12-05-2006, 08:58 PM
I've had Vonage for just over two years. It works fine technically over a cable modem. I can use it to send faxes from a standalone fax machine, and my two DirecTiVo boxes dial out OK (an occasional failure, but well within the acceptable limits). I pulled the local phone company's connections at the demarc box on the outside of the house, and Vonage feeds all of my wall jacks.
I think most VoIP users will tell you to expect phone sound quality similar to that of a cell phone. That has been my experience. My parents switched to Vonage and have more sound quality problems than I do...I attribute that to the age of the cable network in their area and possible oversubscription (I believe they have a higher percentage of cable modem-using households in their neighborhood than I do in mine).
I don't know about the comment above about Vonage having hidden fees. I didn't pay a startup fee (bought a retail kit at Best Buy that was free after rebate), and I haven't dropped them, so I don't know if/what they would charge to disconnect. My monthly rate just went up $2.00 due to some new regulatory fee being imposed on VoIP carriers.
My parents ported their old Qwest number to Vonage. I started with a new Vonage-issued number. If you start with a new Vonage-issued number, you essentially have a 'nonpublished' number.
If call rejection is important to you, I'd use that as my number one screening mechanism among carriers. Since I'm nonpublished, I get very few inbound calls, so it hasn't been something I've looked at very much.
I think most VoIP users will tell you to expect phone sound quality similar to that of a cell phone. That has been my experience. My parents switched to Vonage and have more sound quality problems than I do...I attribute that to the age of the cable network in their area and possible oversubscription (I believe they have a higher percentage of cable modem-using households in their neighborhood than I do in mine).
I don't know about the comment above about Vonage having hidden fees. I didn't pay a startup fee (bought a retail kit at Best Buy that was free after rebate), and I haven't dropped them, so I don't know if/what they would charge to disconnect. My monthly rate just went up $2.00 due to some new regulatory fee being imposed on VoIP carriers.
My parents ported their old Qwest number to Vonage. I started with a new Vonage-issued number. If you start with a new Vonage-issued number, you essentially have a 'nonpublished' number.
If call rejection is important to you, I'd use that as my number one screening mechanism among carriers. Since I'm nonpublished, I get very few inbound calls, so it hasn't been something I've looked at very much.