM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444VoIP is cheaper than Landline. Tax on unlimited calling plan is nominal. Pick up the phone and call anywhere in U.S. and Canada unlimited without worrying about regional toll, local toll or long distance charges. Call France 3c a minute. Call free between device to device. Call anywhere in the world while on go using softphone, your laptop and wireless internet connection. Send and receive faxes. Some VoIP companies are offering a feature: you can call from any phone using your home phone account.
BUT-- if you have lot of spare time to resolve the technical issues, if you can call several times to tech support, holding the line for long without resoving the issues, if you have unlimited patience, then it is good for you.
Voip Phone Service
by Timmahh - 10/16/05 10:14 AM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444I work for a Michigan Based Wireless ISP. www.speednetllc.com, and we offer Voip as part of our broadband service.... Voip, though in infancy in its public arena, is a good and growing product...
our service for voip is 29.95 per month, unlimited us and canada, but you must have our broadband to use our voip. VOIP uses around 28kb of bandwidth, which is very low considering we offer 3M down and 384 up. But your internet connection needs to be solid...
You will see some of the same issues we seen when cell phones started to become viable for all to use. occasionally a woobly sounding voice,some echo on occasion, a dropped call now and then. it is relitively new technology, so has a ways to go to be perfect.
One thing about back feeding your home phone network, you MUST sever the connection between your current land line phone provider and your own home phone network. It simply is not enough to just cancel your current phone service befor you feed your own home phone network. Severing your home phone network is as easy as opening your phone box outside your home, and disconnecting the jumper in the box. usually black and about 4 inches long, just a small phone cord. once that is done, then you can back feed your home phone network from the voip box and have all your household phones on the voip. Porting can be an issue. most large phone companies by law must port your number over, but other amaller companies like CenturyTel do not. for instance, Centrury Tel will lease you the phone number at a price per minute use... not very friendly, but is completely defined by each traditional phone carrier.
Voip, like the new emerging Wireless internet is a VERY HOT market to be in, and improvements are being made DAILY, and it will only be a matter of a bit of time before all voip runs as smoothly as traditional phone networks. and now that the government has stepped in to ensure Voip is compatible with emergency services, 911 service will be available nationwide as soon as the voip providers set their protocals in their networks.
One thing to think of about voip, if you lose power, your internet connection is out, therefore your phone is not available. A problem that can be solved with a UPS attatched to your internet equpipment, router and viop box. A 80.00 UPS should keep power for your internet, voip, and router for a few hrs or more.
we charge no activation services but do charge a 10.00 porting fee, which is what we pay to get the number form your current carrier. a voip box can be leased or purchased with our company. most will purchase as the cost is under 100.00.
at this point all voip does not work with all other services like fax machines, satalite systems, medical equipment. this too will be solved soon, as its one of the major hurdles to be completly jumped. but not all have these hurdles to jump, each voip company, depending on current set up, may already be past this.
Bottom line Voip is here to stay, and is improveing daily. with a solid broadband connection, voip is just the next part of the world wide digital expansion.
Next to the market place, Broadband TV. Soon Very Soon.
Timothy Locke
Broadband Phone Service
by jtacke - 10/17/05 10:35 AM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444I really don't know why anyone with a good wireless cellphone plan could get too excited about broadband phone service. Our cell service has 1000 shared monthly peak minutes plus unlimited nights and weekends. Almost all of our long distance calls are made nights/weekends. Why would I want to pay for broadband phone service?
Many reasons for Broadband Voip
by voipdetails.com - 10/18/05 6:25 AM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by jtackeMany people may want voip sevice to co-exist with their cell service for several reasons.
1. I dont want to give my cell phone number to everyone. At my work I am on call 24/7 and not want any extra calls. With voip I can send some or all callers directly to vmail.
2. Many times I like to use speaker phone for work, or with my kids calling the grandparents. Not very easy to do speaker with most cell phones.
There are dozens of reasons, but really depends on your situation. For many people just using a cell phone is ok, and if it wasnt for my work and kids, well that is what I would probably do. But for many others the savings of using Voip over traditional land line services is well worth keeping standard phones, and a separation of cell and landline numbers.
http://www.voipdetails.com
http://www.howisitdone.com
This is why I have Voip in addition to my cell
by wfalone - 10/18/05 8:26 AM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by jtackeFirst, I could not get my landline under $50 per month after all of the ridiculous taxes and fees. With Vonage, I can be sure my monthly bill will NEVER exceed $27. (I have it with Comcast cable and may have had an outage 2 times in the last year. I have it automatically forwarded to my cell phone when this happens so I never miss a call).
Second, no matter how many minutes I have on my cell plan, I have issues with 1) variable signal strength in the house, 2) having to carry my cell phone everywhere I go, 3) NOT having the ability to tell my wife on another floor to pickup the extension to speak with her Mother, and 4) giving out my cell phone number.
Lingo is the VoIP for me
by wobblyo - 10/18/05 8:33 AM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444As a Brit living in USA, I have found Lingo to be ideal. For $25 a month you get unlimited free calls to all of the USA and Western Europe. For an additional $10 per month you can have a UK number so friends and family in UK can ring me for the cost of a UK call. The quality is normally very good but occasional (< 1 sec) dropouts occur particularly when ringing a cell phone (which is also free). I also like the ability to redirect calls (from the internet - so you don't have to be home) and re-direct depending on the incoming number. Setting the system to redirect from my cell phone to a UK number means I can ring relatives free of charge from anywhere in the USA (and I can change the numbers via the internet). Excellent - see www.lingo.com for details.
Lingo is Good
by voipdetails.com - 10/18/05 10:20 AM In reply to: Lingo is the VoIP for me by wobblyoI chose lingo because it had a local number where I live. Vonage, AT&T and manu others could not get me a local #. If you live in a remote place and call to Eurpoe alot, then yes Lingo is a great one.
I have had them for almost a year now, and have had some occasional call quality issues, but the features out way the occasional problem for me.
tell us what you think of your voip provider.
http://www.voipdetails.com
Broadband Phone service
by a_dowdell - 10/18/05 2:24 PM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444I like VoIP. You might have a couple of hick-ups now & then. But like any new Technology those bugs can be ironed out.
1st. The cost is great with (FREE National longdistance)
2nd. Cheap long listance to talk to family members accross seas. Beats buying those short ass calling cards @ the gasstations. Not to mention charges through your regular Phone service.
3rd. They give us credit for referals "free month of service baby..."
4th. ( Who likes a $80.00+ phone bill for regular ass service minus long distance and DSL...)
DRAWBACK.... Forget about sending faxes anytime soon. But thats small stuff. Use your work fax machine.... They won't care..
Finally Your saving Dough. (Hello Gas Prices....)
Vonage hijacked my line for a month!
by mitchelltx1 - 10/19/05 6:11 PM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444Although Vonage may be a good system. Their ethics as a company are abysmal. Because of trouble with my broadband, I switched back to SBC from Vonage. They assured me It would be a smooth transition. I went to pick up my phone and it was dead. They never notified SBC I was moving back. Then to make it worse, Vonage didn't release my number for another thirty days. After a half dozen phone calls and hours on hold, I just gave up and waited the thirty days. I was lied to by three seperate people at Vonage. I'm apalled by their lack of scruples!!!!
MDH, San Antonio
Vonage to Vonage
by petebags - 10/29/05 2:12 PM In reply to: Vonage hijacked my line for a month! by mitchelltx1In addition, during that thirty days, other Vonage users couln't reach you!
Voip Not perfect
by voipdetails.com - 11/2/05 9:54 AM In reply to: Vonage hijacked my line for a month! by mitchelltx1This sounds like a horrible experience, and Vonage should be ashamed if this is all true, which I expect it is.
One thing to do when dealing with companies like this is to use their online support, it creates a paper trail that can help.
If you are in the right on all of this, it pays to ask to talk to a supervisor, explain to them calmy whay has happened, and hope that they take action.
As I am sure you have read, VOIP is not for everyone, please help others know about your experience.
http://www.voipdetails.com
http://www.howisitdone.com
I highly recommend Earthlink VOIP!!!!
by Notatech - 1/5/06 8:44 PM In reply to: Broadband Phone Service by steward444I have been reading some of these messages and I have not found Earthlink VOIP mentioned anywhere. I have had Earthlink VOIP service for a month now and in my opinion, it would be impossible for any VOIP service to be better than Earthlink VOIP. It is a relatively new service from this company. The quality of the calls is consistently superior and the customer service is excellent. I highly recommend Earthlink VOIP.
I have written to the appropriate CNET editor requesting a review of Earthlink VOIP because I want other CNET readers to know about this great service. Using the CNET rating system, I would give Earthlink VOIP a CNET score of 10 out of 10.
Earthlink VOIP
by netbits - 1/6/06 10:55 AM In reply to: I highly recommend Earthlink VOIP!!!! by NotatechEarthlink is reselling Vonage services, as far as I know so this should add a notch to Vonage as well.
Earthlink is no longer associated with Vonage
by Notatech - 1/7/06 12:19 AM In reply to: Earthlink VOIP by netbitsEarthlink is NOT reselling Vonage. Earthlink used to resell Vonage but this is no longer the case. Earthlink, according to my understanding, is functioning entirely on it's own. And, they are doing an excellent job! I am exceedingly pleased with the VOIP service I have from Earthlink.
Earthlink True Voice
by dimebag666 - 1/16/06 9:19 PM In reply to: Earthlink is no longer associated with Vonage by NotatechThats true. Earthlink used to resell Vonage but not anymore. Superb sound quality. And it even works with my alarm system.
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