Time Warner Cable - Digital Phone Service? (Durham, Cary: home, to buy)

[BeadLady]

We are moving to Heritage at the end of May and have be reviewing all of our utility options. We are looking at getting our cable internet through Time Warner and are considering getting the digital phone service. Does anyone else use this service and/or can anyone provide any additional advice when it comes to digital phone service?

We are trying to consolidate where we can and we want to definitely keep our satellite so that means we are trying to combine our cable and phone into a package deal.

Thanks so much,
Carolyn

[NYC2RDU]

Digital phone service, typically referred to as Voice Over IP (VOIP) is actually quite good. As a matter of fact beyond one key limitation it's better than traditional phone service. Many of the features that come with it are superior to the Baby Bells.

The one key limitation is that you need to be connected to the internet for the service to work. So, if you lose power, you lose your phone service. Traditional land-lines work even in power outages. However so many of us have cell phones that can provide alternate service that it's not as significant an issue.

I would caution though that the Time Warner offerings are a bit expensive relative to the industry. Vonage offers a complete VOIP package at a fixed price of $34.95 per month and does not require any additional fees for things like voice mail.

[ADVentive]

We have digital phone from TWC and we like it. We have it bundled with all our other services from them, so we get cable, phone, and internet from them.

[BeadLady]

NYC2RDU,

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize it was considered VOIP. Can you still use your phone outlets in the wall and not require any special phones? I thought with VOIP you needed special IP phones? I guess times have changed. I'm very interested in how it all works. I'm not sure if I like the fact that the phones go out when the power/cable goes out. But I do have a cell phone so that really wouldn't be a big deal.

It's probably worth a shot and if we don't like it then we can always change.

[ForeverUp]

Originally Posted by BeadLady

NYC2RDU,

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize it was considered VOIP. Can you still use your phone outlets in the wall and not require any special phones? I thought with VOIP you needed special IP phones? I guess times have changed. I'm very interested in how it all works. I'm not sure if I like the fact that the phones go out when the power/cable goes out. But I do have a cell phone so that really wouldn't be a big deal.

It's probably worth a shot and if we don't like it then we can always change.

You don't plug into the same outlet. You plug the traditional phone into an IP adaptor. That's how it works. And, you can even use your computer with a headset that has echo cancellation to make and receive calls too. Video calls are next...



Also, the Time Warner service is different than Vonages service because they offer a 911 service and Vonage does not..There are other technical differences but I won't get into details here.

[NYC2RDU]

You use your regular phones. And the technology has advanced to where they can literally power up your existing phone lines so that you can plug phones in anywhere there is a jack.

[bta]

Wow - there seems to be a lot of misinformation here. Let's clear up a few things.

1) The technology used by Time Warner and Vonage are very similar. Their feature sets and prices are what differentiate them.

2) Vonage does offer 911 service. What you need to look for is if your location supports E911 (Cary does and I believe Durham does as well - just google it). If they do - then Vonage will send the address you register with them to 911 dispatch when you call 911. So if you can't speak - they'll still know where to send emergancy services.
http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=911

3) Any VOIP service will be dependent on your internet connection being up.

4) You can mitigate the risk of power outages disrupting service by plugging your cable modem and VOIP router into a battery backup. And again, when that runs out, there's always cell phone. And when the cell phone runs out... maybe smoke signals.

5) You don't need special phones to use Vonage or Time Warner. You just plug the router they give you into one of your telephone outlets and then all the other outlets in your home will have phone service. Just make sure you disconnect from the telephone company outside of your house. If you don't - you risk frying the VOIP router.

6) Not to confuse matters, but there is another service, Skype, which does not work like Time Warner or Vonage. With Skype you need to use either your computer (with a headset) or a special skype phone to send/receive calls. Skype does not support 911. Skype is meant to augment your current phone service by providing you with cheap long distance.

I like to tell people that Vonage is so simple - even my parents have it.

...in all fairness, it should also be mentioned that Vonage and Verizon are in the middle of a patent lawsuit. I hate Verizon and hope they lose - but there is a very real possibility that Vonage has been mortally wounded.

[FallsForks]

There is definitely a quality difference between TWC and Vonage VOIP and that is where theprice difference comes into play. At the very least the benefit of TWC's offering is that it uses a specific dedicated bandwidth where as your vonage line will share your internet connection. What this means is that if your kids are streaming video and downloading mp3s or torrents then your Vonage phone conversation will sound like a bad cell connection (have had my wife scream at me a few times when she was on the phone because of this).

I currently use vonage and I like it. HOWEVER, I would not start using Vonage right now if you are just getting into VOIP. About the only hope for VOnage right now is for Sprint or a similar telecom venture to buy them out. As it stands right now Vonage is dead. The ruling in the Verizon case actually mandated that they could not accept any new customers but they have a temporary injunction against that why they try to come up with some way to stay alive. TWC's bundled options are decent, I will probably switching to it once Vonage breathes its last breath.

[gastric]

Though I've never used VoIP personally for those that are particularly technical you can purchase a router with quality of service (QoS) features that would allow you to specify a minimum % of your overall bandwidth to allocate to a particular feature, such as VoIP. That negates the issues FallsForks references where streaming media or large file downloads such as P2P negatively affect your VoIP. Note I've never used QoS settings either, though my router provides them. But I'm aware they exist and are getting more popular. The same can happen to real-time online gaming when VoIP sucks the bandwidth from it and causes the games to lag.

[bostrom]

Vonage might be a less expensive option....I just signed up today for the 500 minute plan (local and long distance) for $14.95 / month. How can you beat that?