[Hidden-tech] best phone service?

[Jonathan Dill]

Val Nelson wrote:

> Anyone have an opinion on Vonage and Comcast phone services as 
> alternatives to Verizon? I've heard Vonage is unreliable at times and 
> since Comcast is a similar system, I wonder if that will be true for 
> them as well. They claim they don't have the same problems but I'd 
> like to hear from users.
>
I have been using VoicePulse.com for about a year and haven't had any 
problems, but I don't know if they have Massachusetts area code phone 
numbers available.  One other important note is that some services do 
not support 911 yet, but all are going to be required to do so in the 
near future.  My cell phone has E-911 so I figured in an emergency, I 
would just use the cell phone.

I chose VoicePulse because they have an add-on "open SIP" service, so 
for example if you are using the hot spot at Panera, you could have a 
software "SIP client" on your laptop and you would be able to route 
phone calls to your laptop.  SIP is an open standard, so you can find 
free client software for Windows, Linux, and Mac or you can get "pro" 
software that has add-ons like CRM integration.

The key to having reliable, good quality broadband phone service in any 
situation is to have a reliable internet connection, and a correctly 
configured network.  Ideally, you want a broadband router that has 
support for Quality of Service (QoS) or at least some kind of bandwidth 
control for different services, or different physical connections to the 
device.  That way, if someone is downloading a huge file while you are 
talking on the phone, the phone call gets priority so the voice quality 
is not affected.  I have a Linksys WRT54G with third-party firmware from 
Sveasoft.com which adds QoS support.  There are probably more options 
now for QoS, like the pre-packaged boxes you get for Vonage.  If in 
doubt, I recommend getting a geek to help you set it up (although not 
necessarily someone like Geek Squad, they might not have the necessary 
network knowledge).

Jonathan