Overview

The Good:

• Tiny device. Can fit in your shirt pocket. No bigger than a car stereo remote. No heavier than a couple of penlight batteries.
• Ridiculously easy setup. You connect one side of the device to your telephone unit and the other to your wall jack. That’s it.
• No AC adapter or power supply necessary. So you don’t have to worry about additional wiring or giving up a slot on your UPS or surge-protector. No need to worry about power outages either.
• Credits refill like pre-paid cellular service. If you’ve ever used a pre-paid cellular package, it works exactly the same way – you just press fewer buttons.
• Easy to make calls. Calls connect seamlessly. Its almost as easy as dialling a local party.
• Great calling rates. By far, a lot more inexpensive than any option to date.
• Notice of credit expiry. Just like a pre-paid cellular service, you are notified when only 1 minute worth of credit remains.
• Plethora of places to buy credit. The large number of locations available.
• No Internet connection required. Unlike many competing products the VoxBox does not require an Internet account or connection.

The Bad:

• Conversation lags at times. Occasionally, what you say may not reach your party immediately. There is sometimes a fractional delay. It does not appear however that your party notices the lag.
• Voice feedback during calls. During some conversations, you may occasionally hear feedback from your own voice. Can complicate or confuse conversations unnecessarily.
• Volume dips just a little. The volume on the conversation is noticeably lower than your standard telephone call. But it’s only obvious for the first minute of the conversation.

The Perplexing:

• Can’t check credit unless making a call. What if I need to know how much credit I have remaining without making a call?
• Only 1 location in Portland. Of all the larger parishes, why does Portland only have one location for refilling credit?

Conclusions

The Avoxi VoxBox is undoubtedly the finest piece of hardware that anybody who has any reason to call overseas should own. It is extremely convenient and ultimately cheaper than using a cell phone. Furthermore, there are a great number of locations to purchase credit for the device. While they may not be as ubiquitous as your cellular providers, they are sufficient for average customers. The biggest selling point is that you do not need to have any kind of internet connection yourself to use the device. Even if you do not own a landline phone, you may attach it to an available phone anywhere, and use it just the same with no apparent effect on the phone bill. The minor flaws are easily overshadowed by its otherwise great features and rates.

Rating: ****½