My family uses Ooma (http://www.ooma.com/) and we like it a lot. It's... what, $3 a month in taxes and that's it? (That's after the initial outlay for equipment and setup -- I forget how much that was, but I doubt it was burdensome.)

Obviously if the Internet goes down for any reason, there goes the phone. But in general the quality of the calls has been absolutely fine.

if you go this route, put your DSL or cable modem (and wireless router, if you use a separate one) on a small UPS. That way, if there is a blip of a second to 30 minutes or more in your power, at least you can talk in the dark and finish a call gracefully.

Had it for over 3 years. I paid $35/month in order to have a 'stable' number since I did not have a land line. I did not have any problems with it but would not use them again. While they bill themselves as a land-line alternative they are basically charging about the same for VOIP. They even increase their prices like a phone company!

I would look into something like MagicJack for a cheaper alternative.

We also have had Ooma for over two years and love it. Calls are great, and free. You buy the box, and after that, pay the taxes each month, around $4. Was also also concerned about losing power, so got a 1hr. UPS and put the Ooma box and cable modem on it. Bought at Costco.

My Internet service is so unreliable (Mediacom), there is no way I will consider going VOIP in any way, shape, or form. I even keep a landline, an actual landline, so I know I will be able to make calls no matter what. In disasters, the cellphone tower is one of the first things to get overwhelmed.

I guess I just think your consideration of cost is valid, but you have to factor reliability in there somewhere. For me, ISPs have not proven their reliability.

I love my magicjack. While not as good as a landline or cell, it works, and on days when I have no minutes and no money, it's a godsend.

Have used MagicJack and now have it through internet provider for cheap. Both have worked fine. Call quality is similar to traditional land lines.

Ugh, magicjack. I had nothing but terrible calls with them.

I had vonage and it mostly worked pretty well.

I now use google voice for the same purposes, but that does for the most part require you to make your phone calls from your computer. If you keep gmail open, google voice calls are fast, free, and for the most part high quality and reliable.

Ooma. WAY better than vonage or magic jack. Switched over from AT&T, kept my number, and only difference is a greeting tone prior to the dial tone (shows the system is working). Base unit flashes red if internet signal interrupted. Base unit has wireless connection to router; by plugging base unit into wall jack, all phone jacks and old "dumb" extension phones now work.

All internet phone providers will give you some amount of headache unfortunately. I work in a field where people purchase blocks of calls from us and other types of phone related services. I still always recommend using a landline as that is the best/reliable connection. With internet providers there tends to be a lot of static as well as difficulty pressing for touch tone options (the static interrupts what the system is looking for in a clear response. However if touch tones are not an issue and you are ok with the voice quality then generally they work.

I have an Ooma. It works great. It was about $130 for the equipment. Cost per month varies by area taxes and you can get additional services. Excellent call quality - better than my actual land-line by a long ways. Of course will depend on your internet connection and its quality/speed.

ooma is good. I had it not work once after a year or so. Seemed to fix itself after cycling power.

Google voice could be a solution, and has a variety of other nifty call routing/voicemail/etc features.

I gotta give a shout out to Google Voice as well. It has the remarkably low price of zero.

You can route it to multiple phones, or direct to your computer if it has a microphone. You will get voice mail, as well as texting capabilities, and free long distance in the US.

Why not just set up a Skype application on your cell phone and your computer and use that? Good way to keep your business and personal calls separate for tax purposes. I was able to call both cell phones and land lines at very low rates from Japan, and when I am in the states it is even cheaper.
It is also very fast if you set up an address book. You can stay signed in, and it will work anywhere you have wifi or direct internet access, just like Vonage or the other services. You can also buy a dedicated Skype number for people to call you if that is an issue.

Can't use UPS because of the wiring here. We've tried, but thanks.

Ooma is sounding like it has the most votes. Will check into that. Thank you all so much.

That's too bad on the Skype handset (basically a
VOIP and call manager hooked into my wireless router) - worked great for me in Germany. Had voicemail set up, paid for a number, and a phone just like a regular landline. All told, it ended up being cheaper than Vonage for me. That being said, I had friends that really liked Magic Jack.

**I'll have to caveat all of this as it's been about three years since I've done this. **

Amy must be kidding us about her expenses: Dear Leader promised us everything would go fine.

I use Onex which is pretty cheap, esp for international.

"My cell phone doesn't get good reception in my house, I said I don't want to use Skype; I want to pick up the phone and make a call. Skype to phones doesn't always have good reception."

You can just pick up the phone, and make a call if you have the Skype app installed on a smart phone. .

If you don't have a smartphone, you cant use Skype as Skype works over Wifi and not your cellular network, so your cellular reception is kind of immaterial.

And if you say your internet (wifi) is spotty, none of the other internet based services will work reliably either.

By the way, looked into google after all the good reviews here.

Seems to work great and have good apps for android. Not so good on an iPad or an iPhone.

Oh, and getting to google talk is a little more difficult than just picking up your phone and dialing directly.

I use, and recommend, Pioneer Telephone (.com) for cheap long distance. It's the best for people like myself who sometimes go months without making any long distance calls (even the taxes stop). Haven't tried their local service.

One thing I have done successfully, is to renegotiate the price of my land line. Sometimes when you call to turn it off, they will reduce the price by 50 percent or more. Also you can bundle a internet based phone service with your internet, and sometimes achieve pretty big savings. Talk to your internet provider and see what they offer.

Again, your cell phone service has nothing to do with using Skype or any other internet based service. All your cell phone has to do is be able to connect to wifi, and you make your calls through that.

The age old question, is always going to be, how much fiddling are you willing to put up with in order to save some money?

When I am in Japan, and it costs me $1.99 a minute to even answer a call in Japan, on my Verizon phone, the answer for me is "a lot".

Another thumbs up for Ooma. Or you can use the OBi110 (through Amy's Amazon store) and use with Google Voice #.

As to your cell reception, be sure to let your provider know you have poor reception. Sometimes they'll send you an antenna you can plug into your router to enhance their signal in your home. ATT used to do that for free, Verizon charges. But if you, ya know, say you're a major media personality who may give them praise for doing so (or scorn for not), could help your case.

Good luck!

> My family uses Ooma (http://www.ooma.com/)
> and we like it a lot. It's... what, $3 a
> month in taxes and that's it?

What's with the three dollars a month in taxes for Ooma? Collected by whom for what?

(36 bucks a year, I know. Still I wanna know why.)

Sounds like Ooma is the choice. Would like to point out that Skype does offer VOIPs and you can purchase your own number (I purchased a local number for my parents to call me when I was in overseas). You do not have to use a smartphone or computer to utilize it.

Well, Crid, they bragged about doing away with the temporary tax on telephones to pay for the Spanish-American war, so maybe we're working on WWI now.

I bought an Obihai OBi100 gateway from amazon (was about $30) and use service from Callcentric (callcentric.com) which costs me less than $4 per month (including 911 service), plus calls.

You pay for both incoming (1.5c.min) and outgoing calls (1.9c/min to US, Canada, and UK) which suits me fine as I don't use the phone much. You can choose a prepaid plan and save money if you use the phone a lot. All the usual extras are free.

It's been faultless in the 4 months since I fired AT&T and save $50+ per month.

"Can't use UPS because of the wiring here. We've tried, but thanks."

You have a wiring code violation, which your landlord should be required to fix.

I would dispute any claim of "grandfathering" offered.

Ref: NFPA 70. (There is a lot of material there, but basically, every consumer electrical device depends on this code to deliver the design safety factor.)

I needed to keep the phone # that was my land line. I bought a MagicJack box at Frys and ported the number to them.
It plugs into my router and works really well. I am really happy with it.