broadband phone service??? who has it!!

SalmonJeff · 12-30-2006, 07:44 PM

My wife and I are thinking about switching our phone service over to Verizon broadband but where hoping to hear from some of you that have it first! the price is right and they claim it is the same as a regular phone line but what kind of problems do you guys experience? I am concerned about power outages and my internet will periodically be very slow.... would this mean I have no phone service? we have cell phones as well and would use those as back ups in case somehthng was wrong with the interent. will we be able to talk on the phone and be online like we have it now???

anyway lots of questions and hopefully some of you will have answers thanks!

mandinga · 12-30-2006, 07:48 PM

Ive had it for about 3 weeks...Im nervous...but, so fsr so good.

StickFish · 12-30-2006, 08:15 PM

Broadband phone service from a phone company - interesting. I'm switching over to Verizon FIOS on Tuesday, but will keep my packet8 VOiP. Comcast has just gotten too slow in the hood with all the kids ripping videos and stuff

PapaHog · 12-30-2006, 08:22 PM

I have a friend that had it. If the computer went down it was down. If there was a computer hic up the call was dropped and his voice to me was never as clear as with his regular land line.

He now has a regular land line and is happy once again.

D.B.Cooper · 12-30-2006, 08:23 PM

I suffered with Qwest for I dunno how long. I finally did the math and calculated out that Dropping my Qwest phone and DSL for Comcast Broadband would save me $40 or so a month. I have zero complaints except that Qwest harrased me with Telemarketers for about 6 mos after I dropped their worthless overcharging asses. It gave me great satisfaction telling each and every caller that Qwest sucks and I'll never go back.

The ONE problem with Broadband is that if the power goes out so does your phone.

RascallyRabbit · 12-31-2006, 07:58 AM

My ISP is comcast, and I use Lingo for my broadband phone. The reason we went with Lingo is because of their international plan for $49.00 unlimited calls per month. My wife is from Brazil, and she has sisters in Germany, and Italy so in the end it's alot cheaper and more convient for us. My wife says that the service is very clear (voice) to all 3 countries she calls, and we've only had 1 connection issue in the last 2 years.

Steve/RascallyRabbit

fish_on · 12-31-2006, 08:42 AM

AT&T Callvantage, it;s been great and is one of the only services you can reliably use a fax with. 29.99/month unlimited.

Swamp Puppy · 12-31-2006, 08:47 AM

i just dropped my Dish, Quest landline, and Quest DSL for the complete Comacast package. cable, internet and phone. it saved me about 50 bucks a month and i have no complaints about the phone service...in fact, i hadly even think about it. i have a cell phone to use if the power goes out or there is some other interruption, which we haven't had yet.

do check to make sure that your 911 service will recognize your address if you call from it. unlike a landline phone, not all broadband phone services will ID your address to the 911 dispatcher.

Orion · 12-31-2006, 08:51 AM

There are a number of configurations for "broadband" services. In a typical DSL application, the telephone line may be utilized in a shared arrangement where your voice and data/internet access will be provided on the same line. If you lose power, you will probably lose your internet connection. You may also lose your telephone service if you only use phones that use A/C power. Before we had all these cordless phones in our homes, we had telephones that were powered by the telephone line, which is powered by the phone company's central office. If you don't have one now, I would recommend that you buy a cheap line powered telephone as an emergency back-up. Our back-up phone is a Pink Princess phone from the 1960's!

Diksey · 12-31-2006, 09:00 AM

Do a real thorough check on your 9-1-1 service through broadband. Even if they get your home address right, it won't be processed like regular 9-1-1 calls. You get what you pay for.

When enhanced 9-1-1 started, the 9-1-1 centers started getting "super" caller ID on 9-1-1 calls from regular phones. Since then cell phones have become about 1/2 their calls, without address to help the dispatchers send help. Now that the technology to locate cell phones is almost ready to put into use, broadband phones are starting to become poplular - with no technology in place to reliably send your 9-1-1 call to the right 9-1-1 center for you, much less tell the dispatcher where you are calling from.

Bottom line is it is cheaper, but don't expect the 9-1-1 service to work the same. You may get the wrong 9-1-1 center and will probably need to tell them exactly where you are.

If you are confused with all this, I strongly recommend you stick with regular phone service, at least for local calls.

johndeeregreen · 12-31-2006, 10:06 AM

Been there done that. Can't beat a lind line for clearity and 911 and poweroutage and reliability. Plus Comcast service sucks.

Moldy45 · 12-31-2006, 11:23 AM

comast broadband and vonage phone.Zero probs over a year on it

Cornbread · 12-31-2006, 12:50 PM

I have worked for a lot of Telecoms over the year writting computer programs for them. The nice thing about this is I get their services for free while I am working for them. So far the two with the best E911 setups for their VOIP (internet phone) are Comcast and Verizon FIOS. Because they both have to stand E911 inspections by regulatory agencies they are only allowed one mistake per million 911 calls, which is what regular land lines are subject to as well. Providers like Vonage, Skype ect. that simply piggy back on your internet are completely different and 911 with them is a cr@p shoot. With Verizon FIOS and Comcast they are routing the voice packets with the highest priority in their protocol stack so even if nothing else gets through as long as the line isn't completely severed voice traffic will still get through. I suppose I could go into a long tirade about how the technology actually works etc. but I don't want to bore your socks off. Just know that you don't need to worry about 911 when using Comcast or Verizon FIOS as they are both E911 capable and subject to Federal revue of their compliance with the standard. Anyone elses VOIP I can't vouch for because I haven't seen the inside of their systems. Right now I have Comcast and if Verizon ever offers FIOS in my area I will get that instead not because the phone service is better (they are about the same) but because the internet speed is faster.