Some questios before sign up

For a non business, I have a rather extensive home network which includes 3 computers two routers and two 5 port switches. Other than normal 3 computer usage the remaining devices use VERY LITTLE bandwidth. The second router (protype) is connected to beta hardware for which there is no manual or instruction and the device is IP sensitive that combines Window and Linux software and includes a serial port connection and I am not sure how it will react to address changes. Until I have written proven set up instructions for this device I have a preferred set up for the telephone adapter. I want to plug the VOIPo telephone adapter into my router that is directly behind my modem. My modem is a "2 Wire" from U-Verse running at 16mps with a Linksys WRTU54G-TM plugged into the modem. The brand on the router is T-Mobile supplied by them for my "@home" service. (VOIP from T-Mobile). I have purchased 5 or these routers for friends at $9.95 including next day delivery and they have all worked flawlessly in normal wireless router set ups. This router has two phone ports and I thought about using those before sanity set and and I thought it would be best to let the VOIPo experts support their equipment rather than me with my limited ability trying to use workarounds that might frustrate the Cisco Kid. Will the telephone adapter plug into the router and still have all the features work normally. Do I need to request a specific adapter that would work better than others plugged into my router? All suggested about the phone adapter set up are welcome and appreciated.

My next question has to do with porting my existing phone number. My contract with T-Mobile will be completed in about 30 days and I want to be sure that I do not lose my home phone number. I am not overly concerned with changing on the exact day my contract is completed but it is very important to keep my phone number. I know I will need to sign a form to allow VOIPo to port my number but I would like to know when to sign up and when to send them the form. I do not want to pay early termination fees nor do I want to pay high cell phone fees any longer than necessary. This is a little more complicated than it should be because the dates of contract completion is different on the cell phones and the home phone and I cant have a VOIP phone without the cell phones. What are the best steps to complete the changeover in a timely manner with as little down time as possible for a home phone number?

My daughter is also interested but she had questions about faxes. I read as much as I could find in the knowledge base but I am still confused. Her faxing comes in little bunches - she will go two or three weeks with just a few faxes and then 2 or 3 days of 40-50 faxes. She has a separate fax line from Bell South pus her home phone and 6.0mps DSL. Does VOIPo have a way to dependably handle this type of service for faxing. If she needs a separate line for faxes then she will pay for it. If this is not available then she will keep her fax line with Bell South. Will a normal phone line conflict with the VOIP
service? In the old days of DSL (since a home phone was required) you could not plug a VOIP line into your house phone wires and use phones plugged into the wall. With a dry DSL loop - is there an electrical current in the line? If there is not could you plug the VOIP line into the home phone wires and use existing phones plugged into the wall?

I tried several times to get thur the phone system at VOIPo and waited 26+ minutes and 22+ minutes with never a live person. That does not inspire confidence but I have read enough reviews from people that like the service to indicate the results may be worth the trouble. I have been using VOIP phones since the early days and overall have been pleased with the savings and performance once they were set up. T-Mobile has been BY FAR the best VOIP service I have ever had. For $9.95 monthly easy set up and perfect service with high quality audio for two years, I wish I could say the cell phone service was as good.

Thanks in advance for your help

When trying to sign up for the free pakage. After entering all my data etc and clicking "order" a pop up comes up saying " proseseing your order" however after about 2 minuets another pop up comes up saying " the XML response from the server can not be prosesed".


What do I do?????

D Cup, your questions are so long and complicated that I find it hard to read them all, much less answer them all. But here's an attempt to respond to your main points:

Many people have their VOIPo adapter connected either directly into the router or into a switch behind the router, and this generally works fine. Sometimes the audio stream will have problems navigating through your LAN and finding the adapter, however. In that case, VOIPo recommends that you forward a very wide range of router ports to the adapter, which usually cures the problem.

If you are not comfortable with this, another strategy is to connect the adapter directly behind your modem, and connect your router to the LAN port of the adapter. This requires that you get an adapter that has a LAN port. VOIPo sometimes distributes a PAP2 adapter, which does not have a LAN port, but I believe these days they mostly use a Grandstream adapter, which does have a LAN port. In this configuration, the adapter acts as the DHCP server to your router (i.e., the adapter gives the router its WAN-side IP address), and your router continues to act as the DHCP server to the rest of your network. I don't know how U-Verse is set up, but you would have to configure the adapter to get its WAN side IP address either from the modem or from your ISP.

Regarding porting, I always think it is a good idea to set up VOIPo first with its own number(s) in order to made sure everything is working and that you like the service. It is very cheap to do this, and I think you get a month where you can cancel and get your money back if you don't want it. Once you are sure you will like it, then port your numbers over. I'm assuming T-Mobile will let you keep your number on a month-to-month basis until you are ready for the port. Once you decide, the port should go very quickly, with no down time. Some people forward their old number to their VOIPo number while they are waiting to do the port.

Regarding fax, fax does not transmit reliably over VoIP lines. It works, but it is not something you can count on. Your daughter may want to keep a basic, budget-level land line for faxing. Alternatively, VOIPo offers an inbound fax-to-email service, which I believe includes about 200 faxes per month, with a modest per-fax charge after that, all for around $36 per year. This includes a number in the area code of your choice, or a toll-free number (or you can port in your existing fax number). VOIPo also offers free outbound faxing via your computer: i.e., you upload a file from a scanner or computer using any of several popular formats, and VOIPo sends them out via a normal land line to any number in the U.S. or (I think) Canada.

Regarding your house wiring, so long as your internal phone lines are disconnected from your local telephone provider, you can connect them directly to the phone jack on your VoIP adapter, and it should ring all the phones in your house. If you have a dry DSL line, you just need to make sure that you connect the DSL modem to the line at the NID, and keep that line isolated from your internal wiring. POTS ring current is around 90 volts, I believe, and that could damage your VoIP adapter.

Hope this helps.

A minor correction to caseydoug's otherwise excellent answer: at this time, VOIPo will sell you a toll-free number for incoming faxes for the aforementioned $36/year. The "number in the area code of your choice" option is not available.

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Originally Posted by holmes4

A minor correction to caseydoug's otherwise excellent answer: at this time, VOIPo will sell you a toll-free number for incoming faxes for the aforementioned $36/year. The "number in the area code of your choice" option is not available.http://rewardslink.info/flash/images/72.gif

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I am glad that option is available but if you have a business line with one area code and a business fax with another area code it may be a little misleading to customers. It seems a little unpractical as of right now.

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Originally Posted by Zion21

I am glad that option is available but if you have a business line with one area code and a business fax with another area code it may be a little misleading to customers. It seems a little unpractical as of right now.

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Just contact support and we can set you up with a local number for the fax service.

thanks to everyone for the GREAT feedback. I have ordered VOIPo service and received a telephone adapter and a temp (virtual) # I guess.

I have been very disappointed it the porting process. We are coming up on 3 weeks and still no porting. My paperwork was OK according to support but I have no real reason why the process is not complete. I ported one of my T-Mobile cell #s to another service in ONE DAY but perhaps land lines are different. The extended time is much less important than losing the number so I will wait. It just seems like a "soft" beginning with VOIPo as my new provider. I hope the telephone performance is better than the speed of the porting process

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Originally Posted by D Cup

thanks to everyone for the GREAT feedback. I have ordered VOIPo service and received a telephone adapter and a temp (virtual) # I guess.

I have been very disappointed it the porting process. We are coming up on 3 weeks and still no porting. My paperwork was OK according to support but I have no real reason why the process is not complete. I ported one of my T-Mobile cell #s to another service in ONE DAY but perhaps land lines are different. The extended time is much less important than losing the number so I will wait. It just seems like a "soft" beginning with VOIPo as my new provider. I hope the telephone performance is better than the speed of the porting process

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Welcome to VOIPo.

Unfortunately, porting to any VoIP service will always take substantially longer than porting from wireless to wireless or wireless to landline. The average time is about 2 weeks, but sometimes it can take up 45-60 days. We will send you e-mail as we have status updates from the losing provider.