So I finally had my first chance to test out this whole VoIP thing tonight and so far, I think I’m pretty impressed. I spent almost two hours talking to my Mom long distance and didn’t hear any echos or fade-outs or anything. There was a bit of static for about fifteen or twenty seconds, but we couldn’t tell if it was my phone or her cordless up there. And unlike some rumors that I’d heard, I didn’t notice any duplex issues like only one of us being able to talk at a time, either. Mind you, we both can’t talk and listen at the same time, but it was good to see that the phone didn’t have a problem with it!
I figure I’ll probably give it about another week’s worth of testing before I make my final decision and send the paperwork off to port over my existing landline. Right now I’m using the service with a regular, corded phone, so I want to try swapping that out for the cordless for starters. I also need to try some local #s, cell phone #s, automated systems and 800 #s, just to cover all of the bases…oh yeah, and probably while downloading some huge, bandwidth-intensive files, too! One thing I did notice is that 200 long distance minutes might not stretch as far as I thought when I just used 99 tonight…it was nice being able to use a regular phone for talking so long a la long distance, so maybe it would be worth spending the extra $10 / mo for unlimited LD, too – we’ll see.
Either way, $14.99 / mo for unlimited local calling to ALL of Tampa (813) and St. Pete / Clearwater (727), not to mention Gainesville (352), Bradenton / Sarasota (941), and even Lake Okeechobee (863) certainly ain’t too shabby! What’s Verizon, again…most of 813 and most of 727??? 
