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neil.ervin · 02-06-2007, 02:19 PM

I live in Phoenix, AZ and plan to spend my summers in Show Low, AZ (200 miles away). I am thinking of switching to Vonage telephone since the Vonage folks say I can use the same phone and phone number from both locations. Both locations have broadband service, tho they would be two different ISP providers.

I plan to use the Linksys router that will allow me to connect my existing house phone into my router, thus bypassing my PC.

Are there any issues with switching Vonage back and forth quickly between locations? Can it be done without needing to make arrangements with either Vonage or the ISP?

Thanks,

overlander63 · 02-06-2007, 02:35 PM

I have used Vonage, and switched locations with no problem. The only issue would be changing the address for their e911, and that is a matter of changing the settings in your control panel.

neil.ervin · 02-06-2007, 02:59 PM

change of subject, but why does this thread never appear on my 'New Posts' page?

thecatsandi · 02-06-2007, 04:29 PM

Me thinks your need to take that to a news group comp.sys.cisco, or comp.dcom.telecom or comp.dcom.voice-over-ip

cobra93 · 02-06-2007, 05:20 PM

Hey,
I don't mind helping out even though this isn't the vonage forum...

We've had Vonage for two years going on three and it's great!! As for switching the location, it's really easy and you can do most of it from the control panel. The service has been great for us and the customer service has been excellent. Sounds like a good plan to me.
-Don

vonkamp · 02-06-2007, 05:28 PM

I too have Vonage (probably one of the first 1000 customers) and am happy with it. I have even taken my box to a hotel and plugged it into their high speed and made calls. Go for it.

bryanl · 02-06-2007, 05:35 PM

check SunRocket Internet Phone Service as another option. flat annual fee of $200 and they'll send you the gizmo to get online.

Poprivet · 02-06-2007, 05:36 PM

Got it - like it.

just got their wifi phone for on the road and so far, like it also.

Tom Randall · 02-06-2007, 05:43 PM

I have used it for several years and average over 3,000 long distance minutes a month.... all over the country and Canada. Used from hotels also. Can't get over all this for about $28 a month with taxes. Go for it! Hear that Sunrocket is good and they were giving you 2 lines for their one price.... Good Luck!

ibgl6 · 02-06-2007, 05:49 PM

Packet8: VoIP Internet Phone Service Provider and Voice Over IP Telephony this is another option have heard good things about it I dont have it I just use a cell phone Nextel it works real well in my area but it is 50.00 a month...

Silvertwinkie · 02-06-2007, 08:44 PM

My buddy has Vonage. The sound quality is very poor and it's not his router or network connection. Still, it's cheaper than the new Ma Bell.

neil.ervin · 02-07-2007, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobra93

Hey,
I don't mind helping out even though this isn't the vonage forum...

We've had Vonage for two years going on three and it's great!! As for switching the location, it's really easy and you can do most of it from the control panel. The service has been great for us and the customer service has been excellent. Sounds like a good plan to me.
-Don

If most of the changes are done from the control panel:
==> what types of changes are done from control panel?
==> what types of changes cannot be done from the control panel?

Thanks,

muddy_hollow · 02-07-2007, 02:46 PM

I have vonage at home and use it for both my home and home office lines. I'm on the phone constantly and get my money's worth each month. The best thing about using Vonage is that you can log into their site, change the settings such as call forwarding, vmail, and so on. You can pick up your vmail there as well or have it emailed to you.

For us it's great, when we travel on Friday night we can hit the road early and have the desk phone forwarded to my cell. Also, when we have stayed at a campsite with good wifi connections, I also subscribe to Vonage softphone which allows me to use my laptop as a phone. The sound quality can be off on that product, but I found that investing ina good headset makes all the difference.

The net for me is that vonage allows me to mix and match, forward services for very little money. MY customers and peers don't even know the difference. If I had a high speed line on my trailer all the time, I could travel 100% of the time and no one would be the wiser.

Doug

herrgirdner · 02-07-2007, 04:00 PM

One thing about VoIP. If the network you are using is congested,your voice quality suffers because the packets used are "throwaways" and are not retransmitted if they get beat up in transmission. That's the only down side of this fone service. There are many postive features of VoIP and it is growing.
regards

**Andy R** · 02-07-2007, 04:36 PM

I have used Vonage from Argentina & Brazil quite a bit over the last 18 months while I have been traveling. Conference calls can be tricky but if you have at least 256 Kbps upstream bandwidth you should be fine.

Jim & Susan · 02-07-2007, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herrgirdner

One thing about VoIP. If the network you are using is congested,your voice quality suffers because the packets used are "throwaways" and are not retransmitted if they get beat up in transmission.....

That’s not true for all VOIP systems. It is true for Vonage (full disclosure: I work on VOIP systems for a living, but not for Vonage). Some VOIP systems work in a closed IP system. What that means is that the calls are originated on an IP network, but may be terminated over a closed IP network, or they may be terminated on the public switched telephone network (i.e., the “old” phone network). Or they can be originated and terminated on a mix of the networks mentioned above. These networks are considered “closed” because the phone service provider has complete control over the routing of the call and can ensure that all the packets that start out on one end, wind up at the other. Also, in this type of network, the phone call traffic is not mixed with the other IP traffic on the network.

Vonage uses a system whereby the actual internet is used as much as possible to complete the call. Your internet connection at home may be provided by Earthlink, for instance. You route thru Earthlink’s IP network to Vonage, then to your final destination thru Vonage or others. If you are placing a call to Grandma across the country, Vonage will route the call over the actual internet to her home town and make the “last leg” of the connection thru the local Bell operating company (assuming grandma has her home phone service from Ma Bell). That’s why quality will sometimes suffer on some VOIP systems. Lots of hops to get there and no guarantee that all the packets that start out at your modem will reach Grandma’s phone.

There are many variations and hybrids. AT&T use a sort of a mini-internet that only AT&T can access directly (you can’t surf the net over this type network). AT&T is using this type of long distance connection between some of its offices, not all. AT&T also offers large customers to access this type of network, but it is still considered a “closed” network because the customer has no control over it.

CATV and Internet Service Providers are beginning to offer VOIP in huge numbers now. In the Atlanta area, you can get VOIP service from Charter Cable, Comcast, Earthlink and AT&T internet services. There are more, I just don’t who they all are.

VOIP is the future of the telephone. These types of systems don’t require nearly as much hardware or other infrastructure to operate. The Regional Bell Operating Companies are working now to convert over to these new technologies. They simply have too much invested in the old network to change everything over night. The CATV and ISP companies see VOIP as a value added service for their customers just like they did high speed internet a few years ago. For a (relatively) small investment, they can piggy-back the phones over their existing networks. And by the way, the Bells are looking for ways to transmit Television and truly high-speed internet services over their existing phone lines. Cisco is designing it right now. Verizon has a few small cities around the country wired for 30 megabit internet service (DSL at best runs at 1.5 megabit). The Japanese have been doing this for several years now, BTW.

I started out working in the “old” network many years ago and have transitioned to the new IP based systems. I love it. But then, I’m the kind of guy that likes to learn new things.

JIM

campadk · 02-07-2007, 07:20 PM

I've had Vonage for over a year. It does seem to have its problems over the last 6 months with echo and dropped calls. But the price is right.

I bought it mainly since I wanted to take my calls with me to our vacation home and while travelling to the Caribean.

Has worked very well at our vacation home and suprisingly well from Jamaica even.

I know my broadband at the home office is acting up a bit... which might explain some of the annoyances as of late.

Personally I recommend Vonage for those who want to take their calls with them on their travels. Otherwise I would be checking into other VOIP options.

PS. I've tried the softphone option with Vonage (using your computer as the phone)... didn't work so well. Last time I tried I couldn't get it to work, and ended up cancelling that opinion.

Jim & Susan · 02-07-2007, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by campadk

I've had Vonage for over a year. It does seem to have its problems over the last 6 months with echo and dropped calls. But the price is right.....

I know my broadband at the home office is acting up a bit... which might explain some of the annoyances as of late.

That's definately the cause of some of your problems. Echo can be caused by several things, but dropped calls are probably caused by an inconsistent internet connection. Your ISP can help you with some of it.

Jim

overlander63 · 02-07-2007, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by campadk

PS. I've tried the softphone option with Vonage (using your computer as the phone)... didn't work so well. Last time I tried I couldn't get it to work, and ended up cancelling that opinion.

I had this issue as well with another service. It seemed worse when the computer was operating near its capacity as far as memory.

herrgirdner · 02-07-2007, 08:59 PM

VoIP uses UDP (universal datagram packets) which are as close to realtime as the Internet can get. If your call is competing for bandwidth over the Internet with TCP packets, and your link is fairly narrowband, the TCP will occupy the bandwidth and your UDP's will suffer. The voice quality will be noted to be lower than the PSTN (public switched telephone network). If the network used is dedicated to only VoIP, then the congestion should not take place, and the voice quality will be about as good as a cellfone.
I agree that VoIP is the coming thing.
Yeh, I worked on VoIP systems for 10 years before I retired.
regards