VOIP - Voice over IP

What is it all about?
Is it worth it?
What are the pros?
What are the cons?

After rising phone costs - especially for all the "fancy" stuff such as caller ID, call forwarding, etc. etc. We decided to try VOIP. I researched all the providers and ViaTalk was ranked #1. My friend had Vonage and it was really lousy so I was skeptical. The problem I ran into was that we used Bellsouth DSL - so we had to have a Bellsouth phone line to get our DSL. I calculated a savings of at least $25 per month if I kept my Bellsouth line with only call forwarding on it and put it on the most basic plan there was. I signed up for ViaTalk's 2 years for $199 deal that they often have. If you divide by 24 months, you get a cost of $8.30 per month! On top of that I have FREE UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE - which I did not have with my bellsouth line - I always had to make long distance calls with my cell phone. I also have *many* more features with ViaTalk than I had with my Bellsouth line - and I am still saving $25 per month when I keep BOTH my lines! I have my Bellsouth line forward all my calls to my ViaTalk line. So - what are the drawbacks? I will say that is not perfect - but I have had *very* few problems - once my voice sounded like a robot to someone for about 10 minutes during one of my calls - only has happened one time - don't know why. Occassionally I have to enter my password in more than one time to get to my voicemail, it doesn't always seem to recognize it the first time. If my internet is down, I can only used my Bellsouth line (but at least I still have a phone). The cons are few and far between and I will say that for the savings and the increased features plus free unlimited long distance, it has been a great choice for us. Check out ViaTalk and see all the great features - like taking your phone with you, all the online information about all your calls, getting voicemail over the internet as well as on your phone, caller hunt (if no one answers at your homephone, it will ring your cell for you if you would like), and many many more. So - is it worth it? Most definately, Yes! - The husband insists that I tell you that I have signed up for the affliate program on Via Talk - so if you decide to join Via Talk and do it through my link - they will throw a few pennies (okay, maybe $50) at me...