# Vonage



## campntn (Feb 20, 2005)

Anyone out there use Vonage as their phone service??? I have a friend who has for a few months and loves it. National calling, unlimited minutes, FREE CALLS to Europe!? Keeps his phone number. Disconnects from Ma Bell. Uses cell phone as backup if broadband goes out. I've talked with him on it and it's crystal clear like a landline. With Tennessee tax it's 28.00 a month. That's 32 less than I pay now.
call waiting, caller ID, 911 service.
I just thought I'd poll the good people here before I sign up. He's only had his a few months, but it's done well.
Headed out tomorrow nite to camp at Chickasaw state park here in Tennessee.














. Rainy, but camping still. 
Thanks,
Mark


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## z-family (Oct 2, 2004)




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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

We have our DSL line for computer and local service, Cell is used if on the road, and for long distance. Haven't paid long distaance charges for several years now. We never use all our cell minutes so it works well for us.


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## Tiger02 (Apr 16, 2006)

Have used Vonage for a little over a year now and before that used Time Warner's VOIP service for 2 years in NC. Never had problems and only occasional down time which is fixed by just powering off the adapter and then turning back on. I won't go back to phone companies. A big plus is that you can choose your area code no matter where you are. Vonage, and others I'm sure, has simulring, so when my home phone rings my cell phone does as well. A lot less telemarketers is also nice. Hope this helps.


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## proffsionl (Feb 19, 2005)

We have been on Vonage for over 3 years now (call me an early adopter). I was just fed up with SBC's prices (we were paying $130 for two phone lines). We now pay $65 for two phone lines and a dedicated fax line all with free long distance. We have the enhanced 911 service (haven't had to use it yet, thankfully) and I have it set up so that if someone calls my office phone, it also simultaneously rings my cell phone.

The only outages that occur are when we lose our high speed internet connection (very rare) and then it rolls calls to our cell phone.

The couple of times we have had to call customer service, it has been good. FYI, if you want to keep your number, it takes a few weeks to transpire (I think that is why they offer the first month free).

The only annoyance was SBC calling me every couple of weeks for the next year asking why I left and wanting me to come back. When I told them to match the deal I had with Vonage, I just heard dead silence on the other end of the phone.

Who got the last laugh now??? ::maniacal laughter::

I hope this helps!!!


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Just a bit of info for all of you folks using Voice Over IP type phone service. Not all companies are providing 911 centers with your ANI/ALI info when you dial 911. That means that if for some reason you are able to call 911, but not able to speak, the 911 center will NOT know where you are calling from.

The only one's that I know of that are providing that info so far are some of the cable companies. Unfortunately, I don't know which ones. I do know that Vonage is NOT providing that info yet.

On another note, but the same general topic, while most cellular companies are now providing 911 centers with a location of the caller, using a combination of GPS technology, and triangulation off of cell towers, not all are up an running yet. Nextel is still having problems with their system, and is not compliant with that government regulation yet. There are a few others, but you need to be aware of these issues.

Tim


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## Grunt0311 (Aug 23, 2005)

Had Vonage for about a year, and the only problems had to do with a weak cable line which was fixed by the cable company. The savings are definately worth it, and I highly recommend it!

Bill


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## webeopelas (Mar 11, 2006)

Been with Vonage for two years. No complaints. Never had it drop out due to a vonage problem, only when my cable internet went out. No one I talk to can tell I am on VOIP.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

Let me make you cry just a little...

VIA TALK -- the service that I have at home just ended their giant sale -- pay 200 up front and get 2 years (8.00 a mo) ... plus free local and long distance and about 20 other things...

even localized e911...

but to answer your question -- yes -- VIA TALK and Vonage all work great -- just make sure you have a good cable modem --

kept my same number -- all that changed was that I got about 20 additonal features and cut my phone bill by 20 a month for the landline -- my wife calls her mom in NY now for hours (another added benefit for me!! LOL)


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## Katrina (Dec 16, 2004)

Vonage here for about a year. No problems to report and Flat rate monthly bill.
We have a local landline and DSL on that line.
DW needed a second line for work.
Added the Vonage box onto the DSL connection for 24.99 a month for unlimited calling and she tests that feature daily.


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## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

We have SBC for phone and DSL. When you switch to Vonage, you get both services from them?


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## Katrina (Dec 16, 2004)

7heaven said:


> We have SBC for phone and DSL. When you switch to Vonage, you get both services from them?
> [snapback]107537[/snapback]​


No. Using Vonage requires that you have your own high speed internet connection.
Vonage simply sends your calls out over your internet connection.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I don't have VOIP, but I'm looking into all the various alternatives. A friend of mine has SunRocket. It costs $17/mo when paid annually.

I'm trying to come up with the best options for when we do finally get on the road. Many RV parks now have wifi. However, I believe the VOIP guys have a small unit that needs to plug into your cable modem, dsl modem, or some other router. When in an RV park, I won't have access to their modem. I'm wondering if something like a Linksys WET54G Bridge would do the trick. Stick a 14db external antenna on it to pickup the park wifi and stick the voip unit into the rj-45 (along with the printer). Since the wet54g is also an AP, I would in effect, be pulling in a weak park signal and retransmitting a strong signal within my own little wifi space. I think it would work. Anyone have experience with something like this?


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## Katrina (Dec 16, 2004)

vdub said:


> I don't have VOIP, but I'm looking into all the various alternatives. A friend of mine has SunRocket. It costs $17/mo when paid annually.
> 
> I'm trying to come up with the best options for when we do finally get on the road. Many RV parks now have wifi. However, I believe the VOIP guys have a small unit that needs to plug into your cable modem, dsl modem, or some other router. When in an RV park, I won't have access to their modem. I'm wondering if something like a Linksys WET54G Bridge would do the trick. Stick a 14db external antenna on it to pickup the park wifi and stick the voip unit into the rj-45 (along with the printer). Since the wet54g is also an AP, I would in effect, be pulling in a weak park signal and retransmitting a strong signal within my own little wifi space. I think it would work. Anyone have experience with something like this?
> [snapback]107571[/snapback]​


that will work indeed.
Problem lies in the lack of bandwidth in alot of the RV parks.
Pull into a place with 500 sites and half of them trying to share the single DSL connection the park has and you'll see what I mean.
Vonage is a bandwidth hog.


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## CanadaCruizin (Jul 3, 2004)

Buddy of mine here has been using vonage but is frustrated with it. Perhaps it's because we're in Canada and the servers are in USA? But he has noticed a significant amount of lag (delay) as well as dropped calls. Sorry, don't know his internet connectivity techno-details.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

> Problem lies in the lack of bandwidth in alot of the RV parks.


Yeah, absolutely true. I have even been to one rv park where they told us to wait for a few minutes after connecting to the wifi in order to give the modem time to connect. No kidding, all they had was a common modem on POTS for their main connection, then an AP for the park.


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## Katrina (Dec 16, 2004)

vdub said:


> > Problem lies in the lack of bandwidth in alot of the RV parks.
> 
> 
> Yeah, absolutely true. I have even been to one rv park where they told us to wait for a few minutes after connecting to the wifi in order to give the modem time to connect. No kidding, all they had was a common modem on POTS for their main connection, then an AP for the park.
> [snapback]107583[/snapback]​


Now thats funny!


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Sounds like a pretty cool deal.

One question though... Tomorrow, I am having my home internet/phone connection upgraded to fiber optic (15 smokin' Gb/Sec) with Verizon FIOS. Does anyone know if this is compatible with something like Vonage?

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

FIOS is pretty good, but if you are expecting 15Gb performance, you'll be a little disappointed. Believe you meant to say 15Mb....







That's better than normal Cat3, but falls a little short of matching Cat6 100Mb. We have a couple Gb lines at the U, but they are feeding foundaries and not individual users. Typical 54g wifi will usually perform in the 15Mb range as it is "basically" sliced up as a third for rx, third for tx, and third for overhead (that estimate, however, is somewhat over-simplified).


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

> upgraded to fiber optic (15 smokin' Gb/Sec) with Verizon FIOS.


If I tried to upgrade my old house with anything like that, it would be smokin! and I don't mean fast, I mean the house!







I'd have to have you firemen come help me out.

What's wrong with the old-fashioned dial-up anyway?

What else do you have to do but sit there and watch pages load?
 








Mark


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

vdub said:


> FIOS is pretty good, but if you are expecting 15Gb performance, you'll be a little disappointed. Believe you meant to say 15Mb....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What did he say


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

> What did he say


I second that! He lost me at FIOS.

Mark


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

You are correct - my bad - it is 15Mbps. Still, I think we can all agree it will be smokin' (as DSL is about 768Kbps max)!


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

> 768Kbps max


There are different varieties of DSL. The most common is ADSL (asynch) which means the download speed is different than the upload speed. The low end of ADSL is the 768Kb/128Kb. This is what verizon is selling for $15/month. They also have higher end ADSL that costs a little more ($30/month), but has a speed of 3Mb/768Kb. Now if you are running a web site or something that pushes data up as much as you pull down, then you would want SDSL (sycnh). You can get SDSL at about 3Mb/3Mb, but the cost is hard to justify in most cases. Believe the FIOS will be asynch at something like 15Mb/2Mb -- pretty respectable considering the cost.

Was this thread hi-jacked?







Believe it was. Back to Vonage.... Will it work with your FIOS? Yeah, should not be a problem as long as Verizon provides you with a router where Vonage can plug in their device.


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## kjdj (Sep 14, 2004)

I've had Comcast Digital Voice for a while and love it. It's alittle more expensive. But,
Some of the additional features I like is the phone is on a private IP network not the internet. (I don't like people tapping in on my phone calls). And the phone "modem" has 8hr battery backup.
The cable modem is actualy 2 modems one for voice and one for internet with 2 MAC addresses.
I just hooked modem phone jack into any house jack and bingo, all the phones in the house work, including the alarm system.

I've got a package with HD Digital cable, 16Mb internet, and phone for $118/mo.
Saving approx $67/mo


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## imabeachbum (Mar 24, 2006)

Please see post #6, I am a 911 dispatcher in Minnesota and I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to get a call from someone getting the snot beat out of them and NOT knowing where they are. Vonage and other, alternative phone providers are not always compatible with 911. ANI - Number info and ALI - Location info are not displayed, so please check and double check that they are displayed before you make the switch. It would only take ONE time to make the savings sooo not worth it. Now that said, Ive heard wonderful things about Vonage and other alternative service providers.

Alan


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

We just started using Comcast's VOIP service...had it for 3 weeks with no problems.


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## Txcamper (Apr 3, 2006)

hatcityhosehauler said:


> On another note, but the same general topic, while most cellular companies are now providing 911 centers with a location of the caller, using a combination of GPS technology, and triangulation off of cell towers, not all are up an running yet. Nextel is still having problems with their system, and is not compliant with that government regulation yet. There are a few others, but you need to be aware of these issues.
> 
> Tim
> 
> ...


When someone on a cell calls 911 the only thing the cell phone companies are providing to Houston's 911 system is the location of the cell phone tower. This does little good if the person really needs help and is in a dense urban area. I'm not sure about the rest of the country. You can not count on a silent 911 call from a cell to bring you help. You have to be able to talk and give your location. I guess they are not using the GPS data from the cell phones.

One thing to think about while you travel, not all areas even have 911 service available.


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## campntn (Feb 20, 2005)

I believe I'll be going with our Charter Internet providers new phone service. I know that it has the E911 service: they know where you are. PLUS they are here in the states. I did sign up with Vonage last Thursday am, complete with my credit card #. The woman I had to talk to was in Pakistan and sounded like she was talking in a barrel in a bar! LOUD backgroud screaming, etc. SEVERE language barrier. M as in Mark,, well..that's silly..if you understand that then why am I spelling Mark anyway??







I was in a hurry at work, so I completed the call and got off the line. This is Monday am and still not able to login at Vonage with the info she gave me. No email from them.I called them last nite, this time I spoke with a lady in CHINA...and they said that there was no record of my signup but luckily for me, they would be glad to sign me up again. I said no thanks, I"ve already given my card # out to someone who lost my account.
I'm glad it's working for you guys, but I'm gonna go with Charter. It's a lil more expensive and you don't get international calling. But it's still cheaper than MaBell.
M as in Mark


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

> When someone on a cell calls 911 the only thing the cell phone companies are providing to Houston's 911 system is the location of the cell phone tower. This does little good if the person really needs help and is in a dense urban area. I'm not sure about the rest of the country. You can not count on a silent 911 call from a cell to bring you help. You have to be able to talk and give your location. I guess they are not using the GPS data from the cell phones.
> 
> One thing to think about while you travel, not all areas even have 911 service available.


Sorry about any confusion. Sometimes I forget that not everyone has 911 service. Connecticut went statewide with their 911 something like 15 years ago. The benefit is the state owns all the equipment, and pays the bills, the bad part is, the state owns all the equipment, and pays the bills. You get upgrades when they feel the need, not when you do.

As far as the cell phone location, the state actually moved another computer into each position of our PSAP, because two wasn't enough.....and we have a map screen, in addtion to the 911 screen, and the CAD screen. On the 911 screen, we get the location and phone # of the the tower, and with most cell providers, a call back number for the cell phone itself. Then on the map screen, if you are connected long enough, and refresh the ALI info, you can get a fairly accurate location of the phone, again, depending on the provider. They keep telling us that some day, all providers will be compliant, but who knows.

Sorry for the highjack.

Tim


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