Internet phone service sometimes shaky

Yep. It's true. Generally old fashioned land-line phone service is pretty reliable and VOIP has to leap a high bar in equalling it, no less surpassing it as the recent 911 problems highlight. Nonetheless, I think the author of this article was a little harsh in terms of his "outtage" experience (he did not address 911 concerns).

While the documentation from ATT about the answering machine may have been a little weak, it was still probably a user error (leaving the answering machine plugged in), not a VOIP outtage that was the most likely cause of the problem. While inconvenient because of poor indoor cell coverage, he still had his cell phone. And what did we do in the days before cell phones and multiple phone lines in our homes when we needed to make a service call? We knocked on a neighbor's door, or found a phone booth (okay, that's getting difficult), or called from work. This guy "only" had a cell phone. That's more than most of us have had most of our lives. Nothing is perfect, but VOIP has great promise. Just be sure to do your homework and you will have few, if any nasty surprises.

On a slightly different, but realated topic, Joe and I had a conversation this morning about our impression that VOIP and cell competition is helping to drive down the cost of local personal and business landlines. I was surprised recently by some of the very attractively priced package deals offered by my friendly regional baby Bell. Not quite as attractive as VOIP, but since that's not an option here, I'm reaping the benefits anyway.