I have issues with replacing my POTS line with a VoIP provider. The biggest is because Comcast is not regulated in the same way Qwest is for POTS service. You will not get the same SLA and quality of service you receive with your POTS line. If the power goes out now my phone still works if I plug a non-cordless phone into my home phone jack. That is not true with a VoIP provider unless I have everything on my home network connected to UPS power. The other issue I have is due to the lack of basic TCP/IP networking and VoIP knowledge the provider customer support representative may have. You may have to jump though one or two levels of support, to be told "yeah your ATA device is dead and we will have to ship you out a new one.". The other problem is if your VoIP provider is not your Internet provider you may have a hard time getting your VoIP service to work. Comcast has been accused of blocking VoIP traffic ( http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/02/139241 ) in the past. Now you have to play "the finger pointing game" with your VoIP provider and your Internet provider.
Another such issue which some PSTN providers run into ( You don't always hear about it when it happens, but it does happen. ) is network over subscription. Phone companies monitor usage and try to add more capacity but some times this capacity can't be added quickly enough or not enough capacity is added. This can lead to blocked or dropped calls or in the case of VoIP providers poor call quality. Now VoIP is a excellent service if you want cheap phone service or domestic and international long distance service. It is also nice if you have a bunch of cheap friends who don't have long distance service ( domestic or international ) and you want to have a local number for them to call you. I think if you are replacing your POTS line with VoIP service you might want to think about paying what ever it is for a basic phone line with no extra features and no long distance. Just in case you need to make a call and your VoIP service is not available. You could use a cell phone instead of a POTS line for backup. -Miller _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list euglug@euglug.org http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
