KHolleger
TUG Lifetime Member
Does anyone have Comcast Digital Voice home phone service? If so, how do you like it? I am thinking about switching to it from Verizon to save money.
-
The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!
Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day! -
TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!
Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG! -
TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!
Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!
Visit TUG on Youtube! -
TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!
Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars -
Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!
60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners! -
Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!
All T-shirt options here!
Comcast Digital Voice
- Thread starter KHolleger
- Start date
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, don't do it!! I have it and nothing but problems....their old phone service was just fine but as soon as I upgraded to their digital phone service I've had nothing but problems.
1) when they came out to switch it over, I was without service for 2-3 days.
2) instead of calling '611' (from home) to retrieve your voice messages, you have to dial your full home phone number.
3) Everytime I would call a couple of my friends who 'use to' have Comcast phone but switched to a different company, I would get a message saying that their phone was out of service when in fact it was NOT. I put a ticket in with Comcast and they wanted me to also have my friends put a ticket in with their current carrier. BUT Comcast was able to fix it without my friends having to put a request with their provider.
There's a few more things I don't like but I can't think of at this moment. Comcast has been telling me that they are working to get all the 'bugs' out of this new service. If they don't hurry, I WILL be switching myself. As far as the price, it's GREAT compared to SBC.
1) when they came out to switch it over, I was without service for 2-3 days.
2) instead of calling '611' (from home) to retrieve your voice messages, you have to dial your full home phone number.
3) Everytime I would call a couple of my friends who 'use to' have Comcast phone but switched to a different company, I would get a message saying that their phone was out of service when in fact it was NOT. I put a ticket in with Comcast and they wanted me to also have my friends put a ticket in with their current carrier. BUT Comcast was able to fix it without my friends having to put a request with their provider.
There's a few more things I don't like but I can't think of at this moment. Comcast has been telling me that they are working to get all the 'bugs' out of this new service. If they don't hurry, I WILL be switching myself. As far as the price, it's GREAT compared to SBC.
ricoba
TUG Member
I have been considering a VOIP phone plan as well, either ATT Callvantage or Vonage. Anyone have an opinion or advice?
We have only horror stories to tell about Vonage that included the FCC, Public Service Commission and Vonage holding our business numbers "hostage" and not releasing them until outside agencies became involved. It was a very expensive non-transfer.
Perhaps this would have went better IF we were not trying to transfer numbers that we have tied to our business. The problem stemmed from Vonage not being a phone company and Verizon not having to acknowledge/regard them. In addition, Vonage relies on 3rd party vendors to do their switching (so we were told) and for 3 months our phones were a mess. Because Vonage is technically not a phone company, they are regulated differently in each state. We had no idea. . .
We have ATT Callvantage, they are a phone company. Verizon transferred the numbers quickly to them. We have been satisfied with their service and their customer service was great to deal with when we were initially trying to incorporate their router into our network.
If you don't need to transfer a number (especially from verizon) I would go with Vonage, they are less expensive.
Perhaps this would have went better IF we were not trying to transfer numbers that we have tied to our business. The problem stemmed from Vonage not being a phone company and Verizon not having to acknowledge/regard them. In addition, Vonage relies on 3rd party vendors to do their switching (so we were told) and for 3 months our phones were a mess. Because Vonage is technically not a phone company, they are regulated differently in each state. We had no idea. . .
We have ATT Callvantage, they are a phone company. Verizon transferred the numbers quickly to them. We have been satisfied with their service and their customer service was great to deal with when we were initially trying to incorporate their router into our network.
If you don't need to transfer a number (especially from verizon) I would go with Vonage, they are less expensive.
Lee B
TUG Member
I Have Packet8
I got Packet8 to check it out. www.packet8.net . The sound is better than I expected. Usually no different than POTS (plain old telephone service). Sometimes, there's an interruption in the background noise between spoken words.
Now and again, a call will get interrupted, sometimes only one side. I'll keep hearing, "hello! hello!" so obviously they stopped hearing me while I hear them just fine. I'll disconnect, press Redial on my phone and it will be fine again.
They sent me a box that I plug into my wireless router at home, then I plug a regular phone and a cordless phone base into it. I take the box to work most days and plug it into an Ethernet outlet and plug a spare work phone into it. Wherever I take that box and plug it into broadband service, the phone will ring when somebody dials my number, and I can call anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for the flat $19.95 fee. Goodies that phone companies charge for are included: caller-ID, call waiting, 3-way calling and call forwarding, for example.
Although this box doesn't require a computer for phone calls, you may need to plug one into it to change its default settings regarding IP addressing to make it work with your Internet source.
The packet-switched Internet is designed with not-reliable connectivity, so VOIP likely will never be as stable as the circuit-switched phone system. Still, it works great most of the time. If you have reliable cellular service to fall back on, you could be okay with VOIP. Don't depend on it for non-casual business, though.
I got Packet8 to check it out. www.packet8.net . The sound is better than I expected. Usually no different than POTS (plain old telephone service). Sometimes, there's an interruption in the background noise between spoken words.
Now and again, a call will get interrupted, sometimes only one side. I'll keep hearing, "hello! hello!" so obviously they stopped hearing me while I hear them just fine. I'll disconnect, press Redial on my phone and it will be fine again.
They sent me a box that I plug into my wireless router at home, then I plug a regular phone and a cordless phone base into it. I take the box to work most days and plug it into an Ethernet outlet and plug a spare work phone into it. Wherever I take that box and plug it into broadband service, the phone will ring when somebody dials my number, and I can call anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for the flat $19.95 fee. Goodies that phone companies charge for are included: caller-ID, call waiting, 3-way calling and call forwarding, for example.
Although this box doesn't require a computer for phone calls, you may need to plug one into it to change its default settings regarding IP addressing to make it work with your Internet source.
The packet-switched Internet is designed with not-reliable connectivity, so VOIP likely will never be as stable as the circuit-switched phone system. Still, it works great most of the time. If you have reliable cellular service to fall back on, you could be okay with VOIP. Don't depend on it for non-casual business, though.
Fern Modena
TUG Lifetime Member
Kathy,
Make sure that you'll have 9-1-1 service with whatever sort of phone service you choose.
Also, I'm pretty sure you have a cell...you need one if you go to a Computer based phone, cause if your ISP goes out, there goes the phone.
Fern
Make sure that you'll have 9-1-1 service with whatever sort of phone service you choose.
Also, I'm pretty sure you have a cell...you need one if you go to a Computer based phone, cause if your ISP goes out, there goes the phone.
Fern