Vonage?

[cd34]

I have two of them and just got off the phone with a guy in Canada. AT&T would have charged me .25/minute for that call because I refuse to pay their $6/month international plan. With Vonage, it is considered minutes against my plan. Call quality is generally very good. If you have a router, like the netgear router, consider putting it on a port and using netgear's quality of service to guarantee that port be preferred over other traffic. That way, when you are making calls and surfing, you don't sound like darth vader to the other party.

I love it, but don't think to use it as much as I should. Works well and is very consistent. Oddly, my AT&T long distance had a problem the other day dialing an 800# with an all circuits busy message. My vonage line got me right through twice.

If you do a lot of long distance, I would recommend it. They have an 800# option that is dirt cheap as well. You can also get virtual numbers with it so that you can have a NYC number at your house in Georgia. That way, if you have family in NYC, they can call you on your NYC number and not have to pay long distance charges. Your calls to them of course just count as 'minutes' off your plan -- or if you have the unlimited plan, who cares. haha

As for calling features, they have voice mail which you can listen to on their dashboard -- or have the message emailed to you. They have call forwardng, call hunting, and some other mode that basically allows you to ring up to 6 phones simultaneously and whichever one picks up gets the call. Jim can probably tell you how well he likes that.

So, they call your vonage number, it rings your vonage phone, your landline, your cell phone -- and whichever one you decide to answer gets the call.

Overall, its a pretty decent package. I have the $19.95 500 minute plan and really don't use it as much as I should. Their unlimited plan for $25 is quite a deal. Their international rates are very good. Not really much of a reason not to get one if you make a lot of long distance calls.

If you don't like the cable vs landline, you might check with your long distance carrier to see if they have any unlimited long distance plans. Definitely not going to be in the same price bracket, but, perhaps would make your long distance bills more palatable.

And unlike my local service phone bill, the price they quote is the price you pay + taxes added on. My bill has been the same since I have gotten both vonage devices.