Drawbacks of VOIP phone?
552588
It requires electricity. If there's a storm or blackout, VOIP  phone can't not be used.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VOIP
667344
You need to buy a special voip telephone, otherwise you can just use a normal headset.
977791
I use Vonage...and yep...if you loose power or internet access...you're pretty much SOL...but...it's so cheap (as am I), I just love it, the phone quality is great, the free long distance is great...and my phone number isn't in any bleedin' phone books!  Whoo-Hooo!    And Dee's lasagna sucks man....mine is so much better.
1039568
I don't have it so I can't say whether it's good or not, however a website I visit quite often has some detailed information on it that you might want to read throughly before deciding if you want it or not.  Go to http://ripoffreport.com/  and on the right hand side of the page, scroll down to Vonage and read what the users of this company have to say.
500883
It is all of the interface required to make a VoIP phone work.  If you do not want to use their official box, you can also purchase one of your own.  Most networking companies sell routers with built-in VoIP capabilities.
298263
dial up is too slow. get yahoo dsl for a couple bucks more than dial up and then you can use any voip plan out there.
44725
If by this you mean ,should I replace the digital phones with regular analog phones?  I can infer that you already have a PBX if you are using digital phones so no don't replace them.  You need to augment the PBX with a voip gateway and configure it into your dial plan.  If the PBX and phones are so old that you are going to replace them anyways, you can look at analog phone switch banks or going completely IP.  I would do the last if it were me.  The cost of decent buisiness VOIP phones have way down from a year ago.  As far as replaceing the PBX, there are several "out of the box" solutions based on asterisk that would probably fit your needs and pocketbook.  Look around a bit or drop me an e-mail if you would like more information.
142015
I think quite a bit about it.  I use it here in the house to provide 6 handsets and three lines out.(2 VOIP 1 landline).  I run it all via an asterisk server.  In the year or so that I have been doing this, I have had a few problems but nothing that was hard to fix. Besides, I like to be able to set what hours people can call me or if they can call me (based on caller id)
905626
I use voipfone & can recommend it. As far as I know there is No limit to the number of participants in a conference call at any one time.\nhttp://www.voipfone.co.uk/
239155
You can use services like Dialpad (www.dialpad.com), Yahoo Messenger (recently started outgoing calls)and Skype (www.skype.com) in case you might have to call occassionally. I personally prefer skype, its cheaper (2 cents/min to US from anywhere in the world) and clear. If you plan to call a lot, then probably you want to take some net based phone like Vonage, Packet8 etc with you. These companies provide unlimited talk time for 20-25 dollars. You just have to take their modem and you can connect it to any phone. These days vonage also provides an internet dialer just like dialpad etc \n(http://vonage.com/features.php?feature=softphone).\nI hope that helps
1075109
Skype works for me except for 2 things:\n1. Quality can be poor but not always\n2. Typing responses to voicemenus sometimes disconnects you\n\nI bot the $60 USB phone modem and I plugged my reular phone into it.\nI make calls using my regular phone over Skype   FREE!\n\nI also have a PAY AS YOU GO cell phone @ $15 / mth 10c a min calls. Transferred my landline phone number to it.  So I receive calls from folks who know my number and no need to tell everyone of a new number.\n\nIm going to sign up for SKYPE-IN too.
493716
VoIP will use up a chunk of your bandwidth, and will have some effect on your download and upload speeds, but shouldn't prevent you from using the internet - on a decent broadband connection, it might not be noticable at all.\n\nOf course, if you're downloading lots and have many VoIP conversations going on, you might find one or the other transmission willl start stuttering.
1099432
just don't use the internet if you want internet-free calls?!
480854
It is possible to use this sevice without broadband, although the call quality is likely to be poor (you may experience the audio breaking up quite a bit). The faster your internet connection (ie: broadband), the better the call and audio quality.
7368
There is more than one way.\n\nThe Vonage website has details (see source)
1038704
I've checked voipdiscount few days ago (they advertised themselves as a FREE PC-to-Phone call service for some selected countries) and I didn't like that you have to pay 10 euros every three months - sounds like a hidden 3.33 euros monthly fee to me. Of course if you make a lot of calls, it's nothing (you get 20 hours or something of free phone calls), but I make only few calls a month, and I prefer Skype for this reason.
1088990
Don't mind answering the phone--can't stand to hear it ring off the hook--but I have what I call "phonophobia" about making telephone calls. I hate to pick up the phone to dial out. Comes from years of using telephone in my professional life when it seemed I was always calling someone. Now, I just avoid it. In fact I've about 10 calls I need to make now that I've not been able to do. Often, I ask my wife, who likes to talk on the phone, to make calls for me, and she makes most of my appointments now. Remember, "phonophobia," the dread of making phone calls.