Anyone use cable voip digtal phone services??

[yoda313]

Our cable company comcast has a 3 for 33 each offer continuosuly ongoing - for cable, internet, and digital voice.

This would be a consideration to jump to strictly one company but what about voip's limitations??

My main question:

HOW LONG DOES IT LAST IN A POWER OUTAGE??

Here in Southeastern Michigan we don't get many power outages but can get the occasional wheather related problems (ice, thunderstorms, etc). Is this the only negative to having a non-landline phone service???? I'd love to ditch dsl and go for cable and the voip but not at the expense of phone security - I do have a cell phone but I only have it on a pay-as-you-go plan so it isn't suitable as a regluar replacement.

Any user experience would be welcomed. Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

I do.

So far, it's not any different than traditional phones are. I put mine on a battery-backed UPS, so I really don't care. And then I've always got my cell phone too.

Traditional landline phones can (and do!) go dead in bad storms too.

[SquirrelDip]

I've been using VOIP at home for about a year now. Without a UPS it doesn't last in a power outage.

My main reason for getting it is because it's cheap! Really cheap. There's a small company (http://www.cia.com) that resells the big guys cable service and bundles it with telephone - cost is $40 for phone and Internet per month.

Quality is much the same as regular phone. Funny with so many cheap long distance carriers these days you never know where the problems actually exist. Only problems I've had with my provider is support, it's virtually non-existent - I've heard this is pretty common nowadays with most any company (service is a thing of the past...).

Yes, the old phones went down too - but they are inherantly more stable than any voip. I'd strongly recommend having a cell phone if you're getting completely rid of the old system.

[hech54]

I use Skype exclusively for my overseas calling. I purchased a phone number in my former hometown area code(through Skype) and my friends and family call that number(with no charge to them) and it rings here in Germany on my computer.
If my computer or Skype is not available....the calls are forwarded to our regular phone. Forwarded calls cost ME extra....but the charge is miniscule especially if the call is an emergengy or even mildy important.

I've personally never experienced a power outage here. Germans are like freakin' gophers....they bury everything(power lines, phone lines etc etc)....

[yoda313]

I put mine on a battery-backed UPS

So you just use one that you'd get for a computer? How long can those last? Also I do have a cell phone I can use for emergencies.

Is the power issue then the only real disadvantage of voip?

[enstg8er]

i use sunrocket-
http://www.sunrocket.com/

under $20 a month.

all the features including two favotites. call blocking which i use to end pestering calls and the second line.

with that set-up i make all my long distance calls for free, and i give the second line an area code that is local to my family in texas. that way they can call me and it's not long distance for them.

cheaper than anything else and every feature i can think of. i never have any service interruptions.

for hech- i don't know what your plan is but this one gives 49 minutes a month free to germany and 3 cents a minute after. but i've never used it...

[SquirrelDip]

@yoda: You'll need to put your modem, ata (phone box) and possibly a router/switch on the UPS - all of which draw pretty low power. Should last a number of hours...

Other than power you need to worry about voice quality. Largely tied to you upload and download speed - mostly upload as download isn't usually an issue. Speed tests show I have about 1000kbit upload quite consistently - check the forums at some of the voip providers, they should be able to give a better idea of what you need.

[lordsmurf]

Because traditional phone lines are largely digitally-packed anyway these days, the sound quality difference between VoIP and anything else is the same. Cell, traditional, VoIP ... all sound fine.

Just a plain old UPS, like APC or Cyberpower. The cheap ones ($40) work fine, the unit draws very little power, won't drain a battery for a half hour of downtime.

[gadgetguy]

Because traditional phone lines are largely digitally-packed anyway these days, the sound quality difference between VoIP and anything else is the same. Cell, traditional, VoIP ... all sound fine.

While all voice traffic is digital through the COs, there is still a difference in the quality of traditional phones over VOip. It all comes down to available bandwidth and individual traffic patterns. QOS prioritizing is still not generally available to home users and the shared nature of cable internet creates differing results for individual users. The technology is sound, but the underlying substructure is not consistant, so YMMV.

@Yoda313
This is something to be aware of before you sign a long term contract. Do whatever you can to "try before you buy" for several days and try different ways to tax your system. Place a call and then start a huge download. Start a huge download and then place a call. Start a huge download, open several browser windows with active content, then place a call. Do the same and then have someone call you. Set up a bit-torrent share while doing all of the above. If you get good results, then it's a good deal, but if you experience lag, drops or echo, then IMO it's not worth it.