Comments on: Does anyone know of VOIP that actually works?

VOIP stinks. Can anyone prove otherwise?

[michaelm1986]

really? i've had vonage for 3 years and never had a problem with them. the phone always woks. the problem isn't VOIP, the is that you IP sucks.

[deecee]

Well, POTS is using VOIP in many cases as well, so quite your whining!!

[bri0831]

I have had Vonage since early 2005. Had to convince the wife to try it, but glad we got it.
I only had problems once, and whaddya know, the cableco had to come to my house and change the damn splitter outside the house because it was weathered and like 20 years old....
So it was their problem in the end. Vonage kicks @ss.

[tekwiz4u]

Hey Matt,

I have a old rotary phone sitting in my garage collecting dust. You want it?

[FS1982!]

I'll be receiving my free trial for MagicJack in the next couple days. There are extreme viewpoints on the USB device. Either it works great or it's just a no go that is coupled with a bad customer service issue. Hopefully it works as advertised because it would be a huge $ saver. I think I may be fighting an uphill battle though.

[ofmyony]

I use voip to supplement my cell, I have the minimum minutes on my cell with unlimited nights and weekends. I then use skype which works well for me, There are many other good voip services check out http://voip-buzz.com/ for the latest

[redmatrix06]

I too have had vonage for the past 2 years going on to 3 years. I have had a stable cable internet connection. Before I recieved my Vonage package. I purchased a Netgear Rangemax Wifi router. In addition to Uniden expandable 5 ghz phone system. With 4 extra bases. I only had to restart the router twice in the last 2 years. My ISP replaced the cable modem since it was old and stopped working.

Everything works as it should be. Wireless internet to my laptops and friends laptop are not interrupted by phone system. We have 2 people that play warcraft and have a nice call without interruptions.

Have you Matt Asay, ever thought it could be you? Something not set up right, Outdated cheap equipment. Buying the same wireless products that are in the 2,4 spectrum. Instead of buying 5ghz phone and 2.4ghz G+ router. Or vice versa with a 2.4 phone system and a 5ghz Wireless N system. As to not cancel out your signal. Remember its not so much the blaming the equipment more of the END USER. Tech 101 But hey I work as a District Computer Technician what do I know.

-Happy Vonage Customer

[redmatrix06]

I use Time warner cable internet in my area. If you paid VOIP service from the Cable company you got ripped off. Its the same thing. Except the cable company call it digital phone service. Which is marketing Term for VOIP. Smart people would not pay extra for VOIP.

Skype is free dont complain about free items, unless you paid to call out SKYPEOUT features. I have used Vent and Teamspeak and work flawlessly as well.

[ray08]

I have Vonage. Love it. Best phone service ever. Crystal clear calls and very cheap. Alas, I too may be switching back to SBC, er Ameritech, ah, I mean AT&T, oops, that's at&t very soon. You see, where I live (Indiana), my cable provider used to be Insight Broadband. I said "used to be" because that sh*thole company called comcast took over cable service in my city and now internet access is up and down AT LEAST 5 times a day!! Each time I have to reset the cable modem to get reconnected.

So, Vonage is only as good as the underlying ISP. Unfortunately, that went to hell in a handbasket overnight for me. And I gave away my USB external 56k modem! Ugh!

[hifitech]

There are many people who complain about Vonage or other VoIP providers in general. These would be the same people who would have complained to Bell when the first telephone calls were placed in the late 1800's even into the early 1900's. Calls were dropped, never connected or in most cases routed to the wrong person. What people do not understand is that VoIP is only as good as the hardware in the customer's location and the internet connectivity between customer and the VoIP providers point of presence. There will always be glitches since VoIP is dependant on IP providers for internet connectivity, Voice carrier circuit providers for PSTN interconnects, and hardware vendors for both Gateways and SIP clients. Point is there will always be kinks to work out for anywhere up to 20 years with any new technology. Look at cell phones. They rarely work perfect. Dropped calls, poor audio, weak signals, yet that has become acceptaed into society and no one complains. Go figure. I personally have no problems with VoIP at all.

[alegr]

I dunno. Cisco IP Phone at my work is just OK. Calls from POTS parties sound perfect. Calls from cellphones sometimes are so-so.

But some corporate/callcenter VOIP installations seem to overcompress and sound so crappy. I suspect they don't want to pay for bandwidth.

[alpo1941]

I have been with Vonage for 3 years now and I am please with the service. The voice is the same as with a reg phone and the only time I lost using the phone was when my cable went down. Vonage then sends the calls to my cell phone what could be better then that, and I only pay $15.00 a month for 500 minutes and I can call anywhere my bill with Verison was $32. Per month and that was only local call I love the money I?m saving

[larry3rv]

Your experience is exactly the same as mine!

[Dwayne.Alton]

I have to say that the problem with VOIP is generally the IP below it. I don't personally use it at home. I don't have a landline at all - I use a cell phone. But I do volunteer work with local computer user groups (mostly senior citizens) - many of whom have a variety of VOIP services (mostly Vonage and Comcast digital phone service). In all of the troubleshooting with which I've assisted, only once has the problem been the equipment. It has never been interference from other devices in the 2.4 Ghz spectrum, strangely. I would have expected more issues there. But in almost every instance, it was the ISP.

In our geographical area there is a common thread. Comcast is the most common broadband provider in the area. They used to maintain a reasonably stable network, but that has changed in the last two years. After acquiring Time Warner properties in the area things got pretty bad. The network merger was very poorly handled and continues to have problems. As I sit here typing this, my ping times to CNet's servers range from 400ms to 1.6 seconds. Even customers that tend to have stable connections most of the time have significant fluctuations throughout the day. And that type of latency will cause VOIP issues. The latency issues also manifest themselves with Comcast's video on demand services.

As we move more and more services, such as voice communication, television, on-demand video, etc. from traditional systems to IP-based systems, the underlying IP service *MUST BE STABLE*. In my day job, I run an IT department for a very large organization. We have an extremely large WAN. Maintaining system reliability, limiting latency, and guaranteeing delivery of high-priority protocols (via QOS, and other traffic shaping protocols, etc.) is a full-time job for part of my staff. It can be a challenge. And that is with a professional IT staff, not $12.00 per hour independent contractors like telco's and cable companies use. Analog phone and cable networks are far more tolerant to environmental conditions and require fewer active electronics inline (fewer points of failure). The tighter tolerances and higher number of potential points of failure, combined with support from low-level "technicians" has unfortunately made things worse in recent years, not better. The nature of how consumer-level networks are managed will cause real-time IP services to be problematic for a large percentage of users.

I don't really place all of the blame on the ISPs. It's a catch-22. If you run a consumer cable network like a corporate data network, you would need to charge much higher prices. And as you pointed out, the average consumer is moving to IP-based phone services for *COST SAVINGS*. As I often tell people in my organization, we all want networks to be inexpensive, fast, and reliable. Unfortunately, we can only have 2 of the 3 characteristics simultaneously.

[odubtaig]

I think what everyone so far has failed to remember (especially the whingers) is that POTS phone services are guaranteed to have no more than 31 seconds downtime in total every year by law.

It is a legal requirement in most western countries that landline telephone services have a minimum of 99.999% uptime as well as a database linking every number to its physical location which emergency services have direct access to in the event that you dial for them while unable to speak due to food/knife/hand in/on/through throat or other.

This is also the reason Skype et. al. are not allowed to sell themselves as telephone services in the UK (can't say for elsewhere) because there is no uptime guarantee.

So, it doesn't matter crap whether they all use packet switching these days or whether the technology is fundamentally the same as that used by VOIP because VOIP does not come with a legally binding uptime guarantee and all the reasons offered (it's your line, your ISP, the angle at which Venus has entered Aquarius) cannot happen with POTS. If the landline fails in any significant way someone's in a great amount of trouble because it's just not good enough.

That asides, have you tried Gizmo? It's backed by Sipphone so you can connect with any SIP VOIP software (including F/OSS) or hardware.

[D4726088DE03]

Good observations and advice, Matt. Never jump onto new technology before it is ready, Matt.

I've been with POTS forever... and finally now, I am thinking of buying by first cell phone. Where can I buy one with a rotary dial, Matt? Where did you get yours, Matt? Bell Atlantic? PacTell? Southern Bell? When I look in my phone book, I can not find any of them listed.

[Larry_Phillips]

I'm just astounded by Matt's comment. It is so out of left field that I can only assume that he is like one of those radio hosts who will say something outrageous to get attention or to boost ratings by creating controversy.

There are MANY good VoIP providers out there. Take a look at the reviews posted in dslreports.com, for example.

I use two smaller providers, CallWithUs (for my home) and CallCentric (at my small business). Both of these are excellent outfits, and if you look at the dslreports.com website you will see that they both have pretty much 100 percent positive reviews.

CallWithUs is very, very low price, but has excellent quality and reliability, and friendly and quick customer service. Customers do need to get their own ATA or equivalent, but that's actually very liberating----you own your equipment, and are not tied in to one provider. The customer interface (website) is basic, but very functional. I was able to figure everything out, and I am a middle-aged non-techie.

CallCentric is slightly more expensive, but still great value. Excellent quality and reliability, and likewise great customer service. CallCentric has a more polished customer interface, and offers some flat-rate plans in addition to pay-as-you-go, so some customers will prefer it for those reasons. Once again, customers do have the benefit of controlling their own device.

At my home and at my business, I have had Verizon "POTS" landlines for 20 years. I can say that my VoIP carriers give me BETTER service than Verizon, and MUCH, MUCH cheaper. Verizon fees are outrageous---what Verizon charges for caller ID alone could pay for the TOTAL cost of the VoIP service (including many free features, not just caller ID).

At my home and office, I do have great internet connections from Optimum (Cablevision). As others have written, probably much of the VoIP experience depends on the ISP quality.

This year, my home VoIP will save me about $ 300, and in my small business, about $ 1,000.

By the way, Matt, you want to flee back to POTS when POTS is dying. Ain't no secret! When you call Verizon customer service, their message says: "Welcome to Verizon, a broadband and entertainment company". Many news stories have been written about Verizon (and other local exchange companies) letting their copper line networks die of neglect. Heck, Verizon just SOLD all its lines in 3 states (Maine-NH-Vermont). And many news stories (and state regulatory fines) about poor service to POTS customers.

Matt, I guess you are an expert in something, but I don't think it's VoIP.

When you get fed up with high costs and low service from POTS, look again at some good VoIP outfits like CallWithUs and CallCentric.

[Larry_Phillips]

Me again---Just wanted to add to my comments: Most VoIP providers have customer interfaces that are very good. So good, they put a POTS company like Verizon to shame.

For example, CallCentric's VoIP customer interface provides real-time information on calls made and received, options selected, current account balance, registered 911 address, and more, and it lets the customer pretty much totally control their service.

By contrast, the Verizon "POTS" people have no real-time info online. And when a Verizon bill is prepared (monthly), it takes Verizon ANOTHER WEEK to make it accessible online!! Why?? That is shameful!!

The Verizon website purports to let the customer control some features of their POTS service, but they really do not let you very much, and most of the time, in my experience, it does not even work!!!! You click on an option, and it goes to a screen that says SORRY---you have to call us.

Again, VoIP can be SUPER with a good VoIP provider and if you have a good internet (broadband) line. People can test their lines with free services such as http://www.testyourvoip.com

By contrast, POTS is old and tired. In fact, I think that POTS stands for Pricey, Outdated Telephone Service.

Happy Voiping!

[tomzer1]

I've had Vonage for over three years, and have used Skype a lot. Both have worked great for me! You're problem is that you might have a bad ISP either throttling VoIP traffic or poor upstream bandwidth. You need a good stable connection for these services to shine. And this isn't a point they make clear in their advertising. I use Vonage on Time Warner's RoadRunner cable internet service, and it's the very best phone service I've ever had. Dumped my landline quickly.

[cyberdyme]

Hey Matt,

The VoX Service at www.voxcorp.net is absolutely FLAWLESS.

In fact - it does not even sound like most VoIP connections - they are in a league of their own.

[Noah Clements]

My wife and I were talking about this just this morning - we are both fed up with our Vonage dropping calls. Four times in a row this morning circuits were busy (or some other message) - but worked first time with my cell. Sometimes I even get the "searching" message on the handset when I am right next to the base.

I know its not just me (or just my cable provider) because a good friend of mine in another state is having the same problems - his phone dropped 3 times on a 20 minute call.

I think we're going back to just cell only.

[larry3rv]

I have to suspect that your broadband provider is the culprit. I've had no problems with vonage in five years.

[paulej]

One?s mileage with VoIP will vary on a number of factors, including packet loss, delay, and jitter. If you have a good access provider, your experience with VoIP should be outstanding. After all, many broadband plans today offer 3Mbps to 10Mbps down, with at least 384Kbps or more up. And, considering that a G.711 call (POTS quality) consumes 80Kbps with packet overhead (see www.bandcalc.com), then a single call consumes about 21% of the uplink and perhaps less than 1% of the downlink bandwidth. My guess is that if you have suffering from poor quality, it might just be that the access provider is not doing its job properly. I?ve personally had great success with my cable company and have used VoIP exclusively for at least 5 years at home. You also need a good service provider. Just as your access might be poor, so might your carrier?s. Lastly, make sure you use good equipment. A good Plantronics headset with Skype is far better than a cheap USB phone. But, the USB phones are great for traveling with your laptop. So, don?t give up yet. Try to find the root of the problem. If your VoIP calls sound bad, just how much time you are wasting on packet re-transmissions browsing the Internet that you don?t ?hear?.