Ok, need to get a phone line for the house after putting it off for two years. I want to go with something cheaper than vonage or TWC, but don't have much of an idea of what's out there.

What are y'all using? Please provide anecdotes, pricing, and a URL.

8/16/2005 8:38:25 AM

i used packet8 http://www.packet8.net

Its like 19.99/mo. for their unlimited and I had great service. The only reason I went with them was because I had a terrible time trying to even get signed up with vonage.

8/16/2005 8:47:37 AM

I use vonage

http://www.vonage.com

I just pay 15 a month for 500 minutes combined of long distance and local calling. together with my cell phone, that's all I need. I think it's $25 a month for unlimited time, though, plus your voicemails are available online and can be emailed to you and you can do all sorts of cool stuff with it, so if you're a nerd (and we all know you are, bobby), it's fun

no experience with the other services, but I'm sure they're comparable

8/16/2005 9:17:43 AM

http://www.skype.com

Although you cannnot call emergency

8/16/2005 9:19:28 AM

yeah, that's the only qualm i have with vonage so far, is that right now they don't have full 911 coverage everywhere. You can call 911, but unless you have the right e911 service, you have to tell them your address. They can't pull it down automatically like they can with a regular phone.


HOWEVER, a law has now been passed that forces them to have 911 services by... the end of the year or so? so no biggie.

8/16/2005 9:24:04 AM

Using vonage at the moment.

$25/mo as compared to the former $70/mo for att long distance and local vorizon.

The only problem is if you're doing lots of transfers on the network without your phone quality will suck balls.

The linksys VOIP router that is used if you call them and have them send it to you looks like it has some QoS settings, but i haven't had time to fool with them.


Also, at work, we have many, many remote nurses and MSRs that work from home. Previously we paid for their long distance phone service as well as their internet connection. Now we pay for their internet connection and vonage and it saves quite a bit of money. Haven't had any problems yet.



If you want to turn it into a little bit of a hobby, there are several Bring Your Own Device companies that charge smiilar or smaller monthly fees than vonage if you connect to their network with your own SIP device. So you could set up your own PBX at home using something like Asterisk.

8/16/2005 9:35:12 AM

Quote :

"http://www.skype.com"

this isn't what i'm looking for, I need a PSTN alternative.

"Skype is a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype."

Quote :

"Although you cannnot call emergency"

not too worried about that right now since all we have are cell phones, plus my IP phone VPN'd to work that i use as a home phone, but i can't really tell people to call that as a home #.

Quote :

"I just pay 15 a month for 500 minutes combined of long distance and local calling"

hmm... that's not bad at all, i'll definitely rethink vonage now.

8/16/2005 10:09:28 AM

its $15/mo for 500 minutes and $25/mo for unlimited.

8/16/2005 10:21:08 AM

right.. i don't think we'd use more than that anyway.

8/16/2005 10:53:21 AM

yeah so far I haven't come close, I'm only home on weekends (sometimes) and on weekdays I only have to use it till 9, then I can use the cell

8/16/2005 11:08:58 AM

I use Packet8 also. Great service, never have a problem. $21 and change after all charges. Unlimited long distance anywhere in the US and Canada. Tons of other features that you get for free - call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, etc. It keeps a call log that you can access either online through Packet8's web site or through the VoIP device that hooks up to your internet connection.

For the longest time Tiger Direct was offering a deal on Packet8. You paid $60 up front for the adapter. It came with a $60 rebate (which took about 3 months to receive, but I did get it) and you also got 2 months of service for free. If they don't have that anymore, you can have someone refer you and you each get a month for free.

I convinced beatsunc to switch too and he likes it a lot. I think when he first signed up the network went down for a couple hours but no problems since. I've used their service for 10 months now and have had no major problems. There have been one or two times I've had echo bad enough to make me call someone back. That was early on and hasn't happened lately. My wife can't ever remember having a problem like that.

It makes me so happy to never see a BellSouth bill again...

[Edited on August 16, 2005 at 11:13 AM. Reason : .]

8/16/2005 11:10:48 AM

I just signed up for vonage on the DirtyGreek plan.

Plus they are a cisco shop.

8/16/2005 11:14:35 AM

Sorry to hear that you chose to support their annoying ass commercials

8/16/2005 12:57:29 PM

heh, you might never see a bellsouth BILL again, but they've dropped to their knees offering to give me head for me to come back

hell, one operator even offered to work the shaft

8/17/2005 7:13:44 AM

When they built our neighborhood, they signed with CTC out of charlotte for analog phone service, so bellsouth isn't even an option.

However, I never even got the POTS line hooked up and have just been using my cell phone. But now that I'm married, it makes more sense to have a land line as well.

8/17/2005 8:36:33 AM

Quote :

"heh, you might never see a bellsouth BILL again, but they've dropped to their knees offering to give me head for me to come back"

Yeah I think they are hurting because of the VoIP services. I got a number of offers from them saying they'll give me money to come back, etc etc. I just laugh and rip them up.

8/17/2005 9:30:31 AM

http://www.sunrocket.com

8/17/2005 7:19:34 PM

Hey BobbyDigital, when I sign up real-soon-now, I'll use you as a reference if you get some kinda benefit from it.

You know how we do.

8/17/2005 7:34:57 PM