Sully Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I don't have a home phone, just been using the cell for the past year. By November, I had used all of my rollover minutes and went WAY over my plan minutes the past couple months. I've been thinking about getting Digital Phone, but I don't know too many people with it. I've been looking at a few providers and here's what I found: SunRocket: $24.95 a month or $199/yr, prepaid, which is approximately $16.58/month. $39.95 equipment fee waived with annual plan 3 months free if you sign up for the yearly plan $0 cancellation fees Vonage: $24.99/month $29.99 Activation; $9.95 s&h $39.99 if cancel after 30 days but before 1 year Time Warner: $34.95/month $3.00/month if you want voicemail Obviously, SunRocket is the cheapest by far. I called TW the other day about their Digital Phone. The lady I talked to wasn't willing to negotiate the price at all. She said she could add some more programming to my cable tv package for an additional $6/month (WTF???). I don't watch much tv as it is, so that doesn't do me any good. The people that I've talked to that have TW Digital Phone say they like it. I haven't heard any reviews of the other two (other than online reviews). Do any of you have Digital Phone service with either of the other two providers? If so, how well is it working for you? Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 if the internet or power go out your with out a phone unless you still have your cell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 My next door neighbor has TW phone, it is a s c r app y c onnectio n as you can get. The problem with this type of phone service is there is no end to end queueing occuring so the VOIP traffic has no priority over your own or any other shared data. Therefore sometimes the calls are good but often then aren't. If you surf the web a bunch, while using the phone, or if you have big downloads going on while talking on the phone the call quality will go out the window. My suggestion is to get more minutes for your cell phone. Can you increase your plan by $18/month and get more minutes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Good thread. Lots of stuff I didn't know. I only use the cell, but still nice to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiji ST Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 HAve you called the phone company about getting a basic landline phone plan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAOLE Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I have had Vonage for about a year and a half. Service is good... no problems. It sounds just a clear as a land line did. And it is about 1/2 the cost of sprint. I will never go back to a land line. BTW... When the phone company (sprint) sends you a bill, do you ever notice that almost 50% of the bill is tax? That is why I went Vonage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMeanGreen Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I've been using the WOW VOIP phone package for over a year without any issues. No lost calls, no reception problems, no interrupts due to downloads, nothing. Also, there's a battery backup for the router built-in in case of power outages so that phone service is still intact, as well as having my cell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinner Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 My next door neighbor has TW phone, it is a s c r app y c onnectio n as you can get. The problem with this type of phone service is there is no end to end queueing occuring so the VOIP traffic has no priority over your own or any other shared data. Therefore sometimes the calls are good but often then aren't. If you surf the web a bunch, while using the phone, or if you have big downloads going on while talking on the phone the call quality will go out the window. My suggestion is to get more minutes for your cell phone. Can you increase your plan by $18/month and get more minutes? we have TW and couldn't be happier. Haven't had a bit of problems. while on the phone havent seen a change in big downloads or gaming time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spydercolt8 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 i've had vonage for over a year and a half now. no problems, quality is good, great options too. i would never get a land line. if the power goes out the cell still works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl1647545488 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Been with Vonage for about a year, and have had only one outage that was specifically related to Vonage itself. Love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
street pilot Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 My parents have the Time Warner cable/phone/internet package. It works 90% of the time, but if time warner has an issue in the area you just lost all three. If TW doesnt know about it, you need a cell to call them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 if the internet or power go out your with out a phone unless you still have your cell. I'd be keeping my cell phone, just not using it so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 My next door neighbor has TW phone, it is a s c r app y c onnectio n as you can get. The problem with this type of phone service is there is no end to end queueing occuring so the VOIP traffic has no priority over your own or any other shared data. Therefore sometimes the calls are good but often then aren't. If you surf the web a bunch, while using the phone, or if you have big downloads going on while talking on the phone the call quality will go out the window. My suggestion is to get more minutes for your cell phone. Can you increase your plan by $18/month and get more minutes? I used over 2,000 minutes each of the last 2 months. That resulted in 2 cell phone bills of $350+ each. Right now, my cell phone plan is $40/month. In order to get enough minutes, I would have to increase my cell plan to the $100/month plan. That's an extra $60/month. If I could get digital phone for $24.99 or less per month, that would be the route to go. Oh, and cell phone reception is pretty crappy as it is, so it would be any different...LoL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 HAve you called the phone company about getting a basic landline phone plan? Almost all of my family lives out of the state, so most of my calls are long distance. The unlimited local/long distance plan that I use to have with SBC was running about $50 per month. A basic line isn't going to do me any good and an unlimited plan with SBC is more costly than Digital Phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiji ST Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Almost all of my family lives out of the state, so most of my calls are long distance. The unlimited local/long distance plan that I use to have with SBC was running about $50 per month. A basic line isn't going to do me any good and an unlimited plan with SBC is more costly than Digital Phone. I gotcha. The reason I asked was my mom has a basic plan, so she can call locally on the landline and if she has to call long distance, she uses her cell. But that probably won't work for your situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Then it seems that VOIP for Toll Avoidance is your best bet. Here is another company, http://www.broadvoice.com/rateplans.html , don't know too much about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokin5s Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I've been using the WOW VOIP phone package for over a year without any issues. No lost calls, no reception problems, no interrupts due to downloads, nothing. Also, there's a battery backup for the router built-in in case of power outages so that phone service is still intact, as well as having my cell. this is what my parents have also.. they are saving themselves about 60 dollars a month when they switched to WOW, and have the phone, internet, and cable all through them. (this is also including disconnecting the phone they had through Ameritech) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Yeah, I feel Digital Phone would be my best choice as far as price goes, I was just wondering who all has it and what company they are with. I haven't checked the link you posted yet, but from the ones I listed, SunRocket is the cheapest. I was curious if anyone here has SunRocket and how well it works. I suppose there's one way to find out. I'll have to see if they have a free trial period or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I wish I could get WOW at my place. :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kiohio Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 We have been looking at a VOIP for our home also. Our last bill was over 180 for 2 of our three phones and 140 for a Biz phone. 400 A month is a bit much. None are used a whole lot either. Does anyone have comments about any other than Vonage and WOW? Thanks, KO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturg1647545502 Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 this is the new trend in super bundles. its all about advertising...to get the full 4 fold approach(tv, internet, cellphone and home phone.) its why cingular changed its name back to AT&T....so that when at&t advertises, you not only think phone but all the other appendages that at&t offers ps the economist is the shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted January 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2007 I finally went with SunRocket and paid for a whole year for $199 which works out to about $17 per month. I've had it for a week now and it's working out great. They've got some pretty cool features on the website as well. I have it set up so that when someone leaves me a voicemail at home, at text message is sent to my cell phone with the phone number that called, the date/time, and how long the message is. I can then log onto the website and listen to my voicemail, or call my voicemail from my cell phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshymkiw83 Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 My next door neighbor has TW phone, it is a s c r app y c onnectio n as you can get. The problem with this type of phone service is there is no end to end queueing occuring so the VOIP traffic has no priority over your own or any other shared data. Therefore sometimes the calls are good but often then aren't. If you surf the web a bunch, while using the phone, or if you have big downloads going on while talking on the phone the call quality will go out the window. My suggestion is to get more minutes for your cell phone. Can you increase your plan by $18/month and get more minutes? Actually your wrong. Time Warner has QoS on their network for their phone service. In all honesty they give you more bandwidth if you have Digital Phone, but the extra bandwidth is reserved for your Phone service. Time Warner's Layout is as follows: MTA----->CMTS----->GSR----->BTS------>PSTN From the MTA to the BTS Voip is QoS's over all traffic. Which then at the BTS it is converted to Copper and pushed to the PSTN. So yes, TW Digital Phone has QoS. Normal VoIP traffic only has QoS from your home router. i.e your vonage, Sun rocket, Packet 8, Lingo, etc... and uses the public internet to transverse your calls. TW's Digital phone isn't a bad product, it has it's bugs from time to time, but in general is a good product. They are switching carriers from MCI/Verizon Business to Sprint in the next year though. Sprint is who WOW and Insight use for their VoIP. Hope that helps you out some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJINOHIO03 Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 I have heard if you have a digital phone that 911 doesnt always work and/or they cant locate you if you couldnt talk etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshymkiw83 Posted February 1, 2007 Report Share Posted February 1, 2007 I have heard if you have a digital phone that 911 doesnt always work and/or they cant locate you if you couldnt talk etc Digital Phone is E911. If it doesn't work it is because you have moved your MTA or MCI/Verizon Business did not push the rate center correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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