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Is VoIP the Way to Go?
Howpostsgetratedsuck asks: "My cable operator now offers VoIP local and long distance for one flat rate. Does anyone have any experience with or use a VoIP service provider? What are the pros and cons? What do you give up? Do they provide more than one number for my dedicated fax line? Is it better to just use wireless services for everything and dump the landline pots service altogether? Should I stay "status quo" for a while longer? I use the telephone in my business office for about 90% of my telco anyway."
I have been using Vonage now for the past 3 months, and let me tell you this, the only problem with it is that when you are downloading, or uploading something, the phone cuts out a bit. You never lose the call, it just sounds less like a phone.
That being said, I haven't found any other problem with it. If I decide to take it with me to work, I can (although i wonder if it'll work ? ) I can just unplug the ATA and goto town. Its an awesome piece of hardware, and i wouldn't be caught dead using a POTS line now. It just doesn't make any sense. Vonage also has a feature to forward calls after a certain period of No Answer. i can forward to voicemail or to a cell phone, or whatever.
I'm all for VoIP, and at $35US, its worth it!
harryk
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
With all due respect to the author, the question (as it stands) is not worded particularly well, and there is very little chance that a reliable answer will emerge.
One extremely important detail that you are leaving out is who is offering the service. You also fail to mention the specifics of their operation. IP telephony and VoIP are very different, and there's no way to be sure which one you're talking about. (You clearly indicate VoIP, but the term is so misused that I'm taking your usage of the term with a grain of salt. Pardon me if I have done so erroneously).
Because your cable operator maintains control over your lines, they are able to offer service guarantees that other services (like Vonage) cannot. I cannot say whether or not your operator does take advantage of this, however. Think of it this way: Typically, when you choose an IP telephony solution, you're getting a leased line to your IP telephony provider's data center. They control everything along the way -- and can use routing protocols like QoS and ToS reliably, ensuring that your packets make it to where they need to go, when they need to get there. With a VoIP solution (again, like Vonage), your service is running over public Internet lines. The VoIP provider has no way of guarantying that the packets will get to them in a timely fashion. In the short time I've spent hacking around my Vonage service, I've found some ToS packets -- but since Vonage has no control over this, your ISP (or any other router along the way) can just ignore these ToS (and/or QoS) packets. In short, your packets get there when they get there. Sometimes it will work great, others it just doesn't work at all.
If you can provide a link to some technical information about the service, I'm sure that some of the more saavy folks here can disseminate that information and tell you whether or not the technology should work. It's up you your cable operator to actually follow through with the reliability (again, you left out the detail of who your provider is). This is the first I've heard of cable operators offering such a service (although I have a bit of experience with a number of different types of VoIP and IP telephony services).
However, if you're in the US, I'd suggest that you try it out. I've switched to Vonage. My primary motivation was my unwillingness to do business with Verizon...and even with deregulation, if I use POTS, I'm paying my local monopoly. So I gave up on it. Just remember that YMMV, so don't sign any long-term service contracts.
-Turkey
Second, Depending on the codec that the provider's using, it might not allow faxing. Vonage I believe allows it up to 9600 bps but most of the others do not. Similarly, voice quality will vary.
Finally, reliability is definately an issue. I wouldn't cancel your normal line. I use packet8 which is very cheap but I'd say it's dead for outgoing or incoming calls for about 5 hours every week. There are times when your calls will drop midconversation as well. My ISP is usually rock solid but there are enough points of failure (ISP, VOIP gateway, local phone number provider) that it's not great for reliability.