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Broadband: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home?
- 10/18/07 4:56 PM
I use voip
by wjaycox - 10/21/07 2:08 PM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
VOIP is great
by cessna150 - 10/21/07 3:52 PM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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
Skype plus T Mobile Hotspot at Home are great money savers
by Muntdrop - 10/22/07 6:02 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
Not any more
by wammac - 10/22/07 7:15 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
ready for prime time?
by irishnh - 10/22/07 8:16 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
VoIP - Not yet from Comcast
by LZCenter - 10/22/07 8:16 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
Land lines - watch out!
by yankeeharman - 10/22/07 8:19 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
Hello
by rickyk662 - 10/22/07 8:55 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I use packet 8 telephone over internet works fine for me local and long distatice price is right .
voip
by jwimbush - 10/22/07 9:11 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
bandwidth problems with VOIP
by catskll601 - 10/22/07 1:06 PM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
VOIP?
by bjsanj - 10/22/07 4:46 PM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Yes, I had been using voip for 2 years now and very happy. No regrets in replacing my land line.
VOIP--No problems
by alschultz - 10/24/07 6:50 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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!
Vonage's legal issues are behind them
by rbsjrx - 10/29/07 1:56 PM In reply to: VOIP--No problems by alschultzAs 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.
AOK for little ole lady
by floridagurrl - 10/24/07 11:30 AM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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.
Comcast VOIP = good, Vonage = bad
by UTWoodsman - 10/24/07 11:23 PM In reply to: Poll: Do you use VoIP service at home? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
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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