For calling the U.S. is Vonage the best option?

Vonage works better, hands down.    Less echo effect.  

QIPCO houses have 4 phone outlets that I know of.

Thanks for the info, Oh My Said. 

We will definitely be getting a regular land line for our Qatar calls and, presumably, using some sort of setup for our calls in Qatar.

With Vonage it looks like I just purchase their little gadget (~US$20) that hooks into the computer and then hook my regular ol' phones up to that gadget. . .which seems so much simpler than Vonage unless I'm missing something.

I guess I'm also wondering what the advantages are to Skype vs. Vonage. . .keeping in mind that we will NOT be using the tethered option. 

Just to clarify the actuality of using a phone service in your home since it looks like you are getting some conflicting information and there is a confusion between local and internet telephony.

If you obtain local phone service for local calling, ...no, you don't need multiple phone outlets in your home.  Just like you pointed out you can get a multi-handset cordless phone system (which communicate with one main base station) and the only requirement is that each handset base unit be plugged into a power outlet and the one main base station be plugged into the phone outlet.  If you want to have multiple handsets that are not part of one system as I just mentioned, then yes you would need Qtel to activate multple phone outlets throughout your home which as previous noted by the other poster, it would be difficult to get them to do that...plus if you do they will charge you and extra monthly fee for it....so it makes sense just to get the multi-handset system and use one outlet.

As far as internet telephony such as skype which is an internet phone service similar to vonage...so you only need as a basic requirement an internet connection (best option DSL, especially if want to use one of the more advanced skype handsets).  Yes, you would need to be tethered to your computer unless you purchase a wireless skype handset.  Those come in three flavors...one has a base unit that plugs into your computer via usb (so the computer must be on to use), an other has a base station that plugs directly into a switch port on your home DSL router (computer does NOT need to be on), and the third uses an 802.11 wireless signal to connect directly to your DSL router as long as the router has a built-in wireless access point (again, computer does NOT need to be on)...or you can add a separate wireless access point and plug it into the switchport of the DSL router.  Keep in mind that it is cheaper to call local numbers here in Qatar using a local service rather than internet telephony.

I hope this helps and clarifies the conflicting information you have received.

Good grief!

Supposedly we'll be in a large villa (4,000+ sf), so we'll see how that works!  If all else fails, though, we have five cordless phones that can feed off of that one phone outlet.

Thanks for the heads up. 

Good luck getting more than one phone outlet. :)  

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Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

The Skype phones are pricey -- over $100 per handset. . .and we generally have four or five scattered throughout the house, so I'm not sure how well Skype would work for us.  With two young kids, multiple handsets is pretty much a requirement for me.

Are there any Vonage users out there? Are you happy with it?

You have to have Qatari land line in order to get your internet so, yes.

I'm not 100% but I think they actually make Skype phones now where the connection still comes through your commuter but you can receive it on a handheld phone. The in-lines have voicemail as well. Very easy.  

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Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Do I need to be tethered to the computer to use Skype?  We used it once to call a friend in the U.K. (from Texas) and we had to use a headset microphone or talk into the computer microphone.

Also, if I use Skype can I still have a local Qatar land line?

Thanks so much! 

I use Skype for outgoing calls to the US. We also bought a Skype-In line with a local (Alabama) number and my family can call us for free and it doesn't cost us anything after the initial set up either. You can choose whatever state.  

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Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

I use Skype  $0.020 per minute.  

The Venezuelan Sensation!!!