I used Vonage for a few years with great results but then audio was choppy and echo was unbearable. May be related to area I am in in North Carolina. Went back to ATT landline. Now have a new RoadRunner modem and Turbo plan and am getting much better download speeds ranging from 1.5mb-7mb down and 476 up. QOS score varies from 65-99%, and MOS score ranges from 3.4-4.2.
SO obviously area I am in is a bit erratic and in the end may not be suitable for VOIP. When it rains outside it gets worse and I am not in the boonies at all. Time Warner has one of its HQ's here. TW has analyzed my line and it has gone to 3rd level support and they said it is as good as it gets...
Tried Callcentric based in New York and with the Linksys PAP2T-NA ATA adapter there was a bit of a hum the receiving party could hear. Also when a person on the other end spoke (and they live 10 miles away and have a landline on a large carrier, but not ATT), they sounded a bit static-ky.
Question: Have any ideas if I should even try another VOIP provider? Does the location or presence of a VOIP provider "central office" of sorts being closer to me have any bearing on call quality????
I could go with Time Warner's VOIP plan and am not pinching pennies but it is about $22 a month (including taxes) more than most VOIP providers. Which translates to $48-$50/month (even on bundled plan). This is $10 less than my ATT landline and not worth switching for $10 (give or take) a month.
Thanks so much Patty