Anyone recommend a VOIP provider

[Brian Elfert]

I currently use AT&T Callvantage for VOIP, but I just got a letter that they are shutting down in 2009. (No exact date yet.) AT&T is offering their U-Verse VOIP as a replacement, but not available in my area.

Any other suggestions for a decent VOIP provider that is large enough to actually stay in business? I am leery of all the little companies offering VOIP for ridiculously low prices.

Vonage is probably one of the better ones, but they would cost $31 a month versus $25 now. ($31 a month would probably cover going back to land line, not including long distance.) I would prefer not to pay more. I am going to check out Qwest's VOIP offering as soon as their office opens today.

[travis howe]

Hey Brian,

It's sort of odd it won't work in your area, that's sort of the intention of VoIP....

Anyway, I'm sure you'll find a few different offering but in all honesty the business / pstn portion of Skype is rather impressive for the cost. It also will let you leverage local numbers for your business as well as call forwarding, etc, etc...anyway, worth a look if nothing else.

[RickT Harding]

I've been using broadvoice for a while now and I've been doing pretty well with it. I work from home and work started doing con calls several times a week which ran through the cell minutes too fast.

It was suggested to me by a coworker that had been running it for a year before that. So I don't know how long they've been around, but seems to be doing ok.

http://broadvoice.com/

I run their box inside my u-verse internet and have unlimited US for $20 a month.

[Curt Harms]

We've had Vonage for a couple years now. I'm paying $23.xx/month all up for I think 450 minutes/month. Vonage has worked well for us.

Curt

[Brian Elfert]

I ended up going with Qwest Broadband Voice. They are likely to be in business for a while. They are the same price as AT&T, but they include long distance as part of the package unlike AT&T.

I'm not really sure how many minutes a month I use so I wasn't too interested in Vonage's 500 minute plan.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

We've had Vonage for a couple years now. I'm paying $23.xx/month all up for I think 450 minutes/month. Vonage has worked well for us.

Curt

I've been pretty happy with Vonage as well.

Paul

[Prashun Patel]

You might consider holding out for Verizon FIOS. Bundled w ISP and tv, it worked out for me to be cheaper than a-la-carte from other providers.

[Brian Elfert]

You might consider holding out for Verizon FIOS. Bundled w ISP and tv, it worked out for me to be cheaper than a-la-carte from other providers.

Since Qwest is the phone company out here I doubt we'll ever see Verizon FIOS. Maybe Verzion will get into other markets, but I kinda doubt it.

Qwest is doing 20 megabit Internet now, but the price is more than I want to pay. I'll stick with my 1.5 Megabit for foreseeable future. Qwest is not doing TV services except satellite in partnership with Directv.

[Brian Elfert]

Hey Brian,

It's sort of odd it won't work in your area, that's sort of the intention of VoIP....


AT&T's own website says U-Verse VOIP will only be an alternative for about 25% of their Callvantage customers. I suspect if you can't get the other U-Verse services like Internet an TV that they won't give you VOIP.

[Jim Becker]

Vonage is "technically" a good solution, but they are and have been for some time in deep doo-doo financially. I did use them for a second line for awhile, but it was more cost effective to just use VZ for our land-line needs.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Vonage is "technically" a good solution, but they are and have been for some time in deep doo-doo financially. I did use them for a second line for awhile, but it was more cost effective to just use VZ for our land-line needs.

Fortunately, this hasn't affected my service (yet) ;)

Paul