Voice over IP - for my home phone service

[Admin]

Post by member pmb1010

Voice over IP - for my home phone service, I'm using "Vonage"
http://www.vonage.com

I replaced my Verizon based land line with this service. I like it, it works OK and has saved me a bunch of money.

Background:
My previous service form Verizon was about $35/month, that gave me the dial tone and 100 free calls in the local area of service. On top of that, I had selected MCI as my long distance company. The wife likes to call her sister in VA almost daily, and has a friend in MA she calls weekly. The LD portion of my bill could get as high as $75/month, so my phone service was just over $100/mo.

High speed cable service:
I subscribe to Cable TV, been long time cable user. Since I work in the IT industry, having connection back to the office for remote work saves me the trouble of driving in to fix problems. I had dialup for many years, and wanted DSL from Verizon but the issues were always distance from Central office. When cable offered High Speed, I subscribed. It's very stable, works great.

Vonage:
Due to the cost of phone, when this Vonage service started, I thought I'd give it a try. I subscribed, they sent me a Cisco IP/Telco converter. They had (still might, not sure) a 30 day trial if you didn't like it, send it back. I tried it, they gave me a temporary number. It worked great. For voice quality, if you gave a land line (ie: Verizon) a 10, and a cell phone a 5, this was an 8. Decent quality, reliablity has been excellent. After a couple weeks, we decided to have Vonage "port" my existing number to them, and I literally pulled the plug on Verizon.

Service:
It's been great. There are a couple caveats, though:

1. If the power goes out, you won't have phone service. Even though I have battery UPS on my equipment, and a backup generator to power my home, when the power goes out the cable service drops because the poles have "repeaters" on them that carry the service back to the cable home office. That's ok for me, when we had the power outage in the northeast last year, my cell phone worked and that's good enough.

2. 911 service - Since it's not connected to a true central office anymore (it all routes over IP), if you dial 911 it wont go into your local 911 emergency service. Vonage has worked that around that if you do dial 911, it reroutes to your local PD but they wont get the display that shows your address. That is not a big deal for me, we instruct anyone that if they dial 911 they will need to give the dispatcher location information.

Other:
Vonage has 2 plans, 500 minutes per month for $15, and unlimted for $25. On top of that, I do pay $1 for federal tax, but no state or local taxes. So I cut my bill by 75%, it literally pays for my high speed data connection. Wife can be on the phone, and I can use the computer connection, browse, download files, etc with no impact on phone service.
The box that Vonage provides has an Ethernet Input (my buddy that signed up got a Linksys router combo/phone converter) and has phone jack. You can plug this into a wall outlet, and now all your phones are vonage connected. ONe thing to remember, is find where your old phone service came into the house, and disconnect their wires going out to the pole. Otherwise, your vonage service will have trouble ringing the phones as the signal will attempt to go back out and down the street!

Savings:
Vonage has an offer where if I send you an email link, and sign up both you and I can get a discount (ends up being a free month of service). If you are interested in trying it out, send me a message via the forum with your email address and I will send you a sponsor link. Good way to save a few dollars if you are interested...

Any questions, send me msg, or post response...

[TelStar-5]

Have you ever thought about buying a PBX phone System ? You could for shure buy a ctx 100 tosiba. With a VOIP Card with a few IP phones for under 7gs. You would be able to ship thoes phones to the middel east if you wanted to. With a high speed conntion you would be able to grab a line from your house. You also could use the intercom to just dial a ext on you pbx to talk Point to Point. You may save you and your biz alot of mony!

[Admin]

It sounds like you have experience with this. What system and service have you used and how do you rate their product?

[TelStar-5]

Originally Posted by Admin

It sounds like you have experience with this. What system and service have you used and how do you rate their product?

Toshiba CTX STRATA CTX100 as well as a STRATA CTX670 bolth are very great PBX systems for voice over ip. The ctx 100 can handel up to 100 digital ports . The ctx 670 can handel up to 672 ports. When I describe ports im refuring to Station ext as well as Dial tone lines that input into the system. Bolth CTX PbX Systems Suport PRI t1s. These systems can be used for alot of stuff Voice Mail/Auto Attendant,ACD/MIS Call Center Functions,Voice Over Internet Protocol,Remote User Access,Multiple System Networking, You and your biz can save alot of money using a PBX system . These systems need cat 3 station cable 1 pair ran for each digita phone per actvation of each port. The systems use cards to add difrent abiites If you wanted 8 digital ports for a lan line you would need a BDKU that is a 8 port card if you wanted over 8 digital ports lan line you you would need a exp sub card thats a BDKS . The BDKU & BDKU would give you 16 digital ports for phone Actvation. If you would like to run VOIP you would need to buy a BIPU card that will give you 16 VOIP ports to allow you to hook up 16 Toshiba’s IPT2010-SD or IPT2020-SD phones there 20 or 20 button phones depending what you want. These phones can run on such a network that cable model or dls anyware in the wourld. These phones have a ip set to them as well as a mack adress they also need to be configed to have the ip set in the phone so they can sink up with the pbx system . Once all installed you can be in japan and pick up a local Los Angles # or vice versa as if you had a pbx system set up with a point to point in another county. Sorry to talk your ear off . There are alot of PBX systems that support VOIP so far ShortTell and Toshiba have been the best ! PS Thanks for the Great Metter I bought off you the Birdog :0)

[Admin]

That is wonderful information. Thanks for the input. Are you interested in moderating this forum?

[rid0617]

I have to keep my landline phone since I have DSL. So, the way I got VOIP was through a company called YAK. They are located in Canada. I have the basic plan which does not have an incoming phone number. You receive 600 outgoing minutes to anywhere in North America for $9.95 a month. If you go over the 600 its 1 cent per minute. They provide the converter box at no charge. Fantastic service, no problems 5 months later.

[TelStar-5]

Originally Posted by rid0617

I have to keep my landline phone since I have DSL. So, the way I got VOIP was through a company called YAK. They are located in Canada. I have the basic plan which does not have an incoming phone number. You receive 600 outgoing minutes to anywhere in North America for $9.95 a month. If you go over the 600 its 1 cent per minute. They provide the converter box at no charge. Fantastic service, no problems 5 months later.

Thats great news your basicly using a PBX Short for [p]rivate [b]ranch e[x]change system in the long run but the PBX is basily at the CO (CENTERL OFFICE) of what ever provider your using VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is the new age of tomoro Alot of Phone Provider Fear the new age of technogly of VOIP With VOIP alot of toll calls are lost this really beats up the phone co.

[rid0617]

My favorite part is along with great rates absolutely no taxes or fees of any kind.

[TelStar-5]

Originally Posted by rid0617

My favorite part is along with great rates absolutely no taxes or fees of any kind.

Yea you could build a great big network with a PBX with VOIP .

[Darkman]

Just recently i signed up.. and trying out this VoIP ..for the first time in my life..

here in Canada.. with Primus Canada..

maybe after them - will try someone else.. but will have to stay with them for like 90 days at least, cuz of FREE phone that they give you at time of sign-up (a gift)

VoIP is OK.. but of course, understandably so, maybe not as reliable as a regular land line.. (even though it's cheaper)

[patmanpatman]

I use packet 8. A company that has experience in teleconferencing and other technology with video and audio communications. They have video phone also that does not change cost of use.

Packet 8 costs 19.95 plus tax per month.
My personal satisfaction rating about a 9.

Told Bellsouth to K*** my A**.
Their bill could never get below 65.00
Now I pay about 21.00.

packet8.com

[Admin]

Yes, I use Packet 8 as well and their service is good.

[Cybertoy]

Hi,

As for VoIP PBX I have been using Asterisk for quite a while now and it works fantasticly fine. Service providers I have experience with broadvoice, voipjet, voipbuster, voxee, and sipcall.ch. Last one though only interesting to have a DID in Switzerland.

In my new home I only have a DSL line without dial-tone. I'm very happy with the service I'm getting and the bills per month are never above $30 ... I am from Switzerland and my wife from Brazil so we do lots and lots of international calls.

ciao,

Cybertoy

[kahuna]

Originally Posted by Cybertoy

Hi,

As for VoIP PBX I have been using Asterisk for quite a while now and it works fantasticly fine. Service providers I have experience with broadvoice, voipjet, voipbuster, voxee, and sipcall.ch. Last one though only interesting to have a DID in Switzerland.

In my new home I only have a DSL line without dial-tone. I'm very happy with the service I'm getting and the bills per month are never above $30 ... I am from Switzerland and my wife from Brazil so we do lots and lots of international calls.

ciao,

Cybertoy

I also use Asterisk, but for the PBX at work. We have 6 branch offices inter connected via voip lines and asterisk boxes. Each office has 2 T1's - 1 for voice and 1 for data. Intra-office calls are all setup with trunking between the asterisk boxes using Voip. Saves us thousands each month.

After planning all of this and setting it all up, I'd have to say that using Asterisk for your home phone is just overkill unless you are a pro or a hobbyist. Stick with Vonage, Lingo, whatever, and the router and ATA (analog telephone adapter) that they give you.

[Admin]

Saves us thousands each month.

That is where VOIP shines.

[Darkman]

VoIP "at his best" another words? :mozilla_cool:

[digiblur]

Another great service is VoicePulse. At $14.99 a month for their Local200 plan you can't go wrong. More features than you can shake a stick at, 200 minutes LD, and HUGE unlimited local calling area. For instance my local area is almost the entire state of Louisiana. VoicePulse doesn't charge any extra fees or taxes, it's a straight up $14.99 a month. Check them out, I've been using them over a year. I've tried BroadVoice, Vonage, AT&T CallVantage, and Packet8 and find VoicePulse a mile ahead of the pack.

[pmb1010]

Currently with Vonage, what's "miles ahead" using VoicePulse?

If you could compare good and bad between them (and any of the others you mentioned), I'd appreciate it.

Thnx.

[digiblur]

Originally Posted by pmb1010

Currently with Vonage, what's "miles ahead" using VoicePulse?

If you could compare good and bad between them (and any of the others you mentioned), I'd appreciate it.

Thnx.

Here's a review I wrote a while back....

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/network/voicepulse/