PhoneGnome? VoIP? Anyone know about these?

[Disney Debbie]

I was looking into VoIP and found the PhoneGnome. It sounds like a really good idea especially now that DD's boyfriend is in Germany. Has anyone else used this or VoIP in general? Please share experiences!

 

[nativetxn]

Sorry, I've never used this

 

[jsmith]

Hmmm-used to work for one of the major VOIP providers and used another one some while DH was playing in the sand-no specific experience with GnomePhone

Pros-cheap, as reliable as traditional phone companies. You can have a number from anywhere-not locked into a "local"number

cons-no 911 service,quality can be good or bad-it runs over the internet so if the net is busy your call quality can be poor especailly if data packets get "lost". If your internet ISP goes down so do your phones-same with the router or modem. Not terribly secure-

i would use VOIP for the cost effective ness but would keep a regular land line for certain local calls like emergency services

 

[powellrj]

PM sent

 

[Disney Debbie]

The PhoneGnome is supposed to be hooked up to your regular line - so it doesn't eliminate land lines or 911 access. If the person you are calling also geta a PhoneGnome it's a free call.

It just sounds too good to be true - so that makes me nervous!

 

[Charade]

It looks like it still requires broadband internet service such as DSL or cable modem but it appears to work in conjunction with your existing phone service. Hence the ability to make 911 calls.

But if you have high speed internet on both ends (here and Germany) it looks like a great deal as long as the connection is reliable and clear.

 

[Charade]

http://www.phonegnome.com/setup.html

http://www.phonegnome.com/faq.html

 

[Kermit]

My sister has VOIP. She has a different service, though, that doesn't use a regular land line at all.

The company she uses does something that registers her address with 911 so that if they ever call 911 from their number, they know where to go.

The service she has is generally reliable. There is a spot in her house where she can't use her phone at all. And sometimes we will get disconnect or there will be a lot of crackling on her end. I'd say it works completely fine about 85-90% of the time. One quirky thing that it does is that it sends her calls to Privacy Director some of the time. Most of the time she calls, her name and number show up on Caller ID. But then some of the time she has to announce her name to Privacy Director, then it calls me and I have to press 1 to accept the call. It's very odd. She'll call and have it act fine, and then she'll think of something else to tell me right after we hang up, and it goes to Privacy Director.

I could get the same service as my sister and save quite a bit of money, but I haven't yet because hers is a little quirky. We may end up doing it, but we're planning on moving in a few months, so we'll probably wait until then. I'll definitely make sure that our cells get a good signal at our new house before we switch. VOIP is less reliable than landlines, so I wouldn't want that to be my only option.

 

[aengus]

I know a few people who use a similar service. They eliminated land lines but do keep one cellular as their backup plan. It is reliable MOST of the time and they have that cell phone in an emergency if the VOIP doesnt work. If you shop around you can get a cheap cellular service and a voip service for less than the cost of land line providers.