Is it better than landline

[thebowl]

Is VoIP better than traditional, good ole' phone service?

[alexis]

I prefer it, but then again, I am making long distance calls about 3-4x a week too. So for me it works fine, but for others it may not.

[thebowl]

How much does it generally cost? If it is considerably cheaper than landline, than it might be the way to go. However, price isn't the only factor.

[Mishka]

Vonage is $25 a month with all the bells and whistles. Just around $30 on the bill (with tax and stuff).

It is CONSIDERABLY cheaper than a standard phone with all the same features, call waiting, caller id, voicemail, call forwarding, etc.

Vonage is also cheaper by about 10 dollars than the comast voip. And comcast has less to offer. lol I hate Comcast, can you tell?

[Slim420]

So it's safe to assume you use Vonage mishka? How is the voice clarity? Also, how is it setup? Does it need a router (I'm guessing that because it takes a connection it needs one)? Finally, how much bandwidth does it take?

[Mishka]

The voice clarity for me is fine, it sounds just like my cell phone or my old landline did.

It's set up with a router. You can pick from a few choices, so I got a linksys router with wifi.

I am not sure of the bandwidth. I don't even know how to check what it uses. But I have never noticed any difference or slow down of my own net use.

[alexis]

Originally Posted by thebowl

How much does it generally cost? If it is considerably cheaper than landline, than it might be the way to go. However, price isn't the only factor.

20.00 call US/Canada for free

[elysia]

The only problem I have with VOIP is power outages. Where I live, winter storms have the potential to knock the power out. Since I don't have a cell phone, no power would also mean no phone. A few years ago the power was out for three days. I hate to think of being without a phone for that long.

[Alecto]

I think voip could be better than normal landline, but I still use landline over voip

[Mishka]

elysia brings up a good point. I advised my mom against voip, because she has heart problems and when the power goes out where she lives (which happens fairly often), since she lives in the valley and not in a high density living area, it always takes longer to get her electric fixed.

VOIP wouldn't be the way to go in that situation.