Vonage

[momof3]

Anyone out there switched from regular home phone service to voip? I believe the 911 issues are ironed out but has anyone had problems or are you happy with the service? What do you need to buy?
Thanks!

[EagleDad]

Yes, I did last spring, I've had not problems whatsoever. Works fine with my Alarm system, but there can be problems with series 1 Tivo's. PM me if you don't have a referral (with you email address) and I'll send you one, then we both get like 2 mos free if you sign up.

All in all, I can't speak highly enough of Vonage, it's great. You don't need to buy anything, I'm sure if you call them up they'll give you a router for free.

[gatormom]

Just switched to Vonage at the beginning of December and have been very satisfied. The only difference I notice is the monthly bill. ;D

[jenrik2714]

This may be a stupid question, but if I decided to go with Vonage, would I have to disconnect my DSL service and switch to cable internet?

[EagleDad]

I believe DSL needs a POTS (Plain 'Ole Telephone Service) line so, yes, you would probably either need to keep the phone service to get DSL (eliminating much of the cost benefit) or get another internet provider.

[jenrik2714]

Is there any other service providers beside comcast? I wish we could have WOW but they only service Naperville. My in laws have it in the city

[EagleDad]

www.broadbandreports.com/

"Find Service", put in your address. I hate ComCrud too, but tight now they're the only game in my neck of the woods. Hopefully the new AT&T will swoop in soon and slap 'em around. Better yet, FiOs...I dream at night of FiOS.

[warriorpride]

eagledad said:

www.broadbandreports.com/

"Find Service", put in your address. I hate ComCrud too, but tight now they're the only game in my neck of the woods. Hopefully the new AT&T will swoop in soon and slap 'em around. Better yet, FiOs...I dream at night of FiOS.

Just a little tip: if anyone has been a comcast customer for a fair amount of time, and now you have high-speed internet from them. You can usually call customer service and get a reduces rate for 6 months. I depends on the customer service rep that you talk to, but sometime you can just quote a price that you can get with someone else (like Yahoo DSL), and sometimes you might need to tell them either that you're considering switching services. You can usually get the $42/month (highway robbery) down to $20 or $25 for 6 months, then once the 6 months is over, you can wait about 3 months (they wont let you keep getting a continued discount) & repeat the process.

[EagleDad]

Yep, great tip, I've done that a few times myself.

Here's another tip, don't buy Cable TV service if you don't use a tuner box or HD. They charge you $12 more for Internet ($57 total), but don't block the <99 channels, Technically it is very hard for them to do this, they have to come out (roll a truck) and place a physical "tap" on your line to block the analog signal, so they compensate by charging more for your internet and just not dealing with it.

Comcast really starts to get you with anything beyond a basic cable package. Most of the HD channels are broadcast in the clear (FCC mandate) and a QAM tuner (most TV's made in the last 3 years have these built in) can pull in HD off of the cable. I do over-the-air (antenna) HD anyways as I get a better quality signal (from a very small antenna) and can record it on my own (Media Center) for time-shifting and place-shifting.

[jenrik2714]

Well I have the dish network and I recently purchased a 56 in. HD TV (my hubby wanted it) at Tiger Direct and I just got an HD/DVR receiver, I just stayed with dish network. One of the HD channels is a kung fu channel and another is a monster channel I could watch all kung fu and horror movies all night. It costs $20 more for the HD satellite channel than my regular package.

[EagleDad]

Dish is definitely the way to go for lots of HD these days, unless you must have NFL sunday ticket (DTV). Isn't it amazing how having good hd, to a large set changes your viewing demands? I'd rather watch an in depth documentary of the communications network of snails in HD than suffer through SD on my big set.

[jenrik2714]

eagledad said:

Dish is definitely the way to go for lots of HD these days, unless you must have NFL sunday ticket (DTV). Isn't it amazing how having good hd, to a large set changes your viewing demands? I'd rather watch an in depth documentary of the communications network of snails in HD than suffer through SD on my big set.

It can get so bright at times and I get eye strain. I do like watching the 70's kung fu movies in their rare beauty..it is awesome!

[jenrik2714]

Tiger Direct has good prices on HDTV's---the prices beat Best Buy or Circuit City.

[wvhsparent]

eagledad said:

Yep, great tip, I've done that a few times myself.

Here's another tip, don't buy Cable TV service if you don't use a tuner box or HD. They charge you $12 more for Internet ($57 total), but don't block the <99 channels, Technically it is very hard for them to do this, they have to come out (roll a truck) and place a physical "tap" on your line to block the analog signal, so they compensate by charging more for your internet and just not dealing with it.


Comcast really starts to get you with anything beyond a basic cable package. Most of the HD channels are broadcast in the clear (FCC mandate) and a QAM tuner (most TV's made in the last 3 years have these built in) can pull in HD off of the cable. I do over-the-air (antenna) HD anyways as I get a better quality signal (from a very small antenna) and can record it on my own (Media Center) for time-shifting and place-shifting.

You are getting HD over the air? is the sinagl good? I too have DishNetwork and an HD TV and DVR.
Where did you get it? Is it a special HD Antenna? I have an older antenna I put in my attic, but it never worked very well.

[jenrik2714]

You can buy the HD antennae anywhere as long as you havea hd tv I think, I bought mine at Target . They range from $25 and up you have to hook it up to your TV --when they installed the DVR, they took the antennae off, but my hubby said he could put in back on.

I was watching Spanish Soaps with English subtitles--it was cool!