School me on VOIP - voice over IP

[hazmat]

Currently pay $35-40 in local & regional calls, $15-20 for long distance via my "copper" phone line.

I've gotten a couple ads for VOIP

sunrocket $24.95 unlimited local & long distance

Vonage $24.95 unlimited, $14.99 for 500 minutes per month.

Almost seems to good to be true. Is there a catch I'm missing? Does anybody "rate" these companies re customer service etc?

How does it work - I'm assuming some kind of box that I plug my cable & phone line into. Is it easy to have more than one telephone connected (ie make the connection in the basement to wire the whole house).

 

[CTyler]

I don't know about the services you mentioned but do know a little about VoIP. We run our remote call centers using VoIP to reduce our mothly recurring costs.

There are different codecs for compression like G.711, G.729 and G.723. The higher the compression the lower the quality of the voice. We use G.729 for an almost 2 to 1 compression.
The voice doesn't sound bad on a quality network. You don't want much latency or jitter and should be running QOS.
QOS = Quality of service. This gives the voice packets priority.

I don't like the sound of 711 that well. 711 is pretty much used for low bandwidth applications.

We have dedicated servers with DSP cards converting TDM into IP. I would assume you'll have a box or use your PC for the analog to IP conversion. You'd need to ask to be sure.

 

[MikePA]

I have Vonage and it's a breeze to install and it simply works. You can manage your own account at the Vonage web site and even listen to voicemails there.

Sign up online and a day or two later a box arrives containing (when I signed up) a Motorola VOIP box. It's about the size of a squared paperback book. Plug a RJ45 cable from your home network in one place (there are 2 RJ45 jacks), plug a phone (or a phone line) into the other place, power it up and within 5 seconds I had a dial tone.

We just have a single phone plugged into it (I kept my land line), but if you install it in the basement, every phone can have access. Vonage recommends that you install their box right after your Cable/DSL modem and before your home network so that the Vonage box can use QOS (Quality Of Service) to favor voice packets over data, but I did not want to do that because of where my DSL and network gear are versus where I wanted the Vonage phone to be. I also believe they recommend that you use a hard wired network connection, i.e., not wireless.

Several people where I work have gone completely VOIP and transferred their land line number over to Vonage. This takes about 1 month because Vonage has to deal with your local carrier.

So far, no one we've called has been able to tell any difference between our land line and Vonage. This is one of those services that work as advertised. All you need is a broadband connection.

 

[graybeard451]

You might want to check compatabilty issues if you have alarm systems or the like tied to you phone line now.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> You might want to check compatabilty issues if you have alarm systems or the like tied to you phone line now. </font>
This is why I kept my land line. Some devices with built in modems can not handle anything but connecting to the POTS.

 

[ducati996]

I have the Vonage VOIp package as well ( business 49.95 w/ dedicated fax) and I'm very pleased with the service. I find their customer service excellent as well.
They seem to be the only ones that port your existing number. Portability is when they can use your existing number, but they request it from your existing carrier. Not a bad process to do (2 weeks) and your number is released and setup on Vonange's network. Request the Linksys router, not the Motorolla!!
It works better than advertised, much to my surprise and based on the way things go in general /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ducati

 

[dmp437]

Another happy Vonage customer, the $15/month package. No problems and you save a boatload of cash. There are a lot less fees and surcharges also. The total bill for the $15 plan is $16.97, compared to the $50-60 a month I was paying in the "old" days.
The local E911 service had to raise their monthly surcharge to remaining landline users because so many people are bailing out and going VOiP and cellular.

 

[RobS]

OK, newbie question about all of this.

What constitutes broadband connectivity? Right now the only lines of communication in/out of our house are POTS copper, airwaves into the TV antenna and human voice. We have no cable available and I'm told we can't get DSL. What are my options?

I'm also motivated to do something. Since moving across the state line (3 miles) nearly all of our calling has become long distance. We have a plan, of sorts, but it is pricey /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MikePA]

If you do not have broadband, i.e., DSL or cable, you can not use any of the VOIP solutions.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> Not a bad process to do (2 weeks) and your number is released and setup on Vonange's network.</font>
This varies by local phone company. I know people where this has taken 30 days (which I think is what Vonage indicates).

<font color="blue">Request the Linksys router, not the Motorolla!!</font>
I have the Motorola and have not had any problems with it.