Kobra Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Gone are the days of static filled internet microphone telephone setups, this is the real thing... After getting totally fed up with the phone company, their outrageous rates, hidden fees, and rediculously small calling areas, and high long distance charges, I finally installed Internet Phone Service in my house through my broadband connection. The service I chose is called "VoicePulse",the primary reason for choosing VP, was because of their low rates, and extensive feature list. http://www.voicepulse.com/ I am happy to report, after a full week+ of testing, i've now shut off my SBC/Ameritech line that was costing me $70.00+ per month, and i'm enjoying better service, better quality, and no rediculously limited calling areas all for the price of $14.99 per month - no hidden fees! Plans for VP are straight forward, without any hidden fees or charges. http://www.voicepulse.com/plans/default.aspx One thing to consider is the calling area, my calling area with VP is *MASSIVE*, almost 90% of my entire state! That means for the lowest plan, 99.9% of all my LD calls will now be local calls, and instead of paying an addition $30+ a month in LD fees from SBC, they will be local calls now! Picking a plan was a no brainer for me, I seldom call out of state, and if I do, I have 200 minutes to play with - more than i've used all year. Feature wise, there are no hidden costs here either, you aren't charged per feature, or per feature used, all plans get ALL of the features, and they are all FREE.. http://www.voicepulse.com/features/default.aspx I have to say I thought I wouldn't use many of these features, but I was wrong. After experiancing the power of VP, going back to an SBC phone service feels like going back to the stoneage! With VP, I can setup times of the night when we don't want to be disturbed, if its an emergency, the caller can override it, which is very handy. Best of all, you can set up VP to email you when someone tries to call and is blocked, and this email looks like this: Hello, I thought you might like to know that you received a phone call from 12332211122 to your VoicePulse number. The call was handled as follows: * Do not Disturb - they chose not to override. Have a great day! VoicePulse www.voicepulse.com Almost all features of VP can be set to email you specifics, so you always have a record of whats going on with your phone service.. VP also features handy things like Telemarketer blocking, and they practically guarantee no telemarketer will get through, callerID with name, full voicemail services and much more! All of the features are managed either directly from the phone, or online if you have a computer. http://www.boredmofo.com/downloads/vp_features.JPG After I ordered the service, within about 5 days the package arrived. Inside was a nice manual, and the device itself, which is about the size of your palm, and plugs into your router - no computer is required, this device acts as its own service, and has its own IP, and is completely independant from your PC. http://www.boredmofo.com/downloads/vp_hardware.JPG You can connect directly to the device if you are a techie, and do more tweaking inside of it through your web browser, but this is completely option, and totally unnecessary. http://www.boredmofo.com/downloads/vp_device.JPG Setup is FAST and EASY.. Just plug the device into your router, plug in the power, plug in a phone line, wait 60 seconds for it to setup and configure, and presto, its done, you are all ready to make your phone calls! Best of all, management of everything is done online, including the billing and call lists, and keeping track of everything related to your phone! http://www.boredmofo.com/downloads/vp_calllist.JPG Its great I must say, you can search for phone numbers, cross reference, and log everything. Lost a friends number? No worries, you have permanent records of it. Call quality is exceptional on the high bandwidth setting, however this setting uses about 64k of bandwidth in both directions, and might not be suitable for some people.. I found that with other computers on the network, and busy downloading and doing tasks, that it was best for me to select "Medium" bandwidth. Call quality difference was slight, with about the same quality as a normal phone line - certainly nothing anyone would notice different. I've made about 165 phonecalls on it, and have only had 3 calls dropped on the 64k setting due to high activity on my computers at the time. 0 calls have been dropped on the medium bandwidth setting, and absolutely no problems have been exhibited! Flawless execution! I've already wired the little box up to my phone network box, and all phones in the house are now fully operational on the VOIP service! Overall, I have to say i'm 100% satisfied with this service, and would highly recommend it to everyone that has broadband, stop paying horrible rates at your phone company, and start taking advantage of this technology. Once you have a taste of it, you'll never go back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean l Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 Nice review, I might look into that service now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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