Pros: Cheap Rates, Good Customer Service, satisfied with quality of phone service.
Cons: if my cable connection goes down so does my phone
The Bottom Line: Compared to Vonage Packet 8 has provided my home with a much better VOIP Phone Service. Much cheaper on my budget with many calling features.
MississippiMom's Full Review: 8x8 DTA-310 IP Video Phone
After using Vonage for over a year I had no choice but to disconnect this service if I actually wanted to complete a call, without the party I was talking to said what did you say? You are breaking up that I had gotten so tired of repeating myself. Therefore, I said Goodbye Vonage!
I was a little leery about trying another VOIP service but my options were limited. Did I want to pay an extremely outrageous phone bill by using BellSouth for the same features Packet 8 was offering at a fraction of the cost? Another concern I had after using Vonage for months and being a totally dissatisfied customer Did I want to actually try a similar service. Well I did and I am much happier with this VOIP service.
When my son left for Afghanistan I came to Louisiana to take care of his home and pets while he was proudly serving our Great Country. He asked if I wanted to keep his cell phone active but I looked at the cost of his bill and said No Son I will look for a reasonable house phone.
Already knowing I did not want Vonage because this service had way to many problems and my final thought on this service is they need to spend less on the commercials and invest the money in better technology if they wanted to keep their customers. BellSouth wanted an Arm and a Leg just for Local service plus a deposit for long distance being I was a New customer in the area. With all my family out of the calling area, long distance was a must
Vonage and Packet 8 are very similar in many ways but I have found from using both services that Packet 8 has already provided me with much better service overall. I have Never Lost a call as I had with Vonage. My voice wasn’t echoing or breaking up I felt Customer Service is much better than the other. Sign up was quick and easy online at http://www.packet8.net
Live help is available online at this site and were very helpful when I had questions about my service prior to my phone line being connected.
The only downside to Packet 8 is I can not pay my bill online when I want. They bill the credit card on file anywhere between the First and the 15th of the month. If they bill your card and the funds are Not available on the day they run your card they immediately turn your service Off until the bill is paid. When this happens and you try to make a call from your phone, an automated voice will ask you to updated your credit card information which at that time you can go to their website and pay your bill online. It processes it immediately and your phone service is restored. As soon as you log out.
When I signed up all I had to pay was a total of $4.95 for S/H of the phone adapter. It took less than 5 days to receive it in the mail and set up was so easy I followed the directions and had my phone line on in a very short time. I had already been using a cable modem for my internet connection that I did not have to change my internet server which made set up even easier.Packet 8 prorated my first bill and all I had to pay the first month was $12.95. I have my hometown in NY as my phone number so I can dial direct to my family and friends. I Love that Packet 8 offers a great deal of features at a very reasonable monthly price with taxes included under $28.00 per month. Their International rates were a little on the high side for my budget when I had checked into adding calls to a cell in Afghanistan to my bill. My son purchased a cell phone there so he would have easier access to communicate with home and asked me to get an international calling card to call his cell when I felt the need to check on him. (Which would of been daily if I had it my way after reading news from there on the internet)
Not to mention he could not always answer his phone when I did purchase a calling card which made me worry more....
What does Packet 8 Offer?
Features Include:
Follow Find Me which is a feature that allows you to enter up to 5 sets of phone numbers to ring in sequence. One example is your work phone can ring in your home if need be. Which works great for my Son now he is back and has a team of Soldiers he is responsible for that must report in they can call his cell and they transfer to his home now to save the incoming charges on his cell phone.
Simultaneous Ring which allows you ring your number and any other number you choose simultaneously.7 digit Dialing offers a 7 digit dialing to any number within the same area code.
Voicemail with Email Notification you can receive an email notification with an attached audio file. I Love this feature for when I am busy working online and don’t want to talk on the phone I can let the voice mail pick it up and then check my messages while I’m online. Great feature.
Call Waiting Disabled can be done 2 ways either set it up to disable all your calls or *70 for any call you do not want to be interrupted by another call it will go directly to your voice mail.
More Options included in the low monthly price is:
Caller ID
Call Waiting
Line Alternate/Hold. Allows you to press the flash key to put your current call on Hold.
3 way Conferencing
*69 rings the last number that called your number
*77 Anonymous Call Rejection
*78 Do Not disturb automatically sends the calls to your voicemail without ringing in your home
*79 deactivates the Do Not Disturb
Call Forwarding
After Using this Phone Service to date, I can honestly say that with Packet 8 I am very satisfied with this service overall. I'm saving money and getting the same features at a fraction of the cost of a land line.
8x8 monthly service plan + Aastra IP phone = Great business phone solution! Enterprise-class calling features such as Auto-Attendant, Music on Hold, V...More at Staples
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