anyone use Vonage?
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mellow_pilot
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anyone use Vonage?
Bell is really starting to piss me off. I'm thinking about switching. Anyone have voip? Also, does anyone know if I can hook it up without having access to a modem? I have wireless off my landlord's router, which is obviously not in my apartment. Can you hook up the phone at some other point in the network, ie from the computer?
Dyslexics of the world... UNTIE!
Ya I have Vonage, relatively happy with it but it is NOT a real phone line. I mainly use it for long distance and for the virtual phone numbers, but I still keep my regular landline simply because Vonage has nowhere near the redundancy that old-fashioned copper has. Remember 911 is twitchy, if there is a power outage or the internet OR your router is down you loose telco, and if the roommates are downloading too much porn it cuts out a lot.
IMO go for it to save some $$ on LD, but don’t use it as a replacement for your cell/landline, give it a few more years before making that jump.
Depending on what unit you get you can set it up via wifi
IMO go for it to save some $$ on LD, but don’t use it as a replacement for your cell/landline, give it a few more years before making that jump.
Depending on what unit you get you can set it up via wifi
I have Primus VOIP and real happy with it. I use it for everything and I get air miles. Never had an outage in the 5 months I have had it. Cool thing is that when you pick up call waiting, the current call get music while on hold.
Bell sucks doney balls.
Rogers has Voip as well but has dozens of incremental charges. After you pay everything it doesn't seem much cheaper than Bell.
Bell sucks doney balls.
Rogers has Voip as well but has dozens of incremental charges. After you pay everything it doesn't seem much cheaper than Bell.
It's better to break ground and head into the wind than to break wind and head into the ground.
Yup I have vonage and nothing else it works just fine. it is true that if the powers out you lose service but most cordless or phone that are integrated with other devices do as well. If you are worried about this vonage has a feature that allows you to designate a phone number for it to ring if your unit is offline. I always have my cell on so that is the number I use.
As for 911 they call your local EMS directly rather that your call going directly to local 911 centre. This doesnt bother me as I have already got that number memorzied since I talk to our dispatch on the same line vonage would use fairly often. I know from experience that direct calls to our office have just as good of a response time as the ones from 911 so the non traditional 911 service doesnt bother me.
Finally I save about 30 bucks a month over my old teleco
As for 911 they call your local EMS directly rather that your call going directly to local 911 centre. This doesnt bother me as I have already got that number memorzied since I talk to our dispatch on the same line vonage would use fairly often. I know from experience that direct calls to our office have just as good of a response time as the ones from 911 so the non traditional 911 service doesnt bother me.
Finally I save about 30 bucks a month over my old teleco
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Hotel Tango
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I don't have VOIP but out here in YWG I do have Shaw Digital phone. $40 a month for all the features plus unlimited lond distance over North America 24/7, plus 1000 min to the rest of the world. The downside is reliability out here. It hasn't happened often but it has happened where Shaw goes down and that means I have no cable, no internet and no telephone. That can be a real pain, but I guess everyone has a cell now anyways. But it's still anoying that you lose all 3 services at once.
As for power failures, as we all know CAN happen (summer 2003), there is a backup battery that keeps the phone running for a few hours but if we have an extended power outage then eventually you'll run out of juice... then once your cell is out you can't charge that, unless you plug it into your car for a while. So It does make me think about... "What if?"
Those old fashion phone lines are more or less always there for you, and that is a BIG bonus.
But the shaw phone is cheap. In an emergency I'll go knock on my neighbours doors that have the old fasion phone line
(but then again MTS went down for a few hours once, and someone needed an ambulance in the building... but that's more rare)
In the end you have to decide what you're willing to sacrifice
As for power failures, as we all know CAN happen (summer 2003), there is a backup battery that keeps the phone running for a few hours but if we have an extended power outage then eventually you'll run out of juice... then once your cell is out you can't charge that, unless you plug it into your car for a while. So It does make me think about... "What if?"
Those old fashion phone lines are more or less always there for you, and that is a BIG bonus.
But the shaw phone is cheap. In an emergency I'll go knock on my neighbours doors that have the old fasion phone line
(but then again MTS went down for a few hours once, and someone needed an ambulance in the building... but that's more rare)
In the end you have to decide what you're willing to sacrifice
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mellow_pilot
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Hotel Tango
- Rank 4
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call waiting, display, forwarding, 3 way, call return, voice mail, long distance
It's 40/mnth if you subscribe for internet and cable
http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServic ... nefits.htm
It's 40/mnth if you subscribe for internet and cable
http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/ProductsServic ... nefits.htm
I have been using YAK's World City VOIP for the past 7 months, and I have been very pleased with the service. The plan that I am on is no longer available, but they do have an unlimited North America plan for $25/month. You get caller ID, call forwarding, voicemail and so on all included in the price, and you get your choice of area codes. They do have a softphone, which installs on your computer and allows you to use the service over a wifi connection (or any internet connection for that matter). If you use the softphone, the software is free, but I do recommend getting a USB VOIP handset (I got one for $20 at a computer shop in toronto) because it includes its own sound card, and lets you separate your computer speakers from your phone.
If you have access directly to a router or broadband modem, I highly recommend the "hardphone" adapter. It allows you to plug a regular phone directly into it, and it will contine working, even when you shut down your computer. I was running the softphone off of a 5 year-old laptop, and the sound quality suffered anytime the processor was feeling overworked, or my wireless connection dropped down to Low signal strength.
I must say that I have had great success with YAK's VoIP and I think that it's hard to find a better price. I am now paying less than I did for a basic line and I can call anywhere in North America! I can also take my phone wherever I go, and I can make the same calls, anywhere that there is an internet connection. I also have a 416 area code, so nomatter where in the world I am, it's a local call for anybody in the GTA to call me (ie my family)
The only confusing thing that you have to learn to deal with is to always dial 1 + the area code before a number. Toronto (and Vancouver when I lived there) have had 10 digit dialing for a while now, and adding the extra digit doesn't cause too much trouble, but you just have to remember to do it.
You can also use the same YAK softphone for free calling to other users, which can include video conferencing. It might be a good way to test out the software and the quality of service before you sign on. Check out YakForFree
Ok, I know I am dragging on here, so PM me if you want any more information or opinions.
C-FAOW
If you have access directly to a router or broadband modem, I highly recommend the "hardphone" adapter. It allows you to plug a regular phone directly into it, and it will contine working, even when you shut down your computer. I was running the softphone off of a 5 year-old laptop, and the sound quality suffered anytime the processor was feeling overworked, or my wireless connection dropped down to Low signal strength.
I must say that I have had great success with YAK's VoIP and I think that it's hard to find a better price. I am now paying less than I did for a basic line and I can call anywhere in North America! I can also take my phone wherever I go, and I can make the same calls, anywhere that there is an internet connection. I also have a 416 area code, so nomatter where in the world I am, it's a local call for anybody in the GTA to call me (ie my family)
The only confusing thing that you have to learn to deal with is to always dial 1 + the area code before a number. Toronto (and Vancouver when I lived there) have had 10 digit dialing for a while now, and adding the extra digit doesn't cause too much trouble, but you just have to remember to do it.
You can also use the same YAK softphone for free calling to other users, which can include video conferencing. It might be a good way to test out the software and the quality of service before you sign on. Check out YakForFree
Ok, I know I am dragging on here, so PM me if you want any more information or opinions.
C-FAOW
