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Beyond cheaper prices, I've had a hard time justifying getting VOIP for my home. So does anyone have any experience - pros and cons with different providers?
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I have vonage. 27bucks total, w/ voicemail and email notification of calls, plus all the bells and wistles that verizon wants to nickle and dime you for. The same service was 75bucks from them just for local calls.
Plus, you can turn in your friends and neighbors, and if they sign up you get two moths free~
I've unplugged the phone line from my house, tapped in to the line in my garage, and plugged the router right in there. Now all the phone jacks in the house are hot.
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I've heard people complain about Vonage line quality.
Sounds pretty complicated...I've unplugged the phone line from my house, tapped in to the line in my garage, and plugged the router right in there. Now all the phone jacks in the house are hot.Comment
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Hey Juju --
We have a vonage line for all our outgoing calls, and my experience has been very, very positive. But it's totally dependent on your net connection. We have a business DSL line for internet -- not sure what the throughputs are anymore -- but we use it for all our email/websurfing and run an FTP server off it. Under full load we do hear noise and signal breakup, but it takes a rare combination of two users downloading files from the FTP at the same time. Anyway, not a huge deal for the cost savings.
There was a post on Slashdot a couple weeks back about Comcast blocking ports used by Vonage's equipment, so that's another thing to be wary of depending on who your net provider is.
ShaunShaunDonComment
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What about that 911 thing?Comment
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Yeah I read that. Comcast does it purposely but I gather you can open your conenction beyond the 10-way call limit. I guess you would use this if you were an insanely mad conference caller.There was a post on Slashdot a couple weeks back about Comcast blocking ports used by Vonage's equipment,Comment
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at least over here (germany) they got it working somehowOriginally posted by cpnichols
usually they use the location you registered your voip account for and submit that to the emergency call central
however, it won't help you if you took your account with you when moving (which is a great thing - i could get called in australia or anywhere else i have a good internet connection with the caller only paying a call to germany)
btw: if you use routers with quality of service (qos) you can reserve bandwidth for the voip traffic
so normal traffic shouldn't interfere with it
those are more expensive thoughComment
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Well, for me the quality is equal to or better than land line...you can adjust the 'quality' based on bandwidth from the online settings manager.Originally posted by jujubee
As for how I hooked it up in my house, I just did it this way because I moved all of my networking out of the living area (wireless).
edit. the 911 thing is as described above- it's routed to the nearest 911 location to the address you give them as your home. Right now it's my understanding that you'll still need to give your location in an emergency, so this could be a downside, but I have a cell phone as well if I needed it...
One definate thing to consider is that if your connection is down...you've got no phone.
e.Comment
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What about if the power goes out form let's say an earthquake?Comment
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question: would normal land lines survive earthquakes?
additionally, i think that most phones won't work without power nowadays anyway (unlike the older ones which got their power from the phone line)
btw: it could get worse:
say you use triple play (new buzzword i learned from watching the cebit casts yesterday)
you get tv, internet + phone (voip) using your tv cable
if something breaks - no tv, internet, phone (excluding cellulars)Comment
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If that happens, your land line most likely will go down as well. A few months ago, Manhattan Beach (a dense, affluent area of Los Angeles for those who don't know) had no telephone service, not even 911, because a power outage caused Verizon's systems to go offline for that area. Not even cellphone users could place calls. This went on for almost an entire day after power was restored.Originally posted by cpnichols
In the event of a catastrophe, like an earthquake, or hurricane, don't expect any telephone services whatsoever. What few circuits that may be operational will most likely be swamped with people trying to call from out of the area (friends and families of those affected trying to make contact) or emergency personel use.
When the famous Northridge earthquake happened in LA in the early 1990's, I was calling from out of state, and couldn't get a connection to anything in San Diego (which was completely unaffected) because all the circuits connecting in and out of California were in use.Comment
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I hear you... I usually get phones that still work without central power (phone lines have their own power). Either a none-cordless or one with a bases that works of batteries during an outage...
But you are right... I was in a major flood in Houston and nothing worked
I do have a bit of that fear... I want my phone in my phone jack...
BTW... what does vontage charge for international? I call belgium and france a lot.Comment
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I gather Comcast provides a backup emergency power unit that runs 8 hours in case of a blackout. It's also my understanding (or misunderstanding) that it is a law for VOIP providers to enable access to 911 services. Not sure if that has been worked out.Comment
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Verizon has backup generators and batteries as well... didn't helpOriginally posted by jujubee
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You guys have me interested now..
Let me ask you some more questions... When I get my regular phone bill, there are all these extra taxes on there... so my 29.99 basic service ends up being more like 40. Same is true with my cell phone...
What is the actual cost after taxes on vonage's 24.99 plan? for CA residentsComment
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