I subscribe to both Verizon local telephone and its DSL service. I was on their website and read about VOIP broadband phone service. I am now considering dropping the regular landline phone and trying out VOIP service. I am interested in opinions about broadband phone. Is it reliable and good sound quality. Also, are the traditional phone taxes applied to a VOIP connection? Even with taxes added in, I figure I save $10 a month and get premium services on top of it like caller ID which I don't have now. If I do switch, I would purchase a wireless phone system, so I can use at least two phones in the house. Any opinions on pros and cons of broadband phone appreciated.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Beware of any DSL offering VOIP service unless you can absolutely disconnect your landline phone service (as it now stands) in lieu of the VOIP service instead. You may get told that you have to subscribe to Verizon local service in order to have DSL, in order to have the VOIP service. Ergo, you may wind up with a phone you do not need or want, in order to have the VOIP line you do want. That same thing happened to me, although my underlying carrier is SBC (Southwestern Bell). In order to dump SBC phone service, I had to dump their DSL as well, to get the company I really wanted (Prairie Stream) and Vonage VOIP. So I wound up with cable internet (CableOne) instead of DSL for that reason. I have two lines in my house, but connected through a PBX, so I can dial 9+ for Prairie Stream or 8+ for Vonage. (or '10X' for any of the extensions in my house.) PAT]- posted
18 years ago