Internet phone service?

[928ram]

Anyone using Vonage or Callvantage or a similar service for their home phone?

Impressions, (dis)advatages, hidden costs?

I'm going to be hooking up services at the new place in a week, trying to get an edge on combining tv-net-phone as far as costs, service and convienience.

[id10t]

911 support may be a problem...

[Deschodt]

And calls by your alarm system too... if you have one....

One thing that saved us a bundle recently is Skype... But I do call abroad a lot... Free ;-) not practical as a phone replacement, but $150 off the bill every month is nice !

[RickM]

A few people I know have the offering through Cablevision/Optimum and they love it. Also, One has what ATT offers and another what Vonage offers. They also love the service. It's true that some offer 911 while others don't...at least for now.
One of the nicest features with the ATT offering is the online toolset where you can configure phone/line configuration over the Net. You can have Voicemails(Wav files) Emailed to you, block certain incoming numbers, look at usage etc.

It is now possible to swap your copper line phone # over to the cable based service (what originally held me back).

[PeteT]

928ram
Depending on where you live it might not be that grat of a deal unless you make an incredible amount of calls. Remember that you still have to have a broadband connection, and most of the RBOC's won't just let you order DSL. Though, I believe Verizon is offering 'naked DSL' in certain areas. I know SBC won't do it.

[jrdavid68]

Originally posted by PeteT
928ram
Though, I believe Verizon is offering 'naked DSL' in certain areas. I know SBC won't do it.

Qwest is also offering Naked DSL in some areas - it's just a matter of time and the big guys (SBC, Verizon and Bell South) will all offer Naked DSL, especially as customers give up land lines completely in favor of cell phones.

[928ram]

911 support may be a problem...

Not sure why this would be a problem, I have 2 928s right now and am considering a 914, but now plans for a 911 in the near future.

But seriously... You guys threw me on some of these things; naked DSL (I assume this means no phone included) and RBOC??

I hadn't heard about the 911 thing being a possible issue, that I'll have to check into for sure plus there is an alarm. Bell South is the phone co. at the new place and the cable is a smaller local company, so I'm looking at DSL rather than cable internet just because of reliability issues with the cable.

[Icemaster]

Using Callvantage currently, no problems exccept occasional noise noise on the line and a need to bounce the router avery now and then, otherwise calls don't ring through.

911 works just fine.

From ATT's website:
In order for 911 Emergency Dialing to work properly, the service address we have on file for you MUST correspond to the physical location of your AT&T CallVantage Service phone. This will enable us to accurately identify your emergency Public Safety Answering Point and correctly route your call. You cannot specify a PO Box.

[jrdavid68]

How timely.....


911 call for Internet-phone companies
FCC orders reliable access to emergency services

By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:34 PM ET May 19, 2005

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Federal regulators on Thursday ordered phone companies that offer Internet-calling plans to provide reliable access to 911 emergency services within four months.

Internet-phone calls, known as VoIP in industry jargon, bypass the traditional circuit-switched network and can't always reach the designated emergency service. Yet the low costs and added features of Internet calling have attracted a growing number of subscribers, many of whom are unaware about the difficulties in accessing 911 emergency services.

The problem gained heightened attention after a Texas couple, shot and wounded earlier this year during a robbery at their home, were unable to reach emergency dispatchers through their Internet-phone service.

"Today's action seeks to remedy a very serious problem -- one quite literally of life or death for the millions of customers that subscribe to VoIP service as a substitute for traditional phone service," said Kevin Martin, the recently anointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

In a 4-0 decision, the FCC will require Internet phone companies to improve 911 access within 120 days after the order takes effect. Commissioners voted after hearing testimony from several families who were unable to access 911 services in emergencies.

Analysts say the ruling could boost expenses for Internet-phone companies, most of which operate on lean budgets. It's also unlikely that Internet phone companies will be able to meet the FCC's 120-day target given similar difficulties by the wireless industry.

John Muleta, former head of the FCC's wireless bureau, notes that efforts to make the wireless industry fully compliant with 911 access began in the mid-1990s but that federal requirements have still not been fully met.

Indeed, several Internet-phone companies complained about what they view as a short FCC timetable, and agency officials acknowledged that some complications are expected.

"Can we wave a magic wand and make all VoIP devices E911-capable immediately?" Kathleen Abernathy said. "Unfortunately no, we can't."

Sorting it out

Shortly before the FCC's ruling, the biggest independent Internet-phone carrier struck a deal with BellSouth Corp. (BLS: news, chart, profile) and SBC Communications Inc. (SBC: news, chart, profile) to use their emergency-dispatch capabilities. The local Bell phone companies maintain the traditional 911 system.

Edison, N.J.-based Vonage, with nearly 700,000 Internet-phone customers, said the deal will enable the company to trace the location and callback number of 911 callers on its network. Vonage has a similar arrangement with Verizon Communications (VZ: news, chart, profile) .

The local Bell companies, meanwhile, face pressure of their own to let Internet-phone rivals gain access to their 911 systems at fair, nondiscriminatory prices. Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress.

The Bells are already required by law to provide access, but they argue that Internet-phone rivals should pay going industry rates.

Like other Internet-phone services, Vonage offers unlimited calling at a low monthly rate. The service also allows customers to better track incoming and outgoing calls and includes other features unavailable with traditional phone plans.

In just a few years, more than 1.5 million Americans have signed up for Internet-phone services. Subscribers need a high-speed connection to make it work, however. Most link to Internet-calling services via broadband cable.

Until recently, most Internet-phone companies offered 911 access as an option. Even then, they could only provide partial access, with frequent delays or unanswered calls during off-hours -- late at night or early in the morning.

Yet the newfound popularity of Internet calling has raised legitimate public safety concerns.

"If it acts like a phone and looks like a phone it should be treated like a phone," said Muleta, now co-chair of the communications group at the law firm Venable LLP.

Internet-phone companies could find it particularly difficult to deliver 911 service to so-called nomadic customers. Nomadic customers are those who sign up for a phone number in an area code outside of where they actually live.

Nomadic customers only represent a fraction of all Internet-phone customers, however.

The FCC ruling does not apply to Internet phone services in which callers talk to each other through their computers with the use of special software. Only calls that travel partly over the public phone network are affected.


Jeffry Bartash is a reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.

[RKC]

I switched my small business to Vonage last year. Been almost flawless since then. You do get a bit of digital garble if you're downloading/sending a big file on the same DSL modem. Otherwise, very happy. Brought our phone cost down from $28,000 to about $6,000 per year.

Don't use it at home yet, but I'm thinking about it - hold up is/was 911 dialing and the fact that we have 2 lines (my wife has her own business) and I just haven't done the math yet, and we don't have big bills at home.

Only trouble was the 4-5 weeks it took to switch the local phone #'s from the local Baby Bell - lots of cross-over/problems during that time. All the new phone # lines worked great and fast from the beginning.

Especially like the laptop line (about $10/month) for summer days when I work at home - allows me to sit on the patio or porch, use my wireless laptop and wireless headset and be "at work." Also can forward my private line at work to my cell/laptop, so people can call my desk and get me wherever I am....

[rcecale]

Originally posted by id10t
911 support may be a problem...

Isn't that what this BBS is for???

Randy

[onewhippedpuppy]

I have Vonage, overall pleased. It saved us $60 a month over SBC, we had to have the cable modem anyway.

[928ram]

Thanks to all for the feedback on this. What we finally found was that there's no access to CallVantage and no DSL service in the area, so for now we've hooked up standard phone and cable + cable internet and will look into the Vonage a few months down the road.

A question on the broadband internet, the cable guy says the service is at 3 Meg now (mbps???) and will be at 5 Meg shortly; is this standard for cable?