Oct 11
4

Internet Phone Technology – Consumer Report

Internet Phone

The Internet Phone Technology

One of the most frustrating things about doing research is the all the mis-information out there. The internet phone is no different. There are so many advertisements in your face. It can become difficult to weed them out. What’s really good. What really works. My internet phone frustrations started a few years ago when I decided that my local phone bill was way too high. The economy took a major plunge and I needed to reduce some expenses. Just like any other normal person, you start looking at your bills and where you can realize some savings. My local phone bill was one of those and the internet phone was going to be the new bill reducing this expense.

I had heard about an internet phone before, but did not know anything about it. The internet phone, also know as a digital phone uses VOIP technology. I promise I will not bore you with the techie talk about how it all works. If you are a techie person and want to learn more about how the actual VOIP technology works, take a look at Internet phone –Wikipedia They go into detail about the VOIP technology. It’s too much information for me. If you are anything like me, I just want the straight forward, English term way of what it can do, how much it cost, and how simple is it to install. That is what I would wanted when I first looked into buying a internet phone and that is what I give you in this article.

Internet Phone History

I will keep this very simple and try not to bore you with the history of a internet phone. I know some of you may not really care. However, it is good to understand a little about the technology so you can make a better informed decision if the internet phone technology is right for you. I will keep it very short. The internet phone was developed around 2004 for the consumer market. It included in simple terms, taking a internet connection and adding the ability to make and receive phone calls, the same way you would using a traditional phone line.

Internet Phone Cost

For me this was the thing that attracted me to look more into getting an internet phone. My local phone bill was too high for less features. By the time I had switched to an internet phone, my local bill was over $60 and I just had basic service pretty much (no long distance, no call waiting). The internet phone bills can range from $25 to $50 depending on the provider. Through my research, trial and error with different providers, I am now paying $30 a month. I could be paying $25 with the same provider, but I added the video feature to my plan so I can communicate with my mother who lives in a different state than I do. Also my brother, who lives in a different state than both of us. The internet phone keeps us in touch with each other without being in the same area. I now get to see them. It’s great and I would recommend it to anyone. Some internet phone providers offer a family share plan at a discount price (same as you get with a cell phone company). My internet phone company offers their family plans for an extra $1.99 per line. Obviously with that kind of cost, I recommended my mother and brother to get service. Now we are all connected in a internet phone family circle.

Features Of An Internet Phone

The better question is what features don’t you get with an internet phone. We already spoke about cost. There are many. You get the same features as you would with a traditional phone line such as call forwarding, call waiting, 3way calling, callerid, voicemail, distinctive ring, etc. You are not losing anything that you are used to. You get that and more with the internet phone.

It’s also flexible. I can take my internet phone with me and plugged it up anywhere I can get a internet connection and make and receive my calls as if I was still sitting in my living room. The quality is enhanced since it is digital versus analog. You can still keep your same phone number. I know this is important to some people. My mom for one. She had her same number for 20 years. She has the same number on her internet phone that she had with her traditional phone.

The ability to put video on your internet phone is another benefit. This really changes things. It brings the Jetson’s to reality. How many of you remember that cartoon. We are in the Jetson’s era.

Disadvantages of an Internet Phone

There are many disadvantages or negatives of having an internet phone, but there are some. I would be lying or misleading you if I did not talk about them in this review. One of the major disadvantages that I have learned is the susceptibility to power failure. The internet phone is unlike the local phone company in that the power comes from the local provider. It’s the reason your phone always work even in a power failure. The internet phone is operates off of the power in your home. So if you loose power, say in a storm, you would lose your phone. Now you can do things to protect yourself, such as get a UPS. It’s a power supply that has a battery in it. When you lose power in the house, it kicks on and continues power to whatever you have plugged into it. They aren’t very expensive and can be purchased at any local store that sells office supplies. I have seen cost around $50. It’s small cost for the piece of mind that your internet phone works in the event of a power failure.

Another negative of an internet phone is some of the upfront fees that are charged to order a internet phone. You typically do not have with a traditional phone line. And sometimes the provider has to come out to your house. The internet phone company sends no one, but yet you have shipping charges and connection fees. (same as a cell phone when ordering online). The upfront cost can hurt if you do not have it in the budget. However, I believe the long term internet phone savings benefit will cost far less than a traditional phone line.

Emergency Calls With The Internet Phone

This is very important. Emergencies happen. It is just the reality of life. Being able to use your internet phone to contact 911 in the event of an emergency is crictical. YES you can. There are 2 functions of the 911. There is basic 911 and enhanced 911 (E911). In very basic terms, basic 911 means that when you dial 911, the 911 operator will not have any information about who you are and where you are calling from . You will have to give them your phone number and address. None of this information is forwarded. With E911 or enhanced 911, your information along with location is routed to the 911 operator. You would have to check with your provider to see which they offer. Most internet phone providers provide both, but E911 is not available in all areas. Your internet phone provider should be able to provide you a list of where it is offered.

Internet Phone Provider Recommendations

Since I have had many bad experiences with an internet phone. You can read my review internet phone review. I can honestly only recommend one. The provider I currently use. You may see other advertisements on the website about others, but I do not know about them. The one I use cost $25 without the video and $30 with it. You can check out the one I use in more detail by clicking this link… internet phone

Make sure you visit the internet phone company website link I provide in this article. From my trial an error experience, these guys are the best in the business. I know you are busy in your everyday life and may not have the time to trough the mistakes I have. Learn from my experience and deal with the best internet phone.

ARTICLE STORED IN INTERNET PHONE

Oct 11
2

Internet Phone Review – My Experience

Internet Phone Review

A Genuine Internet Phone Review

One day I received my phone bill in from my local provider and almost fell out the chair when I saw the charges for basic service (This is when the internet phone first entered my mind). I had barely any features left on my local phone. Since the bill was so high with all the bells and whistles I had started removing certain features. I’m sure some of you can relate to what I am saying. Several months later to my surprise the bill still topped over $60 bucks for the service. What am I paying for. I knew then something had to change. But what? To what? I had heard of an internet phone before.

I did not know anything about it other than the word internet phone. I did have the internet for my computer but never considered using it to make calls. Actually I did not know you could. I turned on the compute and I began to search for a internet phone provider. To my surprise in my searching I found many, many internet phone providers out there. Now I had the difficulty of figuring out a trustworthy internet phone company to use?

Internet Phone Experience Take I

Just like many would do, you start looking at the first few internet phone companies you come across. A big mistake for me. The ordering process went smooth, but when it came to deliver of my adapter, it took several weeks. When I finally got it, the directions to hook the thing up was next to impossible to follow. Just like any ol Joe Public, non technie person would do…..Call the company for support, right? That’s what I thought too. Call the company and was routed in a queue for about 20 mins. I finally got a person on the phone and I think that must have been his first day.

Needless to say, about 2 hours in, I got frustrated and told them where they could shove their internet phone, adaptor and service. (I don’t have to spell it out for you). Not a very good start for the internet phone industry. But from the reviews I had read and seen before I knew that the internet phone could really offer true savings to me. And with the economy the way it is, I needed the saving’s. Believe me.

Internet Phone Experience Take II

Anyway, so I continued the search for another internet phone company. This one looked promising. There was some good consumer reviews. From what I could tell, the internet phone provider seemed to have a better understanding of the technology. So I decided to order from them. The ordering process was seamless. It went very smooth. (Although so did the first one, so I wasn’t a believer just yet). Ordering was complete and it stated that it would take roughly 2 days to receive the internet phone adapter.

Two days later and sure enough, the internet phone adapter came. I was excited to say the least. Finally I could get rid of my costly local phone provider. I open the box and get started. The directions seemed very easy to understand. I began to install my phone adapter. I hook the internet phone and adapter per the directions. I turned it on…..And it appeared to be working. I saw some flashing green lights. (I had no idea what they meant). I assumed the internet phone was working. I pick up the phone to make a call and no dial tone. I am not going to panic yet. There is a troubleshooting guide in the packet. I open it up and began to attempt to troubleshoot the internet phone.

After about an hour of troubleshooting this internet phone, I had no luck getting a dial-tone or making any calls. So I decided it was time to make the call to the internet phone provider to get help. Call the company and sit on hold for a pretty long time. I want to say it was for more than 45 minutes. Maybe I called on the wrong day or time. (Peak hours). I want to say that someone picked up after 50 minutes, but they didn’t. I then had other things to do (like go to work) so I had to hang up. I still had my local phone hooked up so I was still able to make calls. I figured I would call again the next day (which was on the weekend so I would have more time to troubleshoot this internet phone).

Internet Phone Experience Take III

The next day I give a call to the internet phone company in the morning. You think I got right through? Nope. I sat on hold again for about 45 minutes. Finally after an hour about 15 minutes I got someone on the phone. You will never guess who? The internet phone company outsourced its customer support over seas. At this point I am already frustrated because my internet phone is not working. Now I got the additional frustration that I have to try to communicate with someone who just learned English a week ago! I won’t bore you with the details of that phone call, but let’s just say it led no where. I eventually asked to speak to the manager. They did honor my request (I guess that was one of the options on their script so they understood that). The internet phone company manager gets on the phone….YES you guess ed it, their English was not much better than the guy I spoke with the first time. I guess they learned the language 3 weeks prior to this guy (must have been why he became the manager). Anyway, I told them to forget and cancelled the service. I sent the internet phone adapter back and moved on.

Internet Phone Experience Take IV

At this point I am not having any luck with this internet phone thing and frankly I didn’t really want to have anything to do with it. I almost gave up on it until I looked on my desk and saw that phone bill staring at me (The one I hadn’t paid yet) I decided to give it one more short. Third time is the charm. I would love to say that it was the charm, but it wasn’t. I won’t bore you with those details. Just know it didn’t work out. I was done then. I was just going to have to put up with the local phone company. At work I was reading a magazine and in there was featured a internet phone company. The company had been around for about 18 years. I was impressed by that. However the thing that caught my eye was their internet phone had a screen on it (a video feature). Once I got home I looked into it and it was great.

Learn From My Internet Phone Experience

Ordered the internet phone, seamless. I hooked up the internet phone, seamless. (very simple to do). The best part was, the internet phone worked!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. I picked up the phone and had a dial tone . I also made a few calls. I am grateful for this as I had bad experiences before. The even better part, is the internet phone service only cost me $29.99. A little over half of what I was paying. I highly recommend the internet phone and service to anyone. Learn from my experience and save yourself time and money. If you are looking to pay less and get more features than a traditional local phone….Get a internet phone. Click here.

Best of luck to you.