VOIP Phone Service

[Carbo]

For years I have been using Comcast Digital phone service. I have two phone lines: primary and a fax line. But on occasion I have had service outages with Comcast, the most recent being yesterday and today, prompting me to look into other options.
I've heard much about Vonage and the like, but don't know much about this technology. Can someone here who has experience with VOIP give me some feedback? Thanks.

 

[kalster]

comcast digital phone service is voip too if by outage you mean cable internet outage then any voip service will have the same problem. In genearl voip is a pretty decent technology. Bells have been ripping people off forever, so its a good cheap alernative. Make sure you set up QoS on your router if you do lot of downloading etc to make sure voice quality never suffers. Vonage is a good provider but there are other options in Voip too. (I think i saw some good deals in HotDeals)

 

[NoMoMoney]

I thought that comcast was not VOIP. I was thinking it used other technology (not IP). Anyways, some VOIP providers make it tricky to use a fax machine, so that might limit you. I just got SunRocket and I am trying it out for a while before fully switching. I do not have a fax though

 

[BD2003]

Skype is free.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Ill stick with my traditional service, thank you. Heard too many horror stories with internet 'phones'.

Since 1980, our phone has been dead once or twice. Thats right, two times in TWENTY SIX YEARS! And weve been through 100s of blackouts.

 

[kalster]

free out going, which is good but no DID , people cant call you, also you need a computer at all times, its not the same

 

[Relayer]

pots ftw

 

[eminemrh25]

I have Vonage and all I can say is, I'll never go back to Qwest..

 

[Goosemaster]

1) comcast's service is voip....

2) voange is cheaper

3)voange is jsut plain better

4) in the end it depends on yoru itnernet connection....if it is bad, it will be bad, if it is reliable, yo uwill :heart: VoIP as do I

 

[dartworth]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Ill stick with my traditional service, thank you. Heard too many horror stories with internet 'phones'.

Since 1980, our phone has been dead once or twice. Thats right, two times in TWENTY SIX YEARS! And weve been through 100s of blackouts.

"horror stories"

hmmm...

 

[Imdmn04]

VOIP is not gonna be as stable as POTS.

The Internet was not originally designed for stability, when you run real time application on there, the quality is subject to Internet conditions such as jitter, latency, and packet loss.
Circuit switching(PSTN) is a lot more stable than packet switching(VOIP), but wastes a lot of bandwidth.

So if you don't make that many calls, VOIP is gonna be fine. Depending on what your needs are, like if you have a home business, stay with POTS.

 

[Reel]

I use Sunrocket and I had some trouble with my internet connection. I still do on occasion and I have to use my cell to make a more reliable call. However, I have worked from home 3 days in the last week and used my VoIP phone on many calls without any complaints. It is very convenient to be able to access full call logs on the internet, full voicemail message by email, call forwarding, and unlimited usage long distance or otherwise.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
VOIP is not gonna be as stable as POTS.

The Internet was not originally designed for stability, when you run real time application on there, the quality is subject to Internet conditions such as jitter, latency, and packet loss.
Circuit switching(PSTN) is a lot more stable than packet switching(VOIP), but wastes a lot of bandwidth.

So if you don't make that many calls, VOIP is gonna be fine. But if you depend on what your needs are, like if you have a home business, stay with POTS.

not necessarily.....have it not usign an answering service, and foward to your cell if it can't get thorugh, or after a certain number of rings

that said, boradband, for many people, isn;t as unreliable as one might think. Sure my internet went out on my birthday of all days, but for the msot part it is up....

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: Carbo
For years I have been using Comcast Digital phone service. I have two phone lines: primary and a fax line. But on occasion I have had service outages with Comcast, the most recent being yesterday and today, prompting me to look into other options.
I've heard much about Vonage and the like, but don't know much about this technology. Can someone here who has experience with VOIP give me some feedback? Thanks.

Its basically what it says it is: Voice over IP. A voip-enabled device connects to your carrier over your existing high speed connection to process calls.

-Matt

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: kalster
free out going, which is good but no DID , people cant call you, also you need a computer at all times, its not the same

You do not need a computer to use voip, only a high speed connection.

 

[mchammer]

IMHO, POTS cannot be touched for reliability, not by VOIP or cellular or whatever. Plus there is the whole 911 issue, where POTS is guaranteed to work correctly, with VOIP who knows. Also POTS will work indefinately in a power outage, while with VOIP, you would need a UPS on all of your network gear, and if it is a cheap consumer unit, it will only give you a few hours, while beeping like mad the whole time.

I thing that VOIP would be ok if you commonly make long distance or international calls that are expensive. But I would always want to have POTS local service.

That is one thing about Verizon FIOS that makes me pause, they replace your copper with fiber. It is not VOIP, so the 911 is guaranteed and reliability should be good, but since the fiber cannot carry power, if the power goes out, your phone dies when the battery backup at your house runs out.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: mchammer
IMHO, POTS cannot be touched for reliability, not by VOIP or cellular or whatever. Plus there is the whole 911 issue, where POTS is guaranteed to work correctly, with VOIP who knows. Also POTS will work indefinately in a power outage, while with VOIP, you would need a UPS on all of your network gear, and if it is a cheap consumer unit, it will only give you a few hours, while beeping like mad the whole time.

I thing that VOIP would be ok if you commonly make long distance or international calls that are expensive. But I would always want to have POTS local service.

That is one thing about Verizon FIOS that makes me pause, they replace your copper with fiber. It is not VOIP, so the 911 is guaranteed and reliability should be good, but since the fiber cannot carry power, if the power goes out, your phone dies when the battery backup at your house runs out.

There's not much to think about in some areas. In some areas that I'm familiar with, the battery backup on some RTs will only last a few hours, at best... and after that, service goes down. It's rather humorous... until it needs to be used when the power's out.

Of course those same areas are also the ones that have no cellular coverage, and cable isn't available...

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: kalster
free out going, which is good but no DID , people cant call you, also you need a computer at all times, its not the same

You do not need a computer to use voip, only a high speed connection.

I was talking about skype v/s a regular phone line with a voip service

 

[astrosfan90]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
1) comcast's service is voip....

2) voange is cheaper

3)voange is jsut plain better

4) in the end it depends on yoru itnernet connection....if it is bad, it will be bad, if it is reliable, yo uwill :heart: VoIP as do I

SunRocket's even cheaper. From what I've heard, it's better, too.

 

[TripleAAA]

I just started using Viatalk which I bought a 2 year plan for $200 a few weeks ago when they were offering a promotion. Basically I don't have to worry about a bill every month and by paying up front, I'm only paying about 8 bucks a month over the span of two years.

It was super easy to setup and so far, its worked great.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

I have had ATT Voip for almost two years now, no problems and saved tons of money.

 

[DurocShark]

Vonage service is good, the customer service however is so horrid I will never EVER do business with them again.

Here's why!