Vonage

Part of the move from Comcast involved switch telephone service.  Comcast VIOP service worked well and even integrated into the cable television showing the caller's phone number.  But Comcast's VOIP service isn't cheap.  Vonage offered a $9.99 per month plan with 200 outbound local and long distance minutes.  Since we rarely use our landline, 200 minutes seemed more that sufficient for our needs.

The Vonage adapter's instructions are not written for dsl modems with build in routers.  Vonage adapter wants to performs a NAT function between the internet connection and your home router.  Since my DSL modems, both the Actiontec and Netgear, have a built in router the Vonage adapter needed to be plugged into a spare router port.  I'm guessing that the Vonage adapter performs a QoS function for the VOIP call.  Fortunately the Netgear dsl router can be configured for QoS for VOIP calls.  The adapter seems to work great with this configuration.

The switch from Comcast to Vonage went very smooth.  I have to give credit to Vonage for attention to detail.  They provided an estimate of how long it would take before Comcast would transfer my number to Vonage.  Then Vonage sent an email a few days ahead of when the switch was going to occur.  They also provided a temporary number to use in the interim.  So the day before the switch, I forwarded my Comcast number the Vonage temporary number.  I didn't miss a call.  I wish I could same for my switch from AT&T Wireless to T-Mobile.  But that story is for another day.

The only negative part of Vonage, and it isn't a real problem, is their voice mail uses completely different codes than everyone else.  Instead of hitting 7 to delete a message, you hit 3.

If you are interested in Vonage, use the link below and I'll get a credit on my monthly bill.