VOIP and Vonage revue

[Stryder]

I have been using Vonage now for just over a month and I love it. I have had a couple of expected hiccups with the service, small things like no stutter tone when I have voicemail (fixed now), once in a while a call will go directly to voicemail instead of ringing my phone, twice people have told me they called and got a busy signal but called right back and got through. One thing I think people need to take into consideration before getting any VOIP service is the fact that this is a relatively new technology. At least in the sense of it being used on a very large scale. We are more or less beta testers. There are going to be plenty of bumps in the road. If you are not prepared or willing to deal with these bumps I would suggest you either not get VOIP at all or use it in conjunction with a POTS line or a cell phone. It is really no different than any new product....it is not going to be perfect, or even close, right out the gate. One of two things are going to happen with VOIP. The technology is either going to steadily improve and find its place in the market or they will not get the problems solved and it will die like countless others.Other things to consider is the quality of your broadband provider and 911 service. If your ISP is not reliable then getting VOIP will be very frustrating. Also, if your ISP only offers 128k uploads your call quality while using the net may suffer with Vonage whick uses 90k. It has a 30k (low bandwidth) option but the sound sucks to be honest. VOIP companies either do not offer 911 at this time or has a limited version. Vonage is the only one of the three big players in the VOIP market that offers any form of 911. Currently the three major players in VOIP are Vonage, Packet8 and VoicePulse. All three offer varying features, prices and sound quality. I personally have Vonage's $26 package. That package includes unlimited local calling and 500 minutes of long distance a month to anywhere in the US or Canada. Other features include Free 3 Way Calling, Free Call Hunt, Free Personalized Voicemail, Free Call Forwarding, Free Call Transfer, Free Call Waiting, Free Caller ID, Free Caller ID Block (*67), Free Repeat Dialing, Free Call Return (*69), Free Vonage to Vonage calls (if your family on the other side of the country has Vonage as well as you, it does not count against your long distance minutes) and Free International Call Block. Your voice mail can be checked via the phone, online using your personal "Dashboard" or through email.The "Dashboard" is a personal control panel that all Vonage users have. It shows every call placed and received for the past week, real time billing and minutes usage, real time account management, voicemail access, and features control. It is a great feature.One of the other optional ($5 a month extra) features that I really like is the "Virtual Numbers". Here is how this works. I live in Indiana but I have lots of family in Raliegh, North Carolina. I get a "Virtual Number" with a Raliegh area code. Now when my family in Raliegh calls me they call the "Virtual Number" and it rings into my primary Vonage number in Indiana, but it is a local call for them so there is no long distance charges. This would also work great for parents who have kids away at college. They can call home as much as they want and it only costs you $5 a month no mater how often they call.I have done lots of research on the other main players in VOIP as well. So if anyone has any questions concerning VOIP just let me know, I will be more than happy to help you along. I just think this technology is great and wanted to share my experiences with you all. I have dropped my POTS (SBC) line completely. I have Vonage and a minimalist cell phone package for if/when Vonage or my ISP is having problems. Between Vonage and the cell phone I pay $50 a month, which includes all the features I mentioned above and all the long distance minutes I will ever need. The Baby Bells should be scared.

[ibe98765]

Excellent review. Thanks! You might consider putting a copy of this over on http://www.epinons.com also.

[Stryder]

Thanks for the compliment Ibe. I have been spreading my Vonage story to anyone that will listen. I am really excited about this technology. While it is not as rock solid as a traditional land line, it is making big strides to be a viable, cheaper alternative.