Hi all,

I have recently discovered the wonderful world of VOIP phone service.

After reading much about both "Vonage" and "AT&T CallVantage" I decided to go with the AT&T CallVantage. I made this decision due to some controversy I read about the 911 service problems that Vonage has. True, Vonage's price is about $5 less a month, but having 3 daughters... the idea of them not being able to reach help if the need ever arose bothered me.

I've now had the AT&T CallVantage service for two months, and absolutely love it! Not at all like I had anticipated it might be. I remember doing the "Call from your computer" thangy... using your computer to call someone... and wasn't very happy with that "One-Way" style of talking with someone. This VOIP service is truly like picking up a phone and talking with your friends and family like you always have over a phone. Using a normal phone of your choosing is a bonus also. No headsets, or computer speakers.

All in all, I would encourage you to look into its availability in your area, and give it a test run!

I would enjoy hearing other's experiences with their VOIP service. Please tag along!

Thanks

The only experience I have with voIP is SKype, the free software which allows you to call your contacts on your computer with a broadband connection. As for the commercial voip vendors, I have no experience with them.

Hi, i use skype for my daily business in the office. The voice quality is excellent and it does cuts our phonecosts dramaticly... With around 25 Euro the month we call our clients worldwide with no problems. Befor we paid arount a thousend euros a month. The prices from the big phone companies are not much longer to justify to a client. Best of all you don´t need a headset or so, because there a telephones wich you can connect to the usb port and use like any other phone

Having an actual phone that you could attach to your computer would make any type of Computer oriented phone program more attractive.

Like I said, I am enjoying AT&T's CallVantage very much. Just figured out this weekend how easy it was to have all of my phone jacks in my house now be connected to my VOIP... so now all my phones are on the system, and I'm luvin it! *Smile*

yeah me too use skype..! Great Quality..! Well You can use in on normal connection too but there is clarity in broadband..! Me using the free service .! And its Just great to call contacts in skype...!

Im not sure if any of you ever heard of it... But when voip first came out, Lingo.com was one of the first to offer the broadband phone service...

It was probably around the time Vonage first came out as well...

I certainly think if youre investing into something like voip phone service, you should check out Lingo.com...

Based on my research before, Lingo.com was the cheapest one out there, its like $15 bucks a month of something... Well hope that helped...

Chin chin

When I researched the VOIP, 2 of my concerns were what happened when/if I lost my internet connection and/or power... and what if something around the house happened and me, or most importantly my daughters needed to dial 911.

Both Vonage and CallVantage have a "Safe Number". What that is, if for some reason a caller can't connect to your Telephone Adapter, then the call if automatically forwarded to that "Safe" number!

The reason I finally decided on CallVantage over Vonage, even though the Vonage service was $5 a month cheaper, was the problems Vonage is having because they are NOT a phone company... with their 911 service.

From the searching I did, their 911 calls are routed to a "Semi Local" 911 service, then you have to wait while that service transfers you to the 911 service center that is closest to the address you give them when you call. I didn't want my daughter's in an emergency having to go thru all fo that at all!

To be fair though, I should also mention here that this 911 problem Vonage is having isn't in all parts of the country... and I don't think it has been a major problem up in Washington State where I live... but I wasn't going to take any chances when it came to an emergency, and my daughter's needing to get help as quickly as they possiblly could!