Thinking about switching to VOIP. I have it at work and it is flawless but read horror stories about hardware problems and customer service.

It seems some of the hardware products are better than others and many people report 0 problems but others think it is total crap. It seems from reading online reviews that some of the people with technical problems are not that tech savy.


Thoughts?

 

VoIP sucks. Don't do it.

 

I'm thinking of Sunrocket - $199/yr for unlimited domestic calling...

 

All I would really use my service for is calling in to meetings when I WFH. That's about 10 hrs a month - so the 500 minute plan is out.

Only downside is I would likely get a cable modem and have to stick with cable TV. I'd prefer to have:

1. VOIP Not a landline
2. Directv not cable TV

Right now, that is impossible.

 

I hate DirecTV.

Better picture quality and sound but lousy customer service. I have had several problems. The biggest of which they would not fix so I walked. I signed a one year service agreement and had service for a year and a half and canceled (with paperwork to prove it).

They claimed I had a two year agreement, charged my credit card $140 without authorization. They admitted they were wrong and sent me a statement with a credit balance but no credit to my credit card. Then it took 5 months, dozens of phonecalls and email before they actually REFUND the money.

total a-holes.

 

I wouldn't even have to sign a contract for DTV because I already have all the equipment set up.

Right now I'm paying almost $100/month to Comcast for HDTV+HBO. Directv would be much less than that...

 

wow, this was a topic about Vonage. Anyways...

I have Vonage. I didn't really research before I signed up; I now realize that there are cheaper options. However, i'm pleased with the service. I've never had an outage, I like getting an email whenever I have voicemail, I like being able to listen to my voicemail on the Vonage website, and I like the level of control I have over my calling plan options. It's also nice to be able to add extra features for cheap, like virtual 800 numbers to my house for $5/month. I have the limited plan which is plenty for us; it's less than $20 per month. I'm fairly tech-saavy and have the box wired to our phone junction box so that all the phones in the house can use the line.

 

VOIP is GREAT!

I've had it for about 2 years now. To test it out I had both Vonage and Voice Pulse.

Voice Pulse was better HANDS DOWN.

Customer service was the reason.

You will have some set up issues if you have more than one line. They won't be bad, it is just getting used to their interfaces. VP responds immediately and you can even talk to a rep on the phone.

Vonage may take days and 2-3 contacts before they finally understand your issues or even try to help.

 

i have vonage and am generally happy. it is a secondary line because I use my cell most often. One plus is you caxn take it anywhere, even outer mongolia and it'll work (provided they have internet!)

I have never had any problems making a call, but inbound calls seem to be hit or miss. Some report not being able to call me at that number.

It can be embarrasing because people assume you didn't pay your phone bill.

Still for $17 a month I won't complain. Just don't get VOIP if people absolutely must reach you.

 

To the best of my knowledge I have never had a missed call with VOIP since going with Voice Pulse. I use it for all my business lines which is a lot more important than my personal lines.

I had that problem with Vonage but not on Voice Pulse. As I said in an earlier post, VP is a lot better than Vonage.

As someone said, your "phone system" is portable but you never need to move it unless you move, Voice Pulse has a great and easy way to forward your phones.

Should the internet go out it automatically forwards your calls to whatever number you designate.

The only thing is that neither one will receive faxes with regularity.