Investigating VOIP

[v_v]

Okay, folks, I have been investigating the VOIP world, and it is a little bewildering. At first I was thinking about an alternative for my landline. But now it does not look so positive.

In terms of devices I have looked at Nettalk Duo, Ooma, Vonage, MagicJack, and MagicJack Plus. Skype also seems to have a more limited device. Plus there are some other lesser names available.

Most of these devices require a broadband connection. Then the devices either plug into your computer, or fit between your computer and the router, modem, or gateway.

The prices for all of these arrangements vary, and sometimes substantially. Up until last week I thought the Nettalk Duo was the outstanding devices along these lines. Buy a device for around $70, which includes one year's service, and then renew every year for around $30. Calls were free to the US and Canada. More international calls had higher rates. This seemed great, except for they only offered 5000 minutes a month. Then a couple of weeks ago they lowered the minutes to 3000 minutes per month. Well, perhaps this would work for a single person with no family. But if there is a family involved this sort of thing could not effectively replace a landline.

Further exploration uncovered that Vonage also had a 3000 minute per month maximum. MagicJack does not list a maximum, but they do monitor "excessive usage." (By the way, MagicJack Plus almost appears to be a clone of Nettalk, in terms of function and pricing.) Here is one link for a recent device comparison, "  https://jaysonberger.com/magic-jack-feed-b...-vs-skype/  ".

I have made no decisions on the above, but the view for now is that I should hold on to my landline, and if I am going to get service for another household then I still would be best getting a landline.

There are also other options available that are not so much dependent on devices, as upon various plans that one signs up for or that one downloads distinct software for. Jaydeep posted a link on this web site to one of these: "  http://www.lowratevoip.com/en/index.html  ". I wanted this one to work, but for reasons that I do not understand I was not able to register for it. It kept telling me that my password was not workable, but it did not tell me what was wrong with it!

At any rate there are quite a few of these latter software-derived VOIP plans available. Some of these just might be workable depending upon what one is looking for.

What communications alternatives have you found? Are you using a device-driven VOIP, or a software-driven VOIP? What have been your experiences? What sort of suggestions do you have for those who seek?

v_v
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[webmaster]

Great post. I think international calling is something that is expensive if using landline and can add up quickly. Many of americans that do call abroad are forced to look for some sort of alternatives. Phone cards are still probably popular among immigrants.


I'm just going to add links to services that you mentioned in your post.

 http://www.nettalk.com/ 
 http://www.ooma.com/ 
 http://www.vonage.com/ 
 http://www.magicjack.com 

Personally i'm kind of put off by Magicjack marketing style - it reminds me of late night infomercials. Not to mention using word "magic" and "magical" is not really fair. Although it could be a good product - haven't tried it, but then there is this problem -  MagicJack Continues To Block Certain Phone Exchanges . So you have to make sure magic jack is able to make a phone call to phone numbers that are important to you.
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[plodr]

This isn't about VOIP but rather our reasons for not considering it.

Land line phone here and we will not be changing. Our burglar alarm dials out and is faster on land line than any alternative (this from the security company). My husband also gets his pacemaker reading every 3 months by putting the handset in a box and holding a donut shaped magnet over his pacer. It beats going to the doctor's office and having the data taken off the device.
We recently had no power for more than 8 days. The phone was our lifeline! We had no answering machine because cordless phones don't work (three of the phones worked, the others did not). We both have cellphones but without power for more than 8 days, there might be a problem keeping these charged up. Granted we don't lose power like this often but when we do, it is nice to still have a working telephone.

To call long distance in the US and elsewhere, I've been using onesuite for at least 4 years (no I never signed up to get bonuses for people who sign up when I recommend it and I have no intention of doing so). As an example I can call Australia from my home phone for 2¢ a minute.
 http://www.onesuite.com/rates.asp 
Rates vary if you are calling from home or from another location using a toll free number.
If I call from anywhere in the US (48 states, Alaska and Hawaii have different rates) besides my home to Australia, the rate is 4¢ a minute. Still pretty good to call the other side of the world.

[Boz]

This isn't VOIP, but it sort of goes along with your discussion. This certainly isn't right for everybody, but it is what I do...

I signed up for AT&T's "Minute Line Service", which costs $12.12/ mo (just under $15/mo including all taxes). Incoming calls are free (no additional charge) and outgoing calls cost an additional $0.0132/min 8a-9p and $0.0032/min the rest of the time and on holidays. However, I never pay for outgoing calls because I use Google Voice (GV) to place outgoing calls. Local and long distance calls to the US and Canada are free using GV. To do this, I enter the phone # I want to call using GV's web interface, and then GV calls my home #. When I pick up the phone, GV starts dialing the # I'm calling. There is no charge from AT&T because it is an incoming call to my phone. I use Google's address book, so all of my contacts are readily available in the web interface whenever I want to make a call using the GV. I also use my GV # as my primary phone #. Whenever anybody calls it, my home phone, my cell phone, and my work phone all ring. That way, I also save on my cell phone usage. I use a prepaid cell phone plan that costs $0.04/min for voice service (I pay $80/year for my cell service), so whenever I'm home or at work, I use those phones to answer calls to my GV #. If I'm not at home or at work and somebody calls my GV #, I just answer my cell phone. As an aside, I use a hand-me-down smart phone on my prepaid cell service, and I sync the contacts with my GV contacts, so my contacts are always up-to-date.

I haven't checked out the price for calls outside of the US and Canada using GV, but they may be fairly inexpensive. I originally used OneSuite for my long distance calls, and I think plodr heard about it from me. Because of my low usage and OneSuite's required recharge policy (at the time; it could have changed by now), I eventually switched to Tel3 Advantage for my long distance calls, and it has been very good for me over the years, although I barely use it now, except if I'm out of town, because I use GV. But my friend still uses Tel3 Advantage regularly to call her family in Poland. Anyway, if you don't switch to VOIP, GV, OneSuite, and Tel3 Advantage are all worth checking out for your calls outside of the US and Canada.

Anyway, that is a lot of rambling, and I know it won't work for everybody, but that is what I do...
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[orillia3]

I still have my landline with Bell. However I was tempted with Rogers who is much cheaper. They apparently use a sort of hybrid system, bringing in the phone on cable and then they have a modem in the house attached to the existing house phone lines.

I have however cancelled by long distance plan with Bell land line as I rarely use it. What I use for long distance is a phone card. It costs less than 3 cents a minute in North America. I also tried a prepay deal with CiCi, you can register several phones for long distance, then use it like a phone card, but you refill online and your balance does not expire. You have to phone a local number first like a phone card.

I also recently tried Skype. I used it for local calls. Your local call area is quite large. Anything else in North America is around 2 cents a minute. Recharge online.By the way computer to computer calls are still free. If you can schedule your times, you need never pay for long distance if you use computer to computer. Of course you need a high speed connection.

You can make free North American and cheap international calls from inside gMail. Look for the "Call phone" entry along the left menu. I read somewhere the free calls continue through 2012.

There are also other services that use a high speed connection, too many to go into. One you might investigate for Canada is  http://www.freephoneline.ca/ 
I think you get free phone to certain cities, mostly in BC and Ontario, but you get you own free incoming phone number. Not sure how it works as I did not follow up on this when I first installed it.

What I find most convenient for me at this time is a basic landline with no call display, forwarding, answering, or any othe extras. Long distance is by phone card. If I want to make a free call and do not want to use my phone card I use the computer.

By the way webmaster, welcome back. I see you gave everyone a promotion and a raise. Next time you disappear, you should leave the keys with someone here, rumours were flowing Freedomlist was going to close.
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[webmaster]

Thanks Orillia. That was the first thing i did when i came back - I put contingency plan in place so freedomlist and community will live on. I don't want to go in detail, but some fl oldtimer(s) will receive necessary info automatically if such situation arises.
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