a friend picked sunrocket over italkbb

I recently recommended iTalkBB to a friend of mine who was considering switching to a VoIP phone from conventional phone. I shared my good experience with the $299 iTalkBB global unlimited plan to him. A few days later, he told me that he had chosen sunrocket's $199/yr plan instead. Sunrocket does not provide a China phone number and charges an international calling rate of 3 cents/minute to China. However it is considerably cheaper. It wouldn't be a bad choice if the quality is as good as iTalkBB. That said, I shall mention that iTalkBB also have other plans that charge as low as $4.99/month. One should be able to find the desired price/feature trade-off within the iTalkBB plan family.

Here are some comparison with other popular VoIP provider in US as it stands today:

Plan Comparison Chart
	iTalkBB	Vonage	AT&T / SBC	Verizon
	Global Unlimited Plan	Premium Unlimited	All Distance Select	Verizon Freedom
Monthly Fee	$24.99	$24.99	$39.94	$44.99
Local Calling	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
US & Canada Calling	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
International Calling	Includes 20+ Countries	Includes Some European Countries	Not Included	Not Included
China Phone Number	Yes	No	No	No
Calls to China, HK & Taiwan	Unlimited	$0.06-$0.10/min	$0.10/min	$2.23/min
Calls from China to US and Canada	Unlimited	No	No	No
Taxes & Additional fees	No	~$32	~$132	~$145
Total/14 months	$299	$382	$691	$875
Total Savings	—	$83	$392	$576

italk bb feature

Why did I choose to use iTalkBB:

(1) it allows me to keep my existing phone number even when I moved outside of the area code region
(2) it is cheaper than my Verizon telephone service, and no hidden cost (even tax has been included)
(3) it has free and unlimited calls to China (and 20+ countries and regions)
(4) it comes with a China phone number -- my family and friends can easily reach me with no extra cost
(5) it has all the features I need, including caller ID, three-way calling, call forwarding, and fax
(6) it supports 911 call, which will be directed to the nearest dispatcher in emergency situation

After I started using iTalkBB service, I found two more features/service that I like very much:

(7) it allows two mobile phone numbers to be binded to each account -- one can make call and receive call from these two cell phone with the iTalkBB number
(8) it comes with promotional free service to videopark, where one can watch hundreds of movie and TV series online

Einstein sings high praise for i talk bb

Nay, I am kidding. It takes more than an Einstein to have the vision for technologies like this...

Check on-going iTalkBB promotions here.

iTalkBB User Reviews

If you are like me, you would hope to read more user reviews and learn from other people's experience before try iTalkBB out. Well, there is one thing that one need to beware of --- iTalkBB has a good referrer program, meaning those who post promotion code like the 953110 may not truthfully share their bad experience (if any). But this code does get $10 off the total price when you sign up.

Here are a few user reviews that I pulled from the Google:

May 15 2007 --- Problem with Italkbb today

Apr 13 2006 --- italkbb VOIP phone service

May 8 2007 --- iTalkBB Voip Reviews and Voip Ratings

April 26 2007 --- iTalkBB great if calling to China

May 16 2007 --- iTalkBB opening account

I would like to hear about your experience too if you post it in the comments.

Voice over IP

The technology that iTalkBB uses belongs to the family of VoIP (Voice over IP), also by the name of IP phone or Internet telephony. The basic idea is to use the Internet, which traditionally only carries data traffic, to carry voice traffic as well. A few years earlier, there could be serious performance problems with this design, as voice traffic is highly sensitive to network delay or jitter. In recent years, Internet has attracted more and more commercial usage, drawing capitals and research into improving the service quality and reliability of the Internet. Nowadays, many backbone ISPs such as AT&T have already adopted the single core architecture where data traffic and voice traffic share the same core network. In some residential places, cable companies such as RCN connect telephone adapters to broadband Internet connection and output signal onto existing telephone jacks, making the service nearly indistinguishable from conventional phone. Now shopping for a telephone solution among various choices has come down to a simple comparison of supported features and prices, which we'll do at a later time. Of course, promotion code 953110 to get $10 off iTalkBB's $299-for-14-months deal would help in the decision making.

Wikipedia has a good coverage on different aspect of VoIP related issues.

port in existing phone number with iTalkBB

I recently got relocated to Boston. Having used my old home phone number for years, I really hope to keep my phone number. After looking around, I found iTalkBB. They are running a promotion at $299 for 14 months. With code 953110, one can knock another $10 off. My existing Verizon basic local service cost me $24.99 a month plus $5 or so for taxes and fees. It is really a no-brainer. I signed up with iTalkBB and the number transfer went quite smoothly.

Here is what I did:

1. I first tried to sign up on-line at iTalkBB.com. However, I found that my area code is not listed in their sign up page. So I called their customer service at 1-877-italkbb (1-877-842-5522) to sign up via phone instead. It turned out that it didn't matter. I could use any area code at the time of sign up.
2. Three days later, I received my phone adapter via UPS. Since my broadband Internet was already set up, I simply plugged in the adapter as instructed and connected my regular phone to it. After a couple of minutes, I heard dial tone and the phone was ready to use.
3. I followed the example here and filled out the form that was sent to my email from iTalkBB. Using my fax machine that was just connected to the adapter (yes, it supports fax too), I faxed the signed form and the cover page of my last Verizon bill to 512-637-1451.
4. Two days later, I received a notification email saying my number transfer request had been submitted. Meanwhile I could log in to my italkBB web account and check the progress at the "DID PORT IN" tab.
5. Two weeks later, I received another email notifying my number transfer had completed. The temporary number that I was assigned to at sign-up time became void. I tested my old number. It worked fine.
6. I called Verizon to close my old home line.
   

There are more instructions on number transfer at:
http://www2.italkbb.com/bb/enu/enu_support.asp#01
http://www2.italkbb.com/bb/enu/enu_support_03.asp