Abandon The Phone Company?

Been there, done that.

And I couldn't be happier.

Back around the beginning of May, I got an e-mail from Time Warner Cable, inviting me to be one of the first to get a phone system using the internet instead of the traditional phone line from "The Phone Company."

I'm apparently known in their system as an "Early Adopter." I was one of their test cases for Road Runner service a few months before they made it available to the general public. I'm also a good customer for them. Along with having the Road Runner service from the very beginning, I also have their digital cable, some premium channels and lease one of their DVR boxes. You know, the cable version of Tivo. And I must say, I have been very happy with all of their service.

In all the years I have had Road Runner, I have had fewer outages than I would experience in just 6 months of all the dial up service I used to have. And once, when my DVR started acting weird, they came out the next day and gave me a brand new one. So I'm sure that their new phone service, or VOIP, which means Voice Over IP, would probably be just as reliable.

But I went down that path about a year ago, and now with a years experience in using VOIP, I'm ready to say that I trust it as much as I did my traditional wired telephone service.

A little over a year ago, I saw an Internet ad for Vonage, and boy did it look good. I was paying over $60.00 a month for local phone service, and any long distance was tacked on top of that. I had been debating dropping the phone service and going with cell phones only. But when I saw the Vonage ad and started checking out the company and the services they offered, I saw that I could get local phone service, 500 minutes of long distance and all the bells and whistles that I was paying a huge fee for with Southern Bell, for just $25.00 a month. And there were more bells and whistles available with Vonage than with Southern Bell. I'm a sucker for bells and whistles.

I went online to discussion boards to see what had been said about Vonage. They were a new company and just starting in Greensboro last year. But they had been in some other markets across the country for several months, so there was a track record to look at. And the track seemed to be in pretty good shape.

So I went online (the only way to order the service) and signed up for it. There was a $29.99 activation fee and I paid the first months service of $25.99. The digital to analog converter I would need was provided "free" with the service. I'm sure the activation fee covered it, but still, it was a great deal.

Three days later, the converter arrives. I plug the cable that came with it into the back of the converter, the other end into my router, which is of course plugged into my cable modem, and plug my phones into the converter. I pick up the phone, and damn if there wasn't a dial tone. It really was that easy. I haven't looked back since.

Here are the disadvantages of this service, if you really want to call them disadvantages. I don't consider them to be disadvantages at all.

You have to use 11 digits to dial anywhere, even your neighbor across the street. That is 1, the area code, and the number.

Unless you know how to hook the converter into your home phone system (I didn't even try) you need to use cordless phones. I had bought one of those cordless phones which has multiple handsets with their own chargers. You plug the base unit into the converter and then put the extra handsets with their chargers anywhere in the house you want a phone.

If your internet service goes out, your phone service goes out.

Thats about all the disadvantages I can think of.

The advantages....

Much lower monthly cost. They have actually had a price reduction in the past year and I now have unlimited long distance and local calling for just $29.99 a month.

I can take my converter box and my phone with me if I go on vacation, and if I have broadband internet service where I'm staying, I just plug the coverter into the internet service there, and I have my local phone. This applies even if I am vacationing in France, or Hong Kong. As long as I have broadband service, I have my local phone. (note...I've never been to France or Hong Kong, that was just an example.)

I can go onto the internet and access my vonage account anytime and see a record of all of my phone calls, both incoming and outgoing since I started my service.

I can listen to my voice mail on the internet, on the phone or via e-mail.

I can get a phone number in any area code in the country I want.

International LD rates are very low.

The number of bells and whistles is just amazing. Go online and see for yourself.

I probably won't switch to the new Time Warner phone service because, according to the link they sent me to check it out, it would cost me about $45.00 a month and I still would not have the features that I get for just $29.99 from Vonage. But with their record of reliability, they would probably be a good phone provider and save you money from what you are paying now.

Have any of you tried the new Time Warner phone service yet? What about some of the other VOIP companies besides Vonage? Any good or bad experiences? I would be curious to hear from you about them.