V.O.I.P. Phone Service

[FROG MAN]

Is anybody using a V.O.I.P. Phone service to replace your traditional land line? I downgraded my land line service to 911 dial out only though incoming calls are received. This saved me about $50 a month. We use cell phones for dial out and I'm testing V.O.I.P. as a backup source through the internet.

[BuddyRich]

We have a couple of offices connected using voip. As long as you have a decent ISP you should be fine.

[friesman]

My ISP is using VOIP and I switched from the telco a couple of years ago saving lots of bucks monthly, but keep in mind if the power goes down you may not have a phone depending how things are set up with your supplier, mine uses a UPS Battery box to keep my phone up in case of a 2 hour outage.

We made the change at work and quality is great, and features are better, with a cost savings, but from administrative point of view it costs us a lot of time.

 

Brian

[friesman]

I know that Rocket uses SKype to keep in touch with a lot of us, and the quality of his calls are always good when he calls me.

 

Brian

[dray]

I know that Rocket uses SKype to keep in touch with a lot of us, and the quality of his calls are always good when he calls me.

 

Brian

 

yep sounds like he is sitting right next to ya on the couch:thumbsup2:

[FROG MAN]

Thats what I'm using as a backup is Skype.My brother is flying out this week to the Phillipines and we will stay in contact with skypes free video chat service. Their unlimited calling plan to a land line or mobile is a great deal US and Canada for $2.99 a month.This is a great supplement to my cell service.Like I said I saved $50 a month by downgrading my landline service last spring.

[Squidley]

yep sounds like he is sitting right next to ya on the couch:thumbsup2:

 

 

Oh man that is a scary thought

[V7Goose]

Yes, I have been using Vonage for at least six years - their prices have gone up, tho, and I have to argue with them every year to get a decent price for the next 12 months. Service has been perfect, but I am ticked off at their price games. Been looking at alternatives too. Magic jack has its problems, but I still might switch to them if I don't go with Skype. My main focus is on being able to use the computer for Fax and being able to have multiple phones throughout the house, just like with POTS (plain old telephone service). Vonage is the only one that I know of that does that very easily for the home user.

Goose

[Flyinfool]

I also have had Vonage since they came out.

The included features are second to none.

When I call them there is an American sounding voice on the phone that can answer my questions.

My GF just made a call to Hungary when there was a death in the family and talked for a little over a half hour for $2.15.

My cable provider has its own power so they usually stay up during power outages (unless of course the tree that took out power also takes down the cable wire).

I can just use the 12 batteries from my camper to keep all of the modems up and running for days.

[RandyR]

I'm using Yahoo VOIP for outgoing telephone calls from my computer. I generally have good voice quality.

 

My land-line home phone is used for incoming calls only (and 911) and has DSL service on it.

 

I have a TracFone cell phone for calls away from home.

 

I'm generally happy with the Yahoo. One feature Skype has that I like is the ability to send the home phone number in caller-ID, so I may switch to Skype when I use up my pre-paid minutes with Yahoo.

 

I'm nervous that the price for use of VOIP may be going up. The recent US FCC regulations to the internet may result in the internet providers and fiber owners being able to charge the VOIP application providers more money. Beware of the government passing new regulations to protect the consumer...

 

BTW. I just bought additional time for my pay-as-you-go TracFone cell phone. For $150 I got 2 years of usage and 1050 minutes added to the 300 minutes of rollover I still had on the phone. So, its costing me $6/month for 2 years with 60 minutes per month of cell phone time. Pretty cheap, I think, and perfect for the very limited cellphone use I have. The TracFone works more places than the T-Mobile service I replaced.

[ArcsSparks]

a company called 8x8 has been my voip for about 6 years about 30 a month for every thing I like 'em but there is less and less need for that phone (cells are working fine for our needs)

BTW got rid of T-moblie (sorry provider) and went to Boost (sprint network) 50 a month unlimited every thing and with shrinkage amount goes down every 6 mouths until you're at 35 and will stay there forever

[Sylvester]

A year and a half ago I decided to try the Magic Jack with my DSL. I still have it and it is great. I have no landline and don't need it. The Jack does it all and it has always been crystal clear. For $20 a year it can't be beat and I can call anywhere in continental USA or Canada. My

 

[Thom]

I use Google voice and google chat , both are free , With google voice I have 1 ph. # and all my phones ring when i get a call and transfers to the phone that i pick up . when i buy a new cell phone , i just add the # to my acct. and it will ring when somebody calls my google phone # . I hate the hoops i have to jump through to keep my phone # every time i buy a new cell phone or change cell companys . at home I use the a headset or the the mic and speaker on my puter to make or receive calls and it has more options than land lines companys like if i answer the cell , i can transfer it to any phone by hitting 1 , i have voice mail and all voice mail is sent to my email transcribed or i can here it to . i can screen calls , send calls to spam and a lot more ! I started using Google Voice when it was Beta a few years back and not had a land line since . I tryed magic jack for 2 years , it sux ! most cell phones have a app. for Google voice . for video call I use google chat that is on my email acct , i can also make phone calls through my email acct. too at work i plug my headset into the office puter make a call and the person on the other side caller ID reads I am on my cell phone or house phone , all free . if anybody wants to check it out call me , my # is listed here and my puter ip is clear wire wireless . I will never pay for a V.O.I.P.

[FROG MAN]

My concern is how 911 calls are routed? I''m currently paying taxes and (5) 911 fee's. 1 for the pots land line and 4 lines on our family cell plan.Thats a chunk of money though priceless if you need to use the service.

 

911 calls through a landline receive ANI information from the phone company to the 911 center. This triggers a Automatic Location Info to be displayed on their data or mapping monitors for quick response with Law,Fire, and Ems Responders.Cells phone rely on signal triangulation and gps tracking. Try getting a gps lock inside your house while using a cell phone to make a 911 call. VOIP phone systems may not provide 911 service. The ones that do would need the ALI data sent to the 911 center data base.I doubt that a 911 center would store data records for systems not paying a 911 fee.

 

My land line contract is up in April and I could totally downgrade it to dsl only but I'm watching this 911 call routing thing.Our 911 responders take about 20 minutes to arrive so all the help they can get with info is critical.

[JerryT]

My voip is through ooma. Had it a couple of years now and works fine. Not sure on how 911 works, but seems to have all the features. You might check ooma.com to find more info. Had to purchase the original box (best buy)and pay an additional setup fee of I think $20 to keep our original phone number. Other then that, no annual fees. Only issue is sending faxes have to add a pause. Once you figure that out, no issues. If you have a decent internet connection, not sure why anyone would also pay for a land line when you can have it basically for free.

[RandyR]

I downgraded my land line to DSL only 2 years ago. However, 911 is still mandatory, and part of my monthly landline bill. So, I can place 911 calls on it.

 

Actually, I can place any outbound call on my land line still. But not having a voice contract means I pay through the nose. Think pay phone rates....

 

I placed an answering machine with 2 wireless handsets on my landline, in addition to the DSL splitter to my router. I can receive inbound calls at no charge (just like always in the past). If I'm not here to pick it up, then it goes to my answering machine.

 

When I want to call back I use my much cheaper VOIP if at home or my cell phone if on the road. My answering machine has a record feature that I can access (at no charge) from my cell phone remotely if I want to get messages on the road.

 

It seems to work ok.

 

I haven't tried VOIP while travelling with my laptop yet, but I'll do that when riding season is back in bloom.

 

I've placed 2 or 3 911 calls with a cell phone over the 5 years or so I've had one. I have always gotten the appropriate local 911 response.

[FROG MAN]

I'm 11 miles from out closest cell tower. I use a directional beam antenna hooked to my home cell amplifier system. This system is linked via bluetooth to my home phone system. I have one of these at my home and our camp as I am on call 24/7 and require immediate phone service.

 

Being in rural WV it's easy to get into cell towers in adjacent counties as you travel up mountains and hills,ridgetops,etc. Place a 911 call from there and you will probably ring a center in another county which they will transfer to the county your in taking up time. Also there is a time delay in verbally giving your location info as many systems are still upgrading E911 equipment.

[Aimhigh]

We tried magicjack a couple yrs ago, but, I guess because we have to use satellite internet, calls were so delayed both ways that a conversation was impossible.

[ediddy]

I switched to voip at my office two years ago. It is with a local company that is using the fiber optic lines of our local utility. It has been fine so far. It's amazing at the options you have with voip that you don't have with a land line.

[Sylvester]

We tried magicjack a couple yrs ago, but, I guess because we have to use satellite internet, calls were so delayed both ways that a conversation was impossible.

 

They don't work well with satellite as I found out a few years back, but when dsl became available I had it run to my house. Then I got the magic jack back and it works very well for me. And my computer is much faster than with Hughs net.

 

[Rocket]

Oh man that is a scary thought

 

 

Brad, please pass the cheesecake....

 

:rotf:

[Blackjack]

I used Vonage for over 5 years and was always happy with the service. Eventually, though, I became very unhappy with the taxes/fees that were being added, just as if they were a regular phone company. Towards the end of my time with them the nuisance fees were almost $15 monthly.

 

I switched to www.voipo.com earlier this year and have been very satisfied with their features and service, which I use every day without incident (and, yes, I'm on the phone a lot of the time!). Also, at no additional expense, I was able to download a third-party virtual phone that allows me to use the service right on my desktop or laptop, which is yet another convenience.

 

Habib the Telephonous

[Condor]

I just read all these posts and I have a head ache.... Whew!! Talk about confusing. WE're old school. We have a service bundle from our local ISP. 2 phone lines hooked up to 3 and 2 phone wireless handsets, plus fiber optic broad band, and HDTV. Costs us about $125 per month. The phone lines are $10 bucks ea. We also have 3 lo-tech family plan cell phones.. If we lose power I drag out the Honda EU2000 generator...

[FROG MAN]

I been working for 30 years as an electronic tech and I still feel old school. VOIP is the future for everyone and the power of the internet and wireless networks makes it possible. One thing is for sure the 50 bucks a month I pay for high speed dsl saves me easy $1000 plus a year in purchasing goods and services online.

[atlm]

We switched to Vonage in 2005, after we got our first AT&T phone bill.

 

Earlier this year, after 5 years of Vonage raising their rates, we switched to voipo. $108 a year including everything. And their employees and support are all in the US, which just adds to the goodness.

 

Sounds like we and Blackjack were moving to the same carriers at the same time!