Saturday, November 13, 2010

Is VoIP Taking Over?

This Philips phone can use Skype's VoIP service.

As popular VoIP services, such as Vonage, continue to increase quality and go down in price, a popular question is whether or not it's time to discontinue your home phone in favor of VoIP.

Some households have already ditched their home phones and have gone completely cellular, but for those who frequently call long distance and international, this might not be a practical alternative.  VoIP, on the other hand, offers excellent rates for calls.

A popular complaint about VoIP was that call quality as not always the best, but in recent years, this has significantly improved.  I regularly use VoIP, and the person I'm talking to on the phone doesn't know the difference--the crystal clear call quality is most apparent.

Have any of you completely gone VoIP at home?  If so, what VoIP service do you use?  Skype?  Vonage?  Another?

70 comments:

cooperlife said...

I had a neighbor who was using Vonage for a while, but didn't like the call quality.

Even google is out with its own phone service now. I think they are still doing this promotion where you can make calls to real phones throughout north america for free.

Anonymous said...

yay finally! this will certainly reduce costs

Dan said...

Hmm that is interesting. My family still has a hard phone-line because we prefer to use that rather than our cell phones. I think my brother uses Skype sometimes. but only to call people overseas.

Sugar said...

i follow you every day..nice blog

Anonymous said...

I use syke sometimes :)

Anonymous said...

Skype*

Alex said...

Actually here the ISP plugs your phone to the router so everyone gets some kind of VoIP

NarwhalMinded said...

VoIP is pretty handy. One service I recommend is Ooma if they're still in business.

JP said...

not yet, but it sure is seeming like the wise choice for any household now

LoneIslander said...

Yeah, we ditched the land line a while ago.

SuciƓ Sanchez said...

I use Skype for all international and long distance. Quality is fine now. Used to be a problem talking to Japan a few years ago - too many hops. They seem to have put in some IP shortcuts now.

Velkon said...

Just using sometimes Skype...
but nothing else

KRUNOSLAV DUNDOVIC said...

nice phone!

Ronoh said...

I'm completely cellular now, but my parents are using vonage. VoIP is definitely the way to go nowadays.

dee jey said...

nice phone dude

Big Poppa said...

i've personally never used VoIP, but im just one man doing the bachelor thing soo. . .

Voacaroo said...

I only use skype to talk with my friends while gaming. :P

OC-STEVEN said...

i think soon enough free wifi will be everywhere and the normal cellular phones will become obsolete and voip will start charging for service

Christie Klein said...

Nah I just use my cellphone. I laughed at the cable guy the other day though when he asked if I had a land line.

The Angry Vegetarian said...

Probably something I'll look into when I get a house. For now, my iPhone works for everything I need. I don't want to settle just for that, though.

Anonymous said...

I've been looking at it, but haven't done it yet.

Diego said...

I use skype and it actually works for me

Good post!

iMonei said...

it's thefuture, been like that in europe for a while

T.dot said...

pretty much

Unknown said...

I'm thinking about it.

Astra said...

skype, vonage

Anonymous said...

we havent really changed anything about the technology in our house for years.

Hitchcock said...

nahh at home i always use my normal phone

Joebloggs said...

Might get it for my dad for xmas, he loves skype...

ArchiePattersons said...

Man, the future is already here. This is interesting, the way that the internet effects the telecommunications industry, too. I personally use the standard old telephone as I can't stand the internet's grip over everything.

textileengineer said...

Skype rocks.

tonyman33 said...

its free. who can complain. Well not skype but some are

Luigibomb said...

Voip is a okay thing, I only really use it for Video games.

Come At Me Bro said...

I should try this!

Insurance Advice Guy said...

you did it mayne

someone said...

that's a kind of evolution:)

Willow said...

I honestly don't use VoIP, just mainly cellular.

Home Alone Stoned said...

would like to read moar posts from you

Matte said...

i hope so! :P

Brandon said...

I definitely use Skype when I can

Unknown said...

None "You're talking to me in Chinese..." lol

Mr Bouchard said...

Don't have any of these services since I only own a cellphone but I might give it a try someday!

Anonymous said...

it IS taking over

unintentional critic said...

i wish cell phone companies can give data only plans on iphones and such - i dont mind using skype

Shimizu said...

it don't work well here in brazil

Gurney said...

would like to go voip but haven't made the jump yet

Donkote said...

yea i don't use my house phone ever. i just use my cell phone

The Blind Prophet said...

Yayyyy skype! :D

Sebastian said...

Great post! Thanks for sharing!

TravisTouchdown said...

man i hope so, i think voip is the future

Copyboy said...

The best is trying to explain Voip to my parents. Then it's really a bad connection.

SpringyB said...

I pretty much use skype anytime I can. I'd love to be able to switch over completely.

kokojesta said...

i think il keep using skype cos i know it and most of my friends use it.

Jeff said...

Hell to the yes. MagicJack, $50 or so a year, works like a champ. This is the dedicated line for my home business, missed calls when I'm out get routed to my iphone voice mail instantly. Landline is a huge ripoff.

Classically Trained Nub said...

I use skype for everything. I threw away my cell phone about 3 years ago, and it feels so good. Cellphones are like leashes. But if skype ever make a cellphone, then I'll probably get one.

Anonymous said...

i think il do the switch pretty soon too

Drackar said...

Most of my phonecalls are voip these days.

tortacular said...

following good material.

Sykefu said...

using skype 24/7

propinquus said...

good stuff

Kartoffeln said...

My calls are usually voip

Amberclad said...

have a hard-line at home but nobody uses it... skype is the way to go =)

rembrandtx said...

VOIP won't last forever tbh, it will all ultimately end up as mobile phones. The prices will come and it will all go to mobile phones.

Anonymous said...

super post !
i like it :D

SoreLosersGaming said...

It will take over eventually, it will just take a while!

Longkid said...

skype is king.

jakebud said...

I don't make too many calls so a cell phone is fine for me and my family. I had a friend who had VoIP and when people called him it cost them but this was when Vonage was new, they may have changed it.

caretaker said...

cool stuff

hindenburg said...

My friends went full volp and didnt like the quality.

One said...

I use Skype for overseas calls and as an alternative to cellphones. It's super useful.

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