VOIP

[Dr_LHA 3]

I never use my home phone for anything other than calling teleconferences (which are all 1-800 numbers anyway), so I got rid of it and replaced it with a unlocked Linksys PAP2 and a Gizmo account. $35 a year gives me a local number that people can call me on, and there are no monthly fees, and calls to free numbers are free. The only thing you don't get is 911. A perfect solution for someone like me who wants a home phone number for calls from the doctors etc, but doesn't actually use the home phone for anything else.

Skype would give much the same, except its $60 a year for the local number, plus you have to buy a special Skype phone to use it without a computer. The PAP2 (basically an unlocked version of what Vonage give you) cost me $29 off Ebay.

Obviously I wouldn't recommend this unless you're slightly technically minded. For me its a better solution than Vonage, which would give me lots of stuff I don't want (as I call everyone on my mobile) for a rather high price ($25 a month).

[payxibka 10,045]

I never use my home phone for anything other than calling teleconferences (which are all 1-800 numbers anyway), so I got rid of it and replaced it with a unlocked Linksys PAP2 and a Gizmo account. $35 a year gives me a local number that people can call me on, and there are no monthly fees, and calls to free numbers are free. The only thing you don't get is 911. A perfect solution for someone like me who wants a home phone number for calls from the doctors etc, but doesn't actually use the home phone for anything else.

Skype would give much the same, except its $60 a year for the local number, plus you have to buy a special Skype phone to use it without a computer. The PAP2 (basically an unlocked version of what Vonage give you) cost me $29 off Ebay.

Obviously I wouldn't recommend this unless you're slightly technically minded. For me its a better solution than Vonage, which would give me lots of stuff I don't want (as I call everyone on my mobile) for a rather high price ($25 a month).

This might be very close to the ticket... Thanks, I will do more research on this....

[Heracles 417]

I was with sunrocket but switched to Verizon Voicewing. Had vonage before. They where pretty good. The only issue I have is that if they their appeal against Verizon is denied, they may go under..

I heard a few people using http://www.magicjack.com/site/index.html without an issue but I do not know how reliable it would be for a home phone replacement.

If you are with Tmobile you could sign up for their new unlimted VOIP $9.95 service..

[Dan J 277]

If international calling is your thing, take a look at http://www.lingo.com/voip/residential/home_plans.jsp

[Reba 2]

I have Vonage and it works pretty good. Their Unlimited plan now includes free long distance for US, Canada, UK, France, Spain & Italy. Charges to other countries are pretty cheap.

The only problem I've had with it is if I'm trying to surf and talk on the phone at the same time, it'll freeze sometimes, but I think that also has to do with our ####### ISP, not specifically Vonage or even the technology itself. The city owns our local cable company, and its our only option, so we're kinda stuck

Plus, with Vonage you can get a toll free number for only $4 more per month, and people can call you for free if they don't have a long distance plan

[beng_and_carl 0]

how about calling to the philippines? thanks.

[Erin and Muraari 0]

I use AT&T Callvantage which I like quite a bit. And given that I work from home reliability was a big issue. Their customer service is a little hard to get a holf of though.

[Marilyn. 340]

I noticed they changed things with Vonage now.. they offer a few more plans you can add on to their basic plan...

$34.99 /month Residential Premium Unlimited Plan($24.99) with Call Asia Plan($10.00)

$30.99 /month Residential Premium Unlimited Plan($24.99) with Basic World Plan($6.00)

$39.99 /month Residential Premium Unlimited Plan($24.99) with Enhanced World Plan($15.00)

$34.99 /month Residential Premium Unlimited Plan($24.99) with Call Europe Plan($10.00)

$39.99 /month Residential Premium Unlimited Plan($24.99) with Call Mexico and Latin America Plan($15.00)