Vonage

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sbradyny @ Jan 3 2007, 10:47 AM) [snapback]370079[/snapback]</div>

About three months ago, I switched over to Verizon Voicewing. Saves a bunch of money and quality is high. There are RARE calls when the quality seems a bit scratchy.

Your Voicewing account will also come with an online interactive tool. Very easy to track useage, block calls, a lot of different stuff.

A real good deal. Mine runs me $21.95 for 500 minutes/month. There are many different plans.....I think $24.99 or $29.99 gets you unlimited minutes. I didn't use my house phone very much anymore, so that was the reason I went with the lowest minutes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny @ Jan 3 2007, 11:18 AM) [snapback]370097[/snapback]</div>

Have had Vonage for nearly a year and am satisfied. If you put the Vonage router ahead of your broadband router, you'll have minimal issues with call quality. If you put it behind the router as I do, you may experience issues. I solved that when I upgraded my router and had the ability to give priority to the Vonage router. Solved all my quality problems.

Dan

 

I've had Lingo for 2 years now and I am really happy with it. $21.95/month with unlimited calling anywhere in US including AK, USVI and PR as well as UK, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, Vatican City, Norway, Portugal, and Spain plus Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea.
It is loaded with features and you can activate/deactivate any of the features online.

You get the first month free and if you use my name you get $10 off on top of that. Let me know if you are interested.

 

I started with Vonage, and changed to sunrocket after about a year when the service became flaky. Same experience with SR, but after only a month or two. Since then, I've had ViaTalk and been overall quite satisfied, although my upload speed max of 38.4 Kbps though comcast can cause the outside party to have trouble hearing me if a continous internet upload is concurrent. Viatalk's tech service is superb (while SR's is atrocious), and I expect I could fix the quality issue if it ever bothers me enough.

 

I've had Vonage for over 2 years. Love it! I never pay over $20.00 a month ( I have the 500 minute per month service). 2 winters ago we went to Florida for 2 months. I just took the Vonage adapter with me and hooked it up to the Adelphia cable modem and we were getting our local AC631 calls in Florida.

I have A UPS on my phone system, cable modem and routers so that if there is a power outtage I don't lose phone service.

I have far fewer problems than I had with poor quality or dropped calls than I had with Verizon land line service. It's also $70.00/month less expensive.

 

Does anyone have experience with Vonage for business? I'm thinking of converting my home business land line to Vonage.

 

I used Vonage for a couple of years and was quite satisfied. I did have a couple of service interruptions over that period which were limited to several hours each time. Eventually I did get fed up with their lack luster customer service folks. I then discovered a company called Quantumvoice through other bulletin board threads. They were highly recommended and offered an unlimited in and outgoing toll-free number with all the bells and whistles for $39.99 per month. I have used them now for over a year and have been more than pleased. Not once has the service gone down and their customer service has been superb. Family from all around the country call me through my 866 toll-free number and don't have to worry about paying a dime. Outgoing local and long distance calls are unlimited to the US and Canada. They have a business plan as well. Check them out and if you decide to join I would appreciate a PM before you do since they'd give me a free month

 

Another service I haven't seen mentioned here yet that I swear by is Skype (www.skype.com). It is a little different in that you use your computer instead of a traditional handset to make calls. I am here in West-Africa and use it to call my fiancee in the States on a daily basis for $0.021/minute. There are no monthly charges. You can get a phone number in any area code for IIRC $38.00/year, w/ free voicemail. So, even though I currently live in Africa, I have a North Carolina phone number and can still sort of pretend to live at home . As far as Inernet connectivity goes I currently use dial-up, and as you can imagine Skype is a little dodgy over dial-up, but except for peak times it is still good enough to be useable. Before I moved here I used it over a cable modem and over the wireless offered in various hotels (including in Venice, Italy), and the quality was better than any landline or cell phone I have used in recent memory. According to my boss, who has 128k down/64k up ADSL it works flawlessly even on such low-bandwidth broadband, and I am anxiously waiting for my 256/64 ADSL to be hooked up (any day now, or so I have been told).

The only down-side to Skype that I have been able to find so far is that it is NOT connected to the E911 system, and on their web page Skype even says that their service is not to be used as a replacement for phone service. When I was in the states I also maintained a cell phone in case I ever needed to call 911.

As you probably guessed, I am very pleased with Skype and can recommend it highly, and I think it's a godsend for roving expats.