NetTalk Duo vs. Vonage

[smitbret]

Anyone got much experience with one or both of these?

I was ready to jump on the Vonage 400 U.S. and Canada plan till I started looking at reviews and several places recommended NetTalk Duo instead. A lot of customer reviews seem rather negative, but after reading through a few of the reviews I get the impression that anyone with a modicum of tech knowledge will probably not have the same issues.

Curious if the sound quality suffered if I went with the NetTalk Duo WiFi instead of cabled.

Also, what about Ooma?

Just wanted to see what kind of experience people had with any of these.

 

[Pulsar]

Anyone got much experience with one or both of these?

I was ready to jump on the Vonage 400 U.S. and Canada plan till I started looking at reviews and several places recommended NetTalk Duo instead. A lot of customer reviews seem rather negative, but after reading through a few of the reviews I get the impression that anyone with a modicum of tech knowledge will probably not have the same issues.

Curious if the sound quality suffered if I went with the NetTalk Duo WiFi instead of cabled.

Also, what about Ooma?

Just wanted to see what kind of experience people had with any of these.

Ooma, hands down. No contest.

 

[Iron Woode]

I use NetTalk Duo and it is just fine. Mine is hooked up through Ethernet to my router.

Just make sure you have enough upload speed. I have 256Kb upload and it works fine.

 

[RossMAN]

Former Nettalk user here, probably best bang for your buck and definitely better than MJ.

Pulsar nailed it, Ooma for sure.

 

[The Stigenator]

Here is the bottom line:

NetTalk / MagicJack = cheap to operate, however sound quality sucks. Sometimes sounds like you are in a tunnel. Though Nettalk works better than MagicJackPlus.

Ooma / Vonage. Both great phones, though ooma is no longer free for life deal. However the sound quality is great. Very nice features. I like Vonage due to the 60 world wide calling countries. It works great for me. However if you arent going to use international calling ooma is better. Also vonage basic service has a lot more features than ooma. YOu will be paying abotu the same for both services with teh ooma premier. I think vonages customer services is top notch.

 

[DesiPower]

To all the Ooma lovers, for the features I need Ooma charges $10 a month, India calling plan is another $10, total $20, Vonage charges $25... not too far away, so I stuck with Vonage

 

[tortillasoup]

Is there any point to VOIP if one has unlimited minutes with their cellular provider? How about if they have WiFi calling?

 

[Iron Woode]

Is there any point to VOIP if one has unlimited minutes with their cellular provider? How about if they have WiFi calling?

in general I would say no.

but if you get spotty cell service where you live then voip would make sense.

Wifi calling is voip.

 

[slackerinabox]

Former vonage user (service was just fine, just pricing after trial was higher than expected when the taxes and fees were factored in - something like $35) and now am on Basictalk from walmart - $9.99/month for unlimited calling (no trial). after taxes and fees it works out to around $16, which is half of what vonage costs. Works just fine and I believe it's actually run by vonage

 

[tortillasoup]

in general I would say no.

but if you get spotty cell service where you live then voip would make sense.

Wifi calling is voip.

Yeah, like if you use AT&T microcell or Wifi calling, they're both forms of VOIP but without the additional hassle. I guess having a service like magic jack would be useful if you were homeless and were couch surfing but still needed a number people could contact you @ for job opportunities.

 

[rh71]

Vonage is very lenient with pricing if you ask them to help you reduce the monthly. But the taxes added on are stupid high. I think I'm on a $12/mo. plan that goes up to $24/mo after taxes/fees. I know because it's for work and anything above $25 I'd have to submit invoices. I asked them to do what they could to keep me under and they did. US & Canada only. Call quality and reliability have been good.

 

[smitbret]

It's just for a family phone. Got a 9 year old and a 3 year old at home and it would be nice to just have a home phone to keep her off of our cell phones. The 9 year old is starting that part of her life where she wants to talk to her friends once in awhile and her Mom just moved to 3000 miles away to North Carolina so this would be perfect for us as a household phone.

The Mrs. likes the idea just out of security.