Internet phone....any problems

[ohiominnie]

I received an advertisement for internet phone through the same company that does our cable TV and high speed internet. It's about $39 a month if you also have their TV and internet package.

Right now I'm paying about $53 a month for MCI Neighborhood, but that's before all the taxes and surcharges...which then brings it up to about $72!

For those who have internet phone (digital) or who used to have it....any pros and cons you can give me?

TIA!

 

[mum4jenn]

We are in the process of switching ourselves!! Mediacom is starting the local and long distance with all sorts of features (caller ID,call block,three way, and others) and we will get it for $29.95 a month since we have high speed internet and cable w/HBO. My local with Bellsouth is over $40 a month and AT&T long distance runs about $40 every couple of months. We had been considering Vonage but when this popped up we jumped at it!! We get to keep the same phone number as well.

 

[ellyn2000]

I've had it about 2 months now and we're really happy with it. We have phone/cable/internet with Time Warner Cable. The phone service had every option you could imagine included in the price (caller ID, call waiting, etc...)They also gave a $5 discount on the cable for choosing to have the phone service. The only thing that they remind you of over and over is that if there is no power there is no phone. We keep a cell in the house just in case. I can't imagine changing back. Hope you like it, too.

 

[SalandJeff]

2 potential problems to keep in mind...as the previous poster mentioned, you have no telephone service if you lose power.

More importantly, 911 may not automatically get your information (name, address, telephone number) when you call. So if you cannot tell 911 this info for some reason, you may be in trouble. Check with the provider or your local police.

 

[tink2dw]

I would suggest you look at Vonage! http://www.vonage.com/

At $24.99 for unlimited local and long distance calls, it is cheaper than the cable bundles. It is just $9.99 for a fax line. After all the taxes I pay $40.00 a month for both the local & long distance and fax line.
[I also have a regular local line for 911 and local friends to call]

I never get annoying sales call on the vonage line.

I have had Vonage for several months now with my cable high speed internet.
It works great!! It works even when I'm having the occasional internet connectivity problem. Or shut off my computer.

I love the Vonage website where you can see the calls to your phone or fax numbers. And set up the feature just how you want them to work!!

But the feature I like best is have the voice mail calls sent to my email. I teamed it with my gmail account. Which has the email notifier that pops up a blue box that says you have unread mail and lists them so I can see a missed call. Then I open the email and it's a wave file of the call that repeats the call till I stop it!! So easy to get missed calls and those phone numbers that are rattled off so fast!!!!!! I have them in seconds rather than having to call voice mail enter my code and walk thru their push this push that, till you finally get to your viocemail.

Free Features
911 Dialing
Voicemail Plus
Caller ID with Name
Call Waiting
Call Forwarding
3-Way Calling
In-Network Calls
Take Vonage With You
Area Code Selection
Call Transfer
Click-2-Call
Call Return
Caller ID Block
Repeat Dialing
International Call Block
Ring Lists
Call Hunt

PS. Read how in the wake of Katrina Vonage Stepped Up to help Baton Rouge General Hospital Maintain Communications, helping Doctors receive records, reports and information on patients.
http://www.vonage.com/corporate/press_index.php?PR=2005_08_31_0

 

[Daisy&Donald]

So, how does vonage work? Do you still have a phone line coming into the house or is it through your cable? I have DSL and Dishnetwork, are you still able to get a service like Vonage?

 

[Traveller]

So, how does vonage work? Do you still have a phone line coming into the house or is it through your cable? I have DSL and Dishnetwork, are you still able to get a service like Vonage?

D&D, be careful if your hi-speed is DSL through your local phone provider (i.e. SBC, Verizon, etc.). You will have to have 2 phone lines. Vonage does not tell you upfront (and I found out the hard way) that local phone providers will not support DSL unless you have a phone line with them. Vonage suggests having the DSL line as a "barebones line" (i.e., no long distance or features) and getting another line. If you want to keep your current phone number, switch the DSL to a new second-line line (as cheaply as you can) and port your current home phone to Vonage.

We ended up without hi-speed for weeks as we tried to work this out.

 

[HayGan]

Digital phone service is different from internet phone service. I had Comcast digital phone service prior to joining Vonage. I had no problems with Comcast and it runs through a regular phone line. From the details and price you have given I would guess that you are talking about digital phone service not internet phone service.

An internet based phone service runs through your internet connection and you do lose phone service if your internet connection is down.

 

[Gymbomom]

We were paying $24.99 a month for AOL dial up....
We switched to high speed with our cable company for only $10 more a month....then got AOL piggybacked for $4.99 a month, saved $10.

Then AOL offered VOIP for $24.99, which is a metro line, all long distance free, etc.
Our metro line with SBC is about $80 or more, not including long distance. (ouch!!)
So we have gone to that, and we LOVE it!! I am really pleased.
Savings of $50 a month.

Then we cut down on our cell phone as we don't need long distance from that anymore.
Savings of $50 a month.

Total savings of $110 a month....for better service than we were receving!!!

 

[ibleedblue]

So, how does vonage work? Do you still have a phone line coming into the house or is it through your cable? I have DSL and Dishnetwork, are you still able to get a service like Vonage?

Vonage works over your high speed internet connection. No phone lines coming into the house are required. I've been with them for over a year and a half with zero complaints. Just from what I've heard, most of the people who complain about or don't like VoIP are on DSL, so your experience may vary. We pay $27 and some change each month for unlimited local and long distance to the US and Canada. Works out great for us since our last 'real' phone bill was over $80.

 

[Diana Lyn]

We have internet phone through Time Warner Cable. We also have Road Runner/Digital Cable/DVR package through them so we get a discount for having every option. I love digital phone....the unlimited long distance is great, it includes call waiting and caller id. It's around 29.95 for us. The only con is we don't have a phone if we lose power. We both have cell phones, so it's really a non-issue with us, if there was an emergency, we'd still have a phone. And our phone does have the 911 location service, I think many companies offer it now.

 

[Gymbomom]

I think we have 911, they gave us a whole thing talking about it.
But, we also have 2 cell phones in our house.

 

[RangerPooh]

We switched over to Vonage in August and hate it!!! There is always a long lag time between what you say and what the other person hears that people get very frustrated talking to you because you can't hear them/they can't hear you. Plus it's always choppy, cutting up every few words like static. But the weathers been great and we've had a good internet connection, and the phones are fairly new so no clue why the lousy service.

Plus there were no numbers for our part of the state so we have a long distance number. Which is fine for our families because it's local for them, but people here aren't as happy. The biggest downer, we were informed that in our area we can not call 911 via our phones. We have almost all together stopped using the landline phone and switched to our cells.

 

[SalandJeff]

Just a reminder on calling 911 from your cell phone...the call may only go to your state police. Since a cell phone is theoretically traveling and using the closest cell tower, there is no way to have it go to your local 911 center. So you will have to be able to tell them where you are and what local police, fire, or ambulance you might need.

 

[mum4jenn]

I am glad then that we did not go with Vonage!!

I talked to the Mediacom guy last night in fact to complete our order. We will have free local AND long distance calls along with our regular access to 911 and our address will show up just like regular. The only downside is when cable goes out then we will not have phone service. Also many features like call block,3 way calling, caller ID, and several others are included in the price. Most of the features will not ever be used but since they are free....hey!!

 

[powellrj]

DS has Vonage and loves it! He is in the military and keeps a local number for home for Vonage and buys cell phones for where he is stationed. The only issue he has ever had was when he was downloading and talking at the sametime in Germany. Since he lives in the states, he hasn't had that problem. It maybe the area you are in.

 

[Daisy&Donald]

Thanks Traveller for the good information on Vonage. I don't think I will be
signing on. We are trying to cut our bills not add another with more phone lines
and it sounds like more problems.

 

[ibleedblue]

We switched over to Vonage in August and hate it!!! There is always a long lag time between what you say and what the other person hears that people get very frustrated talking to you because you can't hear them/they can't hear you. Plus it's always choppy, cutting up every few words like static. But the weathers been great and we've had a good internet connection, and the phones are fairly new so no clue why the lousy service.

The problem is likely not with Vonage, but with your internet provider. The best way to check is to go to DSL reports http://www.dslreports.com/stest and run a speed test on your connection. This will let you know if you're having trouble with dropped packets which are a common cause of choppiness and cutting out. Also the way you have everything hooked up makes a difference. Are you using a router? If so you have to give priority to the port the vonage TA is hooked to. Check out www.vonage-forum.com or the discussion group at www.voiptalk.us and maybe you can get some help there.

 

[jeancbpugh]

The only con is we don't have a phone if we lose power. We both have cell phones, so it's really a non-issue with us, if there was an emergency, we'd still have a phone. And our phone does have the 911 location service, I think many companies offer it now.

If the power goes out for several days, how will you charge your cell phones?

 

[ibleedblue]

If the power goes out for several days, how will you charge your cell phones?

In the car? That's what I've done in the past when traveling and I forget my charger.