Amber wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was just wondering if anybody has heard of or used Skype (http://
www.skype.com/)? Is it any good ? I was still considering getting Vonage when
I heard about Skype.
>
> Amber
>
Define 'how is it working for you' :-) Do you mean VOiP technology or
Vonage as a service or the VOiP technology vis-a-vis land lines budget-wise?
Or Skype vs. Vonage vs. landlines? Herein, a case study:
1) Problems with Vonage:
The big problem I had with Vonage is that they get you with one-time
charges upon startup: $19.99 shipping fee for the gateway; $39.99
activation fee (plus applicable taxes). There's a two week money back
guarantee that doesn't really give you a good indication about how much
talking you do in an average month, and a disconnect fee of $49.99 (plus
applicable taxes). And, if they're like other VOiP companies I enquired
about, they may take up to a month or two to actually disconnect (and
you're still paying for the service).
Then you have to figure out how much talking you expect to do with the
service. Their basic $20 a month sounds great since it includes voice
mail and caller ID (two things I absolutely needed)... but only 500
minutes of air time to *local* numbers, Canada or the US, after which
you're paying about 4.9 cents a minute - and you can't piggyback any
other long distance carrier onto your number.
I have Wintel's 25 cent per call 24/7 to Canada and the States so I
never pay more than 25 cents a long distance call in North America -
regardless of how long the call is. My last bill was a whopping $13
total for 563 minutes to Canada and the States and an 81-minute call to
France.
The closest Vonage plan to my freaky-expensive Telus landline set-up
(basic with unlimited incoming/outgoing calling + call display + my own
long distance carrier = $35.61 + taxes + whatever my long distance is
for that month) is the Vonage $40 + taxes deal that includes unlimited
calls to Canada and the US plus all the bells and whistle features like
voicemail and call display.
But at that price, there's very little difference between that and Telus
and at least with Telus I get a solid landline and a discounted bundle
with my current Telus internet connection. It'll be even cheaper whem my
switch
from Telus to Primus occurs - (a 4-month intro prices of unlimited local
calls +
features for $20, then it goes up to $30).
Add another, say, $10 for long distance to the $30 and that makes it
about on par with the Vonage package.
2) Problems with VOiP:
As for VOiP, I'm trying dolphintel.com, a local Burnaby outfit. I got in
with them on the ground floor so I have their basic $10-sh a month
unlimited calls and a $5-ish features bundle that includes voicemail and
call display and a bunch of other stuff I don't really need and I'm
renting their phone adapter for $8 a month (I could buy it for $75 if I
decide to stay with them). I didn't have to pay a start-up fee, shipping
('cause I went out to the office to pick up the phone adapter) and
there's no termination fee. That comes out, with taxes, to $28.38 a
month - still about $10 less than my Telus land line with taxes. If I
stick with the present dolphintel package and switch my land line to the
Primus or Wintel, the cost difference almost evaporates.
Since I still have my land line during this self-trial period, I don't
have to bother about long distance. But if I *do* decide to stick with
VOiP and ditch the land line, I'd buy the $75 phone adapter and go with
Dolphintel's $30 (+ taxes) a month deal that includes:
1 X phone line
Unlimited incoming calls
Unlimited outgoing calls to 19 Countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China/Hong
Kong, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom,
United States
Unlimited calls between Dolphin clients - worldwide
Caller ID
Call Waiting
Call Display
Call Forwarding
Voicemail
Dolphin Web Based Portal
And start calling all my friends and associates in Europe and the States
and talk as long as we want :-)
I had to buy a router (thank YOU craigslist - I got it for $20) and I'm
still experiencing too much voice-drop and was even unable to phone the
number this AM. But that may be my ISP rather than Dolphintel. A
technician at Shaw who also has VOiP suggested that a hub/switch placed
in front of the router may help so that the VOiP adapter gets a
dedicated IP address rather than trying to share one through the router.
Which means more $$ (and a trip to craigslist again).
I'm switching my ISP over to Shaw cable (because Telus will continue
charging me a $15 a month 'administration fee' to hold the land line
open if I keep their ISP but ditch their phone service - unless, of
course, I want to also sign a one-year or more cellphone contract blah
blah blah) and we'll see if that improves performance. And it gets me
one step farther away from them :-)
3) Problems with Skype:
You gotta pay, by credit card, in Euros. Have fun running a balance like
that in your head while you're chatting on the phone :-P And who are you
gonna call when something goes wrong?
4) Conclusions:
Um... basically, what I'm sayin' is if you get VOiP, consider using it
as a 2nd phone number for awhile and keep the landline (and your current
phone number on it) for at least 2 months and get some people to start
using your new VOiP service (and new VOiP number) to see if the
technology and company works for you. If your new VOiP doesn't work for
you, you can always fall back on your land line and you won't have
people confused as all heck about you and your changing numbers or get
hit with a reconnect fee for the land line (never mind trying to
convince them to give back your old number). If you're not happy with
the quality, expect to get hit with Vonage disconnect fees 'cause,
damned it, two weeks just isn't enough time to figure out the calling
quality and quantity.
I'm excited about VOiP, really, I am. If I had a laptop or travelled a
lot and could take my phone number with me everywhere I go, I'd freakin'
LOVE it.
But I don't have a laptop and I don't travel so those selling points go
out the window. And much as I'm running away from one company charging
high fees for basic services, I'm very aware that I may be running to
another (VOiP) company that doesn't give you the option of shopping
around for a long distance company that has better prices (and, really,
how can you beat 25 cents an unlimited call to Canada and the States?).
If I could just get the voice quality better :::sigh:::. *That* is the
one real undeniable obstacle to me finally ditching completely the land
line for the Dolphintel $30 package.
And Vonage? They just haven't made it much cheaper than keeping a
Primus or Wintel land line and I would loose my amazing long
distance carrier. It's just not worth the trouble to get them at this point.
Confused you enough?
Bree
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