Re: VOiP reviews?

Maggie's Mom wrote:
> Last week we received a letter from Qwest, with yet another price
> hike on caller ID. This made me think, that possibly there are other
> providers, with more reasonable prices.
> Vonage advertises a lot. I started looking up reviews on Vonage, and
> that was how I discovered SurRocket, Waybeyondvoip, and about 1700
> others just in the USA alone.
> I read some reviews already, but it seems that not all of them were
> unbiased, especially those that were written by one Anonymous.
> Has anyone from the group have a first hand experience with VOiP, and
> if yes - what are the opinions? Is it worth switching from Qwest?
> Peace, - Maggie's Mom.

We got Vonage about 2 years ago. $25.00/month. For that price, we got a real 
telephone number, all the extras (caller-ID, voice mail, call waiting, etc.) 
and all the long-distance we could eat. As an added bonus, you can pick your 
area code! If, for example, your main customers or relatives live on the 
other side of the country, pick an area code that's a local call for them.

Our long-distance bill (at ~ 3 cents/minute) was over $200/month to service 
our customers scattered all over the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. 
All that expense went away.

We were so pleased, that we dropped two of our three land-line numbers and 
added two more Vonage lines.

All in all, we traded about $350/month in telephone expense for less than 
$75. The quality is excellent. We've kept one land-line in case of cable 
interruptions (there have been two in two years, each less than a day's 
duration).

Your mileage may vary, but it only costs $25 to try it out - you can pick up 
a "kit" at Wal-Mart, Costco, or electronics retailers.