Net Phone Zone: Make the Most of Your VoIP Setup

Got VoIP? Whether you've just signed up with an Internet phone provider or are still thinking about taking the plunge, these tips will have you covered.

Aoife M. McEvoy, Special to PC World

I relish talking on the phone--except at harried moments when I'm on deadline, racing out the door, or getting rid of a telemarketer. On the weekend, during my young daughter's nap times, I love to relax by kicking back, sipping a massive mug of something hot, and putting a phone to my ear so I can catch up with friends and family.

The people on my A-list are all over the United States and overseas. If your situation is at all similar--for business calls, personal calls, or both--you may benefit from what a Voice over IP (VoIP) service offers: cheap long distance, a variety of all-you-can-eat calling plans, low-cost international calls (or no-extra-cost international calls included in your monthly fee), and mostly reliable service.

Regardless of your circumstances, naturally, you depend on a phone service to deliver the goods, so you'll want the best possible VoIP experience, without any hiccups. If you've already chosen a provider, check out these tips on how to make your setup go smoothly. If you're still researching VoIP or shopping around for a provider, the tips can help you plan ahead.

Signing Up: The Numbers Game

Old number versus new number: When you order VoIP service, you can choose either to get a new phone number or to have your existing landline or cell phone number transferred to the new service. If you opt for a new number, a relatively easy path lies before you. As soon as your telephony hardware arrives, the new number is already assigned to you, and after you or a company tech set up the equipment, you should be able to pick up your phone to start dialing.

Hold onto your existing number: If you want to port an existing number to your new service, don't expect things to go quite so smoothly. When you sign up for service initially, the provider will probably indicate whether it can transfer your number. If it can, you must complete a form authorizing the VoIP provider to take over your number from your landline or wireless phone company. The VoIP service will give you a temporary number to use until the transfer takes effect. Expect to wait at least a couple of weeks, if not longer. For example, BroadVoice says that your landline number transfer may take 10 to 30 days, while your cell phone number transfer may take more than 30 days.

If you've already signed up for VoIP service and are still waiting for your old number to kick in, you might be tempted to call your phone company to move things along, but don't do it: Your service might get disconnected prematurely, and you could lose your old number--the very thing you want to hold onto. So let your VoIP company handle the process.

If your VoIP provider seems to be taking an awfully long time to transfer your old number, keep on top of things. Your provider may be working out some technical issues with the phone company you're ditching; but if the VoIP provider has gone way over its advertised timeline, call the company and see if you can get some credit added to your account. Yes, it's that old cliche--it doesn't hurt to ask.

Preparation and Planning

Equipment matters: The cables behind my desk in my home office resemble a pile of spaghetti. And whenever I test an Internet phone, the spaghetti plate gets more crowded: For each one I test, the pile acquires two power cords, an ethernet cable, and a phone cord. (Why two power cords? One is for the VoIP adapter and the other is for my phone.) So think about how your VoIP equipment setup will affect or create cable clutter, if at all. You might want to get an extra power strip, for example, or finally get serious about dealing with cable mayhem. (Yes, I'm a fine one to talk.) See "Step-By-Step: Eight Tips to Tame Cables."

Location, location, location: VoIP hardware varies in size and shape. Some adapters are about the size of an answering machine; others are a lot smaller. These devices are surprisingly light, so I would avoid putting the device on the floor or anyplace where it could be prodded, kicked, or disconnected accidentally. In the blink of an eye, my own child and her pal have interrupted phone service on at least a couple of occasions. These devices with their fancy lights look like really cool toys to a toddler.

Where's the phone cord? When your VoIP hardware arrives with sundry cables, don't be surprised if you don't see a phone cord in the box: Some providers (such as BroadVoice) just don't supply them. If the company's site doesn't make clear what's supposed to be in the box, call to find out. If your setup expects you to supply your own phone cord, you'll be fine if you have a spare one lying around; if not, you'll need to purchase a new one or talk a friend out of an old one.

Go cordless: Remember that wherever your router or modem is located, your phone handset will have to be there to connect to it. If you're switching from your landline to a VoIP service and you don't have a cordless phone, get one. If your VoIP service is your secondary phone service (and you have a fancy-schmancy cordless phone as your regular phone), you might be inclined to plug in your old analog phone--but don't bother. Your best bet is to get another cordless phone. If your VoIP's flat monthly fees and unlimited talk-time minutes entice you to use your VoIP phone a lot, you won't want to have to scamper down to the basement every time you need to talk on the corded phone. (Note: SunRocket sends you a free Uniden cordless phone system--a base station and two handsets--along with the VoIP adapter.) Likewise, if you don't already have a comfortable headset, get one.

Setting Things Up

Avoid installation snags: Nearly all VoIP providers will ship you the hardware you need to set up. A few, such as Time Warner Cable, send technicians to do the honors. You connect the VoIP adapter to your phone handset and to your broadband modem/router. Judging from the services I've tested over the past couple of years, most companies do a good job of spelling out the process.

Some companies, including Vonage, insist that you first turn off your modem and router; others, such as SunRocket, tell you to keep these devices on initially and then power them down later. You then hook up the adapter to your modem/router and phone; after that, you power everything back up--often in a particular order. At this point, once your Internet connection is reestablished, the VoIP adapter obtains an IP address from the router, passes along configuration info to the company's servers, and so on. Unexpected delays may mean that new firmware is being downloaded to the device. (Even though your computer doesn't have to be switched on for you to make or receive calls, you're often asked to turn off your machine during installation.)

Depending on the provider's instructions, you must wait until a certain amount of time before you can start calling people. You may need to look for a button on the hardware to light up, say, or for certain LEDs to stop blinking. The whole installation process may take longer than the provider estimates, but don't get impatient. Don't, for example, pick up your phone to see if you have a dial tone--you'll stop the setup routine in its tracks and mess everything up!

Pick a port, any port? Most of the time, you can connect the VoIP adapter to your router via any free port. However, that may not always be the case. If everything appears to be in order after installation, but you're not getting a dial tone, try switching ports. (See my review of Lingo for details about this issue.)

Start over: Okay, so you've followed the service's steps to the letter, but your adapter refuses to display the ready-to-go light you want to see. Murphy's Law can strike when you're in the middle of installing something new: It's possible that you ran into a weird network glitch when the VoIP adapter was initializing, or perhaps your ISP went down for a little bit. Before calling tech support or clicking around the support pages on your provider's Web site, try starting from scratch. (And maybe one more time again, if you want to put the "third time's a charm" theory to the test.) Still no dice? Something's probably up. If you have another phone, call tech support--or check the vendor's support section online.

Fight the firewall: If you are behind a firewall, you'll probably need to tweak your settings. A router's built-in firewall with unchanged default settings could prevent you from using the VoIP service. All of the VoIP services' help pages that I looked at provide some guidance here by specifying which Internet ports you need to open to the adapter (incoming and outgoing traffic). Even so, you should check your firewall's documentation for additional changes you may need to make. If your router uses NAT (Network Address Translation)--as most home or small office routers do--you should be able to use VoIP service.

Using the Service

Be prepared for emergency situations: At this writing, most VoIP services lack true 911 emergency call service. If you use a VoIP phone to call 911, your call may or may not go through to the appropriate emergency response personnel. And even if the call goes through, your street address won't appear on screen to the operator who picks up your call. Enhanced 911 (E911), which is automatic with 911 calls made by landline and cell phones, provides this geographic location information. (For full details about these serious problems, see "The 411 on 911.")

In May 2005, the Federal Communications Commission ordered all VoIP providers to provide enhanced 911 capabilities by the end of the year. In the meantime, to get 911 service, you must associate your street address with your VoIP number by filling out a form on your provider's site. If your phone allows it, store the numbers for your local police department, fire department, and emergency room so you can dial them quickly or automatically if disaster strikes. You might not want to give up all your other phone services either: If you maintain a backup landline or cell phone, you have a sure-fire way of reaching the right emergency response center.

Buy a power backup: Another big deficiency of VoIP phones involves electricity. If a power outage hits your home or office, you won't be able to use the VoIP phone. The fix: Have your modem, router, and VoIP adapter connected to power supplies with battery backups. Unfortunately, if your Internet connection goes south, you're out of luck--period.

Maintain home security: Home security alarm systems typically require traditional phone service to handle alarm signals. If you replace your landline with an Internet phone service, your existing security system won't work. This obstacle is gradually disappearing, however, as companies such as Alarm.com (with plans starting at $25 a month) emerge on the scene, offering VoIP-compatible security systems.

Work the Web: If you haven't already, make sure to take advantage of your provider's online account management. You can keep track of your calls, set up call forwarding, access your voice messages, or have them e-mailed to you as WAV attachments, among other things. I hope that as VoIP continues to grow, providers will deliver novel features that fully exploit the capabilities of the Internet, in ways your plain old landline phone company can't.

Expect VoIP glitches: Once your VoIP system is set up, there's not much to it. You pick up the phone to place a call or answer one. The quality of the calls is generally--but not always--good. You'll hear people complain about an annoying echo on your end; you'll find some lag time here and there; and some of your calls may not go though. Hang up, try again a few minutes later, and things usually return to their normal, mostly reliable state.

If you're yakking on the phone and using a PC to send massive attachments via e-mail or to download huge files at the same time, be prepared for the voice quality to take a hit. Your best bet is to grab big files while you're off the phone.

Act fast on returns: All of the VoIP companies that I looked at let you back out of their service without penalty if you want to cancel--if you do so within 30 days. For example, if you want to cancel Verizon's VoiceWing service, you have 30 days to do so. If you've used up less than 250 minutes of talk time during that period, Verizon will reimburse you for the monthly fee. If you don't return the hardware within 21 days, however, you're charged $30. For more details on return fees and other charges that can pop up, see "The Hidden Costs of Cheap Phone Service."

Multimedia mavens: Finally, if you're up for a bit of video action, check out Stephen Manes and Angela Gunn, the tech experts of PC World's Digital Duo, as they discuss the pros and cons of Internet phone service in an episode called The Problems With VoIP.

Have some VoIP tips of your own to share? Drop a line to Aoife McEvoy.