Vonage

[Willy_G]

I think it is Federal law that says if a phone is operational & functional it must bea able to dial 911 and be connected to local authorities. This is why that 1989 analog cellular bag phone, up in the attic, that hasn't been 'programmed' for 15 years can still dial 911, if powered up.

I might be wrong about this, but I remember this same issue flaring up back around 1995 when EVERYONE started getting a cell phone and 911 calls were sometimes routed to the wrong agency, sometimes 100's of miles away from the incident.

 

[brianl703]

In Virginia cellular 911 calls used to be routed to the state police. Now they are routed to the 911 center nearest whatever tower handles the call.

Since then, Virginia added a #77 number which you can use to call the state police. The original "A" and "B" carriers (Cingular and Verizon here) handle this call like a 911 call--it's a no-charge call and you can call it from an unactivated analog bag phone.

 

[Willy_G]

Back to Vonage...

Who has line noise and/or dropped calls & who doesn't? Which set-up are you running. E.g. combined router/adapter or seperate router & adapter (make/model, etc...)?

 

[brianl703]

I'm using the Linksys PAP2-NA VOIP adapter with a Gigafast router with Inphonex.

The only problem I've noticed is a slight 60Hz buzz (which you really have to listen for). I believe that's due to the power supply that came with the Linksys PAP2-NA..it probably isn't filtering as well as it should be, but since it's a 5 volt DC power supply--there are plenty of replacement options should I want to replace it.

Never had a dropped call, except when my ISP (Comcast) was having problems.

I was thinking, if I ever replace the power supply, to get a 12V alarm panel battery charger/power supply and a 7 amp-hour 12V rechargeable battery, and a 7805 regulator to output 5V for the Linksys phone adaptor.

Then it'll be battery-backed (and I can do the same for the Gigafast router as it too runs off 5V). Then the only problem will be the cablemodem.

 

[Mark in NY]

I have been using Vonage for over 2 years and have been absolutely delighted with the price, phone service and tech service.
I have recieved 2 price CUTS in the last 2 years. Where else have you gotten that!?!?

I have referred so many friends over to them (that signed up for the service) that they sent me a T-shirt !
Only one of my referrals of friends dropped the service in the last 2 years and that was after only 2 weeks of service because the wife had zero patience to check out a problem.

They have had 911 service in operation for a bit over one year.
How about $24.95 per month with about $2 total taxes, fees, etc!?!?
Thats compared to my previous $50 Verizon + $20 tax= $70 monthly phone bill.

When a company delivers $#%^ service I sure let them know about it. Likewise when I get great service per dollar I let others know about it.

My 2 cents.

 

[Willy_G]

Mark,

What router & adapter are you using. The more hear the accolades, the more I think my combined router/adapter is faulty.

Price was the main reason I jumped on board. There was only one phone company in my area...not really a monopoly...no one else wants to serve the market. Local phone service was $63-$65/month plus any LD. As soon as I got broadband, I said C'ya to the local phone co. !

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by Willy_G:
Local phone service was $63-$65/month plus any LD. As soon as I got broadband, I said C'ya!

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Huuuuhhhh??? My local service is $18.50

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Bell South's local service ran in the $40+ range per month. It's a rip off....

 

[brianl703]

quote:

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Originally posted by Al:
Huuuuhhhh??? My local service is $18.50

---

Mine is about $30/month all taxes and fees included.

One thing I have noticed about the monthly cost of local phone service is that the larger the local calling area, the more it costs.

Not all areas have local calling areas of the same size..here I would guess, based on what I remember of the tables in the phone book, that there are well over 100 local Verizon prefixes..Manassas alone has about 10. (Add the cellular/CLEC prefixes and the number goes even higher)

A small town in the middle of nowhere might have a local calling area with only a few local prefixes, and a monthly phone bill of $12 or so.

 

[labman]

''Huuuuhhhh??? My local service is $18.50'' Was that before or after they tacked on taxes, access fees, enhanced 911, universal service tax, etc. What features did you have, caller ID, touch tone, call waiting, call waiting defeat, etc.? Call waiting defeat? Yeah, an extra $.50/mo to add using *70 to keep call waiting from knocking me off line.

''A small town in the middle of nowhere might have a local calling area with only a few local prefixes, and a monthly phone bill of $12 or so.'' Not my local yokels, $40 didn't even get me half the county, not even adjoining local areas. It also did not buy touchtone or more than number only caller ID.

Who else has been victimized by an independent telephone company? By law, as long as thy do not compete outside their area, no other telephone company can offer service in their area. Fortunately VOIP is a loophole in the law.

 

[Mark in NY]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Willy_G:
Mark,

What router & adapter are you using. The more hear the accolades, the more I think my combined router/adapter is faulty.

Price was the main reason I jumped on board. There was only one phone company in my area...not really a monopoly...no one else wants to serve the market. Local phone service was $63-$65/month plus any LD. As soon as I got broadband, I said C'ya to the local phone co. !

---

I received one of the early adapters from Vonage. When I saw "Cisco" I figured they are doing things correctly right from the beginning. I believe they are sending out a newer unit now.
As far as routers, I have used 3 different units since switching to Vonage and there never was any service or setup problem with any of them.

 

[Willy_G]

Brian is right. The PAP2 is much better.

I dumped my Linksys WRT54GP2 combined router & phone adapter. The router was not compatible with my kid’s Nintendo DS. Adding to the line noise, dropped calls issues, it was time to dump the Linksys. But, to Linksys’s credit, upping the QoS to 512 for voice did stop the dropped calls.

My new set-up is a USRobotics USR5461 and Linksys/Vonage PAP2. This set-up is by far much better than the WRT54GP2. The USR router set-up is much easier than the Linksys, line noise is gone, audio is much better, and the unit has yet to lock-up. And my kid has been racing Mario Kart with opponents from around the world. (The DS linked to the nintendoWIFI site perfectly first and all subsequent times.)

The PAP2 did need a hard reset right out of the box. I called Vonage to change the MAC address but the line never became active on the PAP2. I ran through some troubleshooting on my own with no luck, and had to call back to India. (Got right through to a CSR in a very short time on both calls Sunday afternoon & evening.) The Hindi-speak was a little challenging through some of the troubleshooting, but 20 minutes later I was given the secret code to do a hard reset and the PAP2 sprang to life. I couldn’t find any hard reset instruction in the manual.

Recap:
- WRT54GP2 is bad & unreliable

- A good router and PAP2 is a much better set-up

- If a newly installed PAP2 does not work out of the box, do a hard reset FIRST.

 

[labman]

I am using the Cisco ATA 186 vonage furnished 2 1/2 years ago and a Belkin 4 port router. To get back on line, I occasionally need to reset the Belkin. I notice the problem usually because the computer went off.

I haven't had any problems I though were Vonage's fault except one double billing.

For 911 purposes, they are struggling with my physical address, but that may be the fault of the keeper of the official maps. My street sign doesn't match the official maps.

 

[GeaugaFletcher]

I used an RT31P2 until it crapped out last week, so I switched back to an SMC 7004 that (supposedly) was used by the second-to-last egyptian pharoah. Lo and behold, my d/l and u/l speeds are increased...no more rebooting the router for EVERY SINGLE LITTLE configuration change I make...easy to set up...better logging...quicker boot (when necessary)...etc. When the new Vonage router came in, I set it up on one of the SMC's ports to be a slave.

No more using Vonage-supplied routers as my main unit, although this new one is better. RTP300, I think.

Vonage phone service has been fine, although talking to customer service was rather trying, as was wading through six layers of unavoidable touch-tone menus before finally getting to "Bill" or "Susan" or whatever name they picked for the day.

 

[Willy_G]

quote:

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Vonage phone service has been fine, although talking to customer service was rather trying, as was wading through six layers of unavoidable touch-tone menus before finally getting to "Bill" or "Susan" or whatever name they picked for the day.

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I defeat most automated menus for get right to a CSR. I learned the trick on NPR. Just keep hitting zero "0" when the machine answers or at all menu prompts. Some places program-out the "0"-out function or route it to an admn. person...but most of the time just one or two "0"s gets me to a human.

 

[keith]

I got fed up with SBC phone and DSL. They increased my DSL charge from $25 to $43, and total bill went from roughly $70 to $90. Called to complain and they put me on a plan that costs $65 for 6 months. That sounded good - until I got the bill. The $65 part didn't inlcude the internet so the total bill went to $110! How about that - call to reduce the rate and they lied to me and put me on a higher rate!

Immediately called Comcast and got in on their $20 for 6 months / free modem / $100 rebate deal. Then called SunRocket and got their $200 for 12 months / free adapter / 2 free phones deal. Got it all installed and working, then initiated the process to transfer my SBC phone number to SunRocket. Just waiting for the number transfer and SBC are getting cut off.

Serves them right. They lied to me and when I call to terminate service, they will get ripped a new one.

In 6 months, when the Comcast introductory rate expires, I'll be calling Comcast to get a lower rate and calling SBC to see what they have. I'm going to play Comcast and SBC against each other to get a good rate. Not going back to POTS for phone service though - VOIP is a much better deal be it Vonage or SunRocket or another provider. SunRocket even has a local 911 service, but we have cell phones too so that's not a big deal for us anyway.

[ January 11, 2006, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: keith ]

 

[GeaugaFletcher]

quote:

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I defeat most automated menus for get right to a CSR. I learned the trick on NPR. Just keep hitting zero "0" when the machine answers or at all menu prompts. Some places program-out the "0"-out function or route it to an admn. person...but most of the time just one or two "0"s gets me to a human.

---

That's what I tried. Vonage automated menus waited patiently for me to stop pressing 0 or any other repeated number then restarted the menu from the very beginning...at every level I tried it on...*&#@(*&$(%*&!!!!

 

[Willy_G]

I wonder if the "0" trick worked for me because it was late Sunday and there was low call traffic??? I'll almost bet they have more than one call center, too. There may be variations in the inbound call equipment set-up???

 

[Razl]

I've had Packet8 over Cox cable for a year now. They were the cheapest around and the only one who would port my landline number (not all numbers are portable).

I had issues with my Linksys WRT54G v1 router even tweaked out for VOIP (static IP adapter, DMZ, QoS prioritizing, etc). So I swapped it out for a cheap Netgear WRG614 v6. The voice quality has been excellent.

I use a digital Uniden cordless sytem that only needs one phone jack, so the base goes in the Packet8 adapter, and it "powers" all 6 other phones. This way, I didn't have to mess with the copper lines. Another plus of doing that is I keep a landline phone in the kitchen that can be used as a 911 backup (no service but 911 will still work). So now I have copper 911, E911, and cell phone 911...I feel covered.

Packet8 email support is terrible, but phone support has always been pleasurable (quick and English speaking reps, occasionally I can detect a slight accent). Packet8 doesn't support CallerID with names, just number, so that's a little annoying, but not a deal breaker. I just set my phone to use a distinct ring for anyone in my phone list memory. As for telemarketers that block their CallerID, I just have Packet8 block those calls.

For $25, I can call anyone in the US/Canada, and my out of state family can call me free using a virtual local number. No silly state surcharges, fees, just a basic $2.xx federal tax and a $2.xx E911 fee.

I sure don't miss paying Verizon $70 a month.