A couple of months ago I had a discussion with a staffer for a prominent member of the Senate on various law and technology issues. At the end of the conversation, I asked if he had anymore questions. He had one. "How long before VoIP is here," he asked. I said the technology was currently available, but that widespread adoption would take 5 years or more, assuming that telephone companies didn't squash what could be their greatest rival.
I still stand by that prediction, but I am here to report that adoption may be sooner if people just give these systems a try. Yesterday my new Vonage arrived and I am very pleased with the quality. Setup and using it are a snap. Several people I called across the country as well as next door could not tell the difference between my Vonage call and a POTS call.
Read on for more of my personal experience using VoIP and an opportunity to try it out for yourself.
Installation took all of 15 minutes, including reading all 10 pages of the instructions (I tend to read before hooking together). Hooking it together was a breeze, and should be even for the technologically impaired. The Analog Telephone Adaptor has three connections, one for power, one for an ethernet connection to your router, and a standard phone jack (you can use any standard phone). The only hangup was the fact that I had to reboot my modem and router. This probably wasn't necessary, but it turns out the spare telephone cord I pulled out of my box o'spare cords had a loose connection. Once I replaced it, there were no further problems.
When you sign up with Vonage, they send you an ATA box free. You also need a DHCP and NAT capable router (perhaps future models will let you access and set the IP address yourself - but you can't get better plug and play then the current setup). Vonage can provide a rock bottom cheap router if you need one. You also need broadband (either cable or DSL), of course.
There is a onetime activation fee of $29.99 and an approximately $10 shipping charge. There is no minimum term, but after the 30 day money back guarantee there is a $40 disconnect fee. The bill is charged to your credit card monthly. For $40/month you get unlimited domestic long distance or for $26/month you get unlimited local and 500 minutes of long distance.
I'm so happy with the service so far that I've cut my local residential line to the minimum connection (local calls are toll calls, no other services). This will save me $29/month, meaning that all the benefits of Vonage are mine for only $11/month. Quite a deal.
If you would like to test the quality of the VoIP connection, send me an email at vonage_test@hotmail.com with a domestic number to call. It's free for me.