On Sep 16, 1:00 am, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"jJim McLaughlin" wrote in message

Even with "unlimited" long distance from Comcast here on their VOIP
service,
my total phone bills for local and long distance never approach the $ 48
plus a
month that Comcast wants as their "real" price for VOIP.

Seems to be a diffrence between digital phone and VOIP
By using known VoIP services you are using your current internet
connection to place a call over the internet using the internet
signal/bandwidth to transmit your call. This in turn can cause call quality
issues such as echo, crackling and voice hesitations. With MetroCast Digital
Phone service, your phone conversations will not be impacted by applications
which require the internet. By using a standard known as Quality of Service
(QOS) in the telecom industry, MetroCast is able to provide you with
reliable and quality Digital telephone service.



The VOIP guys claim that QOS fixes everything and makes it peechy
keen. It appears that today VOIP is much better than it was in say
2000. But in my experiences in talking with people who have it, it
still is not as reliable or of consistent voice quality that you get
with a landline.






I'd have to spend more than $ 23.00 on long distance at $ 0.025 /
minute --
more than 900 minutes - ~ 15 hours on long distance for VOIP to
make mere economic sense.

And with Comcast, I can't reach local police, fire and medical emergency
service on 911.

In most places now, you can reach them and they get the caller ID same a
dial tone.
This is from our local cable company
Safety and security is top priority and with Digital Phone service, you are
provided enhanced 911 service which sends your telephone number and address
information to a local 911 dispatcher if 911 is dialed from your home. If
there is a power outage, MetroCast Digital phone service and E911 access
will still be available due to a battery back up in the modem which is
installed in your home. Please keep in mind that cordless phones which plug
into an electrical outlet will not function during a power outage. Be sure
to have at least one corded phone in your home in case of a power outage.

*If there is a network outage or a downed cable line in your area, Digital
Phone service and E911 service may be interrupted until the necessary
repairs can be made. This is the same with your current telephone provider
today if your telephone drop was to be compromised in any way or there was a
system related problem in your provider's network.

Yes, the failure to work with 911 was a big problem until a couple of
years ago. My understanding also is that in most cases, it has now
been fixed and does work. But, I'm sure there are still some systems/
areas where it does not.




I don't see any economic benefit (Comcast is more expesive than my
current set up)
or technological benefit (no phone in a power outage, and we get lots of
power
outages from November through March) or service benefit (no 911 service on
Comcast) to Comcast VOIP.

Other areas of the country may have a different calculus, and other
folks may have
different calling patterns, but for me VOIP makes no sense.

I'll wait until it is actually here to decide, but I pay a lot for overall
phone service. Sure, the $99 is a come on, but I know one guy that is
saving about $75 a month on his phone with intrastate long distance charges.
That will vary, as does cable services selected etc. I won't consider a
change for $10 a month, but certainly will for $50+.



How much, if anything VOIP saves you depends on what services you have
and how you use them. If all you have is basic local service with
the phone company, make few long distance or intrastate toll calls,
etc, then there may not be much benefit to switching. It might
actually cost more in some cases, especially if the only service you
get is VOIP.

On the other hand, if you have some features like caller ID, call
waiting, call forwarding, etc, and make a lot of toll calls, then it
can save you quite a bit. The cable guys package it with their other
services, cable TV, internet. When you look at the package pricing,
which makes sense for a lot of people today, then the pricing
generally looks good compared to the phone company.