Sally

There was a thread on here in June about phone choices but after reading through it I'm still confused.

We currently have Charter Cable for TV and high-speed internet, AT&T for a basic telephone service and use a company called AIT for long-distance/abroad.

We have bought 2 lots of budget telephones since arriving which have been awful. First set batteries kept coming loose, 2nd set poor sound quality.

SO...does anyone use Vonage and what is it like?

What is a good model of telephone?

jumping doris

We use Vonage and I am really pleased with them. $24.99 per month for all calls, including UK, Spain and France. I think we can call a couple of other European countries but we don't need to.
The total cost is between $35 and $45 depending on how many 0845 numbers we call. Recently with all the green card stuff we seemed to be calling a lot of those.

Our phone is a Panasonic with a built in answering machine and up to 4 handsets. It's OK, it does the job and nothing has gone wrong with it and we've had it 2 years.

Paul S

pretty much the same response here. Similar costs per month. Phone is a Cheapy Vtech with built in answer phone and a remote station so we can have one upstairs and one down.

I wouldn't be without it

rincewind

Vonage rocks!! Crystal clear calls and my vast web usage doesn't effect the quality.

There are other companies out there like Lingo, so shop around and find what suits you best.

Sally

Thanks for the clear answers folks

Ray

They just laid fibre optic to our house
awaiting a salesman any day now to give me his bullshit
before I call road runner for their bullshit

then play one against the other ...

RoadWarriorFromLP

I have used it, and I have found it to be quite good on the whole. The service is highly reliable (although it does have its moments), the call quality is generally very good, and the bundle of free services (voicemail, call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, ability to receive voicemail updates via email, etc.) is useful. It's not the cheapest of VoiP carriers, but if reliability is important to you(I use it for my business, so I need a reliable product), it is worth the modest premium.

However, the customer service is mediocre at best. At those times that you require their personal assistance, your enthusiasm for the service may wane for a while thereafter. But fortunately, you probably won't need them all that often.

You can use a regular phone with Vonage and other VoiP carriers such as Lingo. One suggestion: If you are buying a cordless phone and you have wireless internet, don't get a phone that operates at 2.4 Ghz, as it will operate on the same frequency as does the wireless network, and they will interfere with one another. To avoid this problem get a 5.8 Ghz phone, instead.

And a warning -- don't subscribe to VoiP service unless you also have a land line or a mobile. If your internet connection is lost or if you have a power outage, your VoiP phone won't work at all. Be sure that you have a land line or mobile to serve as a substitute in the event that the connection is lost or the power goes out. If your internet service is unstable, relying on VoiP is probably not a great idea, and of course, it won't work at all if you only have a dial-up connection.

Titchski

You Lucky Lucky Bugger!

And you still have Road Runner? I thought all Florida RR was now Comcrap?

Bob

I'd probably hold off for a while, till the law suit is over with, don't want them going under on you all of a sudden like that rocket company did.

Ray

Tampabay is mostly Road Runner

lolly

My sister is going over to Vonage from the UK 7.99 a month and free calls to USA

Dan725

We get the same Verizon bullshit as you no doubt do through the post at least once a week Ray. The long and short of it is the new verizon stuff is about the same price, quite a bit faster, but you are locked into a contract for 2 years.

Dan725

We have Lingo; had it for over 2 years and have been very happy with it. As well as being slightly cheaper than Vonage, you can call substantially more countries for nowt (more Euro countries, Aus/NZ) than you can with the equivalent Vonage plan.

Sally

I will have to look into lingo.

Ray

the standard Verizon setup is faster uploads but slower down ..
RR will deduct $50 of your monthly bill if you stick with them on the whole package Not advertised though....

Negoiation to be done yet ...