VOIP?

Any of you guys using VOIP as your primary home or business phone?

Looking for pros and cons...mostly cons if there are any.

Business, via AT&T. Absolutely no difference in service. The better connected one is, the better the quality of service, though.

My brother in law also had VOIP for his home and business. I didn't notice any difference there either.

Do you know about the Wiki: voip-info.org?

The routing equipment I recommend is m0n0wall on a PC or higher-end Sokeris (What I use), or a Linksys WRT54G.

What I am using is Skype and a soft phone.

A soft phone is a software program that allows you to dial others by using a pop up window on your computer screen.

With Skype you can talk to others who have installed Skype on their computers for free or you can buy call out credits (like a phone card) to place calls to regular phone users or buy incoming service so regular phone users can call you.

You cannot use Skype for a fax so it isn't used for business very much.

There are many other Voice over internet protocol services that use a connection box to plug your regular home or business phone into your high speed internet service. You can't tell the difference from regular land line phone service except that some companies don't connect you to 911 emergencies service. I think that 911 is being offered by more and more companies now though.

Thanks guys!

I'm looking at going with Vonage. I have a Linksys WCG200 wireless cable gateway and can get a wireless adapter for the phone that will be free after rebates. What I'd save on my phone bill will pay for my cable internet.

I've had SunRocket VOIP for over a year. I am on their annual deal for $199 ($16.58/month) and when I signed up I got two free Uniden cordless phones that I still use. Call quality is good, no one even realizes its voip unless I tell them.

The good thing for noobs is that there is no activation or cancellation fee like Vonage has and the equivalent Vonage plan is somewhere around $27/month. I would defintely recommend considering it instead.

I wonder if my Skype phone number is transferable?
It's got an Atlanta area code.

You know how they make cell phone companies allow you to keep your number.

Wow, big numbers. Do you also have internet service with SunRocket or is that included in the fee you listed?

I pay an additional 5 euro ($6) as a flat fee per month for domestic calls, but I also get my internet from them and some digital television services (amongst other things full live coverage of our national soccer league), overal for 55 euro a month. Total bandwidth is upto 20 Mbit (I actually get 14Mbit, that was measured by the provider), which includes the tv and the phone services.

You provide your own broadband connection...in my case it is cable with a 6 Mbps/384 Kbps connection.

What I am going to save on my phone bill now pays for my internet connection...awesome!

Well, if it's $16 just for that, you should be able to get even a better deal. Is your broadband provider dealing in VOIP by any chance? At this moment, at least where I live, "triple play" deals can be quite profitable. Triple as in tv, phone, internet.

Yeah, Concast is a rip off too... I already pay like $110 / mo for CATV and Internet (6 Mb / 768 kb I believe) and they want another $40 for phone service!

BASTAGES!!!

As far as I have read SunRocket is by far the most affordable. Most of the large corporate VOIPs/Digital phones are still up above the $25 mark.

I know people who use their signature line for faxes and others place it in their parent's area codes so that it is only a local call for them. One small thing that is nice is that the $199 deal is it is actually $16.58 per month. They don't add on any charges or taxes. When I looked at Packet8 they have weird fees for e911 service and local taxes and it starts to inflate the prices above what you initially expected.

_WW_ you sign up already?

Erm...how much is a gallon of gas where you live?

Sure thing...I might even have a question or two for ya...I'm the type that gets confused if things are any more complicated than a wheelbarrow.

I never have that not even when I'm looking at a digital tv broadcast. Then again my settop box (tv) and my phone are not used through the wan, there is separate cable going to the settop box, and my dect phone uses its own transmitter and the base station is cabled to the router.

yeah but, have u tried to use ur VOIP when ur upstream is going full blast? typically things like digital tv broadcasts and downloading use very little upstream.

i've always got summin' going on w/ bit torrent.

or are u one of those lucky dutch fellows with 10mbit fiber and what not?

I've a 14Mb down/1 Mb up adsl2 link, coming in over a regular phoneline but our phonelines are not like the run of the mill phonelines you see hanging around in the US. Around here we have all our lines below ground, we don't have a rocky soil here, muddy is a more appropriate description.

Was actually sold to me as a "up to 20Mb" down link, but the performance varies with the distance the signal has to travel over the phoneline. 14Mb/s is pretty good.

A few dutch cities now have fiber optics going into the home, they got 100Mb synchronous 8O

I usually end-up paying ~$50 bucks for my net access. The speed is great, Mbits download/upload (Something like E1, I think) and I'm connected (for free) to a giant LAN (the whole town basically) but I have to pay per Mb downstream for Internet access. :?

It totally sucks - there are much better deals, just not where I live (yet). The whole thing is still in the development stage in Russia - large consolidation hasn't happened yet and you're sometimes at the mercy of your local telco.

The upside is that I pay ~$1.5 for (I chose basic) cable. 40-50 channels. Don't watch them really, but at that price...

I have the WRT54G wireless and it works just spiffily with SR. Should be good to go.

Any feedback yet?

You need to get a ring for your teenager:

"Stay off the pole!" "Stay off the pole!"

Just a subtle reminder...

(oops. Probably should stop skipping between things so much when I type)

I think I'm gonna have to get it hooked up... Save a couple of bucks... Hell, if I gave up smoking to save a few bucks, I can put up with a different sound on the phone! 8)

Cool... Too bad I missed the two year deal, but I'm still gonna save a boat load of money... I will call them soon and see what I can get out of them...

Website lists 1 year and a free phone for $199.

Another 15 months for $199 through tomorrow.

I'm gonna sign up tonight.

Kickass... I'll keep looking...

And with my $3 in free international calling each month, I'll start calling and harassing all those English Bastages!

RobD, Tomsmart, and BummerBill, I'm comin' for ya!

(I know I forgot a few, but that's a good start).

"Hello sir! Do you have Prince Albert in a Can?"

Horribly sorry mate... Forgot about that one...

Besides, you are a far superior man to either of those two poohstains!

I think that your worn out old boots are smarter than those two combined!
[/Now it's getting a little deep, but who's gonna stop us?!?]

Hell, they aren't fit to clean Auburn's toilet!