This last week, I’ve began the process of moving the house phone lines to a VoIP solution. There are two motivations: reduced cost & long distance. I chose Vonage as several of my co-workers are using it.

The cost reduction seems to be a bust…

Qwest: Its already hard to figure out how Qwest is billing, I even attempted to build a spreadsheet, but, the numbers never worked out. My best guess is Qwest is overcharging me on taxes. So, I resorted to a simple ratio and proportion solution, the first Qwest line comes in at $31.10 and the 2nd and 3rd lines come in at $20.64 each. So, for comparison, if we were to drop one line the Qwest bill would be approximately $51.74/month.

Vonage: Ignoring the startup and Internet costs (and I don’t have a bill to work from), the first line, with unlimited minutes is approximately $27.24, and the second line limited to with 500 minutes is $16.94. So, I was expecting a net cost of $44.18/month. Which, for all the hassle isn’t all that great, but, we would get free long distance. The Linksys PAP2 adaptor doesn’t work as advertised. Even though I went through all of the hassle of forwarding a boatload of ports, and even had a friend double check everything, the adaptor really wants to have an external IP, it doesn’t like our firewall. So, I had to add a “Second Computer” from Cox at $6.48/month. Oh no! Now the total is $50.66/month,

This all means I’m saving $1.08/month. But, I will get a bill that makes more sense. And, not distance, as if *I* really need it (my housemates want it however). Joy.

Oh, just to add to the fun, the Linksys PAP2 VoIP adaptor has gone off-line at least once a day over the last two days.