 vic102482
Premium
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Vonage is Cool!! I have had it for about 2 months now and it works GREAT!!:)
No LD charges to call in my state and blah blah blah.
There have been some horror stories with vonage jacking up the rates for people that use their phone a whole lot.
Also sometimes the dial tone drops out when I try to make a call, but otherwise its cool.
I would be pissed if I saw a bill for 60 bucks come my way just because I made alot of phone calls. If you cant support the services that you advertise then dont push them out. Simple. ISPs need to learn this as well.
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I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!!!! | |
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oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA
edited
|  I have it too
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 13:21:17] | |
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RyanB18
We All Have A Black Rock
join:2001-05-05
Dallas, TX
clubs: | Re: I have it too What exactly is Voice over IP? From what I understand its using the internet connection to speak. What are its advantages over regular phone service?
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"Eternal Vigilance is the price of Democracy." - Thomas Jefferson | |
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oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA
edited
| Re: I have it too Price...and for me reliability as Verizon in my area is horrid. You also get to choose your area code and you get a much larger local calling area. With Vonage you can also get virtual numbers at $5 a pop making calls from friends local. Say you live in L.A. but you have family in NYC. You can get a NYC virtual number than your family would call and it would ring through to you. So for the $5 a month, they would get to call you as a local call. This is in addition to the other calling features you get for free.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 14:22:56] | |
| | | vic102482
Premium
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD
·Verizon FIOS
edited
| said by RyanB18  :
What exactly is Voice over IP? From what I understand its using the internet connection to speak. What are its advantages over regular phone service?
»computer.howstuffworks.com/ip-telephony.htm
Instead of that mic hooked into the computer, imagine an adapter hooked to your router that hooks to your regulaer phone.
BTW to go to the "next page" it says next page under the superdeals buttons (I thought it was only an ad the first time I saw the page).
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I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!!!!
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 14:23:38] | |
| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
 ·Charter Pipeline
| Voice over IP or VOIP is about using an IP-based connection to transmit data packets that represent the sound of your voice. The concept of making a phone call to another person is the same. The difference is that instead of using your local telephone provider's infrastructure (at least for your end of the conversation) and, if a long distance call, a long distance carriers network, you use the Internet.
Vonage offers a service that allows you to plug a box into your broadband modem and plug your phone into the box.* You'll immediately be able to call anyone, anywhere in the world regardless of whether or not they also have VOIP or traditional phone service.
This might be different than original views which generally regarded VOIP using the Internet as a point-to-point connection between two people who wanted to conduct a conversation free of LD fees using their sound cards, microphones and existing dialup or broadband connection.
Vonage and other recent providers, have taken this concept to the next level. While you certainly can call another Vonage subscriber and never enter the public phone system, Vonage has partnered with various competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) to connect your broadband-sponsored VOIP phone to the rest of the public telephone network. This is not unlike the cellular phone networks which are also connected to the public telephone network.
If you don't call another Vonage subscriber, the service works by routing your call over the Internet. The call enters the public telephone system as close as possible to the actual destination call. By the time your call enters the public network, it's usually a local interconnect instead of a long distance interconnect. That's why they can offer unlimited LD for $39/month. There's no difference in cost to Vonage for you to make a call across the street or across the country because the call rides the Internet instead of a LD carrier's more expensive network.
* - If you want to surf and make calls at the same time, you'll need to purchase an inexpensive router that allows multiple PCs and the Vonage device to share the same broadband connection. NOTE: Some DSL services are not capable of using such a device. For instance, AOL DSL broadband makes its connection via PPOE and special software loaded on the PC. This type of connection may not work with a broadband router. You could put a second NIC card in your PC and with Windows ME/2000/XP, enable internet connection sharing. Vonage would work with this but it isn't as easy as setting up a broadband router on a cable or normal DSL connection. | |
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Supafly
Premium
join:2000-07-15
Lancaster, CA
| Re: I have it too said by rradina :
For instance, AOL DSL broadband makes its connection via PPOE and special software loaded on the PC. This type of connection may not work with a broadband router.
Netgear's RP614 works with AOL broadband | |
| | vlad7
join:2002-12-30 | Very happy with vonage also, I have it for about 5 months now. I will never come back to verizon.
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Browsing with Mozilla! | |
| rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| Incumbents Have Wrong Response For me, it's not about UNLIMITED long distance. I'm tired of paying over $50/month for basic dial tone. It's ridiculous. Vonage offers 500 mins/LD plus unlimited local calling for $26/month.
$26/month is much more reasonable although considering I still have to provide the actual connection (broadband service), it could be improved. However, if you want broadband anyway, this is a key way to spread that cost over multiple services. Plus Vonage sweetens the offer by including tons of incumbent premium services like caller id, call waiting, call forwarding, call return, busy number redial, voice mail, etc. | |
| 
xcea
join:2002-09-11
Fremont, CA
clubs:
edited
| 49.95 is not low enough $49.95 is not low enough! SBC in my area offers unlimited local and long distance for $48.95. MCI offers in the neighborhood plan for $49.95 also with unlimited local and long distance. I have the MCI one and it comes with more features like caller ID, call waiting.
It is hard to trust SBC again after they have charged you 9 cents a minute for a local call when you were only paying 5 cents a minute for long distance... Or when you connect service and they give you a phone number and you tell it to everyone and when they connect it is different and they say, if a business customer asks for the number we give it to them and assign you a different one... Damn that SBC...
MCI's voice mail is kinda lame in that it does not notify you when you have a message. (I have not activated the voice mail because of that)
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Lets not be sorry, after the fact, and let the past become our fate
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 14:12:09] | |
| | lestat99
join:2000-08-04
Piscataway, NJ
| Re: 49.95 is not low enough Yes, both SBC and MCI have unlimited long distance programs for approx $39/month. However, what you aren't factoring in is that Vonage includes the second line (phone number) as well.
To compare apples to apples you have to account for the base cost of your phone line from your local provider which is typically, $26/month, plus factor in the cost of all of the features that Vonage offers such as vmail, call waiting, CLID, etc and now you are most likely around $40 just for the line before you even begin to make calls.
So a fair comparision is $40 for your traditional phone number plus $40 for the unlimited programs from MCI and SBC ($80) compared to Vonage which is $39/month which includes the phone line, features, taxes and unlimited long distance.
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Info Network Security:»www.packetdefense.com | |
| | cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA
| You'll notice SBCs plan is like a dollar less than Vonage's. The reason the plan was introduced was in response to Vonage and by dropping the price just one dollar they figure those who have SBC won't be likely to switch since in most areas switching still requires a new number.
Vonage is more comparable to the MCI plan, offering call waiting, caller id, voicemail etc.
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CCNA, Comtrain Certified Tower Climber | |
| 
Archivis
Your Daddy
Premium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
·Verizon FIOS
| I may fall for bundling Paying in the 50's for my veriations package + a few extras and them offering DSL for $30/month is really going to put a damper on the VoIP industry. Not to mention that VoIP eats bandwidth.
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The Internet Hitman | TIHM chat | |
| | Scott18
Premium
join:2002-06-26
Institute, WV
| Re: I may fall for bundling Just for kicks, I tried ordering Verizon's veriations package. Turned out that it isn't available in my area, even though I'm in verizon territory.
VioP needs only 30-35 Kbps for normal quality, you can even use it on a dailup connection if you have to. | |
| TrustedZero
join:2001-08-25
Claremont, CA | VOIP I have a question about VoIP. Say I am am using all my bandwidth downloading a game demo, if I make a phone call using Vonage while I am downloading will the quality of the phone call be bad? Or does VoIP not need much bandwidth? | |
| 
SterlingJ85
Obama 2008
join:2000-11-19
Millville, NJ
 ·TowerStream
edited
| .. Vonage's bandwidth requirement depends upon what you have the settings at. There are two, High quality, and Normal quality. High sounds like an ISDN line, Normal sounds like a regular voice line. The difference is, 90 Kbps for high quality, and 30-35 Kbps for Normal quality.
But I have 256 Kbps upload on my cable modem, and always ran 90 Kbps with KaZaA always on. I never noticed a reduction in quality while downloading/uploading files, and even when doing a speedtest from Speakeasy! The ATA deals with data loss very well. Vonage also does not use any bandwidth if your not in a call btw, just so this question doesnt get asked later.
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Sterling - Moderator at »www.siriusbackstage.com
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 16:05:56] | |
| 
Agent 86
| Too expensive for what you get Now that traditional phone companies are offering 'unlimited' plans, it's hard to see why anyone would want Vonage. | |
| | 
insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
edited
| Re: Too expensive for what you get That maybe so if you get a package deal with your phone company with dsl and an unlimited plan. Vonage also allows you to take your phone with you anywhere in the world, all you have to do is find an internet connection. Most probably wont need this service, but there will probably be enough people that need it to keep vonage profitable.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 17:47:03] | |
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Mrq5
The Fab Four
join:1999-08-21
Warren, MI
edited
| Re: Too expensive for what you get said by insomniac84 :
That maybe so if you get a package deal with your phone company with dsl and an unlimited plan. Vonage also allows you to take your phone with you anywhere in the world, all you have to do is find an internet connection. Most probably wont need this service, but there will probably be enough people that need it to keep vonage profitable.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 17:47:03]
This is an excellent point:) For some reason this is often over looked. For those that travel or visit relatives alot this could be a huge benefit of vonage! If your relative or Hotel has Internet access then you can plug in your Vonage Router>Phone and recieve calls no matter where you are while your callers enter in your home phone number. If Vonage is a second line your family at home can call you on the road and it will be a LOCAL call for them, even if you are in Brazil.
Bottom line - Vonage is an ideal solution for a 2nd phone line. Personally I cant ditch SBC/Ameritech since I have DSL, BTW - I 100% love my 6Mbps/384 DSL line. This DSL is smoking with super high downloads and low pings/tracerts. In fact I cant trust Comcast in my area to run Vonage, too many outages and pings are to high during evening hours.
Actually I would just get the bare-bones phone package with no extras at all from the phone company, local calls ONLY(only about $20ish, while still letting me keep my DSL line active) - which is perfect for my kids - I primarily use Vonage with all the bells and whistles:) Gotta love listening to Vonage voice-mails over the Web when at work!
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 18:53:06] | |
| | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| I'll agree when the local phone company offers me dial tone for $26/month and for that fee I get unlimited local calls, 500 minutes of long distance, call waiting, caller id, caller id call waiting, call waiting block, call return, busy number redial, voice mail, call transfer, call forwarding, web-based account management and web-based retrieval of voice mails.
Don't forget that the $39/month packages are on top of basic telephone service, taxes, fees and all the rest. That means the total cost of the phone is what? $39 + $30-$35? That's pretty damn expensive compared to Vonage and more than pays for the cost of my broadband connection on which Vonage rides. (I get a bundle deal from my cable company for buying digital + premium + broadband. I pay $35/month for my broadband connection.)
Perhaps when the phone company offers video, things will get interesting. At this point, they will continue to serve the blue hairs until they die. Most other modern-thinking individuals will begin to consider alternatives. | |
| | 2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| The biggest savings are on with the $25.99 plan which comes with 500 min of LD. That is more than 99.9% of the population uses. The key is there are NO FEE and taxes. Taxes and fees make up about 30% of a basic phone line bill. SBC or Verizon may have an unlimited plan that costs the same as Vonage, but their taxes make it 30% more. The problem is that Vonage really can't advertise that, but the benefit fo no taxes and fees(ESPECIALLY THE FEES WHICH GO DIRECTLY ONTO THE RBOCs TOP LINE) is the best thing about Vonage. Until SBC or Verizon has an unlimited plan with all the features for under $28, there will be no compariso. | |
| supportguy
join:2002-11-13
New Glarus, WI | Most Telecom's Have a Fix for This Many telecoms offering DSL service lock you into a phone service plan, so you can't 'just' get DSL.
Ah the fun part of living in a CLEC city... | |
| midlife2
Fruit Of The Loom Sucks.
join:2002-05-23
Jamestown, KY
| vonage = good | |
| Sparky12
join:2000-02-27
Nokomis, FL
| Bell complete packages? What about fees and taxes Also with those packages offered by the bells, you need to add on all the taxes and fees. I could get MCI's plan for $49.99 per month, then I read the small print. More $$ to the local phone co to maintain the line, taxes, fees, etc. bring it to close to $70 monthly.
No thanks. I want my broadband anyway. Switched from Verizon DSL to RoadRunner cable at just over half the monthly cost, for much more speed. More reliable too. Last October I literally cut the Verizon wires coming into my home, my phone has been Vonage ever since. Backup? A cell which I'd have anyway. And they let you specify a number for calls to go to if your connection or their service is down. That's my cell number.
Vonage doesn't charge all those extra fees. Keep that in mind when comparing prices with the all-in-one plans from the bells. | |
| |
Eddie supertech
@12.153.x.x
| Re: Bell complete packages? What about fees and taxes why is the only discussion on cal quality/calling issues on one post? "Vonage=good" I called vonage to inquire about what happens when my dsl goes down... as it will do, along with possible router issues, etc etc. and they informed me that they send friendly packets every 10-15 minutes to make sure the connection for a phone call is available... thats not the problem, if there isn't... you can have it set up to forward to an available phone #. My roomie and I see this as a possible inconvenience b/c we both work 13 hour shifts, so if DSL is down, our phones are not avaulable (cell) then obviously the VM will not be which equals a missed call which could be important. For now I will stick with supra telecoms >$30/mo. | |
| | | Sparky12
join:2000-02-27
Nokomis, FL
| Re: Bell complete packages? What about fees and taxes If your dsl goes down, and the number you've set for forwarding in that eventuality is not available (or you haven't set up this feature), the calls will go to your Vonage voicemail. There's a lot of flexibility in how you can set up forwarding, with or without voicemail, etc. | |
| | 2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| Exactly the, "Access Fees" which are nothing more than additional itemized part of the service price that been lobbied for and approved by state and federal legislatures, make up the dominating part of the bill. That's your savings with Vonage. NO ACCESS FEES. It's by far the best thing about Vonage. | |
| jakazmi
join:2003-05-08
Ballwin, MO
| Vonage and 911 I currently don't have Vonage service. However I did some research to figure out what it would mean for me the have Vonage service.
The single biggest drawback that I found with Vonage was 911 calls. If my broadband connection drops or my electricity goes out I simply cannot make 911 calls.
For those who have families living with them (with babysitters managing kids) this is a major problem.
No-one has really talked about this problem on this discussion board. I would very much like to hear how subscribers addressed this. | |
| 
no1ukn0w
Whats This?
join:2002-01-24
Boerne, TX | 20,001 ya add 1 to the list.. I just signed up  | |
| skylab
join:2001-12-10
Landis, NC
| theory? Ok, here is my situation, and here is my theory.
I have recently moved to Europe for the next 1 - 2 years. My idea is to signup to Vonage in the US, with a local number in my family's area. Then, bring the Vonage equipment with me here (to EU) where I have a 1024/256 cable connection that's pretty darn reliable. Family dials local number, it rings here in EU.
In theory, would that still work? I have read conflicting information where, people have taken their Vonage equipment on trips to Europe and it had worked just fine.
Perhaps I am confusing the process involved with using Vonage, but, I'm still thinking of ideas.
Hmmmmmmm....... | |
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