[lug] VOIP help needed

[Rob Nagler]

We have four lines and about 10 numbers with Vonage.  I like their UI
well enough -- in comparison to other phone company UIs, it's
awesome. :-) It's important for me to be able to switch things around
on a moment's notice, including retargeting 800 numbers and
adding/removing phone lines.  Our total monthly Vonage bill is under
$180, including calls, taxes, e911 fees, other governmental subsidies,
and Mastercard's cut. ;-)

They have a SIP solution which is fairly cheap $10/month.  I've tried
it a few times, and it crashes on the Mac.  I use it for cheap
additional voicemails.  You have to have a "termination" to get a
mailbox with Vonage, for example, if you want an 800 number.  It's not
ideal, but it works.

Vonage has better quality in comparison with lingo and packet8.  We
had other people in our office with both of those services, and they
had problems.

I would recommend getting some type of traffic shaper if you are going
to use VOIP seriously.  I'm an advisor for AP Connections, which
offers a packaged solution for their OSS Bandwidth Arbitrator, called
Net Equalizer (netequalizer.com).  It's a very cheap solution that's
plug and play, and will eliminate problems with using VOIP on the same
connection you use the Internet.

I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but we use our cell
phones as our main phones most of the time.  It's pricey but we need
the mobility, for example, I'm working at home this morning, and I
don't need to "switch" the phone to my home VOIP connection.  The
combination of VOIP public numbers (which can be switched to somebody
else, if you go on vacation) and cell phones is really unbeatable to
me.

I hope this helps.

Rob