Should I use Vonage or the Magic Jack... What about FIOS or UVerse ? In a word, YES. All of these products have been around for quite some time and many people rely upon them as their sole means of communicating with the outside world. Using the Vonage or Magic Jack products use “VOIP” or “Voice over Internet Protocol”. The same applies for FIOS or UVerse, but these services often include TV services too. All of these products take advantage of the vast power of the Internet to turn your phone call into data and then carry it over what we now know as a household staple. Despite the fact that Vonage and Magic Jack do provide you with tremendous savings with regard to your phone service, there are still a few things to take into consideration:

Before we go too far into the pro VS: con part of things, it is important that you understand the difference between traditional “Plain Old Telephone Service” or “POTS” (Land Line) and VoIP. With POTS, you maintain a true one-to-one relationship with your local telephone company. You are given a dedicated phone line with a dedicated phone number that belongs to you. Except in very unusual situations, this relationship remains as long as you pay the monthly fee for this service. It’s not uncommon for some of these relationships to exist for decades. When something goes wrong, you simply report the problem to your phone company and the problem is resolved within a day or so. In these relationships, you are protected by the laws set forth by your county, state or even federal law makers. POTS subscribers are protected by ages-old laws that ensure that your phone service will always work. This guarantee costs the phone company a lot of money, hence the never-ending monthly subscription fee. Let’s be frank: These fees do get to be a bit high, especially when local, state and federal taxes are included. These fees are set forth to ensure that every telephone subscriber in the United States is afforded the same level of quality and support, no matter where they are located. While this infrastructure’s intentions are great, things don’t always work that way for every subscriber. So with that being said, let's take a look at a few things that should be considered:

1) The cost: Many people rely upon their cell phone as their primary means of communication, so there may be little need for a wired phone line at their residence. This usually works and when it doesn’t, it is safe to assume that you misplaced your cell phone or are in an area where cell coverage is marginal. This is the proverbial “can you hear me now” scenario. Most people will agree that some form of fixed telephone service is important at a typical residence, especially when there are young children or the elderly living in the home. Unless you live alone and are sure that you won’t misplace your cell phone, you need to make sure that there’s a backup plan. POTS service covers this risk and is what most people rely upon. Still, there are a lot of choices in selecting this secondary service. Many of them are a lot less expensive too.

2) The convenience: As mentioned before, being strapped to your cell phone can tend to be too much of a commitment. What if the battery in your cell phone is dead and you place it in the charger downstairs? In the middle of the night, you hear a strange noise outside and want to call for assistance? You certainly don’t want to head down to where you “think” you left your phone to call for help. We have all become accustomed to being able to grab a nearby phone when needed.

3) Redundancy: By the time you add up the costs for a POTS line at your home, plus numerous cell phone accounts, the monthly costs may become cost-prohibitive. This is usually where people start to seriously consider their options.

4) Power outage: We’ve all become accustomed to picking up the phone and receiving dial tone, even if the power is out. This is because the POTS telephone company provides uninterrupted power for their network all the way to the jacks in your home. With VOIP, there must be power at your location at all times or your phone service won’t work. This can be provided by a local battery backup unit that will ensure service for a certain amount of time, but during extended outages, you will lose your phone service. In most cases, it is your responsibility to provide battery backup for your VOIP device or computer that manages your VOIP connection.

5) Security system: If you have a fire or burglar alarm system, it’s important that you have a POTS line to support it. Many security system services offer wireless connectivity options, usually via an additional cellular connection. DO NOT rely upon any means of connection to the outside world for your security system without first consulting with your security system provider.

6) Account management: Most VOIP service providers offer a web-based account management tool which allows you to make changes to your account and feature settings without having to make a single phone call. Since nearly all features with these services are included in their base package rate, the most you'll need to change will probably be simple billing or address information. Since your service is 100% portable, you may move and keep your number but, you will want to update your address and emergency information.


Lastly is number portability: You may have had a POTS account with your telephone company for years, but when you decide to transition to another local service provider, there is a good chance that your number won’t belong to you anymore. When seeking alternate local service providers, be sure to confirm that you will still maintain ownership of this number if you change your mind. If you had traditional POTS service and changed to a VOIP provider, you can probably get your original number back. If you started your service out new with a VOIP service provider, there’s a very good chance that you WON’T be able to keep the number that was assigned to you. There is also a chance that your number won’t be included in local telephone directories or 411 service providers. To many people, this is not important, but still something that needs to be considered when shopping for phone service.

There are some sacrifices made when using VOIP services. Since these service providers aren’t held to the same quality and fixed price standards that your local telephone company are, they are able to offer you a phone number at a much lower monthly rate. Part of how they do this is due to the fact that they aren’t truly “telephone companies”, so to speak. They are only providing you with a phone number and are not required to give the level of government-mandated service quality levels. In most cases, you wouldn’t ever see a problem. Still, if there’s ever that ONE crisis situation and their system is busy, you might not be able to make an emergency call.

Putting all of these issues aside, there still is the question of cost. You are paying these companies for access to their networks, usually for a fixed monthly fee. All VOIP services, such as Vonage or Magic Jack are very reliable as long as they have access to a reliable Internet connection. The most important note to make is that ALL VOIP services require that you have a high-speed (broadband) Internet service provider at your premises. This can be through a DSL connection or Cable TV Modem service. It doesn’t matter what provider that you use for this service, but it does matter that it works all of the time. Remember that when using the Internet for your phone service as opposed to POTS, you no longer maintain the original one-to-one that you would have with your local phone company.

If you use a traditional fax, modem, credit card terminal or other analog data device, make sure that you check with your VOIP provider first. VOIP doesn't always carry analog data very well, so if this is important to you, do not commit to anything without asking. Standard home telephones will work through your existing wiring just fine with little installation effort.

So back to the original subject: Let’s consider telephone users who rely upon the Internet for their phone service to be fish in a tank with 500 others. Food (dial tone) is floating at the top of this tank and you are one of the fish in the tank. Your attempt to obtain food (dial tone) relies upon your ability to swim to the top and get some before all of the other fish get it. There is a chance that you might get to the top, only to find that there’s no “food” left for you. While this is an extreme situation and certainly over-simplified, this is a condition to be considered when relying upon the public Internet for voice communications.

Emergency or 911 service is also affected under this VOIP service relationship. The Internet spans all over the world, so the connection that your voice call establishes might be in a city thousands of miles away. Under normal circumstances, this is insignificant to you for a normal telephone call. In the event that there is an emergency and you must dial 911, it is YOUR responsibility that you have set up your VOIP account to route your call to your local emergency authorities. All VOIP service providers strongly encourage their customers to establish this relationship, but many people don’t take the few minutes to set this up. This can result in the loss of valuable time when rerouting the emergency call is necessary.

The age-old adage comes into play that you get what you pay for. With POTS lines, although much more expensive, there’s a 99.999% chance that when you need to make a call, you will be able to do so. POTS lines also guarantee that emergency calls are immediately routed to your nearest emergency response center.

In closing, there is no reason why you shouldn’t use any of the VOIP-based telephone services. It is more a matter that you do your homework and ask a lot of questions. To reiterate, ask the following:

1. How does your network handle 911 calls?
2. If I bring my existing number to your company, can I get it back if I’m not satisfied?
3. Does your service require a term commitment or can I leave at anytime and retain my number?
4. If your company assigns me a new number, is it mine to keep in the event that I leave your service?
5. Are the rates that your company firm or are they subject to change without notice?
6. Will my number be included in local telephone directories and 411 services?
7. In the event that I don’t want my number listed, will this option be available to me?
8. Will your service allow me to continue using my analog data devices, such as my fax machine or modem?

We hope that this input will help you in making your decision in choosing between your standard POTS service and the numerous VoIP options that are available. We encourage you to visit here at our Tech Talk forum if you need further assistance.

Last edited by sundance; 02/12/21 10:44 PM. Reason: unpin

Ed Vaughn, MBSWWYPBX