r2i forum

Folks,

I live in the US and currently have Vonage World Plan. It's an overkill as I have less than 200 minutes of calling to India per month. I am looking at Ooma and Nettalk as two potential replacements. I have no intention to move them to India. They both can port my number and have all the features I need (the only bummer is Caller ID with Name is included only in the Ooma's Premier service). Ooma's one-time and annual costs are much higher than Nettalk's, so I am wondering if you can shed some light on quality and service differences. Looking through reviews on Amazon and other places, it appears that Nettalk has some voice quality issues and customer service issues (difficult to reach, long wait times etc). I guess if the service works fine, there is no need to call customer service. So I am primarily wondering about voice quality (I have a pretty reliable and fast cable broadband connection). Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

^^

I think, you are missing certain things here.


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Vonage is a world plan and you can call 60+ other countries, and that means, many other countries besides India.
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These pieces, at the most allow US and sometimes Canda ( talking about, Country's landline and Mobile numbers )


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Ooma and Nettalk - you can shop around on e-bay, Amazon and also 'Google shopping' and can buy at the lowest possible price, ( new one and also an old unit ) however keep in mind, that they have higher reactivation fee, so add that to the price, if you are buying old one from someone.
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He will not give the piece with his phone number attached to it, since his address and other personal CC data is attached to it, so he will discontinue the service,... and you will have to pay for reactivation.
( if buying an old unit )


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You say, you have no intention to move them to India, but, to call India, you need to have any of these pieces ( ooma or nettalk or magicjack or obi110 ) there, and not necessarily here.
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None of these pieces allow indian format number, say,.... 011 91 94 28553 56231 - kind of format, for dialing free from here !!


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These pieces allow you to have one US format number and also allows to call any US format number ( means, all of the states of the USA ) in the format of 3-3-4 , for example 215-362-5689 kind of format, and to all of these pieces holder fellows, in any parts of the world,…. Since this piece will give him, one number in such a US format,… and destination of that piece ( where the piece is situated ) is immaterial. That means, if someone has ooma/magicjack/obi110/nettalk in any corner of the world, ( including India ) you can call him, from any of the phone services from the USA, ( FROM :: including of the same, or any landline, or any cell phone ) just like a local phone.
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So basically, you are talking about sending any one piece there, and then it does not matter, in US you can have any kind of phone line you prefer – any landline / any mobile / same as of ooma/magicjack/nettalk or any. BUT the other end has now US format number, so you can dial them,... and also he is allowed free, to call any US format number, so he can also call you.


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Caller ID with name is also included in ooma's basic service,.. I have 3 ooma basic services and all shows caller ID with names,…. IMO, It needs a better qlty of latest good phone.
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ooma and nettalk - whatsoever they charge their yearly fee, is basically more or less the same amount,.. say, 4.50 dollars per month around, per your STATE location ( for ooma ) , and basically it’s the govt taxes, so practically, if you buy the piece, whatsoever at the initial price, ( while shopping around ) and have your ISP ( int. ser. Provider ), they do not charges anything,.. it's the govt taxes,… like you have any landline service and the tax-charges occur.
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Nettalk is slightly deteriorate – voice quality service( compared to ooma ), recently long waiting time of poor tech support service, and I think also phone gets disconnected sometime after 90 min. of continuous use and such,…ooma is best quality,.... however, a bigger piece, not easier to carry in pocket ( can move with you, that easily ) and can make it work on your laptop from any hotel’s room ( while carrying in pocket ) and such,… though it has answering machine, also some other future application of mobile / Bluetooth ports available, that they may extend those services in future,.. etc. Availabilty of two simul. phone lines on one phone( if took premier ), answering machine,.. etc
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IMO,....You need to send any of the piece to your India relative – ooma/nettalk/magicjack/obi110,.. etc, and also make sure that their ( in India ) connection speed is compatible per that piece’s min. requirements,. And thus once they have a US number,…..( 3-3-4 format ) ,. You can call them from here just like a local,....... and also, since that piece allows,..... calling any 3-3-4 format number just like a local call, ( irregardless of the the worldwide destination of that guy could be ), they can also call you free of charge and vice versa.
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IMO, the best bet would be, get one good piece of either nettalk duo / magic jack plus / obi110 and send it to them ( after verifying their connection speed with the piece’s min. requirements ), after that, you pay for them the yearly fee from here,…… and you are all set,....... for free unlimited calling each other.
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( If those ( indian relatives ) guys do not keep those piece always connected, you mis-call them from USA from here, on their other other mobile/landline,...... and then they call you back, using that piece. ) , and they can call at their will, from there at any time, as they have the piece, and can attach, whenever they desire.
Nettalk and Magic jack PLUS - can work, with or without PC ( thro' directly connected to router/modem ) .

Read 3-4 other related threads, on this forum.

....

I shifted from Vonage to Nettalk about a year ago after having used Vonage for about five years.
Nettalk is quite good and the quality is about 80% as good as Vonage.
I called customer service once and it only took about 10 min. to be connected and they were quite helpful.
Nettalk also has a world plan similar to Vonage but it is much cheaper at $150 compared to over 300 for Vonage (with taxes). Otherwise you simply pay $30 per year for US and Canada calling. I do get names with caller IDs.

Imissindia;473056I shifted from Vonage to Nettalk about a year ago after having used Vonage for about five years.
Nettalk is quite good and the quality is about 80% as good as Vonage.
I called customer service once and it only took about 10 min. to be connected and they were quite helpful.
Nettalk also has a world plan similar to Vonage but it is much cheaper at $150 compared to over 300 for Vonage (with taxes). Otherwise you simply pay $30 per year for US and Canada calling. I do get names with caller IDs.

Thank you for the information! How bad is the voice quality at 80% of Vonage's level? Have you experienced dropped calls, latency etc?

kkr;473224Thank you for the information! How bad is the voice quality at 80% of Vonage's level? Have you experienced dropped calls, latency etc?

No dropped calls. Initially they used to be some instances where the call was interrupted by some beeps but this was very rare and was corrected when Nettalk updated their system a while back.
Since then there have been no issues. There is no latency, no echo, no delay in hearing each other on anything of that sort. The call quality is quite clear and good but Vonage was slightly better i.e. even more clear.

^^ I agree with you. Qlty is not bad, ( unlike magicjack ).

Per my guess,..... Voice quality - wise, you can rank the services somewhat like this.

Skype(PC) / Google voice(PC) / pc2phone ( net2phone ) internet services < Magicjack < TK 6000 < Nettalk Duo < Ooma < Cavaliar / At&t / Comcast Cable / Local area's underground phone land-lines < Vonage / Verizone ( w/ newly installed fiber-optic cables ).

I have not used magic jack plus, obi110 and other VOIP pieces,.. so no idea,... but you can still put them before Ooma, or even before nettalk duo, in the above chart.

You have suggested using ooma / nettalk,
like regular dialing the India,........ and paying 0.07-0.09 cents per min.,... but the same or even lower rates,.. everybody,.... many net services,..... as indiald.com, prepaid cards,.. and many others,.... provide at the same rate.

I mean, what is the meaning of paying,.. if you are not using it as, free unlimited calling to India, by sending one piece there !

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If you call less than 200min every month, why don't you just use reliance (or similar) to call India?

Today's offer from reliance

https://www.relianceglobalcall.com/unlimited-isd-calling-cards.aspx?utm_source=Direct&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Unlimited

$15 unlimited call to India.

Depending on your average needs of minutes per month-talk to India required,.....
you can also use some plans like indiald.com. ( No internet/router or cable modem or any such required, at either end - Just Phone to phone talk )

You can dial from your land line or mobile to his land line or mobile:

They provide you a local no. ( of your state ) in USA,........ you call there and enter your India number / insert code.
and you can have purchased a plan for each month ( as and when required ) ,...... No bond/tags attached, no Govt taxes, nthg to sign or subscribe or to stay with them for a period/plan of one year or any duration.

I just called,.. Here are their new rates. ( minutes per month, no remaining minutes for carry over - Must use it. )

Minutes, Amount( USD ) for a month (No balance amount or Minute can be Carried over )

500, 5.79
1000, 11.63
1500, 17.48
2000, 23.32

In other words, if you use, average - say,...17 min of talk daily,.... their 1st plan of $5.79 be cheaper than any other services: ( which is, less than penny a minute )


........

I am looking to replace my Vonage service in the US, so I am primarily looking for a home phone service. I am open to using calling card services to call India.