Should I get broadband phone?

bil4l

bil4l

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I just got a Best Buy ad advertising Vonage for 24.99 a month and with all the features it contains it does look pretty tempting. The thing is I know nothing about the broadband phone service. Will all my phones (including my 5.4Ghz cordless) hook up to it?

I've also heard that it can be somewhat unreliable if you're using your internet connection. I have Comcast and it's pretty quick, so I'm not sure how much this would affect me.

Any help from anyone on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
[quote name='bil4l']I just got a Best Buy ad advertising Vonage for 24.99 a month and with all the features it contains it does look pretty tempting. The thing is I know nothing about the broadband phone service. Will all my phones (including my 5.4Ghz cordless) hook up to it?

I've also heard that it can be somewhat unreliable if you're using your internet connection. I have Comcast and it's pretty quick, so I'm not sure how much this would affect me.

Any help from anyone on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

I think it depends on what you're going to be using it for. If you're gonna be doing international calling, there's a free provider out there called Skype? Or something like that, not sure if it's still free, but that's the only real reason I think you might want to get something like that. Calling in the US only isn't that expensive for a plan is it?
 
I have broadband phone and it works just like a regular phone with the following exceptions:

911 service can be difficult (although most broadband providers including vonage have fixed this problem)

your phone doesn't work when your broadband isn't working. so, if you have a power outage, you have no phone.

thats it.

oh yeah, and its a helluva lot cheaper.
 
If you call long distance a lot, it's worth it. But if you don't use the phone much, there's no real reason to change. I haven't encountered any problems, but I don't us my parents' phone much
 
[quote name='DV8']I think it depends on what you're going to be using it for. If you're gonna be doing international calling, there's a free provider out there called Skype? Or something like that, not sure if it's still free, but that's the only real reason I think you might want to get something like that. Calling in the US only isn't that expensive for a plan is it?[/QUOTE]

Skype costs money to call any phone. Its only free computer to computer. Voip is at lesat worth trying if you are interested. I have had sunrocekt for a few months and I really like it. Money and features. I haven't had Vonage but they are the big dog... I say go for it.
 
Like beerguy said, it depends how much you use the phone.

I'm only paying around $20/month now for a decent amount of local calls, and no long distance... so, Vonage really wouldn't be worth it for me.
 
Like beerguy said, it depends how much you use the phone.

I'm only paying around $20/month now for a decent amount of local calls, and no long distance... so, Vonage really wouldn't be worth it for me.
 
[quote name='gregthomas77']I

911 service can be difficult (although most broadband providers including vonage have fixed this problem)

[/QUOTE]

Most people will keep a barebones package from their phone company for just that reason. I mean, usually, you can keep 1 phone on just for 911 and pay a modest (around 5 a month or so) fee just for the security of it.
 
I've been using voip for about a year. I cancelled my plain ol' Verizon service a few weeks after I started using voip and I have never regretted it. I was paying around $37 a month for Verizon with caller ID included. Now I pay around $22 per month for voip and I get caller ID, voice mail, call forwarding (great for forwarding calls from telemarketers), 3-way calling, etc.

Not all of the VOIP providers offer 911 service, but that's supposed to change soon. I think they're gonna be required to offer it some time this year. If 911 is a concern, you can set up your phone's speed dial to call your local fire or rescue service. This won't tell them your location, but it's easier than digging up their number in an emergency.

What I would suggest you do is look into the companies that offer free trials, but read their terms carefully. Many offer free trials, but if you cancel you have to send back the equipment within a certain time period to get your money back. I tried Broadvoice and Vonage, both of which offered a trial period, before I decided to go with Broadvoice. Vonage did refund my money without problem. I'd recommend trying *at least* 2 companies using their free trials and determining which one is best. And check out the voip forum at dslreports.com for people's opinions on your potential voip provider. I think they also offer reviews of voip providers.

If there are people at your residence who are likely to require emergency medical service at any time, I would not yet recommend VOIP as your only service. With regular phone service, you only have to depend on one company (the phone monopoly). With voip, you have to rely on your cable company, your power company (unless you have backup in case of an outage), and your voip company to get your call across. I have not yet noticed Broadvoice outages, but stupid Adelphia sometimes drops my connection.

As for phones, you should be able to use *any* phone with your voip service, including corded or cordless. You may run into problems, though, if you use a wireless lan at home. If that's the case, you should use a phone that is on a different frequency (900mhz or 2.4 ghz or 5.8 ghz or whatever they are) to avoid interference.
 
I'd say no. My internet/cable service is a lot less reliable than any sort of telephone service. I wouldn't want my phone to be brought down by that.
 
Dont know much about Vonage but my cable provider game me a new modem with a phonejack, best feature is unlimited national calling, worst feature is if your cables down your phone is 2....
 
I havn't used any actal telephone in atleast 2+ years. No point when I allready have a cellphone...and I have no friends, so whatever
 
[quote name='imacheapasstoo']If 911 is a concern, you can set up your phone's speed dial to call your local fire or rescue service. This won't tell them your location, but it's easier than digging up their number in an emergency.[/QUOTE]



:lol: Shouldn't it be a concern for everyone. It's not like you ever plan to call them when you do.
 
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