The information on this page is intended to show individual users' experiences with residential Voice over IP (VoIP) products. Disclaimer: The information on this page is meant to convey individual users' experiences and opinions, and should not be taken as official recommendations or positions of either the University at Buffalo or UB CSE.
- Paul Graham's Advice
July 30, 2007
> If any one has VoIP at home could you tell me how the quality is and what company you are with - or if you would or would not recommend it?
>
This is an area fraught with hazards. You should certainly read the reviews at http://www.dslreports.com/ and assume that full-service residential VoIP from anyone other than an incumbent (Telco or Cable) is likely to go under in the next few years. A great number of people know that SunRocket went under with zero notice (in some cases just days after charging customers for a two year renewal) but not nearly as many know that Vonage nearly went under in the face of litigation from Verizon ("Court gives Vonage perma-stay, ok to sign up new customers") and is still in trouble.
When people ask me about residential VoIP I say:
- Never give up your land-line because an emergency is the worst time for E911 to not work. We have the least expensive Verizon plan.
- A mobile phone is a good idea and given a choice of mobile or VoIP you should go mobile.
- Given the previous two points where does VoIP fit in? With a full-service provider like Verizon, Vonage, Voicepulse or Broadvoice it's hard to see because the monthly charges are so high.
So we have a Verizon land-line, mobile phones and a digital (software) PBX at home. The PBX gives us access to (primarily) VoicepulseConnect for USA48 calls and Voipjet for international calls (including Canada). These services only charge for usage (typically .9 to 1.5 cents per minute). All of them typically provide land-line quality (but echo is sometimes a problem). Our solution is a poor choice for anyone who doesn't make a lot of international calls, isn't interested in VoIP for its own sake or doesn't want to be able to route in-bound calls a variety of ways depending on the caller.
- http://www.dslreports.com
