Been thinking about ditching landline forever, but being a procrastinator that I am....But now, I'm going to do it. Want ot finally get rid of the devil AT&T.

So, what is the best VoIP provider for me?

Here is "me":

- This is for home use (no business). Already have home fiber internet.
- Never use the landline home phone much anyway.
- Affordable (say, maximum is $20/month)
- Relatively good quality; doesn't have to be perfect.
- Or, do I even need one?


Thinking about Magicjack at $43/year (vs AT&T land at $43/month currently paying )

I have been using 1-VOIP for several years. I use the full international plan which saves me lots of money. Also IRS still requires documents to be faxed which saves about $120 a year instead of using a fax service. With my 3 story townhome and detached garage I have found I use the "land Line" extentions much more than cell phone. The only problem is that tax clients think they can text me. As a business liability precaution I only accept emails that are saved in outlook anyhow.

Not experienced with multiple voip systems but currently have a ooma setup since 2013.
I also been using their home security devices that work with the telo device.

https://www.ooma.com/home-phon...QTTOYnUKIpR4RplfTtIQ

Ooma has been satisfactory for me. You buy the equipment (when I got it in 2018 it was about $90), then about $7 a month.

Ditched a long time ago when I realized we did all our communication on our cellphones. Unnecessary expense.

Although it has improved in recent years, I have marginal or "so-so" cell reception. Also, a year and a half ago I needed to call 911 and did not have the dexterity to tap out the digits. The "land line" phone was easier to hold and dial with one hand mostly out of action.

In the same boat.
Just got ATT fiber and have a land line.
It would be nice to be able to get a text message on this line (retrieve online) too.
This way we can limit our text messages to our private cell phones and let the landline-converted-to-VOIP handle text messages/notifications for family business.
Lessons text spam on cell phone.

A great deal of the user experience with VoIP technology is the chosen handset. These differ greatly in ease of use and configuration, and voice quality. Look for a unit that has a HD (high definition) microphone. I have found the Gramdstream phones to be more than adequate in this regard, configured by a web interface provided by the phone itself (no "cloud" connection required).

As for providers, almost all of them use the public domain Asterisk software for their "switching" infrastructure so most of the decision matrix is price. Even so, you will be hard pressed to find a plan under $20/mo., $25 is more realistic. And then there are the various comm. taxes that approach $30/mo. on top of the fee. Of course, the same fees apply to every provider. I like voip.ms as a provider.

There are also "softphones" that run on a computer or mobile device that allow you to use your VoIP account over an IP network connection including WiFi for making and receiving calls. Many of these are FOSS (Free Open Source Software) so you can "try out" VoIP with hardware you probably already have.

VoIP technology has evolved to where it provides almost the exact user experience as traditional telephony, a goal somewhat to its detriment, I think.

I used OOMA for quite awhile until my laptop died
I realized we didn't need any landlines.

$69 On Amazon. https://a.co/d/hrtzXii

Cellular only works for me. FiOS for gigabit internet. However Verizon does offer VOIP on the same optical cable.

We went straight cellular about 15-18 years ago. There was a problem with the line and the phone company’s foreman finally told us to drop the service as they weren’t going to spend the money to replace the line in our neighborhood

We haven’t missed it. Where you have reliable internet already, I’d just ditch it and move on. We haven’t missed ours.

I ditched it entirely but wanted to keep the number as it’s tied to a number of things. So I used Park My Phone (https://parkmyphone.com/) and transferred the number to that. I went with base stuff to just collect voicemail, which then gets emailed to me. There are voice and message options as well, just didn’t need it.

quote:

allow you to use your VoIP account over an IP network connection including WiFi for making and receiving calls.

My 1-VOIP connection is directly connected to my AT&T 1 gig fiber modem thru a Linksys VOIP phone adaptor. My phones are an older Panasonic 4 extension phone set with a phone on each of the 3 floors of my townhome and in my detached garage. All works great with international calls to land lines and international cell phones.

Went with Ooma. Ordered their base (Ooma Telo). $6.94/mo tax/fees included. Will be porting the old number over. Won’t even have to call AT&T to cancel. Adios &%#@¥!!!

The first question is why do you need voip at all.

How many calls do you make a month on your land line?

I have a magic jack and have had on for many years.

It sits in the draw not used. If cell service goes down and internet stays up, I will use it as a back up.

I ran several businesses on Magic Jacks.
Now in retirement, I just use my cell.

If I go overseas I will bring it, to call the USA for free.

You’ll be happy with Ooma.
We switched to Ooma from MagicJack years ago. MagicJacks quality was not good at all.
Oomas quality is far better.
I do wish one could do Text messages with Ooma. That is the only part I miss about MagicJack

I don't understand the need for a VOIP if you have decent cell coverage in your home. After we ported our landline number to a cell phone over 20 years ago, never had the need for a home restricted phone.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I don't understand the need for a VOIP if you have decent cell coverage in your home. After we ported our landline number to a cell phone over 20 years ago, never had the need for a home restricted phone.

Because I want EXACTLY ZERO businesses to contact me on my cell phone ever and I want no SPAM callers and my info being sold.
My wife’s phone gets bombarded with crap spam calls and texts constantly. She does not give out our home phone. I almost never get spam calls or texts.

I also have 3 boys that do not have cell phones.

Also 911 geolocation is not always that great. I want to be able to call 911 and they just come straight to the residence if needed.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

Because I want EXACTLY ZERO businesses to contact me on my cell phone ever and I want no SPAM callers and my info being sold.
My wife’s phone gets bombarded with crap spam calls and texts constantly. She does not give out our home phone. I almost never get spam calls or texts.

I also have 3 boys that do not have cell phones.

Also 911 geolocation is not always that great. I want to be able to call 911 and they just come straight to the residence if needed.

What about VOIP that prevents it from getting SPAM? If, at some point, you provide your VOIP number to someone, that can provide the influx of spam calls, right?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rey HRH:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Black92LX:

^^^^^^^^^^^

It’s essentially my Spam filter. The house phones/VOIP does not ring. I get the messages if someone were to actually leave one which they rarely do.
I’ll call them back when it is convenient for me.
My cell phone is not ringing or dinging all day with nonsense. Well worth the $18 a month along with 911 at the house and a phone for the boys to use if they need to.