Primus TalkBroadband

[laughingdiva]

Anyone switched from their regular Telus phone and use this new thing called VOiP. Primus offers one called TalkBroadband. I am wondering about the pros and cons of this service. It is quite a bit cheaper and am wondering if there is a catch.

[Amum]

No catch - I actually work for a company that develops VOIP software.

It's basically using the internet to transfer your voice from one house to another instead of the current phone line technology which is a mix of analog and digital.

Basically with broadband - media (your voice) is transferred over the internet in things called packets. They travel fast and it's cheaper than the current technology.

With current technology when you phone a friend, there's one line and it's tied up for your conversation the whole time. Even when niether of you are actually speaking (dead space) the line is still occupied, with broadband, using the internet and these packets - downtime is a thing of the past, only when you speak is anything spent and your packets and anyone elses packets can be travelling at the same time (you'd never know though) and hence it's cheaper.

Ok, I'm sure I've thoroughly bored everyone, but basically VOIP is just newer cutting edge phone technology.
Here's a few of the perks:
You keep your phone # wherever you go since it's internet. (I.e. hotel, travelling, new house, anywhere)
It's cheaper
There's tons of features available (depending on the carrier) such as find me/follow-me, conferencing, synchronized with e-mail, IM chat etc.. etc.. etc..

Have fun with it!
Christine

[nicola]

Just a warning befire you decide to do this with Primus. I received this info a hile back and thought it was terrific. I told my friend about it to and she was also excited. I had to wait to do it because my internet is phone not cable so I had to wait to change this. My friend on the otherhand called them, got all the info and did it. She had trouble from the beginning. They said she could keep her phon enumber htne when it it was installed they said NO, needed new phone number. Then she could not receive calls, only call out. The whole thing was a nuisance. In the end she had to go back to telus and had to pay reconnection and everything. She had done her research and found out everything first but Primus still did not do what they said. Just a warning. It could have improved by now. Hope so if this is something you are going to do.
Nicola

[VictoriaSeller]

Hey Christine - what's your PERSONAL opinion about it? Our new house is wired with Cat-5 cables so we're set to go with something like VOIP and the geek factor in my husband is itching to do this (we need 2 phone lines so this will be WAY cheaper). I have my reservations, though (downtime? security? little connection boxes everywhere? etc.). I'd love some personal feedback about it. Thanks so much.

[ts2]

I made the switch, and I switched back within a week!

I was able to keep my phone number, but my computer didn't work the same, some programs did work the same, For example MSN, before the switch, I could talk to my sister on MSN, after no, it didn't work. I tried to call customer support, I was on hold for 45 minutes!!!! Everytime I called it was about this, except for the initial set up call...of course!

Anyway, the fellow said "we don't support that program so there is nothing I can do to help" Basically too bad, so sad!

I have an alarm system that is connected to my phone line, that wasn't able to work. I also have a lot of phones, and it was a hastle to ensure they all worked. I wasn't told at the time of set up, that it was for one phone only. I also have a fax machine, that was an extra charge and a different phone number, if I wanted to use it.

My phone clicked when I was on it, and it sounded like I was talking in a tunnel.

Perhaps things have changed, but that was only last March.

[Amum]

Victoria Seller - it depends on who your carrier is.

It's a newer thing for most and there's bound to be hiccups - also, many of the major carriers aren't providing home users with this service yet and are using it corporately.

I would do the research with carriers and ask a lot of questions - your best bet is to go with who has the most/best answers to your questions.

You can also try this kind of thing out for free - try skype (http://www.skype.com) or http://www.gizmo.com (based on xten), google talk also has a great little one - the sound quality is great.

If your husband is a geek, he should have some fun with these! it may take some figuring to get the settings just right.

Hope this helps!
Christine

p.s. the company I work for makes VOIP apps for major carriers and switch manufacturers (and then they resell to carriers) but luckily we don't service anyone mentioned here!

[s5]

We swtiched to Vonage - another VOIP - and I am not happy with the service. I can't hear people when I answer the phone or they can barely hear me when I call. The sound quality is also very tinny. Sometimes, when I am talking, the phone starts to 'break up'. There is delay in speaking/hearing. It is very much like talking on a satellite phone or an early cell phone. We've talked to Vonage lots and they've tried to troubleshoot - we've even bought a new phone ($$$) but with little appreciable improvement.

I was on line to swtich back to Telus - my day to swtich was the day they went on strike.....so I am stuck with this service until Telus is back to work....which I think is a long, long time from now.

Other people may be having good experiences - this is just mine.

[leanne]

AHHHHH! Careful before you leap! I'm currently using Broadband - the sound isn't as good and I plan to go back to Telus (even though I hate them) as soon as the strike is resolved. We've had a nightmare experience largely because of Telus. They were supposed to switch our Internet to a dry line only service (no phone). Well I come home one day to discover our Internet has been shut off - no Internet, no phone. It took Telus over 3 weeks to resolve the problem - some a**hole saw that we had cancelled our phone and and decided we didn't have INternet as well. Every time I had to call Telus I had to pack the baby up and go to a friends house. 3 FREAKIN' weeks without phone or email. I just about lost it. What really pissed me off was that before we switched, I had spent hours on the phone with Telus to make sure that we kept the Internet service because I was afraid of this happening. The guy I talked totally convinced me that I was overreacting and my fears were unfounded - and then they screw up!!!!! This is why I left Telus in the first place. If you have cable INternt, your experience may be better (I've heard that the Broadband works better over high speed cable services.) Good luck.

[alwaysbusy]

custumer service for primus was terrrible for us. We waited up to 1 hr to get someone on the phone. After we were set up they couldn't get our phone working then couldn't fix it until their next working day. It was Easter weekend so we missed all our family calls and we couldn't call out. Lots of static when we did get the phone working and also could hear echoing. We switched back to telus.

[Ivy-Girl]

OK, I'm so out of my depth here, but another recent thread was talking about the soon to be available digital phone service through Shaw...is this the same thing or different from VOIP?

[VictoriaSeller]

Shaw's is pretty much the same as VOIP, I think:

"3. Does Shaw Digital Phone run through my Internet or my Cable?
The service works over a dedicated network separate from your Internet and cable television connection and uses PacketCable™ technology. No Internet connection or computer is required."

[Sleepless Mama]

haha.. I just posted something about Vonage on the Shaw thread.
Anyways, we use vonage (which is also VoIP) and so far we are LOVING it. Have had no problems at all and it is SO much cheaper then Telus.

Shell- that's too bad you had so many problems with them. I guess it doesn't work well for everyone. But so far we've had great service from them and our phone line seems very clear. I've asked others if they have trouble hearing us on the other end and they've all said it's just fine. My husband says it could be a problem with your internet connection.

[Sleepless Mama]

oh ya... just in case anyone is interested in looking into Vonage more their website is http://www.vonage.ca