Anyone using Voice over the internet protocol?

[Lyrical]

Anyone using Voip in their personal homes? I see their is a thread that is a year old.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/gener...highlight=voip

Voip was still in the early market back then. I am wondering, since then, are there any major providers of Voip that are worthwhile and with good customer service? I was looking at Vonage until I saw the above thread. My main questions are:

1: Does your service try to "lock" you in to only using their hardware? Also, do they charge extra for more hardware?

2: Is the monthly fee they charge the real one? Or is it like the phone companies where the actual rate is double the advertised one (through the use of extra fees and usage charges)?

3: How is the sound quality? A friend of mine calls me on Vonage, and some times it would be better if we were talking through two cans and a string, than over Voip.

4: Is the service pretty stable? Or are there flat out times you can't use it when you want?

5: How is the customer service?

6: Has Vonage gotten any better in the areas of extra charges and CS?

Thanks in advance. I'd rather go off of info of people that are actually using it, rather than some internet columnist who is getting paid on the side to pump up one Voip product over the other.

[Eomer]

I believe my godparents tried VOIP for about a month (not sure who it was with, whether it was Shaw the local cable company or Vonage or someone else) and went back to a regular phone line. Apparently it was nothing but a pain in the ass.

But then my aunt in Calgary apparently has moved over to it (again not sure with who), and it's worked excellent for them.

So I guess it's still a very buyer beware market.

[Lenaldo]

I worked for a company for awhile doing TS for VOIP. It is actually a really cool idea and works great if you have a decent cable connection. Big problems include no 911 service and no service without power, but with cell phones its not that big of a concern.

Biggest issue is latency. If your cable provider has latency issues in your area you will have a HORRID time with service. Calls will drop and often times u will pick up the phone and it will be dead although your internet appears to be working fine.

It has a built in QoS so you dont have to worry about it droping due to heavy porn dling....

There are some cool features like virtual numbers and changing ur callerid to display whatever you want(for instance on x-mas i set up one of the phones at work to say "Santa Clause" on peoples callerid and then called my gf to wish her a marry xmas).

I think its a great concept, but its just not that reliable. With cellphones it is a lot more practicle than it would have been 10 yrs ago... but i never see it be as reliable as a normal lan=line and because of that a lot of people wont want to mess with it. Imagine when your cable interent goes down and you cant call comcast to bitch about it.....

[GrobbeeTrull]

I've still yet to have any problems with my phone, and have the TimeWarner VoIP service they offer.

No hidden fees, nothing, except as mentioned no 911 if the power goes out. Clarity is great calling to anyone else (home phone -> cell, home phone -> non voip, etc) and things still are good.

I enjoy it.

[TheGoat]

Been using AOL's VoIP for the last 6 months. Can't comment on charges because they are giving it to me for free for beta testing some app they are developing. I suspect once AOL starts charging I'll shop around and compare it with Vonage and such.

For the most part, it works well. Once in awhile there will be a terrible delay (especially when talking to punjabbers in India while inquiring about my credit card) but for the most part it's not noticeable. The router has a tendency to lose synch and requires reboots about once every day or two. Biggest pain is reconfirming my location after each reboot for 911.

Naturally when the cable goes down there's no phone. Luckily the cable company is very good about restoring service during outages. Also the cable's only been down perhaps three times in the last 6 months, never for more than 4 hours. I do like being able to hear voicemails from my web browser, that's certainly a nifty feature.

I did have to call 911 for my dad a few months ago when he came over to visit and collapsed, and other than me forgetting the phone number and having the dispatcher verify the number, they still picked up the phone after one ring and had the ambulance at the house within 4 minutes

[Lyrical]

Thanks for the info. I think I will try it out, but I detest AOL with a passion. Having been a past customer of theirs, in general I don't like how they treat customers. I think now it is only a matter of picking a service, while avoiding getting extra charges on equipment, etc. I don't want to use anyone's "special" equipment, since to businesspeople, they can use "lock in" to mess with you. In short, buy a bunch of their equipment, and you feel like you don't want to switch services. So they can give you crappy customer service or jack up the fees (up to a certain point).

I can't see paying the type of money a regular phone bill is anymore. We call people less, and the bill keeps going up and up.

[TheGoat]

Yeah I wouldn't recommend going with AOL if you have to pay for the service. I don't know if the problems I am experiencing (had to reboot router again about 30 minutes ago) are native to AOL only. But if they are AOL only, I will probably end up going with Vonage because it is nice taking your router whereever you go and having "home" phone capabilities.

[Vekruul Shuth]

I have been using Vonage for the last 2 years.

I have never had issues with it, ever. They recently (see last 6 months) have sent information out on getting your 911 working. THINK there was a class action lawsuit against them. Forcing em to to get that shit working fast.

You do need a rock solid connection though.

29 bucks a month...Unlimited calling is tough to beat. I even keep itthough we have a few cell phones in the house.

[Kallian]

Hmm, I recently read that the FCC imposed a September 2005 deadline on VoIP providers that requires them to provide 911 access.

[Vorph]

The deadline was for them to make sure that all their customers have read about the limitations of E911 service. Not sure exactly what those limitations are, beyond it not working if cable or power is out, but the actual E911 service should've been in place everywhere long before 9/05. The important part is that they can get your name and address now when you dial 911 from a VoIP phone.

Time Warner VoIP seems to be very high quality, based on talking on the phone with people who have the service. My parents are getting it at their house this month, since it's a pretty damn good deal if you already have internet and digital cable.