Re: VOIP - What Works? What Doesn't?

[Robert Macy <robert.a.macy@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 23, 6:13=A0pm, "Bob La Londe" <n...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I've been playing with voice over IP telephone service for the last coupl=
e
> days. =A0I've had a plain old Magic Jack plugged into a USB port on my de=
sk
> computer for a while now (2 years maybe). =A0I use it as a spare line, an=
d for
> the tackle and mold making sideline business. =A0It works pretty decent.
> Sometimes its a little tinny sounding, but as long as my Internet works i=
t
> seems to work. =A0Since I upgraded my internet service a while back it ha=
s
> worked much better.
>
> Well, I decided to check out 8x8. =A0They are a service claiming to provi=
de
> professional grade VOIP services. =A0I know of businesses much larger tha=
n
> mine who are using them. =A0So far I am not impressed. =A0They setup my a=
ccount
> wrong, and they couldn't fix it. =A0They had to send me another piece of =
VOIP
> equipment to get it to work the way they set it up. =A0Its so I can send =
faxes
> using an ordinary analog fax machine over their VOIP service. =A0It doesn=
't
> work. =A0(I haven't had an actual fax machine hooked up in years for my
> business, but I need to test everything.)
>
> They claimed to make some adjustments to their compression codecs, and it
> supposedly tested in both directions, but I never received a test fax. =
=A0When
> I tested further just to make sure hardware was good I plugged both the f=
ax
> machine and the fax modem into a plain old telephone service (POTS) line.
> Both pieces of equipment worked fine on POTS. =A0Then on a lark I decided=
 to
> plug the fax modem into the Magic Jack. =A0I don't figure there was a
> snowball's chance in heck of that working, but amazingly it did. =A0Then =
back
> to the VOIP port from 8x8. =A0No joy. =A0Call goes through, I can hear th=
e fax
> tones, but it fails every time.
>
> Sadly I must conclude that 8x8 is not quite were they need to be just yet
> for me to recommend them to my customers. =A0If they want a cheap phone l=
ine
> for occasional use I think a Magic Jack would be a better choice.
>
> I've got three 8x8 VOIP adaptors sitting in my communications room right
> now. =A0All different models.

I was told would be very dissatisfied with VOIP *if* your link is
satellite. Reason is that satellite links tend to 'lump' the packets
into very noticeable delays for speech.