Comcast VOIP

[MMDad]

I know there are older threads about VOIP, but I'm looking for opinions on how it is now, not how it used to be.

We're looking at the Comcast Triple Play. It'll save us about $100/month for the first year, then at least $50/month after. We have a neighbor who has it, and they're happy so far.

I'm familiar with many of the downsides, such as 911, power out = no phone, and connectivity, but they seem easy to live with. Since our cable is more reliable than either our power or phone lines, it doesn't seem like it'll be a problem.

Any positives or negatives we should be aware of?

 

[jsouthan]

We like it...

We have had it for about 7 months now and like it. You can sign a 2-yr contract which keeps your pricing locked in for two years instead of just one (at least we could when we signed up), for even more savings. We had Vonage VOIP service for about 2 years before we moved and loved it, but you can't beat the cost savings on this. The couple of extra nice features that Vonage had (auto forwarding to a phone number, i.e. cell phone, in case of outage) doesn't outweigh the cost savings. All-in-all, we would sign up for the Triple Play again in a heartbeat.

FYI -- We are in Northern Calvert county and the service is pretty stable.

 

[dn0121]

Ive been on VOIP for about 4 years and have never looked back. With cell phones house phones became mostly useless, but then VOIP came around to give them purpose again. I don't have Comcast but most likely you will be just as good as POTS.

You will have the occasional hiccup when your cable goes out, but I say that is when you can enjoy some peace and quiet. Also get a UPS if you want to use it when the power goes out. They are cheap enough.

 

[GWguy]

I don't have VOIP, but my friends do. The only downside, other than what you've already mentioned, is the "half-duplex" mode some systems get into. It's very much like talking over a cell phone, where there is a delay in the audio, and the increased potential to "step" on someones conversation. I'm speaking primarily of the Vonage, have no idea how well the Comcast version works.

 

[Bavarian]

I'm familiar with many of the downsides, such as 911, power out = no phone, and connectivity, but they seem easy to live with. Since our cable is more reliable than either our power or phone lines, it doesn't seem like it'll be a problem.

Any positives or negatives we should be aware of?

You mentioned the big negatives. Internet goes out much more often then reliable telephone. Telephone has its own power, stays on when power out, need that to call SMECO. Need wired line for alarm systems and satelite boxes.

 

[Toxick]

Any positives or negatives we should be aware of?

I got it. I like it.


If you have a cell phone (or a car), then emergency phone calls when the power is out is no problem.

 

[Cat4everrr]

i think vonage is cheaper

we only pay twenty something bucks for our voip with vonage. we plug it up so that it runs over comcasts lines but it's a little cheaper

 

[MMDad]

I got it. I like it.


If you have a cell phone (or a car), then emergency phone calls when the power is out is no problem.

Thanks. Our cell coverage at home isn't good enough to have it alone, but we can get a good enough signal to use it for backup.

Also, our cable is buried while our phone line isn't. That means our phone line is taken out a lot more than our cable is.

I might put a UPS on the phone, cable modem, and router in case of outage. I'll see how it goes, but we don't have many outages. There have been two five day outages since I bought in '93, nothing else has lasted more than an hour.

 

[Cat4everrr]

the sucky part

only part that sucks is our alarm system also runs through voip

 

[Cat4everrr]

911 is not a problem

someone mentioned up thread that 911 is a problem..not so with vonage, you call in and have your phone configured to your local area once you sign up. our 911 is not different than a traditional POTS

 

[Mikeinsmd]

I've had Vonage for a few months now. No problems so far.

 

[dn0121]

Need wired line for alarm systems and satelite boxes.

Not anymore, satellite runs off VOIP and/or broadband also.

Alarm can too, plus you could get a cell backup. Or just cancel and keep the sign out front of your house. Works just as well unless your one of the few that actually instructed the installation of the alarm system and didn't take what they sold you on.

 

[vegmom]

I don't have it, but from what I have heard from others is that their service in CRE sucks. My cubicle neighbor has been thru the wringer with them over fixing her phone.

 

[CAE]

I'm doing Vonage over Comcast cable and I'm really happy with it.

The only time I see problems is when you're downloading and trying to make a call at the same time, there can be some interference (echo, static, delay). But it's not bad at all. I was expecting it to be horrible, so I was pleasantly surprised. Never drops a call, and some of the voicemail features and call forwarding features are useful.

However, as far as cable goes, the quality could be affected by how much internet you neighbors are using. I have no idea what kind of QoS you get on Comcast, but it's never been a problem. I get unbelievable download speeds (recently saw 3.1 Mbps when downloading a Fedora ISO).