IP phone carriers. What do you use. Simple and affordable

[musiconradio.com]

I am looking to dump AT&T and go with a IP phone carrier. I need one line and a fax line. NO international calling or fancy features (except voicemail). I want to keep my analog phones. What carrier are you using? Oh and I want to keep my numbers. Something affordable and simple.

[kkiddkkidd]

You greatly narrowed your choices by including the need for FAX. Several of my clients have changed to various cheap VOIP services and all had problems with fax and credit card machines.

ATT uses a type of VOIP to almost all lines now but they have been able to maintain at least low speed data like fax and CC machines.

Regards,

[musiconradio.com]

I'm looking at the email fax option too.

[RodeoJack]

I've used Vonage for years (on cable internet). At first, they were a little glitchie and latency was a problem, but they're vastly improved. I also have a fax line from them and it works fine... for the 3 or 4 faxes I run through it each year

One of my client stations recently subscribed and assigned a number from another city, where they also have a station. The remote number is wired into their phone hybrid and you can't tell a call from there isn't local.

[kkiddkkidd]

I use MaxEmail Fax for the 3 or 4 faxes that I receive per year. I send more faxes than I receive by about 10-to-1 in that I fax some invoices along with emailed invoices to a number of clients.

I talked to a client today that changed to cable VOIP last year and their fax works part of the time but their credit card machine was replaced by an on-line processing service.

[Deep Thought]

I posted this on your Facebook query but here it is again...

I use Future Nine with an old Sunrocket Linksys SPA2102 which will support two lines and works for faxes too. It does require some knowledge of how to provision it but they have that info on the website. $75/yr for the plan I'm on, which is mostly incoming calls, but they have others which may be better for you.
http://www.future-nine.com/plans.html

As an alternative to a dedicated fax machine you could go with eFax for $9.95/mo which emails you a PDF of received faxes. Sending an outbound fax is as easy as uploading a PDF and filling out a cover page. They can port numbers, too. I use it for 'on the road' fax capability and call-forward my office fax line to my eFax number.

[musiconradio.com]

It looks like Phonepower is the winner. They have a fax option. I can keep my current phones with an adapter they will send me and the price is reasonable, and I got to talk to a real person that has a callback #. I've talked to two users that have had it in operation for 24+ months, and they say it works well.

[Shane]

Just surprised nobody mentioned MagicJack. Price is hard to beat (I think it's $40/year). I haven't tried to fax over it, though. I have used it to put a voice coupler call-in on the air using the MJ attached to a PC with a USB pro mic and the PC interface.

Edit: wait one. I have a friend who used MagicJack exactly for the purpose of having a fax line several years ago not long after they first came out.

[BigRed]

I currently use https://www.1-voip.com/. I started with them when they called themselves VOIP Your Life (or something like that). They're now a bit pricey though compared to some other options out there. So I'm considering switching to these guys: https://www.voipo.com/whichvoip.php. They run a deal that's $149 for two years (plus regulatory fees).

As to faxes . . . that seems to be pretty much hit or miss over a VoIP connection. Personally I've not had any trouble with either sending or receiving faxes from my Brother MFC-6490CW in all the time I've had the VoIP connection. But I don't send or receive all that many faxes. I did notice that Voipo lists a free service that will let you send faxes via their WEB site if you have their phone service. They also offer a dedicated fax receive number for $36 annually that will forward inbound faxes to your e-mail as pdf files. Others like voip.com probably have similar outbound and inbound services but given that my fax machine works fine with the faux POTS side of the service I've never had occasion to check into either.

[W2XJ]

Look at Callcentric. They are very affordable and they do FAX. I have a dedicated FAX number although I sometimes wonder why (conversation with self).