Last Thursday, the installers arrived and we're now customers of Comcast Digital Voice service.  Basically the service runs over your existing cable system for phone service. At first I was skeptical, hearing the many stories about features that were missing from VOIP services (e.g. E-911 service).  Despite the fact that three of our neighbors are RNs, and the Eastside Fire Chief lives two doors down, there's a certain peace of mind that comes with this.  The good news is that this doesn't appear to be an issue anymore and with nationwide long-distance, the cost is nearly the same as our local POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) provider for just local calls.  Here's a quick rundown of the good and bad in my opinion. 

The Good

• Good (not great) voice quality.  The average person probably wouldn't notice any difference. 
• E911 service including address reporting
• Battery Backup (in case the power goes out)
• Voice mail support for phone and Web (secured). You can even download as excel spreadsheets all incoming, missed, and outgoing calls.
• Security system integration
• No service contract
• No apparent drop in download speeds (for upload see below)
• One bill for cable and phone

What could be better/Suggestions

• E911 doesn't work during extended outages over several hours; resiliency is a concern often noted regarding network congestion etc.
• My upload speed appears to have gone from close to 384 to 284, unsure if it's related.
• Takes up to 10 days before new customers will start seeing incoming/outgoing calls on the Web system.
• Visual notification when voicemail is waiting & Caller ID. Some sort of auxiliary display would be nice (Sideshow anyone?)
• Windows Live Messenger bot.  I want an agent that notifies me when a call comes in.
• Online personal phone book
• Phone integration (something like this new Philips Windows Live Messenger-enabled phone)

I'll report back after a few weeks of living with the service.