Peter van Hoof wrote:
> Hi all,
>  
> I am considering switching from a  landline to a VOIP service
> such as Vonage to reduce cost. I am wondering about experience 
> with such service, recommendations of one company or another etc.
>
>   
I'm in the UK so things may be somewhat different on your side of the pond

I use sipgate.co.uk , they give me an ordinary UK phone number (though 
they will only give those to people who do the signup from a UK IP 
address, those signing up from outside the UK get stuck with crappy 0845 
or 0870 numbers). There is no subscription or charge for incoming calls 
and outgoing prices are reasonable (cheaper than metered deals on 
ordinary phone lines during peak hours, more expensive off peak) and 
calls between sipgate users are free.

Reliability is reasonable but not brilliant there is also the 
reliability of the internet connection to contend with.

In general VOIP is great for keeping a phone number as you move arround 
and for making non urgent communication cheaply but I would not advise 
relying on it for time-critical communication. Both the VOIP providers 
and the internet services they run over tend to be far less reliable 
than either traditional POTs lines or mobile phones.

As for the ability to drive multiple phones I would contact the maker of 
the device you plan to use and ask. It isn't something they usually 
document unfortunately. Alternatively you can use a set of cordless 
phones with a single base station (this is what I do).
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