VoIP discussion

[gballard]

I am considering making a move to VoIP and I was wondering if any of you folks here have had any experience with it? http://www.broadvoice.com has a plan for $9.95 that looks like something I would be interested in.

 

[Xie]

My sister uses this (diff company same idea)... seems to work alright for here

 

[NuclearSmegma]

Don't know where you're at or your net connection....

Buddy of mine here in Central Georgia had VOIP (don't know the company). His ISP was Cox Cable. He had to cancel service. Connections sucked.

I love to have a deal like that. My wife lives on the phone. My 2 cents.

 

[mooo]

you are in GA? right on.. i am in atlanta

 

[dreamliner77]

Nice informative thread title...

 

[Ded Morozh]

paying for VoIP? meh, i made my friends get skype. other than that i don't spend too much time on long distance, so it doesn't make a difference to me.

 

[Xie]

Nice informative thread title...

I thought the same thing .. would be nice if a mod could change title to "VoIP question" or something similiar.

 

[Petros]

I wanna hear from someone who uses skype. Is it the greatest thing since pre-buttered popcorn?

 

[Xie]

I know alot of ppl on IRC that use it and they all seem to think its great.

 

[gballard]

I tried Skype and I wasn't impressed with it...there was a constant background noise and the sound quality was marginal at best...but that is just my impressions...

 

[Xie]

I tried Skype and I wasn't impressed with it...there was a constant background noise and the sound quality was marginal at best...but that is just my impressions...

well probably all depends on quality of your mic/speakers as well as those of all the ppl your talking to.

 

[mooo]

after futher investigation i found, my cousin uses this stuff (not same company), and has had no complaints so far.. But said, she also doesn't use the phone much.

 

[gballard]

well...I am sure the quality of the equipment does matter but I have read other accounts of complaints about the constant background noise...I have never been a big fan of using voice chat on the PC with a microphone...too much like using a CB radio to me

 

[Reg]

Personally, I use Vonage (available from http://www.vonage.com). I have their premier plan ($34.99) which includes unlimited everything to anywhere in the US and Canada. They have a variety of plans and even offer call clarity control. There are several reasons why I like them. One of the reasons I like it is because of the unlimited everything (callid, call waiting, etc). The next is that you can have any number you want in any city, in addition to as many as you want (each additional number is $4.99). You can also have an 800 number or numbers and dedicated fax. Their system is portable and can be taken anywhere. Each converter (which is given to you free) requires 90K of bandwidth and you can have as many as you like. I personally have two (one for personal use and the other for business). The one that's for personal use is connected to my main wiring so I can use existing jacks throughout the entire house. The second is located in my office and has a dedicated fax, 800, and local number on it.

Vonage is a pretty good service and even includes 911 access, which is very unique for a broadband phone company. You should check them out.

 

[gballard]

Well...the Unlimited In-State Plan from Broadvoice offers all of these features for $9.95 a month:

Anonymous Call Rejection
Call Forwarding Always
Call Forwarding Busy
Call Forwarding No Answer
Call Notify
Call Return
Calling Name Retrieval
Do Not Disturb
Last Number Redial
Speed Dial 8 and Speed Dial 100
Voice Messaging/Voice Management
Call Waiting
Flash Call Hold
Flash Call Transfer
Flash Call Three-Way Call
Flash Call Waiting
Call Forwarding Selective
Calling ID Blocking
Calling Line ID Blocking Per Call
Calling Line ID Delivery Per Call
Priority Alert
CommPilot Call Manager

Thats alot of features for $9.95 plus a few other charges which comes out to a lil over $11 a month. The only thing holding me back right now is there are no Mississippi numbers available yet. The service is available here but I would have to choose a temporary phone number from states like Florida, Connecticut, Virginia and a few others. Does that mean...if I chose a temporary number in Florida...and my mother wanted to call me...that she would have to pay long distance just to call me when I live about 3 miles from her? I am tempted to just wait until they have Mississippi numbers available...preferably numbers here in Tupelo.

 

[Reg]

There are very few Mississippi numbers between all the VoIP companies. While I do like Broadvoice's prices, I do enjoy the dedicated Fax and 800 numbers offered by Vonage, in addition to 911 access.

 

[Electronic Punk]

waddy has a company that does voip, so I could give him some publicity. But I'm not going to.

Thread renamed btw.