Our new home is in a cell phone dead zone. Fun. We haven't had a land line in years. I'm wondering if Vonage is a good way to go. We won't be using the land line all that much, and they have a 500 minute plan for only $17.99/month.

Anyone have any experience with Vonage? Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks!

We have Vonage and it works well for us. We have the $25 package or whatever it is which gives us unlimited calls including long distance. I like that if someone calls when I'm on the phone, call-waiting beeps at me, but if I choose not to pick it up, they still get to leave a voicemail message. Sound quality is good, and you get pretty much all of the available phone options and features.

The biggest issue has been actually with our internet provider. When our cable modem connection gets bogged down, the phone is almost useless. Usually you can hear the person you are talking to, but since the upload speeds start out lower to begin with, the other person starts to have trouble hearing you.

That only happens on very rare occasions. Maybe for 10 minutes once every other month.

I'm still concerned about 911 service with any VOIP. Not to mention loss of power.

I still have our cell phones as a back up. It's just a huge pain in the butt to have calls drop while talking all the time. It's REALLY annoying!

Cell phones as backup for 911 is even scarier. But hey, to each his own.

I bought a Vonage voIP line 4 years ago for the same reason as yours. I have that 500 minutes plan. No complaints whatsoever . Of course, remember that the phone will be as reliable as your current internet connection.

Now, regarding 911, you can set your 911 physical address on their website. I've never done a 911 call from that line, or any other line for that matter... knock on wood, so I have no idea if my address gets reflected correctly on the 911 system.

Been using Vonage for a year and it has worked great. 500 minute plan. 1 or two minor issues the first day or two, but not a glitch since.

Cheap, effective, and good quality. Can't ever tell I'm on a VoIP call. The address is setup for 911 as well, so that's not an issue.

I've got 20 megabit FIOS, so my connection should be good.

I'm in a bit of a conflict of interest so I won't say much. Just that if your cell coverage is sketchy, I'd recommend a land line service that has a significant survival time when the power goes out. After all, often the stuff that knocks out power is an event that increases the odds you may need to make an emergency call.