A discussion is on-going on Facebook this morning between myself and a friend and her friends.
It’s about something which I have a little bit of experience with. I’ve used VOIP phones for nearly six years now. Basically since the beginning of the technology. I’ve spent most of my time with Vonage. But, have experience with MagicJack and NetTalk Duo.
Currently, I am using the NetTalk Duo at home. I let Vonage go when I discovered NetTalk while looking for a way to keep costs down at home. (Oh yes, this economy has hit us PC gurus, too) Vonage, in my opinion, while a great service have priced themselves right out of the ball game for a techological guru like me. I like to experiment with new technology but I also like to spend my money on things I want not on things I need. ha!
Vonage is far superior in services rendered. It’s just that the other two are much cheaper. NetTalk is a young company that will no doubt expand their services as they grow. So, my money is banking on NetTalk. I’ll take my money and run, thank you!
The following is a copy & paste from the conversation and include highlights, and comparisons between MagicJack & NetTalk Duo:
“…the magic jack does NOT support 911!! And they are now charging yearly fees of around 40 dollars per year. We have something called NetTalk Duo. It has an initial cost of $70. You get a phone number, voice mail, and all that plus it supports 911. With kids, I’d think you’d want that. They have also now instituted a yearly fee of $29. Free calls w/in US & Canada.” (In this household there is one child, and two middle-aged parents both with heart health issues. We MUST have 911 here).
When using VOIP devices, “…most the time when calls are messed up it’s over issues that can be corrected– the device itself needs reset, or devices (wireless, etc) are physically too close to one another and need to spaced out better. MagicJack requires a PC to work, period. NetTalk requires a router (which you probably have). I do suggest that you have at minimum DSL, and cable internet works best with these devices. Having said that, it’s worth it. We have NO monthly phone bill. We also cancelled our cable TV, we bought a Roku box and get TV via that. We have opted for Netflix, $7 a mo. option. Our savings justifies keeping cable internet turned on.”
“…DSL & cable internet are always on. In general the router is always turned on. It’s the PC that would be turned on/off. So, if you go with MagicJack then you’d have to leave your PC on 100% of the time to have a phone always available. There are other devices out there besides these two. These two are just the ones I am familar with. We know someone who swears by another brand all together. I didn’t choose it because (at the time the decision was made) it also didn’t support 911. NetTalk & the other device are available via Internet & Walmart.”
My 2 cents worth. ~Peggy, Goddess of Geek, or GOG for short! 🙂
http://www.nettalk.com
Hmm the home VoIP market will be an interesting area to watch as the years go by. Myself I don’t have any home phone I have my cell phone with my old unlimited data plan from AT&T. What I’ve been considering doing was getting rid of my cable internet and jail breaking my iPhone to use it as my internet connection since I can’t get official hotspot without getting a new data plan. I currently haven’t used less than 15GB a month in data for like 1.5 – 2 years so why would I want to drop my unlimited plan to get hotspot but be limited to 2GB a month unless I want to get bent over and raped on overages. All the cell phone companies are doing the same though, lowering their data limits and so on because I think they are all realizing that people are adopting and using smart phones and other hotspot devices over their 3 and 4G networks much more than they anticipated and they are concerned about their networks being able to handle so much unlimited data usage by people.
Well, different people /households have different needs. My client base is mostly seniors who don’t have the need for Gigs upon gigs of bandwidth yet. I can see that changing though as more people learn to stream their movies, etc. I know you are young enough that I know you need the Gigs upon gigs…. but will you be happy with internet on your phone only?? Myself, I can’t see watching a movie on such a small screen… I think I’d miss too many details. 🙂