[travelstiles]

We just signed up for Embarq DSL and land line with unlimited long distance, and Dish TV.
Back in NY we had cable, and were ready to go with Comcast, but after 9 phone calls (3 hours over 2 days), and conflicting information, we finally had an appointment and THEY NEVER CALLED OR SHOWED UP! We had waited from 8 am till 4 pm, called them, were assured someone would be there before 5, but no show.
AND they had the nerve to send us a bill for $89! I spoke with them today and they will give us a full credit for our phantom service, thank goodness.
The Embarq DSL 3.0 is just about as fast as the cable I had previously in NY, and I download lots of photos, so check it out. They have various package deals. Good luck!

[Bubbalarry]

I got a package from Comcast and Vonage recently and so far although they work I have had a rough experience especially with Vonage.

First I went Thur TV and signed up for Digital HD cable with 2 DVR's and HBO. As a resident of TV I get for free access to the villages.net which allows me to get my tee times on line for free. Not the usual fees they charge. Seems Comcast has a deal with TV that discounts anyone signed up for broadband gets it for free.

So TV and Internet is fine.

Embarg I heard from friends just plain sucks for internet and is expensive at $49.00 a month so I didn't go with it but instead chose Vonage as they were giving me unlimited calls and nationwide service for free the first 2 months, and then $ 24.00 after that.

Now comes the nightmares. Upon signing up for Vonage I mentioned to the sales rep who are from the Philippines that I have wifi on my laptop and need to make sure that the modem/adapter they sent will allow me to get internet service and the phone to work without hooking up the ethernet cable from the adapter to laptop.

She assured me that was a problem that I would not need a special adapter. Now all this time I was using my cell phone and put on almost 60 minutes of a 500 minute plan.

Well 10 days later got the adapter and after 2 hours on the phone waiting for a rep got from level 1 support to level 2 and was told to go buy a different router/adapter from Circuit City. Now I am at the Villages now and had no phone except my cell. So I could not get the device here at Rolling Acres CC, but had to order it on line and as I wanted it ASAP paid for 3 day delivery. It arrived and and after spending another 3 hrs on the cell going from level 1 to level 2 and finally to level 3 and a tech in New Jersey who told me I still had the wrong device for WIFI.

That bestbuy was the place closest to me and I spent to have it delivered fast again.

After arrival I had to again wait for level 3 tech to run the mac address off the unit to get it to work. That was another 3 and 1/2 hours waiting on hold on the cell.

Finally after so many hours of wasted time on the cell I am up and running. My fear is when and if I go down will I need over 4 hours on my cell to get back up.

BTW, I had t upgrade my cell from 500 to 700 minutes or end up paying .45 cents a minute.

[Avista]

When we moved in we had a great Comcast man for installation. We hired him on the side to set up our computers (4) and set up our Vonage. We also have WiFi. It only took him an hour.

[LovinItAtTheVillages]

I have Comcast Cable...
and Vonage phone...
I have a Massachusetts number for my Vonage and also a Virtual number for the Villages
I take the box with me back to Cape Cod in summer and use it there as a 2nd phone line..
have had it for 3 yrs and love it

[HPIERCE]

I currently have the Embarq for the landline and Comcast for TV & Internet. Reading through the posts, you might want to see about the Comcast Digital Voice. I had the old Comcast Digital Phone (which was the old ATT broadband product that is currently being phased out) in our Condo in Vancouver WA. I had talked to a Comcast tech here, about a month ago regarding the Digital Voice product and he said it would probably be rolled out in the spring. He told me it is a part of the On Demand which was started in November 07 and he expected the phone service in 4-6 months. I have the Digital Voice service in WA and very happly with it. There is one thing you have to bear in mind with "bundling" all the services with one provider, should the cable go out everything goes.

[Sidney Lanier]

We've heard of too many problems with VoIP (Vonage, etc.), at least in upstate New York, that we would never give up a land line, at least at this point, so we went with Embarq in TV. However, because we're snowbirds and intend to rent our house at times that we're not using it, we subscribed ONLY to unlimited local service ($15.55 + tax) and a long distance block ($3.50 + tax), both per month, with zero access to long distance. Of course, 800 numbers are no problem, so we (and renters) can use a calling card and/or cell phones, and all incoming calls are similarly no problem.

In addition, we've been using Skype for nearly three years--and finally used up the original $10 that we put into opening our account; terrific value, in other words, considering we travel all over the world (my wife is a travel agent) and I have family all over the world. Skype is now offering a 'Skype Pro' plan for $3/month for unlimited calling with zero additional charges within the U.S. and Canada, which seems to be a reasonably good deal. I figure that if our average long distance call is, arbitrarily, ten minutes, it would cost about 25 cents on Skype's pay-as-you-go (3.9 cents connection charge + 2.1 cents/minute) rather than their Pro plan, so 12 calls a month would roughly equal the $3. (No, I'm not an accountant....)

I did look over Magic Jack and suggested it to one of our sons who lives away from the rest of the family and thus makes more long distance calls than the rest of them. We both agreed that, except for the convenience of using a conventional phone rather than a headphone (although on my laptop with its built-in microphone and speakers I don't have to use ANY device--and this is likely true for other computers), the Skype Pro plan seems a better and more flexible arrangement. In the case of both plans you have to be computer accessible, meaning neither would work if the power is out (except possibly for a short while on a laptop battery power), and of course the cell phone would fill in the gap.

Hope our experience helps....

[l2ridehd]

Just a comment on skype and magic jack. I have used both, skype extensively and magic jack a lot in the past 3 weeks. The biggest difference between the two is skype I can use across the world, but the quality is not great, magic jack is limited to NA, but the quality is excellent. So some combination may be the best answer. My plan is to just get internet in TV and use magic jack at least until I am there more full time.