VOIP Phone service

Kant

Anybody using VOIP Phone service from [Vonage](http://www.vonage.com/index.php
/)[[^](http://www.vonage.com/index.php
/)] or Lingo[^]? I want to move my phone line to VOIP but little bit hesitant about it. Any suggestions?
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is husband.
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Brian Delahunty

Just use Skype. No need to have a phone line for anything other then your internet connection then. It's cheap and it works perfectly fine. Regards, Brian Dela :-) Now Bloging![^]

Kant

Brian Delahunty wrote: Just use Skype. I read the review somewhere about it and I downloaded it, but I haven't tried it. But my majoritry of the calls are to India. So I need a phone service instead of calling via computer.
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is husband.
This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".

Brian Delahunty

You do realise that you can call almost any phone from your PC using Skype? When Ulla went back to Germany for Christmas and my network was down, she was able to ring my mobile from her laptop for around half the price of using her German landline. I use Skype to ring my family (they wouldn't have a clue how to turn on a computer, never mind use Skype) and it's cheaper then using my mobile to ring them. The feature of skype is actually called SkypeOut and all the costs are here: http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/all_rates.html[^]. The cost to ring numbers in India from your PC using Skype is €0.151 which is a little expensive compared to some things such as ringing irish numbers for €0.017 but perhaps €0.151 is cheaper then using a telco where you are. Skype is damn cool. Regards, Brian Dela :-) Now Bloging![^]

Gary Thom

I've been using Vonage for over a year (I have Time-Warner Road-Runner broadband connection) and have had no problems (once I had the firewall set correctly etc.) The only issue I've had was when I first got it and was following the self install, the instructions wanted me to put the adapter between the modem and my router, this cause a problem as the adapter blocked port 80 and hid my web-site. Putting the adapter inside the router/firewall needed a couple of calls to Vonage, but got it sorted and have had no problems since. The are cheap (including my international calls which are extra) I pay about $32 per month, way less than I used to pay Verizon. So I have more :beer: money :-D Gary In Scotland, there is no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes. - Billy Connolly

wrykyn

I use a thing called dialpad. It works well. "One of the Georges," said Psmith, "I forget which, once said that a certain number of hours' sleep a day--I cannot recall for the moment how many--made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory."

Roger Wright

I haven't tried SkypeOut yet, but it's tempting. The rate for calling a landline in the US is much less than any cell or POTS calling rate. At $.02 a minute it beats the $.20 (SprintPCS) or $.06 (Citizens Communications) rate just to call my mother 250 miles away. Crazier still, to call a hotel across the river costs $2.50 via landline, even though I can just as easily tie a note to a rock and throw it from shore to the hotel. X| "If it's Snowbird season, why can't we shoot them?" - Overheard in a bar in Bullhead City

Brian Delahunty

The quality is excellent but I assume that it would degrade the lower your bandwidth. I'm on a Wireless Network that covers much of the south east of Ireland and I get speeds just over standard DSL and there is very rarely a noticeable lag. You should give it a go. Regards, Brian Dela :-) Now Bloging![^]

THECPrgrmr

I have Vonage and have had it for about a year. I am thoroughly enjoying the service. My wife's family lives in Canada and it doesn't cost me anything more than the monthly fee of only $25 to call there. Plus she has family in Switzerland and only costs about 3 cents to there. I can plug the box into any phone outlet in the house, then I've got phone service at any jack in the house. Let me know if you want to sign up, I will refer you. You will get a free month of service, plus I will too. It is a win/win situation all around. cmcdavid@hotmail.com Thanks, Chris

Kant

My question is should I keep the SBC Phone service for month or two then cancel the service only when I satisfy with Vonage? If I decide to keep the phone service, Can both phone services work at the same time? :^) Go ahead and send the referral to me. I will decide on the service by end of this week.
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is husband.
This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".

Kant

Ramanan Sivan wrote: I use a thing called dialpad. I used it during the dotcom era.
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is husband.
This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".

wrykyn

Looks like they survived the dotcom bust :) "One of the Georges," said Psmith, "I forget which, once said that a certain number of hours' sleep a day--I cannot recall for the moment how many--made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory."

markstu

I went with a provider called SunRocket a couple of months ago. We've been very pleased so far. I got in before they were offering this deal, but I think now you can pay for the full year up front and it comes out to like $17/month. That includes unlimited national calling and a pretty good allowance of international minutes per month. They offer that deal risk free, so if you do not like it you can get out immediately and not be stuck.

vprashu

I have been using Vonage for a few months now. The sound quality is better than my old Verizon. The main reason I chose Vonage over Lingo was that it was cheaper to Bangalore. You can get rid of your land line. Install was a snap prashu

TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

I've been using Vonage for over a year now and I am very pleased. So have several people in my neighborhood, and they are very pleased too. Verizon and AT&T are also offering very similar services. Packet8 is another service you can use. The only caveat is if you have wireless broadband, the service can be very "choppy" because of the protocol (UDP) used for the realtime voice sampling. Since UDP doesn't gaurantee delivery, those packets, when/if they arrive will be dropped if they're out of sequence. Hence the voice will "stutter", sometimes to the point of being extremely unintelligable. But that is very rare. The other main thing I like about VOIP (at least with vonage) is the ability to take the adapter box anywhere there is an internet connection and VOILA! you have a phone. So, when you go overseas, you can bring your "home" phone with you and your friends/family can call you for free. links:

markstu

International calling was def one thing I had to consider. The reason I chose Sunrocket is because they seemed to have a good allowance of international minutes per month before the charges set in. And the rates were competitive, if not better, anyway.

markstu

Has anyone heard anything about the city-wide wifi that some cities are looking into. I think I read that Philly may be looking into it first. I wonder how this will affect voip and if it will allow more people to get hooked up to it.