[KeyLimePi]

I've looked at this site a few times now and it seems like a decent deal. But I guess it comes down to the quality of service. Does anyone have any experience with this company or VoIP? Just curious.

[insha]

I have used for over a month now and it's good. The sound quality is just like the land-lines and the rate reletively cheaper than my local phone company (Verizon in NYC).

Overall I think it's a good service, you can check your voice mails (wav format) over the web; which I think is pretty cool. So far I don't have any major complaints; but will post here if run into anything.

[InterfaceGuy]

Originally posted by insha:
I have used for over a month now and it's good. The sound quality is just like the land-lines and the rate reletively cheaper than my local phone company (Verizon in NYC).

Overall I think it's a good service, you can check your voice mails (wav format) over the web; which I think is pretty cool. So far I don't have any major complaints; but will post here if run into anything.

I've been thinking about this but worried about it slowing down the net while others are on the phone. The females in my family like talking for hours at a time.

How do you have yours hooked up?

[insha]

Originally posted by InterfaceGuy:
I've been thinking about this but worried about it slowing down the net while others are on the phone. The females in my family like talking for hours at a time.

How do you have yours hooked up?

I have mine hooked to the router. The voice traffic has priority so it will slow the net down, most notable when I'm downloading large files. Although there was an instance when line was breaking when I was downloading multiple large files. But that's understandable since my bandwidth is being shared among all.

Aside form these two instances I don't notice any major slow downs, while the phone is being used.

[milhous]

Is there any sort of delay in hearing your recipient talk back after you've talked? This seems really interesting!

[KeyLimePi]

Thanks for the input, guys. I dumped Verizon before the holidays and have been looking for a new provider. VoIP sounds like it has real potential but I think it's all about choosing the right carrier.

[insha]

Originally posted by milhous:
Is there any sort of delay in hearing your recipient talk back after you've talked? This seems really interesting!

No, in a regular setting; it's just like land lines. But if you are downloading a large file that is soaking up the bandwidth you will get a "delay in hearing your reciepient". But if your only surfing the net there should not be any problems.

[insha]

Originally posted by KeyLimePi:
Thanks for the input, guys. I dumped Verizon before the holidays and have been looking for a new provider. VoIP sounds like it has real potential but I think it's all about choosing the right carrier.

Lucky for you. In NYC Verizon has the monopoly on the land lines. Doesn't matter whom you choose to do business with, you have to deal with Verizon.

That is why I have moved to VoIP with Vonage and pretty much everyone in my house has a cell/mobile phone. We no longer have a land line coming in, but we still have the telephone wiring in the house, that is not being used.

VoIP is still in it's infancy and hopefully it will get better in two to three years (if not earlier) to seriouls challange local phone (land line based) companies, such as Verizon.

[milhous]

I'm bringing this thread back alive because I think this could have some serious advantages for people who are traveling or moving overseas.

If I'm from the US and decide for example to move to London, I could have a VONAGE phone number with same area code as my parents in Pennsylvania, and thus call them as if it were a LOCAL call for pennies on the dollar. Provided that the broadband is good and the transatlantic network latency isn't too bad. Billing would also have to be done from the US, but that's no problem as well.

This plan is unbeatable and unstoppable against any conventional international long distance calling plan and by far against mobile.

This is so amazing!

[milhous]

And Vonage's response to my inquiry.

Dear customer,

Thank you for contacting Vonage Customer Care.

In response to your email, currently we do not sell our service
internationally and therefore do not ship internationally or accept
international credit cards. However, our service will probably work in
other countries. We advise you to check the local VoIP laws of the
country that you are using it in because some countries regulate the
use of VoIP. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the quality of service
due to the long latency between your local ISP provider and our service
in the United States.

If you use our service in another country, you will have to accept a US
telephone number and pay our international rates to call within your
country. Our current international rates may be viewed at:
http://www.vonage.com/rate_plans_international.php

Please feel free to contact us back if you need any further assistance.
We look forward to having you as a valued customer.

Sincerely,

Medhat B.
Vonage Digital Voice !
Installation Team
1-Vonage-HELP (1-866-243-4357)
www.vonage.com


Bottom line, it'll work, perhaps not as well as within the US, and may be illegal if the country has VOIP laws in place.

[gorickey]

I don't see the banner ad above...

Thanks,
PithHelmet User

[KeyLimePi]

Yea, that banner's gone. It was running for a long time, though. Coincidentally I see a Verizon banner in it's place now (yeeech).

Also, thanks for sharing the note from Vonage, milhous. I guess what they are saying is their service may or may not work overseas, depending on the country...but if you get a U.S. area code than all your local calls within that country would be charged international rates! Weird.

I still might give them a try. It doesn't look like they make you sign a longterm contract like cellphone plans do.

[CMYKid]

what you really need to do, and I cant believe nobody else has mentioned it (or I missed it, but i DID look)...you need to purchase two vonage lines. (or Packet8, they're often a lil cheaper and friendlier)

Calls between same-provider numbers are free, so according to the people I spoke to there about this last year I could buy one, mail it to our India office, they'd plug it into their LAN and call our local VOnage number just like a regular US local call...

[keltorsori]

I've been using them for about 2.5 months now. It took much longer than they stated to get my number changed over, but they credited me for the time, so no biggie. Voice quality and features are good as long as your ISP is reliable. Unfortunately I switched to a cable modem in November (could not pass up $23.00/month versus the $49.00 I was paying for DSL). Needless to say, it's been a little flaky, and so in turn my Vonage service suffers. Saves me a ton of money though since my cell phone has been my primary phone for years and the home line is just a default thing, so $14.99 versus the $29.99 I was paying Bellsouth is much better.

The email notification and online voicemail listening are insanely useful though. I can check and listen to my voicemail from any computer in the world. Neat.

eric

[-Q-]

Anyone have any further feedback they'd like to share?

Since switch to a cable modem (that's been very reliable) I've been wanting to dump BellSouth and this sounds like the idea system...

[selowitch]

To me, the word vonage sounds like something a Ferengi would pay a lot of money for at a brothel. ;-)

[Immortal K-Mart Employee]

Originally posted by insha:
No, in a regular setting; it's just like land lines. But if you are downloading a large file that is soaking up the bandwidth you will get a "delay in hearing your reciepient". But if your only surfing the net there should not be any problems.

How big is your bandwidth?

[insha]

I have a cable (broadband) connection.