Which VOIP Company?

[LuNoTiCK]

I am looking at getting VOIP. If you had a choice which one would you recommend between OptimumVoice, and Packet8? I'm mainly looking to see what the difference in quality is.

 

[43st]

I use Vonage with the el-cheapo $14.99 plan. It's been perfect for us over the past 3 months.

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Is there any way to keep your same phone number?

 

[wedi42]

Originally posted by: LuNoTiCK
Is there any way to keep your same phone number?

yep,
http://vonage.com/features_number_portability.php

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Thera
I use Vonage with the el-cheapo $14.99 plan. It's been perfect for us over the past 3 months.

Does that plan include unlimited local calling? I saw the plan but I wasn't sure if it was 500 minutes or 500 long distance minutes. Also what is your monthly bill after taxes and everything ( Trying to get an idea if it's worth it for me )

 

[jamesave]

packet8.net $20 unlimited..

 

[dabuddha]

I wonder how much bandwidth these things use too.

 

[trilks]

Don't quote me on this, because I don't have VoIP (yet), but I believe I read that calls take about 15-20Kb/s.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: Thera
I use Vonage with the el-cheapo $14.99 plan. It's been perfect for us over the past 3 months.

Does that plan include unlimited local calling? I saw the plan but I wasn't sure if it was 500 minutes or 500 long distance minutes. Also what is your monthly bill after taxes and everything ( Trying to get an idea if it's worth it for me )

unlimited local is 24.95 with 500 long distance...

I am so tempted, paying 36 a month now for basic telephone service with no long distance

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: trilks
Don't quote me on this, because I don't have VoIP (yet), but I believe I read that calls take about 15-20Kb/s.

Sorry for quoting you but do you know if that's for the uplink or down?

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: Thera
I use Vonage with the el-cheapo $14.99 plan. It's been perfect for us over the past 3 months.

Does that plan include unlimited local calling? I saw the plan but I wasn't sure if it was 500 minutes or 500 long distance minutes. Also what is your monthly bill after taxes and everything ( Trying to get an idea if it's worth it for me )

unlimited local is 24.95 with 500 long distance...

I am so tempted, paying 36 a month now for basic telephone service with no long distance

I'm only paying $22.99 a month plus taxes but I'm sick of verizon and their dsl now. I'd like to switch to cable up here which is double the speed for only 8 bucks/month more.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: Thera
I use Vonage with the el-cheapo $14.99 plan. It's been perfect for us over the past 3 months.

Does that plan include unlimited local calling? I saw the plan but I wasn't sure if it was 500 minutes or 500 long distance minutes. Also what is your monthly bill after taxes and everything ( Trying to get an idea if it's worth it for me )

My total bill is $16.94 per month, everything included. The plan is for 500 minutes which includes both local and long distance time. We rarely make local calls so we're not missing much, not to mention that local calls in NYC area are toll calls anyway (for Verizon, AT&T, etc..).

 

[RossMAN]

Have any QWest customers succcessfully ported their landline phone # to Vonage VOIP?

 

[trilks]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: trilks
Don't quote me on this, because I don't have VoIP (yet), but I believe I read that calls take about 15-20Kb/s.

Sorry for quoting you but do you know if that's for the uplink or down?

damn, i knew this post would come back to haunt me...

of course, now i am searching but i can't find that info.

Vonage recommends upload speeds of at least 90Kb/s, otherwise you could run into quality loss if you are also using the Internet. I suppose that some of the 15-20Kb would be downstream (listening to the call) and some would be upstream (talking), but I couldn't tell you a ratio. Depends on how much of a talker you are, maybe?

Sorry, that's the best info I can come up with :beer:

 

[KK]

That's pretty cool you can get a area code from a different state as your number. that'd pay off if you moved away from your family and relatives.

KK

 

[Fiveohhh]

Need about 20, up and down i found out give or take a little. Thats with vonage. and me testing using netlimiter to see how far I have to cut back uploads-downloads for the phone to function right. That being said I love our vonage service. we have the $25 a month and saves us the 45 we used to pay the local telco, and we get 500 long distance for the occasional call to my sister. and as soon as cable is available going to ditch dsl and the telco all together.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: KK
That's pretty cool you can get a area code from a different state as your number. that'd pay off if you moved away from your family and relatives.

KK

Voange allows you to purchase extra virtual numbers. It's around $5 a month for a phone number in any area code you want.

 

[Liviathan]

how about an indepth review of the service, handset and the such...maybe even pics!!

would love to know how this works for real life users.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: Liviathan
how about an indepth review of the service, handset and the such...maybe even pics!!

would love to know how this works for real life users.

It's just a little box, about the size of two cigarette boxes side by side. CAT5 from the network gets plugged into one side and your existing phone plugs into the other side. Turn it on and that's it. I have a 2.4Ghz wireless Uniden plugged into it and it works great for us.

 

[RossMAN]

Thera - Would ReplayTV's dialup modem work with VOIP (Packet8.net)?

 

[z0mb13]

so u still hve to use ur computer to make a phone call??

skype its free.... but have to call another comp also

 

[Liviathan]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: Liviathan
how about an indepth review of the service, handset and the such...maybe even pics!!

would love to know how this works for real life users.

It's just a little box, about the size of two cigarette boxes side by side. CAT5 from the network gets plugged into one side and your existing phone plugs into the other side. Turn it on and that's it. I have a 2.4Ghz wireless Uniden plugged into it and it works great for us.

What if I have more than one phone??

anyway to leverage this to use my current house wiring?

 

[Liviathan]

Can't be a good sign.....Vonage site is down!

Considering this for my business line.

 

[43st]

RossMAN - It should work fine but you may need to add the area code in the device configuration. I could actually use my dialup modem over the VoIP box... kinda silly but certainly possable.

Liviathan - The Vonage box has two pots line ports on it. I've heard that people have plugged their entire house into the box without issue. It would probably be dependant on the condition and extent of your home wiring.

I've never had a service outage with Vonage. The VoIP service only contacts a local telco node, it's been 100% transparent for me so far. If anything I now have higher quality voice calls than before. I'm using a 10Mb down - 1 Mb up internet connection.

 

[Fiveohhh]

Originally posted by: Liviathan

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: Liviathan
how about an indepth review of the service, handset and the such...maybe even pics!!

would love to know how this works for real life users.

It's just a little box, about the size of two cigarette boxes side by side. CAT5 from the network gets plugged into one side and your existing phone plugs into the other side. Turn it on and that's it. I have a 2.4Ghz wireless Uniden plugged into it and it works great for us.

What if I have more than one phone??

anyway to leverage this to use my current house wiring?

I've plugged mine into my house wiring, just depends on how much power your phones are drawing whether it'll work. Most new phones have an adapter that they get there power from any way.


I also thought I remembered reading somewhere that you can't dial up over the line, but never tried it and not even sure if I read it or just thought it up