Vonage?

P

placeboFx

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
247
I am looking at the Vonage service and it seems very interesting. I have read good and bad reviews on it but I was wondering what the hardforum community thought of it.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Placebo
 
I've had it since last April, for my summer place. Used it all summer long- not one single issue. A real bargain, especially compared to the $78.00 I used to pay Verizon for a land line there with the same service. No hidden charges- just a couple taxes. So $24.00 ends up being like $27.45. Never a penny different. Excellent sound quality- my clients have no idea I'm not on a regular land line.
 
A general warning about VoIP: If your calls are routed over the internet, they are subject to internet wonkiness. And given the number of WEP ( Wonkiness Entry Places ) associated with the internet, it can be dicy sometimes.

That said, I have an asterisk server setup with a few different roll your own providers, and I rarely have a problem. Vonage being as established as they are, I'm sure they're fine.

It's really up to your internet connection. Check your ping times ( average ), and check for lost packets. Leave ping running over night and see what it looks like in the morning. The longer the better.

If everything looks ok after the ping tests, then I'd say go for it.
 
Basically ditto on what everyone else said. In a nutshell, its a great service on its own, but is only as good as your internet connection. If your connection is crap then don't expect good quality calls. Otherwise [IMO] it's on par with POTS.
 
I have been using Vonage for I about two years or there abouts - during the first six months or so people would tell me that they were calling now and then but the call seemed to go into a black hole. I haven't had any reports of that in the last year and a half though and the service seems to have improved. In my experience the general quality of voice seems to be much clearer than my 'land-line' and this is especially true when calling overseas where, unlike conventional copper lines, there is no voice delay.

The free calls to canada and excellent rates to the UK are definately a selling point to me being that my wife has family in both places. The $300+ phone bills with Verizon's "freedom" plan several years ago had to go... now the monthly bill is usually betwee $27.20 ($24.95+Taxes, etc) and $30.00.

Just my two cents from personal experience with the service.
 
I also have a question regarding Vonage. Since I have SBC DSL I think I have to subscribe their phone line also (which I am right now). So if I want to get Vonage service, I have to get a different broadband service? Thanks
 
vat said:
I also have a question regarding Vonage. Since I have SBC DSL I think I have to subscribe their phone line also (which I am right now). So if I want to get Vonage service, I have to get a different broadband service? Thanks
Click to expand...
No, this data travels across the internet along with the rest of your data. No need for a seperate broadband service.

However, this does raise an interesting point. Companies may start prioritizing their traffic as such that voip services get worse and worse. They can do this, and it's not something I'd put past SBC if they felt threatened enough by it.
 
XOR != OR said:
-My wish for my daughter; Let your curiousity never be satisfied
-I'm not here to agree with you, or give you a hug. I'm here to help, brutally so if required ( or I feel like it )
-We need to start letting the dumb ones get eaten again
Click to expand...

Damn straight.
 
XOR != OR said:
However, this does raise an interesting point. Companies may start prioritizing their traffic as such that voip services get worse and worse. They can do this, and it's not something I'd put past SBC if they felt threatened enough by it.
Click to expand...

There was some good info on this very thing over at Ars. In a very real sense, a service war is fast approaching as providers start to prioritize their traffic over others' [VoIP] implementations. I fear the only way this sort of thing will be prevented is through legislation, but even then it'll be hard to catch violaters, arguably due to the random/sporadic nature of the web.

More info:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051031-5498.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051031-5505.html
 
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