I have several questions on VOIP. Is VOIP cost effective for home users?

I notice that Canadian VOIP carrier Vonage charge service fee similar to cell phone price. Does this mean VOIP call still more expensive than regular land line?

Can VOIP work without a PC?
Does it need a PC turn on 24/7?

I notice that Canadian VOIP carrier Vonage charge service fee similar to cell phone price. Does this mean VOIP call still more expensive than regular land line?
Ans: Yes if you add all the crap that most providers try to sell you it can still be more expensive then a normal phone. For the most part it isn't... I am paying $65 a year for mine here in California but i limit my calls to in state and no international calls.

Can VOIP work without a PC?
Yes but you do need broadband internet (obviously). You can purchase home phones that are developed just for Voip. Providers like Vonage can even sell you their recommended ones.

Does it need a PC turn on 24/7?
Nope... If you buy the VOIP phone all you need is the broadband access and it acts like a normal phone.

Best of luck...
~Cheers

All of the VOnage deals I have seen here in the States are around $50 or more. With the cost of LD calls being so cheap, Vonage does not cost out for me. I imagine if you had a lot of LD calls, Vonage would be great but not in my case. Businesses are in the same boat. LD calls over dedicated T1s are so cheap it is hard to justify the upgrade in hardware and possible network (COS, QOS) to make the move to VOIP.

If you use any VOIP phone service, regardless of plan rate, it will have a hit on bandwidth usage in convo, thus affecting torrentz, P2P, or any other I/O app you may have running.
The question is- how much bandwidth do you have to spare, and can your current network handle it (is it modern enough, or configured approprietly?).
...and is your VOIP service configured approprietly?