Thinking of switching to VOIP

[meltdown75]

Wow, I just looked at the cost of VOIP and it is substantially less that our traditional landline service. I'm thinking of switching based on said savings and I was wondering what to look out for or if there is anything I should know beforehand. Can anyone provide any insight?

The company is Primus and the service is called TalkBroadband.

Any discussion would be greatly appreciated!!

- Melty :sun:

 

[FoBoT]

i use sunrocket
there has been one outage from the server side, it was for 1-2 days

my quality is borderline/variable due to the type of ISP i have (wireless LOS). i have to limit my upload speed to prevent quality degradation, but that is ok, i don't upload much

you pretty much have to have a cell phone as your VoIP will go out/be unavailable much more than a POTS line

you should either try it out at a friends house or go with a company that doesn't put you into a long term contract in case you hate it

and you should test your ISP before hand , this site/test is very representative of my VoIP quality

http://www.testyourvoip.com/

 

[meltdown75]

according to the website, you can also bring the box with you and use it from anywhere to take your home calls? that is a very attractive feature since most hotels, etc. have internet access one way or another.

we're also in the process of switching our cell service as it sucks and it's expensive.

Bell is frickin' expensive... :roll:

edit: btw thanks Fobot :beer:

edit2: rofl - websense: "the category 'Internet Telephony' is filtered." :roll:

 

[FoBoT]

yeah, you can plug your box/gizmo into any internet connection (as long as the correct port access is available) and use it

websense blows goats

 

[AdamSnow]

VOIP is amazing... I currently do not subscribe to any, but I plan to once I move into my new house... my High speed connection at the moment is not very reliable...

Yes - you can plug your VOIP box into any high speed connection and use it anywhere... like you say if you were going away for a few days just take it with you and hook it up... now anyone can reach you and you don't need to pay for phone calls out of the hotel...

I've never looked into Primus, but I think that is what M4H uses... He's said good things so far... I've only looked into Vonage...

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: AdamSnow
VOIP is amazing... I currently do not subscribe to any, but I plan to once I move into my new house... my High speed connection at the moment is not very reliable...

Yes - you can plug your VOIP box into any high speed connection and use it anywhere... like you say if you were going away for a few days just take it with you and hook it up... now anyone can reach you and you don't need to pay for phone calls out of the hotel...

I've never looked into Primus, but I think that is what M4H uses... He's said good things so far... I've only looked into Vonage...

cool. thanks for the info Adam!!

 

[astrosfan90]

Definitely check the Hot Deals forum for the threads there. I know at least the SunRocket thread has been really helpful to me and convinced me to sign up.

 

[spacelord]

I too have Sunrocket and its great for the price! It does have its problems.. but for the price, I'm willing to live with the minor hastles.

 

[Dulanic]

I use Vonage myself, love it, thought about switching to SunRocket, but heard way too many reliability issues. Have never had a issue with Vonage, and the cost isn't too different for me, since I get Vonage for 19.99 instead of the usual 24.99.

 

[toekramp]

well since my comcast likes to reboot every 10 mins...voip wouldn't work very well for me.

 

[captains]

on the 24.99 vonage plan....no problems as of yet

 

[Kaido]

I'm not convinced that VoIP is the way to go yet. I'm using my cell phone as my house phone (Verizon gets excellent service in New England). Haven't had any problems yet since reception is really good. It would be nice to have a pots setup just for messages, faxing, and just in case, though. I'll get VoIP when high-speed Internet connections and the companies get more reliable.

 

[meltdown75]

thanks for the replies.

bump for any other experiences with VOIP or the company mentioned in the OP in particular

thanks

also, for those of you that use VOIP, how long have you been using? any tips for a newb?

 

[meltdown75]

screenshot of VOIP test..

great link FoBoT. :thumbsup: ty

 

[captains]

if u do pick one and they have a referal program......let someone refer u so they can get the free month. after all we did reply to your thread

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: captains
if u do pick one and they have a referal program......let someone refer u so they can get the free month. after all we did reply to your thread

yeah, my interest was actually piqued by a friend who is in the process of switching to the aforementioned provider. so i better return the favour

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
I'd weigh in, but I'm on a Canada-only provider (Primus)

CDN$25/mo = unlimited in north america

Took them a f***ing age to send me the hardware, but haven't had any trouble since then.

- M4H

^^ weighing in from another thread.

thanks M4H :beer:

will be in touch for more details.

 

[BCYL]

Reminder:
911 call centers may not be able to pin-point your location if you are calling from a VoIP phone, since they won't be able to see you address. Often times to make this work like a regular phone, VoIP providers charge extra per month for this service.

 

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: BCYL
Reminder:
911 call centers may not be able to pin-point your location if you are calling from a VoIP phone, since they won't be able to see you address. Often times to make this work like a regular phone, VoIP providers charge extra per month for this service.

I'm not familiar with the other services, but SunRocket doesn't charge extra for anything, it's a flat $199/year if you choose that plan. I myself have a cell phone, which I use as a backup should I ever need to dial 911.

 

[arod]

im looking at upgrading to voip.... verizon charges 22 bucks for a phoenline with no options on it and voip is about the same (or cheaper if i get the 500 min plan) and i would get all the features.

Trying to decide between vonage and lingo though. Sunrocket isnt avaliable in my area. Are there any other companies I should look into besides these?

 

[meltdown75]

thanks arod.

i'm actually stuck with the Canadian offerings and I don't believe that SunRocket is among them.

we're still haggling as to whether or not to make the switch. the dependency on the Ma Bell land line is deep rooted!

 

[Nitemare]

I've got vonage and overall pretty happy with it. I'd still give sunrocket a try though, cept it's not in my area.