Review of VOIP Provider: Packet8
So about 6 months ago, I signed up for VOIP (Voice Over IP), which basically routes your phone calls over the Internet, saving you on long distance charges, both domestically and internationally.
My main reason for doing it was so I could make 17 cent/minute calls to a friend in Turkey. This allowed me to cancel […]
So about 6 months ago, I signed up for VOIP (Voice Over IP), which basically routes your phone calls over the Internet, saving you on long distance charges, both domestically and internationally.
My main reason for doing it was so I could make 17 cent/minute calls to a friend in Turkey. This allowed me to cancel my SBC residential line, which was costing me about $45/month, plus long distance charges to Turkey at about 24 cents/minute.
I saw no reason to keep the residential line, since I have a comcast cable connection instead of DSL (which requires a phone line). Not to mention I use my cell phone for just about everything now, except international calls.
After researching various VOIP providers, I opted for the cheapest one I could find, Packet8, which offers a residential VOIP service for $20/month (no fees), which includes unlimited long distance in the US and Canada. Their international rates are also very competitive, especially when compared to SBC.
So far I’d have to say, I give the service overall about a B+, with quality of service a C+. Like I said, I don’t use this phone much, except for International calls and domestic calls during my cell phone peak hours, so the occasionally disconnected or dropped call, and sometimes unavailable incoming calls is tolerable. The one problem I have is that occassionally people will try to call my line, and they get a very fast busy tone (not the busy tone, but one like it which signifies cannot connect). It’s supposed to go to voicemail when the Internet is down, but so far, I have yet to get a working voicemail message.
The voicemail services sucks beyond all imagination. Half the time I get a tone that signifies I have messages, and when I go to check them it says I have 3, but when I listen all I hear is silence. Most people call me on my cell because of this.
The other weird thing is that when I enable caller ID blocking, it doesn’t say “ID Blocked” when I call my cell phone, it has someone else’s number!! I emailed them, but never heard anything back.
They do have 24/7 tech support, which is good. And it’s very easy to setup. You pay something like $40 for the box, which you simply plug one end into your regular phone, and the other end into your router. Easy, takes about 5 mins to set up. The only billing is to a credit card. But considering the savings, and paper reduction without having to deal with bills, I’d say it’s worth the hassle of the dropped calls and somewhat sporatic service.
There are other more expensive plans, like Vonage, for $29.99/month, but I think they are all plagued with the same problems. VOIP is still relatively new, and the nature of the internet gaurantees that it will sometimes not work. The one drawback is if your ISP goes down, you cannot make any calls. But that’s what the cell is for :-)
I did my research on DSL Reports, you can read mixed reviews about Vonage and Packet8.
