Voice Over IP - A First Hand Perspective

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.devbuzz.com/content/vonage_voice_over_ip_pg1.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.devbuzz.com/content/vonage_voice_over_ip_pg1.asp</a><br /><br /></div>My friend Derek Mitchell over at dEVbuzz has written up a first-hand perspective of using the Vonage VOIP kit. I've always been curious about VOIP, but I don't do all that much long distance calling so I haven't looked into it. Curious about VOIP and the benefits? Check out Derek's article!

[sundown]

I've had similar experiences with Packet8 (http://www.packet8.net/). I've been using their VoIP service for 3 months now and mostly like it. Here's my story:

I needed a new phone number to use exclusively for business in my home and didn't want to pay the almost $40 per month the phone company wanted to charge (long distance is on top of that). Also, though I don't get reimbursed for business calls as much as I should, not paying for long distance appealed to me. VoIP seemed like a decent option for what I was looking for. I get a local phone number and don't pay any long distance, all for only $19.95 per month. Sure, there is no 911 service but I have a regular home phone as well as 3 cell phones in our family so no major loss there. The Packet 8 system is similar to Vonage - you get an adapter to plug into your switch and then you plug a regular phone into that.

After three months of extensive use, I find it to be mostly reliable. The call quality is good unless I'm uploading something or downloading a large file (I use cable). In a few cases I've had to use my home phone as a backup but 98% of the time it works fine. In May I spoke for over 5.5 hours total and didn't pay for any long distance. I'm probably saving around $45 a month over my phone company.

The only other downside has been some occassional downtime. Every once in a while (rarely) I pick the phone up and there is no dialtone, requiring me to hard-reset (power off) the Packet 8 adapter. A minor inconvenience, really.

[bdegroodt]

Interesting Sundown. Could you be more specific about the 2% of the time you can't use the service? Is it poor sound? No dial tone? Missed calls? What's a user that used to 99.9999% performance from their exisitng landline service likely to give up for the cost savings?

[sundown]

Downtime for me is when I pick up the phone and there is no dialtone OR I don't even try because I'm uploading or downloading a large file. I wouldn't totally replace my land line with this system if I often made a lot of calls. I personally might consider it, though, because I don't make many calls except for business and I do have a cell phone as a backup. Like I said, these minor inconveniences are worth it to me based on value. I pay less than 1/3rd of what I would probably pay for another land line.