VOIP internet phone service? Comments?

MattinSTL

MattinSTL

Sound Modulator
I'm currently looking at all the options for a service to replace my home phone line. Currently I have Charter in Saint Louis and it's not so great for a regular land line... plus they've been a PITA with the internet for a while now... We are held hostage by Charter in most of STL... check this out... 3mb "blazing fast" high speed for $54 a month!

Anyway... so I want to cancel my home phone with them and try out a VOIP... a friend of mine has Sunrocket, but on several occasions I've talked to him and the sound quality wasn't so hot. It's mainly been with a cell call from me to his VOIP... but it's been virtually impossible to even follow the conversation.

What I'm looking for is the best quality first... and the best deal second. This doesn't mean I want to pay the most just because somebody is supposed to have the best quality... as in AT&T $30/mo+ tax... at that price why not just keep a regular land line?

The contenders are Voip your Life, Sunrocket, Vonics, and whoever else may post with an excellent experience...

So... anybody have something to say about VOIP?
 
You might have already considered this...but why not just use your cell phone as your primary line? Get High Speed separately for Internet access and ditch the land line phone altogether?
 
If you keep your cell phone as your main line and use it all the time, you'd run up one hell of a phone bill.

I'm in the process of switching to Speakeasy for my internet (Time Warner keeps dropping my internet connection - sometimes 50+ times a day). They offer a VoIP service that I might look into.
 
I bought a Nokia cellphone that supports VoIP. When I am at home, I use Gizmo Project's service via WiFi (costs me just $10 per 3 months) to call. So basically, I don't have to have a landline, I don't have to have an ugly wired USB phone, I just have bought the right Nokia cellphone that has VoIP support in it

The cheapest is the Nokia E60 (no camera, it's a business phone), and it can be found for $250, GSM unlocked. After you buy it, you must upgrade its firmware (free, on nokia's support site) so you bring its software to the latest version that is more compatible with most wifi routers. Then, you configure its voip settings to use the VoIP service you want to use (as I said I use Gizmo Project), and off you go.

I wrote about the best VoIP phones here: http://www.osnews.com/story.php/17077/The-Best-VoIP-SIP-Multi-Function-Devices-Today
 
TWC/Comcast. Simply put - awesome. Crystal clear. Free long distance. Don't have to pay the outrageous taxes that are tacked on to land lines. I have some friends that use Vonage, they say it rocks. The only downside so far is my old phone answering machine doesn't work. The service includes digital messaging which is fine. I've only had it for a few months and there are other features (extra phone lines, etc.) that I haven't tapped into yet, but so far I'm glad I swithched.
 
milksac said:
TWC/Comcast. Simply put - awesome. Crystal clear. Free long distance. Don't have to pay the outrageous taxes that are tacked on to land lines. I have some friends that use Vonage, they say it rocks. The only downside so far is my old phone answering machine doesn't work. The service includes digital messaging which is fine. I've only had it for a few months and there are other features (extra phone lines, etc.) that I haven't tapped into yet, but so far I'm glad I swithched.
Click to expand...

Where do you live? I'm wondering because here in Los Angeles, TW just bought out Adelphia and since then the service has been horrible. Did they take over Adelphia where you are? (that is, if Adelphia was in your region to begin with)
 
We have had Vonage but hated it, now we have Speakeasy for our home and its great.

I have VoicePulse for my business line and love it.
 
Man I'm so glad I started this thread! I checked the archives and I found only one thread from 2005 when somebody was asking about this crazy new thing called "vonage"...

There are too many people to thank for posting... so thanks everybody.

Jeremy... you're a great friend... but do you remember the couple times we talked and I was laughing my ass off and saying that you sounded like a robot from battlestar galactica? Okay this was from cell phone to your land line... but still... those couple of times are why I want to check all the options first.

When I looked up VoIP reviews I saw two categories for "voice clarity" and "reliability" and basically I'm wanting to pick something that shows perfect from lots of users in those categories, but I may end up with Sunrocket anyway... they are a really close second to Vonage in popularity.

There's a service called Vonics that is scoring high in voice clarity and reliability... but they don't have a lot of users yet. Vonics is about $14.70 per month after all fees.

The other service I'm looking at is called "VoIP your Life" (yeah, great name)... and it runs about $17.80 per month with all fees... ironically when I called to ask this company if I could port my current number... the connection with the customer service department was a little choppy! This company provides a box that lets you use your current house phones... and the box prioritizes the phone over data during calls... this is nice because I have a roommate and I'm the one paying for highspeed internet into the house... so I like that my convenience will come first.

RLM789 (this is rick right?)... I considered just doing the cell phone thing. In my area everybody I know is on Verizon... and I already have a plan that will let me talk a ton outside of "my circle" or whatever... so this is a viable option... honestly I just don't like cell phones that much and I like the convenience and form factor of a nice home cordless phone... big, loud, comfortable, and I can rest it on my shoulder or use the very loud speaker option while working on something. (For those that care I have the Uniden PowerMax cordless phones that are 5.8gHz... only something like $70 from Costco... and these are BY FAR the best cordless phones I've EVER OWNED... and this is after a year of owning 'em! They are incredible.)



EDIT: I just tried signing up with Sunrocket.

Sunrocket is only $99 for the first year right now! Very tempting! Use code webh38r (haven't verified if this will work).

I went through the sign-up procedures for Sunrocket and they said that they can't offer service in my area!

So... next...
 
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In my area the best deals tend to be with bundled packages from my cable company. You get phone, cable and internet for typically cheaper than doing it piece meal. Plus the phone quality is excellent.

I find the VOIP service really suffer if you have a slow internet connection. 3mb is sometimes too slow for these services. 7mb may be the minimum you need to have it run smootly.
 
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