VOIP for n00bs

April 23, 2007 9:43 AM

We are temporarily moving 50 miles from our permanent home. We would like to keep our landline phone number active. VOIP seems like the obvious answer, but I'm a complete internet telephony newbie.

Poking around on Google and on previous AskMe questions tells me that Vonage isn't all it's cracked up to be and that Comcast in Northern California (our cable modem provider) doesn't always play nicely with VOIP.

Given the current state of affairs, am I crazy to even consider Vonage? Is there another alternative that's better? Is Comcast just too evil to attempt third party VOIP? Skype doesn't allow you to port over your landline number, which is the main reason for doing this now. Is there anything I am overlooking? I'd especially be interested in hearing from anyone using Vonage over a Comcast cable modem.

posted by ambrosia to technology (10 comments total)

I'm a fan of Vonage- I love their tools, and I haven't had any of the quality issues others have discussed.

That said, given the sad state of their legal affairs (losing a patent lawsuit against Verizon), I wouldn't recommend signing up with them until that shakes out.

Come to think of it, aren't they under injunction barring them from signing up new customers now anyway?
posted by mkultra at 9:56 AM on April 23, 2007

Why are you not able to keep your current landline number?
As long as you are relocating within your area code, I'm pretty sure you can transfer your current landline number to the new address. I've had the same landline number over the past 20 years and 3 different moves.

I guess it depends on what span of time you mean by "temporary".
posted by Thorzdad at 10:04 AM on April 23, 2007

Eh, about the Vonage legal problems thing...

Sign up - you're not under contract. Mine works beautifully. If you're only going to be out for a few months, this is fine. By the time the appeal is heard, you might not need it anymore.

Now, if this "temporary" means 6+ months, I'd look at maybe putting in on a new cell phone. That gives you the ultimate portability, as I can't think of any cell companies that are going under any time soon. Downside, of course, is the limits of coverage in your area and the minutes you have. Lots of places are giving you a crap ton of minutes for only slightly more than your current phone bill would be.
posted by plaidrabbit at 10:12 AM on April 23, 2007

I used to have Vonage on a Comcast cable modem. The sound quality was OK, but their customer service is beyond horrible. I'd avoid them like the plague.

At one point they started charging me for a fax line I never ordered. I sent several e-mails asking them to cancel the line and refund the charges, to which they never replied. When I was finally able to reach them by telephone (after being on hold for over an hour), they agreed to cancel the fax line but refused to refund the charges for the (never used) line -- WTF. So I told them I wanted to cancel my account, which they also initially refused to do. I ended up having to argue with their rude, condescending rep for about 30 frustrating minutes to finally get my account canceled. They then wouldn't allow the transfer of my phone number back to my land-line phone company for a good two months, which was obviously pretty inconvenient. I love the idea of VOIP, but Vonage was just a nightmare to deal with.
posted by nixxon at 10:16 AM on April 23, 2007

Sign up - you're not under contract

You're not? I'm pretty sure there's a cancellation fee of $90 or something if you cancel prior to one year and after 30 days. At least there is in Canada.

I'm with Vonage and they absolutely suck. I cannot recommend avoiding them harshly enough. I've been with them 6 months after hearing positive things here on Ask. Here are my issues:

- people constantly complain about not being able to hear me.
- lots of drop outs on the phone conversations. incoming and outgoing.
- sometimes when I call people their call display lights up with some seemingly random number from another part of the country. I can't even order a pizza as the pizza places insist I'm calling from Vancouver (I'm in Toronto).
- when I'm on the phone, my internet connection becomes PAINFULLY slow. ie, it takes 10 minutes for Metafilter to load.
- I'm on my third modem from them in 6 months and each time they've sent me a new one I'm without a phone for 3-6 days.

In short, they suck. Avoid.
posted by dobbs at 10:45 AM on April 23, 2007

Could you have your current landline number set up to forward to your cell phone or a landline at your temp place?
posted by KAS at 11:27 AM on April 23, 2007

Seconding cellphone, but be careful -- it may not be possible to transfer the number back to a landline once you've moved it to a cell. (I vaguely recall being warned of this a few years ago, maybe it's not the case anymore.)

The nice thing about a cellphone is that once you get the number on it, it doesn't matter where you live -- it's yours forever. When I moved out of the area where the number was originally (the area code), and changed the billing address on my account, I was afraid the cell company was going to notice and make me give up my old number. But nope -- I'm two years out and 300 miles away from where I used to live, and I still have the "local" number there.

If you can afford it, I'd just get a cellphone and forward your calls to wherever you want them from there. Maybe I'm just a technophobe, but the VoIP landscape, for residential users anyway, seems like it's too in flux right now for me to want to get involved.
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:06 PM on April 23, 2007

Another strong recommendation for avoiding Vonage. I don't know about their cancellation policy now, but they'll hold your phone number and never let it go. Sunrocket seems pretty good for basic VOIP - much much better than Vonage.
posted by EllenC at 3:17 PM on April 23, 2007

Since you are already a Comcast customer, why not consider Comcast Digital Voice? It's essentially VOIP, but on Comcast's own dedicated private network.

It's not available in all areas yet. I do know it's available in Sonoma County.
posted by Zarya at 8:41 PM on April 23, 2007

Oh, I always forget to put this: With Comcast Digital Voice, you do not need internet to use the phone, and it has a battery back-up, so you still have a few hours of service even if your power goes out.
posted by Zarya at 8:42 PM on April 23, 2007