Has anyone used Internet telephone such as vonage? How is/was it? Advantages/disadvantages?

Question

Has anyone used Internet telephone such as vonage? How is/was it? Advantages/disadvantages?

Answer 1

VoIP is ok. I use Web calls for that.

Answer 2

I use Internet phone (VoIP) for all my calling.  

However, I do not use Vonage because I live in Canada and Vonage Canada is far more expensive than Vonage USA.

I use InPhonex and CallCentric as my home phone replacement services (links through my profile).

I also use Skype, PcCall,  Gizmo Project, Efonica, and GoogleTalk for PC-PC and PC-Phone calling.

But, regardless of which service provider you use, there are limitations to VoIP.

If you are looking for VoIP as a "home phone replacement", then you certainly need a "reliable high-speed Internet" connection.  As previously mentioned, "reliable 911" is one of the biggest issues facing VoIP usage.  And, a close second is the issue of hardware reliability (usually configuration issues rather than actual failure).

This is why it is recommended to start out using VoIP as a long distance alternative, rather than home phone replacement.  Once you are completely satisfied with your VoIP provider service and reliability (and Internet reliability), only then you may want to consider pulling the plug on Ma Bell.

There are many ways to VoIP - it just depends on what you want, how you want to do it, and how much you want to pay. I have a web site on this subject (link in my profile).

Answer 3

I have Vonage and I like it.  There are advantages and disadvantages.  

The major disadvantage (I heard this from my sister who is a 911 operator) is that it may be hard for 911 to find you - 911 can't trace the phone call so you have to give them your address when you call.  If you can't then they have to look it up on Vonage's database.  One time someone that works with my sister got a 911 call from someone with a VOIP (internet telephone - not sure which company) and the person was unable to give their address.  The operator tried to look up the # on the database and the database was down at the time so the police were never able to get to the people who called 911.

The other disadvantage is that if your internet provider is unreliable then you will not have use of your phone when the internet is down.  We lived out in the country in a snowy area for awhile and we had to have radio internet which did not work during storms so we would not have use of our internet or phone for days or weeks at a time.  

We moved into town and got DSL and kept the Vonage and have had no problems with it since.  I like having it because I have unlimited long distance and since I live far away from family I am able to talk to them all of the time without any extra costs.  It's great for that reason.