VOIP as home phone
 

I was curious if anyone uses VOIP for there home phone service and if which one do they use?
-howie

VOIP - as home phone
 

I have been using Vonage as my home phone

www.vonage.com.

I believe they are one of the major providers offering home phone service for people with broadband. they were profiled in Fortune magazine a few months back

Big plus:

at 24.99/month unlimited local and long distance calling within US
fairly cheap international rates, depends where you are calling overseas

some drawbacks

sometimes the voice quality does deteriorate . does not work well with some prepaid calling cards.

we dont care as we really dont use our home phones much

they are good with Local number portability. We got to keep our Verizon phone number after bugging verizon for several weeks. some phone companies delay transferring your current number to Vonage

If service is indeed offered in your area, there is a referral award both to the new customer as well as the person that referred.

hope this helps

Some things to think about before changing to VOIP:

-Does it have 911 service? If so, is it the same type of 911 service you may have now? (Vonage 911 calls go to admin lines not the reg lines)
-Do they offer operator service?
-Does it work with your security alarm, sat TV, Tivo etc..
-Can you use all the phones in your house?
-If you have DSL, does your phone company let have DSL without a basic home phone line?
-VOIP service doesn't work without power
-If your internet service goes down, you have no phone service
-If you transfer your number, are you able to get it back if you leave?
-Do they offer directory listings and/or directory assistance?

I think VOIP is great, just be sure you know what you are getting or not getting.

Packet8
 

I've been using Packet8 for a year and a half, and have been pretty happy with it. Its not as full featured as Vonage, but its quite a bit cheaper.

Its been a huge savings for me over using a regular phone line. I live in Tokyo and have two phone lines - one Japanese one that I use for my local calls, and the Packet8 one that I use for all my calls to the US. For $20 a month I can place unlimited calls to the US. The Packet8 phone I've got also has a Seattle number assigned to it, so my friends and family back home can call me easily (plus, for those in the Seattle area, its just a local call).

Sound quality is very good, not perfect - roughly equivalent to a US West Coast to US East Coast long distance call.

I'm using Vonage but only as a supplement. The 911 issues on VOIP concern me so I still keep a basic landline for that and Tivo, Alarm sytem. There are work arounds for Tivo and Security systems but not for 911.

Voice quality is good most of the time. Once in a while I can hear the other calls fine but they say that my voice sounds low.

We switched to Sunrocket just a couple of weeks ago. So far, no problems with call quality beyond a brief echo at the start of a call (which goes away). Our goal was to (a) get rid of the landline and (b) reduce our monthly wireless plan by moving a lot of our cell minutes to VoIP. We have cable for TV and broadband, so we had no issues with DSL or a Dish needing a traditional voice circuit for data communication.

Sunrocket is $199 all inclusive. No fees, taxes, setup charges, shipping charges, or equipment charges. The $199 gets you a box with everything you need - a router, two cordless handsets, the necessary cables. Your service is one year unlimited domestic calling plus a $3 credit per month towards int'l calling. After that, they have cheap rates to everywhere we want to call - usually three cents a minute (e.g., UK, Japan, France, Aus., Italy, etc.).

If you don't like their handsets (they are cheap Uniden phones, which are fine for us), you can hook up your existing gear - they use a standard VoIP router: plug whatever phone you like into it.

If you are going to rig your entire house for VoIP through the existing copper in the walls, there are websites that tell you the do's and don'ts about how to do it. Long story short: it'll work after you disconnect the RBOC loop from your house, but follow the instructions closely so you don't fry your VoIP gear.

We use Vonage for all our calls. We did keep our SBS copper because when we tested the Vonage 911 service we ended up at the townhall with someone who was certainly not able to help us.

It's sad that the SBS line is $6 more than our unlimited Vonage even though we never make any outgoing calls on it...

Another vonage fan here. ^

Vonage fan here.

I have two phone lines into the house (both served off the same vonage box). I wired it directly into the house wiring -- so all of the jacks in the house connect to the vonage box (if I hadn't told my family members we used Vonage, they wouldn't know).

Contrary to the experiences of many others.. I have 3 tivo's -- none of them have ever had any trouble dialing out. I also use it heavily for faxing. No problems there either.

911 isn't an issue with Vonage -- they let you set up the 911 service for each line.

The line quality is exceptional. I also do at least 5 hours a week of international calls (a huge motivation in my original switch to Vonage). I also LOVE all the extra features they give you (free) -- such as the ability to have your Vonage number ring your cell phone AT THE SAME TIME (I no longer give people my cell number. I give them my vonage number. If I'm home, I pick up my landline -- if I'm out, I answer my cell).

Bottom line: I will never switch back.

If you DO decide to switch to Vonage, let someone on here know as they have a great referral program (2 months free!)

Brian

Forgot to mention... the only problem of "if your internet service goes down, so does your phone line.."

Vonage has solved this by letting you enter an "out of service" number.. basically, it will ring that number if it's unable to communicate with your vonage box. I put my cell # in this field.

If Vonage loses connectivity, the calls are instantly routed to my cell phone.

I suspect that a cellphone is a reasonable workaround for the 911 issue as well.

I would always have the LOCAL Emergency number for *YOUR* police dept and fire dept stored in your cell # anyway. Most 911 dialing from a Cell will go to a regional emergency center (e.g. in California it's the California Highway Patrol). They will still help, but they have to route the request to your local agency.

I work out of my home at times, and need clear cross-country phone calls. Has anyone had experience with ANY VOIP provider where VOIP is as good voice quality as a regular landline?

Also, I have three land lines at home. Can I get three VOIP phones on one 3000/256 Comcast cable modem to work well?

I get BETTER voice quality on my Vonage line than on my SBC line. International voice quality is superior to ATT long distance too.

And yes, you shouldn't have too many problems getting 3 lines working on Comcast, you'll need 2 Vonage boxes (2 lines per box). Just make sure you don't do too much in the background (like file sharing etc...).

Do you need three lines, or would 2 lines with 3 numbers be enough? With Vonage virtual numbers you can do that...

Two simultaneous conversations max is fine (with call waiting on both). But I need something like distinctive ringing where the ring tells whether person A, B or C should answer the phone. Three distinct people. Two distinct conversations. Person A and B share one line and two phone numbers. Person C is dedicated on the other line.

ScottC do you have any experience with Skype ? Could you please share with us the differences you have found between Skype and Vonage, regarding voice quality ?

Thanks.

I work for a company that is actually doing a lot of the VOIP setup for many of the cable companies that are jumping in to this area. Needless to say, business has been good. ^

All of the statements below are true and very important to keep in mind. In addition, you may also want to consider:

- Do you have a fax machine? With some brands, transmission is impacted with VOIP.
- Do you wear a heart monitor where you have to transmit the recordings back to your doctor? We have yet to see any of our clients make the transmission successful. Therefore, most of them give this as a disclaimer at the start of the order.

All of our clients (all of which are traditional cable companies) offer the standard 911. Vonage seems to be the choice of many on this thread and I cannot speak to them.

In regards as to getting your number back when you move, it depends on "where" the number came from in the first place. For example:

1.) If you get VOIP with MegaCable and you are assigned a number from their bucket of numbers (these numbers belong to them) and a year from now you transfer your local service back to MOM&POP Local Phone Service, you can port that MegaCable number over to MOM&POP.

2.) If you sign up for MegaCables VOIP and port over your current phone number (one that belongs to MOM&POP), you can. However if you are ever disconnected for non-pay ( :rolleyes: ), the number will bounce back to MOM&POP's bucket never to be seen again on your phone. MegaCable would have to assign a new number from their bucket.

For the most part all of the rules that apply to traditional phone companies as they relate to number portability & native numbers hold true with VOIP. Once again, I cannot speak to Vonage, just the cable companies.

Satisfied Packet8 customer. I used it alot when I lived up in NY and had a local PA phone# so I could talk with friends and family. Since I moved back to PA I don't need it anymore so I'm returning it otherwise I'd keep it.

-JC

From the Vonage Newsletter today:

Vonage has also made significant strides with E911 service. As you know, Vonage was the first in the industry to offer a basic 911 service. Recently, we've been working with state and federal government agencies to design an E911 system like the one that the telephone system uses. We had our first successful trial of this service in Rhode Island and plan to introduce E911 to most of our customers throughout the U.S. in 2005. Vonage is proud to be an industry pioneer in this area and we look forward to meeting the demands of our customers for this important service.


I can't wait; the day I get a reliable 911 service is the day I cancel the copper.

While still on the fence about our local service, my company provides me a VoIP phone for my home office. Occasionally the quality drops, but overall I am really impressed with the service. Plus, it allows me to be an extension of the home office so I can "intercom" my coworkers and not worry about long distance or the like.

Given better 911 I will most likely switch once it is offered by my cable company.

Not ScottC, but I have used Skype and Vonage. I had to terminate Vonage before I could give it much use and I now rely on my cell phone. I think if I made more calls, Vonage would be a great option. I think the trouble I had was due to a problem with my broadband connection. I work long hours and am rarely in my apartment, or else I would most certainly use Vonage. It's great if you travel internationally.

I have used Skype. The quality with headphones was better than a regular phone! Highly recommended.

fuzz,

Appreciate your swift comments, so Skype and Vonage have similar quality... Thanks.

Should be fine
 

As mentioned before, I'm using Packet8. I've never tried a phone call from the West Coast of the US to the East Coast of the US. However, the quality of calls across the Pacific (from Japan to the US) is better than telephone calls, and equivalent to how I remember telephone calls across the US being.

So I'd imagine for calls across the US, it would be quite good.

Yeah, but it's essentially running my work desk number (out of a VoIP capable PBX) to a softphone on my laptop.

That said, it works like a champ, and I've been doing it since before Vonage was ever available. I'm considering a switch, if for no other reason than to actually have a real telephone (lifting one of the IP Phones from work seems like too much work :) ).

One of my sons' swears by Vonage and gave me a long lecture today about the merits of this system. It works just great for him; not sure, that I am ready to switch. However, I have respect for his opinion, so will consider.

I'm Considering now going with broadvoice.Should I buy the adaptor from them or is there a really good one I should buy?
-howie

I have been using IP phone here in Japan for over 2 years now, it works great and it has saved me 1,000's of dollars in phone fee's. ^ ^

My burglar alarm provider says it won't work with VOIP. Otherwise we would dump Verizon in a heartbeat.

In Toronto I use YAK, a long distance provider that has moved into VOIP. For the first week it was in we had huge problems, calls wouldn't connect, friends couldn't call us, but we were also one of the first to get their service. Now it is as good if not better than Bell.

It is $18.99 a month, which includes 500 outgoing minutes in North America and a bunch of services. Incoming calls are unlimited. We also have hooked up a regular phone to it, which works great as well.

I choose Yak as they have true 911 service on their system, unlike Vonage in Canada. Oh yeah, no Bell phone at all - this is it. We are thinking of getting a cell as a back-up but haven't done it quite yet.