VoIP Provider Recommendations

[DodgerKing]

If Ooma goes belly up, then I won't have a home phone provider.

 

[riffjim4069]

I've been with ViaTalk the past 2 1/2 years and they IMO offer the best bang for the buck. I've looked at Ooma...but by golly their business model just scares the crap out of me. I got burned by SunRocket and Packet8 and I just don't see them surviving after they stop selling millions of the Ooma devices. We shall see.

 

[LER]

And in a few years when Ooma goes a la SunRocket, will you just move over to the next cheapest rinky dink provider until they go belly up? Never had any issues with my TW digital phone service. It's nice having the peace of mind knowing that tomorrow morning when I pick up the phone there is a 100% chance Time Warner Cable will still be in business. I hate Verizon more than any company on the planet, but put up with then as opposed to switching to a VOIP provider because of the reliability. As soon as TW launched phone service here I was gone, but telcos and cablecos are the only ones I'd get phone service from, not some company that probably isn't making enough of an ROI on their service to keep on maintenance and service enhancements.

To each his own. I refuse to pay TWC for Sub Standard service. I haven't been able to use the Call History feature at all in 3 weeks. Unacceptable. Gone.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Hey, I'll quote you on that in 2 years from now when you're looking for a new VoIP provider because your current one went out of business. I’d rather be able to say with certainty that I’ll have phone service tomorrow then look at my call history, which I can’t say I’ve ever had the inkling to do. How Vonage has managed to stay in business so long is beyond me, but all these other jokers will be gone in a few years, then a new crop will pop up.

 

[navychop]

The survival of both Vonage and MagicJack are a mystery to me. House of cards.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

As long as I can keep my $19.99/month Comcast Digital Voice promo I have absolutely no reason to switch phone companies. Plus the service is rock solid and the sound quality is the best I've heard from any company!

 

[charper1]

I've been with ViaTalk the past 2 1/2 years and they IMO offer the best bang for the buck. I've looked at Ooma...but by golly their business model just scares the crap out of me. I got burned by SunRocket and Packet8 and I just don't see them surviving after they stop selling millions of the Ooma devices. We shall see.

I have been with ViaTalk nearly 8+ years and they have been great. Effectively$8.47 plus govt fees - $12 /mo for unlimited everything, every available service and a web portal and VM e-forwarding and mobile apps. Works great, sounds great.


http://www.viatalk.com/broadband_phone_control_panel.htm



http://vtinside.com/



http://www.viatalk.com/

 

[charper1]

What happened with Packet8 (really 8x8)

They are a great service & still around.

 

[LER]

Phone number ported today to ooma. We will see how they do now.

 

[Skyhi]

Phone number ported today to ooma. We will see how they do now.

4 months with Ooma here and I'm very pleased. I've had a few instances of "robot voice" and sporadic 1 second dropouts, but for $3/month it can't be beat. I recommend it every chance I get.

 

[Stargazer]

That $3 per month are the taxes ain't it? What I do not like is their upfront cost of around $200 compared to NetTalk which only charges $29 per year and around $30 for the device. What I like about oOma is that they allow you to port the number where NetTalk don't unless I am mistaken on that one.

 

[LER]

Yes, the $3 is taxes. Not sure on the port with net talk, but that sounds right.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Vonage works good, as long as you don't call them. There tech support is useless and they just say anything to try to get you off the phone.

When you try to cancel Vonage, they give you the run around also. If you try not paying the bill by cancelling your credit card, so they will shut you down so you can settle with you later, they keep billing you for 5 months and let you run up a big bill.

 

[Islandguy43]

There is a kewl device called "Home Connect" by Verizon Wireless, which basically adds another wireless line to your billing ($10 a month in my case) and it back loads your home phone wiring, so you can use your minutes, mobile to mobile; and weekend and evenings & weekends minutes at home on your old wired lines. You have to disconnect your home wiring from the phone company wired interface coming to your house.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

With all of the ads and that they can spy on your computer I would do everything to avoid Magic Jack. It's even in the EULA.

MagicJack’s EULA says it will spy on you and force you into arbitration – Boing Boing Gadgets

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I am not worried about that, I have it on an old laptop that I formatted and threw magic jack on it.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

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I am not worried about that, I have it on an old laptop that I formatted and threw magic jack on it.

That would be the only way that I could convince myself into using Magic Jack. I would never put it on a computer that I still actually use.

 

[Stargazer]

For $10 more per year, I find it worth using NetTalk so that you do not have to connect it up to a computer and have to have it running all of the time.

 

[mike123abc]

I have used viatalk for over a year now. I love getting my voicemail emailed to me (my home number and I am rarely home). I prepaid 2 years, but have around $2.50 a month in taxes/911 fees.

 

[smokey982]

I think I'm about to take the plunge on Ooma. So to the OP, how do you like the service now that you've had it for a while? And I have a question for those ooma users that just used their own phone handsets. I have 4 cordless phones throughout the house. But only the base phone (with answering machine) actually plugs into a wall jack. The other 3 handsets only have an AC adapter and somehow are tied into the base so they don't require a line plugged into a wall jack. So will all 4 of these phones work with ooma?

 

[DodgerKing]

I think I'm about to take the plunge on Ooma. So to the OP, how do you like the service now that you've had it for a while? And I have a question for those ooma users that just used their own phone handsets. I have 4 cordless phones throughout the house. But only the base phone (with answering machine) actually plugs into a wall jack. The other 3 handsets only have an AC adapter and somehow are tied into the base so they don't require a line plugged into a wall jack. So will all 4 of these phones work with ooma?

Yes. We have one one base (no answering machine) with three cordless phones and all three work fine

But you may want to turn off the answering machine or set it to pick up before the Ooma does. The Ooma itself is also an answering machine.

If you use the answering machine on your handset instead of the Ooma, you will not be able to take advantage of the Ooma answering machine features, such as listening to your messages online or have Ooma send a text to your cell notifying you that you have a message.