Back to blogging after few days of break, hope you are finding the blog useful. Would really appreciate if you can leave a word or two in comments, even if it is anonymous - I would find spending time here worthwhile ...
If you are in US, most likely you have switched to Vonage, to get their $25/month India calls, including full access in US/Canada. We tried that for few months before we left (of course, when you are doing R2I, the India call volume goes up drastically and worth having Vonage). We had the definite idea of taking it to India with us and wanted to give it a try before we actually take it. From our experience, it worked very well in US.
Then, we came across Ooma (http://www.ooma.com/)- company which provides free US calls - you need just buy the device and only pay monthly taxes. Was bit difficult to believe but we decided to take the device with us anyway. It was available at Costco for $175 or so. Anyway, when you are in India, calling within India from a US number is not that attractive since most folks won't call back on that number (which would be an international number for them).
While Vonage was working very well in India, got some time to give Ooma a try. I would say we are are pretty satisfied so far after few days of use. It was very easy to connect the device and register and we got a new number in few minutes. Ooma also gave the choice to select a number, which unfortunately didn't have the choice of selecting the area code I wanted. But, since we do most of the outgoing calls, that wasn't a big deal. There is a possibility of doing number transfer but that is a hassle - we need to disconnect Vonage first (which means returning the device). Being in India, didn't want to take the risk of returning the working device, without knowing how Ooma would work.
It has been a good experience with Ooma so far. Going to wait a bit more before deciding to call off Vonage. Also, internet from Airtel gives 1-2MBPS speed consistently, which could be a reason for Ooma quality as well. But, I guess Vonage would need the same bandwidth for good quality as well.
If you are in US, most likely you have switched to Vonage, to get their $25/month India calls, including full access in US/Canada. We tried that for few months before we left (of course, when you are doing R2I, the India call volume goes up drastically and worth having Vonage). We had the definite idea of taking it to India with us and wanted to give it a try before we actually take it. From our experience, it worked very well in US.
Then, we came across Ooma (http://www.ooma.com/)- company which provides free US calls - you need just buy the device and only pay monthly taxes. Was bit difficult to believe but we decided to take the device with us anyway. It was available at Costco for $175 or so. Anyway, when you are in India, calling within India from a US number is not that attractive since most folks won't call back on that number (which would be an international number for them).
While Vonage was working very well in India, got some time to give Ooma a try. I would say we are are pretty satisfied so far after few days of use. It was very easy to connect the device and register and we got a new number in few minutes. Ooma also gave the choice to select a number, which unfortunately didn't have the choice of selecting the area code I wanted. But, since we do most of the outgoing calls, that wasn't a big deal. There is a possibility of doing number transfer but that is a hassle - we need to disconnect Vonage first (which means returning the device). Being in India, didn't want to take the risk of returning the working device, without knowing how Ooma would work.
It has been a good experience with Ooma so far. Going to wait a bit more before deciding to call off Vonage. Also, internet from Airtel gives 1-2MBPS speed consistently, which could be a reason for Ooma quality as well. But, I guess Vonage would need the same bandwidth for good quality as well.
