<p>We are moving into an apartment in NYC. The only provider for internet, phone, cable is Time Warner. I could get a bundle of all three with slower internet for the same price of internet and cable with 50% faster internet speed. I am considering a faster internet and signing up for VoIP instead of getting a traditional landline. My H works out of home and he needs to call Europe quite a bit (mobile phone included). We all have our cell phones for domestic calls.</p>
<p>For you techies out there…Do you think it is a wise choice? If you are currently using VoIP, which one would you recommend?</p>
<p>My husband insists on a land line. When the power went out in October for days…we were the only ones on the street with phone service. The cell service was out and the cable was out…for almost two weeks. We have one phone that is tethered to the wall.</p>
<p>You can have mostly VIOP coverages, but have one land line for emergency. The security alarm company we sbuscribe requires a landline they will not be able to use voip. So we have a landline setup only for metered local service and for long distance, I choose to have a pay-as-you go long distance service. No monthly charges at all.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed a lot of older folks insist on keeping a landline to not only send/receive faxes, but also so their phone service at home isn’t dependent on their broadband internet connection…especially when it goes down. </p>
<p>Moreover, several older relatives and clients have complained that the sound quality of VoIP is “too tinny” and even “painful to listen to” compared with landline phones. Though I don’t feel the same way, the sound quality difference is such that I can see how some may dislike VoIP on sound quality grounds alone.</p>
<p>Have a friend who is happy with Vonage, but he lives in Boston so I don’t know how their service is in NYC.</p>
<p>After using voip for more than a year, I did not find the sound volume is too small. I have tried it on a fax machine and it does not work and it gets disconnected during the conversation for no reason at all. The traditional land line will not disconnect like that.</p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about this for many years. We now have a 25 mb link with ComCast. Before we had Fairpoint DSL with a 3 mb link and we could have VOIP problems if there were bandwidth issues. We’ve used VOIP for many long calls with no problems on ComCast. Last week, I heard a strange ring and went over to the iPad and it was ringing. I missed the call but called back on the iPad and completed the call.</p>
<p>I have Google Voice set up so that it calls my cell phone, home phone and are iPod/iPad devices. That would be one way to get incoming calls available on multiple devices.</p>
<p>We have three phones with AT&T and one phone with Verizon and my MiFi 4G with Verizon so we have ComCast, AT&T and Verizon or three ways to make an outgoing call. We also have backup internet in case ComCast goes down.</p>
<p>Our neighborhood has Verizon Fios. When I read the Fios letter describing how “happy” they are to let me know that if the power goes out in my neighborhood, we will still have full service for “up to” X hours, I almost cried. Who, I ask you, do they think they are fooling? The whole point of a landline is to be able to communicate when the other systems are down. I never once lost phone service with good old copper wires even when the power was out for days.</p>
<p>Almost everyone in our family uses a combination of iPhones and Skype. My parents have used the extended services of Skype for years (Unlimited USA, Skype In, and Skype Out.) with plenty of call from and to overseas destinations. They also have wireless Skype telephones that are NOT connected to the PC (Skype is loaded on the phone.) This allows them to take and make calls everywhere in the house. As a small added bonus, it appears that Skype allows multiple instances of the same line. A bit weird but it works. </p>
<p>With reasonable internet connections (not super fast) the sound is now become excellent, except for the occasional problem with Sprint cell phones. Usually, a redial takes care of the issue. </p>
<p>For Skype, note that the connections to foreign cell phones is more expensive. This might be a consideration as more and more people rely on cell phones abroad. Then you have to look at a solution for text messages. I know my parents use a couple of text messages providers such as Pinger. </p>
<p>I am pretty sure that Google Voice might offer everything Skype does, but Skype is like the old pair of slippers that are so comfy! However, I used a combination of Google Voice and Talkatone/Tapatalk to capture iPhone calls on my iPad when abroad. </p>
<p>The good news is that one can try various services and stick to the one that meets individual preferences.</p>
<p>I will be able to get 15 mb speed. Both H and D2 love to watch movies and shows on their laptop, so I am thinking faster internet maybe a better way to go. Of course, I could pay up and get a landline and a faster internet, but I am getting cheap in my old age.</p>
<p>Unless you need to send/receive faxes reliably and/or have older relatives/clients/supervisors who have serious issues with VoIP calls like myself and some others I know, you can drop the landline.</p>
<p>We are reluctant to cut the landline in our primary house due to 18 years w the number and the alarm system. </p>
<p>In our beach house, however we have literally cut the line off the house and back to the pole. We just reconnected the cable service this past weekend and the package from Cablevision includes VOIP. It sucks - lots of echos. Last summer we used an Ooma system (VOIP) that we bought at Costco and were very happy with it and will likely switch back. Had a MagicJack before and it too sucked.</p>
<p>We never had a problem with our VOIP, which we had for 2 or 3 years when we used Comcast. Businesses are generally using VOIP because it’s so much cheaper and offers more options. The community organization I’m a member of has been reviewing VOIP options and is switching. </p>
<p>It depends on how belt & suspenders you want to be. If the phone lines go down, you could lose a traditional landline and still have your cellphone. If the power goes out, you should still have your traditional landline and your cellphone until the battery dies. It depends.</p>
<p>You could get a cell phone charger and charge it from your car if you need more time.</p>
<p>My plans this year are to migrate the number I have listed over to my google voice number and then dump the landline next year. If I could move my existing home phone to google voice now, I would do it.</p>
<p>We have TMobile at home, which is $10 per month for unlimited calling anywhere in the US. This is a great deal, and valuable to me to avoid racking up cell phone minutes, since I have to do a lot of phoning from home on my second job. I also have a Vonage toll free business line, but since hardly anyone uses it and the cost has gone up to almost $20/mo I am going to drop it. And we have cell phones.</p>
<p>I believe that Skype USA unlimited is still 2.95 a month. Also, on top of the service itself, thr quality of the equipment you might use is important, especially the microphones and telephones. There is a lot of cheap junk out there.</p>