# Anyone using Verizon Home Phone Connect?



## chuck1996 (Jun 28, 2007)

I'm thinking about switching out my landline phone for the Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect. This is basically a cell phone for the home. It is a base unit that you plug your basic phones into. The main drawback to the device is that it ONLY supports voice, no fax/data/security systems, etc. I have all of my HRxx units connected to the internet via my Whole Home setup, but I also have the phone lines connected strictly for Caller ID. I'd like to keep it that way, for the Caller ID with the Verizon unit. It seems to me, that since the HR's will only be operating as Caller ID boxes, and not call originators, it *should* work. Unfortunately the drones at Verizon seem unable to answer the simple question, of whether or not their unit will work in that mode for me. So........ anybody out there who has tried this, or one of the other home wireless units this way?

Thanks!
Chuck


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

My sister uses the AT&T version of that (her husband works for AT&T). They have DIRECTV, so I will check with them to see if they have their receiver(s) connected to it for CID purposes.


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## Tarheel115 (Apr 11, 2007)

Yes it works..I have this setup and it works fine.


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## chuck1996 (Jun 28, 2007)

Thanks Tarheel!


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## Camborita (Nov 9, 2009)

Hey Chuck,

I had never heard of this device, so I went to VZW to check it out as it sounded pretty intriguing. Looks like there are a lot of negative reviews, so be careful since it seems they want to lock you into a 2 year commitment.


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## tgater (Jul 24, 2007)

You only get the phone number from CID, no name. Wal Mart has one that's 15 per month, haven't looked into that yet. I have three of VZ's for what I use them for it's fine.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

One possible issue might be if you have too many devices connected to the phone line. They can only handle up to a certain amount of "ringer equivalency" load. I don't think the DirecTV DVRs actually have any ringer load, so it should not be an issue. But if you run into problems, you can always disconnect the DVRs and see if that fixes things.


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## tgater (Jul 24, 2007)

carl6 said:


> One possible issue might be if you have too many devices connected to the phone line. They can only handle up to a certain amount of "ringer equivalency" load. I don't think the DirecTV DVRs actually have any ringer load, so it should not be an issue. But if you run into problems, you can always disconnect the DVRs and see if that fixes things.


IIRC these units will not transmit data, voice only for now. DVR's will not be able to even do a health check.


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## dishrich (Apr 23, 2002)

tgater said:


> IIRC these units will not transmit data, voice only for now. DVR's will not be able to even do a health check.


The OP said he ONLY wants this for CID purposes (ie: he doesn't care if the DVR's call back, at it is not necessary for D* service) so this is obviously a non-issue - particularly since his DVR's are internet connected...)


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

Camborita said:


> Hey Chuck,
> 
> I had never heard of this device, so I went to VZW to check it out as it sounded pretty intriguing. Looks like there are a lot of negative reviews, so be careful since it seems they want to lock you into a 2 year commitment.


I have a VZ Home Phone Connect and my 2 year contract ends in 2 months. The service has been outstanding and 100% reliable. It also has saved me much $$ over my old Frontier POTS.

It will not work with data as clearly stated on their website. At $20 a month with all the bells and whistles and unlimited calling including long distance, it is the best value for telephone service available.


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Lazy Senior said:


> I have a VZ Home Phone Connect and my 2 year contract ends in 2 months. The service has been outstanding and 100% reliable. It also has saved me much $$ over my old Frontier POTS.
> 
> It will not work with data as clearly stated on their website. At $20 a month with all the bells and whistles and unlimited calling including long distance, it is the best value for telephone service available.


$20/month is nowhere near the best value. There are many VOIP options significantly cheaper than that. Of course, those require a broadband internet connection, so if you don't have one of those, the cellular option is a very good option. But I paid $165 for two years of phone service through Voipo (less than $7/mo).


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

And I pay $0 using Google Voice.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

hilmar2k said:


> $20/month is nowhere near the best value. There are many VOIP options significantly cheaper than that.


VOIP is NOT an option for someone that needs utterly reliable telephone service. My internet provider would give me VOIP telephone service for under $10. However their TOS specifically says their (VOIP) telephone service is for "entertainment" purposes only and you need another phone in the house for emergencies.... Would you stake your life on a VOIP telephone? I would not...


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Lazy Senior;3189717 said:


> VOIP is NOT an option for someone that needs utterly reliable telephone service. My internet provider would give me VOIP telephone service for under $10. However their TOS specifically says their (VOIP) telephone service is for "entertainment" purposes only and you need another phone in the house for emergencies.... Would you stake your life on a VOIP telephone? I would not...


Well in that case, you should just have POTS.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Lazy Senior said:


> VOIP is NOT an option for someone that needs utterly reliable telephone service. My internet provider would give me VOIP telephone service for under $10. However their TOS specifically says their (VOIP) telephone service is for "entertainment" purposes only and you need another phone in the house for emergencies.... Would you stake your life on a VOIP telephone? I would not...


Hogwash.

I haven't had an internet outage in probably 10 years. I don't ever remember going 10 years without a landline issue.


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## lesz (Aug 3, 2010)

spartanstew said:


> Hogwash.
> 
> I haven't had an internet outage in probably 10 years. I don't ever remember going 10 years without a landline issue.


+1

During the last few months that I had my land line connection, I had 2 outages. In both cases, it took the telephone company 3-4 days to get someone out to restore the connection. During the 2+ years since I switched to a VOIP connection, there have been a few times when my internet connection has gone down, but they have been brief, and, even in those instances, any incoming calls are immediately forwarded to my cell phone or go to voice mail. Overall, the VOIP connection has been more reliable, and voice quality is actually better than what I had been getting with the poorly maintained infrastructure that the phone company was using. Plus, I'm paying 1/2 per month what I had been paying for the phone company's most basic plan and getting a full range of features with the VOIP service that I would have had to have been paying many dollars per month more for with the land line connection.


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

spartanstew said:


> Hogwash.
> 
> I haven't had an internet outage in probably 10 years. I don't ever remember going 10 years without a landline issue.


To be fair, he said his internet company considers their VOIP offering for "entertainment purposes", so maybe his internet company sucks. Mine? Nary an outage. I did have some initial issues with Voipo, but they corrected the issues and it's been rock solid. Also true for Vonage who I had for several years prior. Haven't had POTS in a long time, and certainly don't consider my phone service unreliable.

And like lesz said, it fails over to cellular anyway, so no missed calls.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

spartanstew said:


> Hogwash.
> 
> I haven't had an internet outage in probably 10 years. I don't ever remember going 10 years without a landline issue.


My ISP (Mediacom) is 90% reliable. Verizon Home Connect has been 100% reliable for 22 months. Since my wife is on call for her employment 90% telephone service is not a option.

Anyone that says their internet is 100% reliable for 10 years is probably lying. No ISP is that good.. :nono:


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Lazy Senior said:


> My ISP (Mediacom) is 90% reliable. Verizon Home Connect has been 100% reliable for 22 months. Since my wife is on call for her employment 90% telephone service is not a option.
> 
> Anyone that says their internet is 100% reliable for 10 years is probably lying. No ISP is that good.. :nono:


90% reliable is terrible, and probably would rank at or near the bottom of reliability for all ISP's nationwide. And, as was already stated, since you can set any other phone number (including a cell) as a fail over, missing a call is never an issue.

What does your wife do when power is out? I guarantee my power is out for a far greater amount of time annually than is my internet.

EDIT: Just for perspective, 90% reliability means your internet is down for 3 days per month, or over one month per year. Think about that. That just isn't a realistic reliability rating. How could anyone use an ISP that was down 6 minutes per hour?


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Lazy Senior said:


> My ISP (Mediacom) is 90% reliable. Verizon Home Connect has been 100% reliable for 22 months. Since my wife is on call for her employment 90% telephone service is not a option.
> 
> Anyone that says their internet is 100% reliable for 10 years is probably lying. No ISP is that good.. :nono:


Maybe your wife should invest in a cell phone, so she can leave the house when she's on call occasionally.

And no, not lying. It's that good, and most close to that. They put those "entertainment" disclaimers in there for CYA purposes.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

spartanstew said:


> Maybe your wife should invest in a cell phone, so she can leave the house when she's on call occasionally.


Of course the Verizon Home Connect IS a cell phone. :lol: Just a cheap one at $20 a month with unlimited calling LD included. Try to get a cellphone that cheep... Actually both my wife and I do have cellphones (Verizon of course) and when we leave home the Home Connect is forwarded to one of the cellphones.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

hilmar2k said:


> 90% reliable is terrible, and probably would rank at or near the bottom of reliability for all ISP's nationwide.
> 
> EDIT: Just for perspective, 90% reliability means your internet is down for 3 days per month, or over one month per year. Think about that.


Yeah you are correct, Mediacom Internet is not quite that bad. Let us say 97% reliable. :lol: Mediacom consistently rates as the worst of the worst in ISP customer satisfaction - See Consumer Reports. It is bad enough where I would not ever take their VOIP phone service - even if it was free. FWIW I do not use their TV service either - I use Directv..

The only other option for internet where I live is Frontier DSL (yes I have tried them - reliable but S L O W) at 3 mbps. Uhggggg


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

spartanstew said:


> Hogwash.
> 
> I haven't had an internet outage in probably 10 years. I don't ever remember going 10 years without a landline issue.


You have been lucky, I've had several outages with RoadRunner Internet. Some that lasted over night. I rarely had an outage with my AT&T pots line, except when it was cut a couple times. Ironically, once by Time Warner Cable when they were running new lines.

I now use Net-talk for VOIP, $30/year and it the CID works on my DVR's. I use Google voice with an out of state number that forwards to my Net-talk #, so my relatives can call me without long distance charges on their pots line.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

hilmar2k said:


> it fails over to cellular anyway, so no missed calls.


You just made my point about VOIP reliability. If you gotta have a cell phone for VOIP backup, why not just get a reliable cell connection with a Home Phone Connect to start with and forget the VOIP. :lol:

Here is another thought. When my electric power goes off Mediacom Internet does not have battery backup. Even though my PC and router/modem are on a big UPS I lose internet. When I had Frontier DSL this was not the case - Frontier Internet had battery backup.

All cell towers have battery backup and since the Home Phone Connect has a battery backup, telephone service continues. If I was using Mediacom VOIP I would not have telephone service in a power outage.

In the end everyone uses what works for them. VOIP just is not my idea of great phone service.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Lazy Senior said:


> Actually both my wife and I do have cellphones (Verizon of course) and when we leave home the Home Connect is forwarded to one of the cellphones.


You can forward VOIP calls to your cellphone too, so even in the very rare chance the internet was down, your wife would still receive her "on call" calls.


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Lazy Senior said:


> You just made my point about VOIP reliability. If you gotta have a cell phone for VOIP backup, why not just get a reliable cell connection with a Home Phone Connect to start with and forget the VOIP. :lol:


Voip has a fail over because they have no control over the quality/reliability of the internet. I can count the number of times on one hand when a call forwarded to my wife's cell phone (no one ever calls me, so I set her cell as the fail over number). And your way has no backup; cell goes down and you are SOL.


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## Dude111 (Aug 6, 2010)

chuck1996 said:


> I'm thinking about switching out my landline phone for the Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect.


I wouldnt buddy!

LANDLINES ARE MUCH BETTER!!!!!! -- If i had any say in the matter @ my house I would ask to please ditch this VOIP garbage we have and go back to Landline service as its MUCH BETTER!! (Doesnt drop calls,etc)


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Dude111 said:


> I wouldnt buddy!
> 
> LANDLINES ARE MUCH BETTER!!!!!! -- If i had any say in the matter @ my house I would ask to please ditch this VOIP garbage we have and go back to Landline service as its MUCH BETTER!! (Doesnt drop calls,etc)


That statement is not true for everyone. I much prefer my VOIP to POTS. I get better sound quality, more features, and nearly the same reliability for a fraction of the cost.

If your internet connection is not reliable enough for VOIP, then yes, you should have a POTS line.


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2013)

Dude, 

Verizon Home Phone Connect isn't VOIP. It's a cellphone, and nearly 100% reliable. Definitely more reliable than VOIP and probably more reliable than POTS depending on your environment (overhead phone lines, severe weather frequency, etc.).

I have a couple of these units. I will be dropping one for VOIP when my contract is up because of cost. But I'll be keeping the one I got for my parents because it's been 100% reliable the past 2 years, is portable and works in a moving car. If their modem dies at their home and they had VOIP, they would be SOL, unable to even call the cable company.

And if you're grandfathered, the Home Phone Connect is only $10/month on the old share plan, which is what I have. Ooma is only $3/month, so I'll be switching my home phone to that soon. I've had VOIP many times in the past and always had the issues you describe. But I'm willing to live with those issues to save money.


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## PeterB (Jul 25, 2002)

Just an FYI, make sure you get the F265 model and not the older F2260. Sound quality is much better and the 265 supports CallerID with name service, but Verizon charges $3/mo extra for it.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

PeterB said:


> Just an FYI, make sure you get the F265 model and not the older F2260. Sound quality is much better and the 265 supports CallerID with name service, but Verizon charges $3/mo extra for it.


I am not sure what model I have (got it 22 months ago) but the audio quality is as good as any telephone I have owned. The sound quality depends on what you have plugged into the Home Phone Connect. If you have good quality phones it will sound fine.

I use a V-Tech cordless phone system with the Home Phone Connect. It has 4 cordless phones. I also have a Old non-battery princess type phone plugged into the HPC. This is because if I lose electrical power the cordless phones do not work even tho the Home Connect continues to work because of its internal battery. The princess phone works fine without power. Note that the Home Connect provides a off-hook dial tone unlike cellphones.

Caller ID works great with this setup without any extra cost. The Caller ID will get the persons name from the cordless phone's contact list, otherwise it just shows the phone number. In addition the V-Tech system announces the name or phone number in speech audio.

If you have Verizon Wireless cellphones you can share your minutes with the Home connect for $10 a month. For $20 a month you get a separate plan with unlimited, un-timed calling including Long Distance. This is a fantastic deal. I have this plan because my cellphone plan is basic with limited minutes. Also all Verizon to Verizon calls are un-timed, which means I can call home from my Verizon cellphone without minutes being charged.

As another poster has noted the Verizon Home Phone Connect is NOT VOIP. It is a cellphone interface to regular phones and if you are in an area (like me) that has good Verizon Wireless connect ability you will love this system. For 22 months it has been 100% reliable. My contract runs out in a couple of months and I definitely plan on continuing this great service.


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

On my DirecTV HR20-700 there is no way to disable the DVR's calling out feature if you want caller ID. So, every hour like clockwork the unit tries calling out twice at about 5 after and 40 after the hour. So when I get my Sprint Voice Connect bill there are pages and pages of the 1-800 calls.

Annoying to say the least, but the Sprint voice service has worked well. Like Verizon and AT&T, it is $20 a month.

Dave


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

drded said:


> On my DirecTV HR20-700 there is no way to disable the DVR's calling out feature if you want caller ID.


My 2 DVR's are not connected to my phone system. There is no reason to connect the telephone since the DVR's are networked to my router. My Caller ID comes thru my telephone (surprise) and is announced in speech audio.


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

I went another way with a Xlink device hooked to my phone wiring. It pairs to my current cell phone when it is within bluetooth range (it can be configured for up to three cell phones). It passes the caller's phone number but only shows the name if it is in my phone's contact list. I had a few issues with an old cell phone but my newer one is quite compatible. Technical support has been excellent.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

bobnielsen said:


> I went another way with a Xlink device hooked to my phone wiring. It pairs to my current cell phone when it is within bluetooth range (it can be configured for up to three cell phones).


There are quite a few of these on the market now. The drawback is it uses your cellphone minutes. However this would probably be a better way to go vs paying Verizon $10 a month to share cell minutes with the Home Connect.

My car has a similar hookup thru bluetooth. When i get in the car, the cellphone automatically connects to the radio system giving me hands off thru the radio cellphone use. Really works well and I can see it working equally well in the device you are talking about.

The best thing about the Home Phone Connect IMO is the $20 a month plan that gives you unlimited talk time free. No using expen$ive cellphone minutes.


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

drded said:


> On my DirecTV HR20-700 there is no way to disable the DVR's calling out feature if you want caller ID. So, every hour like clockwork the unit tries calling out twice at about 5 after and 40 after the hour. So when I get my Sprint Voice Connect bill there are pages and pages of the 1-800 calls.
> 
> Annoying to say the least, but the Sprint voice service has worked well. Like Verizon and AT&T, it is $20 a month.
> 
> Dave


Didn't realize that the DVR's call out that many times a month.



Lazy Senior said:


> My 2 DVR's are not connected to my phone system. There is no reason to connect the telephone since the DVR's are networked to my router. My Caller ID comes thru my telephone (surprise) and is announced in speech audio.


May work for you, but for me the voice announce takes to long to determine who's calling. And I then you have to reach for the phone to look at the Caller ID to get it quicker. Having it right on the my TV is so much more convenient. Since you are "Lazy Senior", I would have thought you would prefer it on the TV.


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

RACJ2 said:


> And I then you have to reach for the phone to look at the Caller ID to get it quicker. Having it right on the my TV is so much more convenient. Since you are "Lazy Senior", I would have thought you would prefer it on the TV.


Ya gotta reach for the phone anyway - to answer it. Unless you are talking thru your TV. :lol::lol::lol:


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

Actually, when I see the number on the screen I often decide not to answer it.

The Do Not Call list is being ignored by more and more telemarketers.

I was told a couple years ago that if your DVR detected you were connected to the Internet it would not call out. Somebody forgot to tell the programmers that as mine is connected and still does call out. I wish it was just a menu item to disable calling out while still keeping the caller ID.

Dave


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

Lazy Senior said:


> Ya gotta reach for the phone anyway - to answer it. Unless you are talking thru your TV. :lol::lol::lol:


True, if its someone you know and want to talk to. For me, 9 x's out of 10, its telemarketing, polling or some other call I don't want to answer. Despite have my number on the "Do Not Call" list. :nono2:


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## Lazy Senior (Jan 24, 2005)

drded said:


> Actually, when I see the number on the screen I often decide not to answer it.


Lazy Senior is admittedly - Lazy. However his telephone (with Caller ID) is right next to his LAZY Boy recliner. He can see the phone just as easy as his TV. He don't need nor want Caller ID on the TV. He only needs to see who is calling in one place. Since he is a Senior, caller ID in two places would only confuse him.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

spartanstew said:


> You can forward VOIP calls to your cellphone too, so even in the very rare chance the internet was down, your wife would still receive her "on call" calls.


 Exactly. If your voip (virtually any provider) goes down it has a "fallover" option which sends the call to any other number you prefer.

Of course if the voip providers servers go down you are SOL. We had no power for 10 days during Sandy and never missed a call. We kept our cells charged (and our computer based hot-water heater working) by using one of the 3 battery back-ups we couldn't use to watch TV or used our cars when we went out to find food in the dumpsters behind restaurants (JK on that)!. We would have had no POTS line for 10 days since a pole came down in front of our house and took out all the land lines as well as our internet.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

hilmar2k said:


> $20/month is nowhere near the best value. There are many VOIP options significantly cheaper than that. Of course, those require a broadband internet connection, so if you don't have one of those, the cellular option is a very good option. But I paid $165 for two years of phone service through Voipo (less than $7/mo).


+1 on VOIPO. Been with them for over 4 years and never had an issue that prevented a call. I have 2 dedicated lines/numbers for $190 for 2 years. Best deal around (IMO of course).


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

Not only is VOIP dependent on one's internet connection, but on the quality and bandwidth capabilities of their servers. Magic Jack works, and works just fine with D* DVRs. I have no problem with caller ID working.

However, Magic Jack's servers are half-baked and we suffer dropped calls, stuttering audio and so-so audio quality in general (although it is not horrible).

The internet connection here is no loaded heavily by us, and most of the time meets its rated 6 megabits/sec. I've seen it drop as low as 3.5 Mb/s under some circumstances, but that is still way faster than what is required by MJ's voip. As I recall, when I measured it, I was seeing about 150K bps.

I don't consider VOIP emergency reliable, at least not MJ. Cell phones are fine for personal emergencies, but if there is a local issue, cell phones become very unreliable, as they sell 10x the bandwidth they can support. When a local emergency happens, everyone gets on their cell phones and they become useless.

That's why emergency planners all insist on radios.

We use VOIP to protect our cell phone minutes, and it is acceptable for that. We gave up our land line two years ago and save about $365 per year. So far we have gotten along just fine without a land line.


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