Voice over Internet phone concerns
Tuesday's column focused on the spread of Voice over Internet Protocol phone service, or VoIP as its better known, and the concerns behind relying on a telephone that you might not work when the power goes out or when your Internet service is interrupted.
While the popularity of VoIP has grown, I'm not altogether sure that consumers are aware of the possible drawbacks to using an Internet phone, which the column pointed out that calling emergency services can be problematic. Please remember that if you move your VoIP service, you must change your billing address AND your emergency address with your provider or your 911 call could get directed to the wrong emergency calling center.
Since I haven't tried to sign on for this service myself, I was really interested to hear from Frank Bonomo who told me about what he discovered when he jumped at a triple play offer:
I enjoyed your article "Concerns raised on use of VoIP" from 06.06.2008. As of Monday I was scheduled to have my land-line, Verizon, disconnected and replaced by Comcast's phone service. I was overwhelmed with their offer of the triple play. That's cable TV and Internet, to which I already subscribe, with the addition of phone service for half the cost of Verizon and four times the service, unlimited calls, call waiting etc.
However several important items were never mentioned at all by Comcast's sales rep that I learned about through friends and relatives. All the points that you made in your article and a few that, perhaps,of which you may not be aware:
1. I was offered a new phone number or could retain my old number. I later learned through Comcast that I needed to purchase my old number for $29.99!
2. My home security system might not function or function intermittently. I learned this through my home security company who would gladly come out to check out my system prior to installation by Comcast, for a slight fee. I think your point about 911 is related to how a home security system needs to work with fire, police and emergency services.
3. My home security people recommended an additional bare-bones land line just for the burglar, fire, emergency system. About $10 @ month.
As a homeowner, I feel that too many times by trying to save a few bucks here and there we end up by either sacrificing some important vital services. I also feel that Comcast, at least locally, should spend less time explaining frills and more time explaining service. To make another point, the sales rep from Comcast was unable to explain where the tech was to install the phone modem, or that there was an additional fee for modem rental.
In conclusion, I decided that at this time to retain Verizon as my land-line phone, no frills at high cost.
Thanks to Frank for reminding me about that security system issue. I forgot to mention that in the column. If your system depends on a phone line then I would imagine that if you lose your Internet phone service, you could lose your security system service, too. If any home security experts are out there and can shed some more light on this for us, please let us know.
Anyone else experience this when you signed up for VoIP? Did you understand the limitations of VoIP when you switched over, and if you didn't know beforehand, did someone explain it to you? Or are you surprised to hear all this? Or are you absolutely thrilled with Internet phone service? I want to hear from you.
(photo courtesy of stockxchng.com)
A native of Vietnam, 