Broadband Phone

[harleyquinn]

Do any of you have phone service over broadband (such as Vonage, or from the cable company)?

If so, how's the quality, who do you use and are you happy with them?

I'm looking into getting a phone in my apartment (right now I have just a cell phone). But, I don't like my local phone company (they've been charged with fines in the past for their poor service and over charging), plus, they charge $30 to set up, which when they do that the don't do anything but flip a switch, and then it's $25/month for crappy service.

SO, I'm considering broadband service, Vonage has service for 500 minutes (more than I'll need) for $14.95/month. They also charge $30 to setup, but then it's only $14.95 /month. Is there another company that's better/cheaper?

So, let me know if any of you have experience, positive and negative with broadband phone service.

[philip]

We're about to get it. I live in the Netherlands so I don't think service is the same but we'll have UPC IIRC. We have the modem changed already and the phone will come in about a month.

[johnny]

This is going to make a huge difference in bills every two months. Once it's here, i'm gonna be the first one to get it. I'm getting a little sick and tired of 250 + € every time.

oh there's this one called firefly that's free from firefly to firefly, pretty cool, i used it once or twice ^^;
it's okay, but was slow on my comp.. ^^;

[Chewbacca]

It sucks. My in-laws had it for about a month. Everytime they called I felt like I was talking to someone living underwater.

We got Verizon to gives us a flate rate of $50/month for unlimited local and long distance. I'll pay the extra and know that I have quality and a phone to use if the power goes out or in an emergency.

[Larry_OHF]

I use Time Warner Cable...the same people that give me internet access, as a phone company now. Since the technology is so new, some problems have been seen, but have been addressed well. I pay $35.00/month for unlimited calls to anywhere in the US, including Hawaii and Alaska. I make frequent calls to Hawaii, where my sister lives. No long distance is great.

The quality of sound is not better but not worse. The benefit comes from having one bill instead of two...and of course the local and long distance only costing me what MCI was charging just for local.

The negatives, as I have said are temporary and get fixed when I experience them. These have included the following.

1. Echo of my voice, feeding back to me.
2. Loss of connectivity.
3. Digital distorting.
4. If power goes out, the modem's battery has 8 hours of life.

These were fixed when the guy came out and changed a receiver on the phone line at the pole, altered the flow of power from another pole, and switched my modem for a newer model. The occasional echo will be fixed next week when the company does a firmware upgrade from their side for all clients.

All in all...for the price and ability to call long distance for no cost is well worth it to me.

Oh...I should mention that the modem has two battery slots, that can feed for 24 hours...but they only game me one, and will not let me buy another one.

[ 01-10-2005, 07:41 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]