[wolfen]

So I never installed Vonage before. Some of you may remember I have this side business servicing computers, etc. Well a regular of mine asks me to set his up.

I set it up. 3 hours later he calls me and says I must have messed something up -- He can't get on Yahoo. So we talk a bit and I explain that if I come over there he's going to pay my normal rate. He goes ballistic. He doesn't care that it was working when I left, he's sure I messed it up. He starts screaming.

This is an ex-pastor, current writer. A very intelligent person with brains to spare, really, but a little quirky. So I say "I'll give you 15 minutes free," I say. "if I see that I messed it up, I'll fix it. If not, it's not my problem." He finally agrees, but is still angry that I would charge him at all for something that is so clearly my fault.

I go over. He can't get on the Internet at all. Long story short, his Roadrunner broadband modem is unplugged. Yes...you heard me...unplugged. Secondarily, he buried his Linksys Vonage router between two pieces of wood. It got no ventilation and was not functional anymore. I almost laughed my ass off but kept my composure and calmly relayed this valuable information.

I felt bad for the guy. He was in an accident recently and all kinds of things are going on in his life so he probably just bust a gasket. But I was quite proud of how I handled it. From start to finish I didn't get crazy with him. I thought it was a funny story, though -- and I've made it clear that he'll have to call someone else next time.

[ender2002]

how is vonage. you never seem to address that...

[Mafia]

Originally Posted by ender2002

how is vonage. you never seem to address that...

wondering the same thing.

[wolfen]

Well here's another aspect of the story that is Vonage-specific....

The customer cancelled his Bellsouth account and then registered for Vonage. Problem is, it doesn't work that way. Technically, once you cancel your account with your current phone provider, it can be nearly impossible to transfer that number. You're supposed to keep your current account active while transferring to Vonage. This process can take 20 days.

Secondarily, I found the Vonage support adequate. It was not stellar or even particularly competent...but it got the job done. There was account info and password stuff that the customer was never sent, but when he called Vonage they were able to email him what he needed. But they acted like it was the first time it ever happened -- doubtful.

As for quality of service, it's about what you'd expect. The quality is on par with a cell phone, but not as good as a real land line phone. If your power goes out your screwed, obviously. If your ISP does maintenance or there's an outage, that'll be fun, too. Lastly, wiring is not as cut and dried as my customer figured. He just assumed he could plug his phone in other rooms...but of course he couldn't! He only had the vonage router in one room, and didn't have his placed wired to accommodate it anyplace else. Whereas most dwellings are wired for phone service in every room, these sockets may well be worthless to a vonage customer. So a cordless phone would seem essential.

Lastly, I wouldn't want my phone service to be dependent on a Linksys router. Please...people...think about it. And it's not a simple matter to just replace the router because I think it's keyed to Vonage, so there's a swap process or something, I guess. I dunno, but it's hassle-y. The Linksys/Vonage router in this case blew up for lack of ventilation.

[Super Mario]

The Packet8 voip phone by 8X8 is a much better deal. So easy to set up a child can do it. The phone is only $99 and also has real time video chat using h.264 codec. Unlimited calls for only $19.99 a month. Soon they're expanding to Europe and then I can chat to family everywhere. Very good quality.

Vonage is cool too but Packet8 has the features. I saw a new video phone called Ojo with a futuristic design but it was too expensive.

[the_glassman]

I had Lingo which offered unlimited calling for $19.99 to America, Canada and most of western Europe. It worked well until a firmware update messed up the ATA and then it went downhill from there.

[The Mick]

Originally Posted by wolfen

As for quality of service, it's about what you'd expect. The quality is on par with a cell phone, but not as good as a real land line phone. If your power goes out your screwed, obviously. If your ISP does maintenance or there's an outage, that'll be fun, too. Lastly, wiring is not as cut and dried as my customer figured. He just assumed he could plug his phone in other rooms...but of course he couldn't! He only had the vonage router in one room, and didn't have his placed wired to accommodate it anyplace else. Whereas most dwellings are wired for phone service in every room, these sockets may well be worthless to a vonage customer. So a cordless phone would seem essential.

I have to disagree with you assessment of the quality of their service. The call quality is indistinguishable from a POTS phone call, and I use Vonage at home and CBeyond for VOIP at my place of business, as do over a dozen of my customers. NEVER, not even once has anyone made any negative comment on the quality of a call. If they did I certainly would not rely on it for business. Worried about power? Buy a UPS. Vonage's website has some detailed instructions on how to configure the phone adapter in your house, including different ways to wire it into your existing phone jacks. Your customer's lack of planning and ignorance is not a downfall of the service.

[Blue Flame]

i just got vonage and the call quality is awesome, but the Linksys router sucks donkey balls. I think i'm going to have t send it back and get a replacement, it randomly cuts out at a frequent rate with no plausible explanation whatsoever.

[Link]

Here's a small tip, if you want to use vonage with your house wiring and have the internet coming through cable, nothing on the house wiring, simply go to the NID, make sure everything's disconnected from the phone company's wiring (unplug the test jacks or unmount the pair of wires depending on how your NID is made), and tape em off.. that way nobody puts em back in without you knowing.

Now, take your vonage box and plug it into a wall socket, that's all there is to it.. you can pretty much plug up to about 5 phones into your house jacks without having any problems, though self-powered phones are best (and the limit isn't as bad).

If you have DSL, unhook your main pair (probably a blue/blue-white pair or something of that nature) from the phone system, now that's isolated -- pick another pair that's not in use (probably orange for example), and wire that to your landline, now go to the jack where your DSL modem is and swap the blue wires for the orange ones -- make sure that you don't cross the pairs anywhere and you can 'inject' the vonage box's signal onto the 'blue' pair.

[RonnieoftheRose]

Originally Posted by Blue Flame

i just got vonage and the call quality is awesome, but the Linksys router sucks donkey balls. I think i'm going to have t send it back and get a replacement, it randomly cuts out at a frequent rate with no plausible explanation whatsoever.

I've been looking into getting a VOIP phone but wanted to hold off until cellphones work over wireless broadband. The technology already exists but none of the major companies are doing it. I badly want a Sony Ericcsion with Bluetooth for syncing, GSM for calls and 802.11 for VOIP.

[RonnieoftheRose]

Originally Posted by Super Mario

The Packet8 voip phone by 8X8 is a much better deal. So easy to set up a child can do it. The phone is only $99 and also has real time video chat using h.264 codec. Unlimited calls for only $19.99 a month. Soon they're expanding to Europe and then I can chat to family everywhere. Very good quality.

Vonage is cool too but Packet8 has the features. I saw a new video phone called Ojo with a futuristic design but it was too expensive.

Ojo looks very Sci-Fi but $800?

Packet8 looks like a good deal. I see that 8x8's share price is shooting up at the moment. If I buy enough stock and sell at $4 I'll have free money for VOIP and a G5

[rippleish20]

I've had Vonage for over a year and my Parents also have it. I think the quality is much better than a traditional phone. I connected the VOIP adapter to the interface jack that the incoming Verizon line would normally be connected to and my whole house is connected, just as it would be if I were using Verizon. I have the original Motorola VOIP box, which I believe you can still ask Vonage for, instead of the linksys router/voip device and I would recommend this. From what I've seen, support is ok but not great. Some things I have found:

1) If you are going to transfer your number, sign up for Vonage and start the transfer, but do not discontinue your regular phone. It takes at least 20 dyas for the number to be moved. Your Vonage phone will most likely work for outgoing calls before the 20 days, but this does not mean your number was transferred. I would connect the Vonage box to one phone in the short run, but until they contact you or you can call your old number abd get the Vonage phone, be patient.

2) The quality of Vonage presumably varies with the speed of your Internet connect. I have Roadrunner, which is 5mbs in this area, and the quailty is excellent, but trying to use Vonage on a DSL line may not work as well.

3) I love the features of Vonage and other VOIP services where you can forward voivemail, check it via the web, etc. This is a big plus to me.

4) You do potentially pay a price with VOIP in the sense of less effective 911 service, outages if your broadband goes out, etc. On the other hand, it can potentially save you a lot of money.


People's mileage will vary, but in my case Vonage/Roadrunner has been a lot more reliable than Traditional Phone/Verizon. I have had Roadrunner for 7 years and have had minimal outages (there have been periods where it's flakey but overall it's been quite reliable and they are pretty responsive in fixing problems). On the other hand, my Parents' had five outages with their Verizon line in the last year they had it and Verizon quite typically took 3-4 days to show up, 'fixed' the problem without subsequently confirming with my parent's that is was working, only to find out that the problem was not fixed. My Parents' line is apparently at the end of the run, so most people may not have as much trouble as they did, but from a Service point of view, I have found Time Warner's service to be good and Verizon very poor.

[wolfen]

Originally Posted by The Mick

Worried about power? Buy a UPS.

I'm not trying to poo poo the new technology. As rippleish20 said, the quality of the call is going to be related to the bandwidth available at any given time. Some people will have better quality than others.

Secondarily, regarding power...some people are in locations that experience outages, not just brownouts or whatever that a UPS would typically handle. Being in Colorado, I'm sure you understand that this is a concern for people in places with inclement weather. My grandparents live in Hurricane Alley. When push comes to shove, I don't want them relying on their ISP for a reliable means of calling for help if they need it. I have customers in an area that is reknown for its crappy power service. Yeah, a UPS would help a good bit of the time but that doesn't address the ice storms, etc.

I'm not trying come up with reasons not to like the service, only addressing real world problems that SOME will have with it. I'm happy for you that it fits your needs. I've never needed anything but a cell phone so it's just not my bag.

[Link]

Unless you have a plain jane phone, you're screwed with or without a UPS. A really good UPS powering just the vonage box and a dsl/cable modem would probably last a few hours, depending on the batteries.

Regardless, if you have a DSL line your system will probably be just as reliable as a regular landline since they are routed from the same box, which has a -- you guessed it, UPS system of sorts to handle things when the power goes out in your area. If this happens, the phone company's system is limited to a few hours of uptime too, that includes landline, dsl, whatever else you get from them.

I imagine there's odd CO configs where this isn't the case, but out here if your DSL dies your phone line is likely dead too. Sure it's going to take a few more batteries to keep the router and modem running (in addition to whatever phone it is unless it's a corded old fashioned one), but you'll still have power backup.

The only 2 systems where you'd be pretty much 'indestructable' are satellite phones and VoIP over a satellite system. Provided you could keep the 'modems' powered along with the router, you'd be good to go, and if you have a 1m dish, probably even in the middle of a damn hurricane if your mount was secure enough

BTW Last I checked, these "bullet proof" landlines tend to get mounted on aerial wood poles in a lot of such areas, aint going to take more than a good storm to knock that stuff out.

[turtle777]

^^^ Pff, I don't care about power outages knocking out my Vonage line. That's what I have a cell phone for. Vonage is great, haven't had any major problems in the 5 months I had it.

-t

[Eriamjh]

Sunrocket.com. $199 a year ($17.XX a month) for unlimited in the US. Two free cordless phones when you click on the phone the bird is sitting on.

Service is good, but I've had it cut out twice on me last week. STILL trying to get my land line number transferred.

[wolfen]

Originally Posted by turtle777

^^^ Pff, I don't care about power outages knocking out my Vonage line. That's what I have a cell phone for. Vonage is great, haven't had any major problems in the 5 months I had it.

-t

Purely out of curiosity...if you have a cell phone, why do you need Vonage? I keep finding people signing up for Internet phone service when they've already got (and keep) cell phones...it doesn't make sense to me except for international calling. This customer I was setting up wasn't even using it for that...he just wanted another phone # or something.

But you can add another phone to most cell plans for like $10/mo.

[Link]

Cellphone service = $$$$$$$$$
vonage service = $

Last I checked you gotta pay BANK to get cellphone service that even approaches vonage's service, and then you've gotta use a cell phone when at home, hrmmm I don't like that, especially one of those "antenna-less!!!one!!" phones that have an 'antenna plate' underneath the plastic and around the LCD that aims right at your head (nokia used to do this, I bet they still do).

[rippleish20]

I tried getting away just with a cell phone but I had trouble with coverage at my house, the quality was not as good as Vonage, it's tedious to carry the cell phone around the house with you and you have to recharge it all the time. Also, cell phone plans which have reasonable amounts of minutes include a lot of extra costs in taxes, misc fees, etc. Having Vonage for home use and Cell Phone for road use works well for me. What makes sense depends on your usage of phones. If I lived in a small apartment and/or talked mostly on my cell phone, it would make a big difference.