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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."
If you get the option to use some sort of standard like SIP for your
phone, you can set up your own software call distribution system where
some calls ring your phone, some go to voicemail, some get forwarded to
your mobile etc.
When I was at cisco, these sorts of services were the "bet the company
on it products of the future"
The funny thing is, some of the most interesting implementations of
this sort of thing are open source, one of which is vovidia which got bought by cisco
, but is still operating as an open source operation. The guy who
started has been aquired by cisco twice.
We have VOIP Cisco phones at work. I'm sure that there are cost advantages and it's kinda handy to be able to just pick up your phone, go to any Ethernet port, plug it in, and get all of your calls like normal.
But, the sound quality isn't quite as good as our old phones used to have. There are times when it's a bit like a walkie talkie: there's a bit of static before/after the other person starts or finishes talking. The sound quality while talking is generally pretty good though (but not as good as the old phones).
I don't know if your setup requires having new VOIP phones or not, but when I got my new VOIP phone, I needed to also get a new corded headset since my old one doesn't work with the Cisco phone.
Ron
So. How often does your cable go out? And for how long?
I'm all for giving the local telcos some competition. (Especially now that consolidation means they're less and less local any more.)
But really, what's your cable company's track record on service quality? That'd be the first thing I'd be concerned about.
-Sporktoast
In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
I use Vonage, and it rocks. It has nothing to do with your computer - you just plug it into your gateway and go. No one will ever know that you're using VoIP if you don't tell them. They have business plans that include a fax line. I haven't had POTS for a long time.
I use Skype's peer-to-peer VoIP service, to talk to my girlfriend, (*Gasp* A slashdotter with a girlfriend! And now, seven angels will play seven trumpets...) and I have to say, if VoIP can reach a broad enough audience to hit critical mass, POTS services are headed the way of the dodo. I mean, why not? You pay for broadband service, and voila, no more long distance bill. All it really needs is a cheap, dedicated box, with a handset, a small keyboard for entering usernames to call, a little LCD screen, and a cheap Nic. If they could sell something like that, I know I'd buy it, and so would pretty much everyone on my friends list. But, what do I know?
Despite millions of years of evolution, human beings, taken as a group, are still stupid, panicky animals.
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.
In the age of cell phones, this may not be an issue for some, but if you plan on replacing your land line with voip over your broadband, what happens when you need to call someone during a power outage? You could setup a UPS, but you probably need to power more than your voip phone. You will need to power your cable modem/dsl modem and possibly some sort of firewall/nat device. A UPS will only buy you 15 minutes to an hour unless you get an expensive unit. I have yet to year a real great solution to this problem. Also, if your power is out, will your dsl/cable even work? Just because your equipment has backup power doesn't mean your cable provider/dsl provider does. Any thoughts?
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
When I was overseas in the middle east last month, I worked in an office with a bunch of land-lines, and a VOIP line that was linked to a number in the US. Thus, no more excessive 28 cents/minute, etc. But once in a while, there would be network lag. Sometimes it would be on our end, sometimes in the US, and sometimes it was just network congestion in general. This had the net effect of causing a MASSIVE delay in transmission. Try having a conversation where both parties don't hear what the other says for two to ten seconds. What a pain.
If the problem was on our side, we could just reboot the machine. ("Ack! Call me back; I need to restart my phone.") If the problem was somewhere else, there was nothing to do but wait for the problem to go away...
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.
One reason I haven't bought into Vonage is because we frequently lose power and Comcast service isn't as reliable as I'd like. I'm also not sure if Vonage works with security systems like ADT? The power thing is a big deal... at least when you lose power, the phone lines usually still work.
Unless of course if you have an network capable alarm system - but would you trust your ISP to handle the alert message? Or go with an alarm system that has a cell-phone capability (which depends on coverage and availability in your area).
can you call 911 when the power goes out? if not, keep the POTS line even without any calling plans or packages on it... for $10/month it's a nice ability to have.
For what it's worth, I've brought a Vonage box on trips to Europe and Latin America with pretty good results. On European broadband it was always perfect. In Latin America sometimes the calls would be too choppy to use; other times it worked fine. Usually in the evenings it worked better.
But just being able to make and receive free international calls from a hotel room (or a random spot when using my Linux laptop to route Wifi to it) was quite a treat, despite the occasional hiccups. Sometimes it was hard to get people to believe I was actually out of the country ("Hey, I'm calling you from a cafe in Rio!" "Bullshit, I can see it on my caller ID, you're sitting in your apartment.")
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
I have been using Vonage for 2 months now and have gotten rid of Verizon. Sound quality is excellent, and it works with FAX and even though Vonage says it won't, with my TiVo's modem. Only thing I miss is that the caller ID doesn't have name info. I am using it with a Panasonic KX-TD308 key system. The Vonage ATA box connects right into a CO line interface on the Pana system and it works perfectly.
You still need to be aware that power failures will knock you out, because even if you put the cable modem and the ATA box on a UPS, the cable company's distribution network gets power from the same power distribution network that you do. So unless a power failure is VERY localized, the odds are that the cable signal will go too.
As a backup I have installed a WHP Cellsocket, a neat device that makes a cell phone look like a telco CO line. Since I have a family plan, the additional line costs me only $10 a month. The Cellsocket also plugs into the Panasonic key system, and everything is powered by a UPS, so if the power goes off, the cell phone still works. And, the cellphone has the added advantage of free long distance and free nights and weekends.
That being said, I don't really mind the problems with packet8, my phone bill is $20.55/month every month. The thing works good most of the time, and my calling needs are generally flexible. My wife and I both have cell phones for 911/emergencies and other calling. For me, the VoiP phone is more of a security blanket for the wife. We don't need a home phone in my opinion, and she's resistant to change.
BTW, from everything I've heard & read on places like dsl reports VoiP forums Vonage is MUCH higher quality than packet8. Packet8 uses like 8k/sec (I am not sure if it's kbits or kbytes, but I suspect bytes), and Vonage can use well over 40k/sec.
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