Vonage

One thing you have to remember if you're moving to VoIP ... if you have an alarm system, you need to be sure you can switch it over to a cell phone connection.

In last month's Brink's Homeowner Newsletter, they warned of the problem with alarm systems inability to use VoIP connections. They recommended keeping one land line, or installing a cell phone connection for the alarm system.

Most alarm companies and/or hardware manufacturer has a type of cell phone option.

Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Alot of people have their systems working over VOIP since the modem in alarm systems is only like 1200bps or something. nextalarm.com even has monitoring over broadband which is pretty cool.

cell backup is def a good idea if you're concerned.... how much does that cost usually?

 

Never priced it .. although I'd like to have one to insure that the alarm will still be sent if someone cuts the landline !!



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

I have been using Vonage with Adelphia's regular cable internet for about 3 months now, and have been very satisfied with it.

 

Does anyone use any of these services with OpenBand service. My long distance bill alone would make it worth using one of these just for that. Just wondered how the sevice seemed to work with OpenBand.

Thanks!

 

as long as your have 90k or more of upload bandwidth you should be set... check out wdc.speakeasy.net and see what your speeds are...

 

Depending on the CODEC that may not be 100% true. I know with my experience on Vonage if I had the "bandwidth saver" on 90k on a 128k pipe that was giving me true 125k (per MRTG) I would sometimes get some drops if ANY other traffic came across my network. It would work but I would consider 128k in both directions a minimum. I haven't tried Packet8 but I hear they're a little more tollerant to speed issues but maybe at the cost of sound quality?

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Some software money can't buy. For everything else there's Micros~1

 

I didn't like P8 since their proxy server was/is in San Jose... high latency compared to my current provider. but you def need QoS on your network with VOIP, or it can cause big problems... if I'm maxing out my upload with a FTP connection and I make a call, it immediately throttles it which is pretty cool. hopefully all consumer routers will have it soon!

 

Just checked and Vonage has 703 numbers again (Washington District 18 or 19). I signed up, the lack of 911 for broadvoice was a deal breaker.

 

figures they got more 703 numbers over the weekend as I just signed up for broadvoice.
I got my service on saturday. Im using a sipura 2100 which is a router and PA. This router has QOS and with my 512 upload speeds, I do not expect a problem with voice dropouts. I made a long distance call on Sunday and it was perfect, if not better quality. No latency at all. Im still playing around with some configs and feature modifications to get it the way I want, then I will "beta" it for a week or so, then turn back my land line to its basic service at $5/ mo. and do that for a few weeks, then drop it all together.
The 911 issue was a concern for me as well, but Ive lived over 30years without before while knowing the phone numbers of the ambulance and police directly. The 911 service is just a faster way of getting emergency help w/out having to think. I can just program my phone to dial the numbers with only pushing 2 buttons.....thats faster than dialing 911..... Or I could just always have one of my cells available in the house for 911 access....its no biggie. Anyways, I thought I would just put that out there since it is an issue concerning voip providers for myself as well as others.

DwArFlOrD

 

Beamer, this service should be transparent to the ISP. As long as your broadband provider has a decent connection with little packet loss and nice upload bandwidth, you'll be set.

DwArFlOrD

 

I like the new UK alternate number for only $2 a month.. pretty cool to be able to have someone in the UK make a local call and ring here

I also see you can now get alternate toll-free numbers... only $2 for 60 free minutes and then .02 thereafter... nice!

It's definately a plus that you can select your full phone number before committing... I'm not sure if any other provider does that...

I'm coming up on a year of mostly trouble-free service with BV (4/4/04 was my start date) and I'm just happy to save the $$$ on verizon!

Now if only we could get FIOS around here!!

 

Boomer,
Have you been having any intermittent problems of late? Im curious because I have had some poor outbound voice and even a dropped call or two lately. I have enough bandwidth so I dont think QOS is the issue. I was thinking more along the lines of packet loss on adelphia somewhere. Just curious to see if you have had issues recently as well. Im now totally Verizon free and hope this works well for us. For 90% of the calls we've had/made so far, its great. The other 10% im not too happy about. And Im not sure if its something I can fix, Adelphia or Broadvoice. I wanted to start on my end first.
Thanks!!

DwArFlOrD

 

I'm not using Broadvoice but I can say your packet loss, or drops, may not be Adelphia (this time). I'm on Vonage and haven't had any problems since a couple of minor outages late last summer.

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Some software money can't buy. For everything else there's Micros~1

 

my wife uses it the most and hasn't noticed any problems.... I've made a few calls here lately with no probs.... what DTA did you get? What i would do is.... start an outgoing ping to some reliable place and then make a call to your cell phone's voice mail and talk to yourself for a while... try browsing/uploading via ftp, etc while you're doing this and then you can listen to your voicemail and see how it sounds. That's how I tuned my QoS/traffic shaping settings on my firewall/router (m0n0wall). Do you run any P2P apps or online games at the same time as talking on the phone?

Also, see if you can find out what proxy you're using... And on my SPA-2000 I can see what the latency, jitter, dropped packets, error packets, etc is for the current call from my browser....

 

Thanks guys. I havent had but 3 problems, 1 dropped call and 2 outbound voice problems. out of over 100 calls I guess that is ok. I havent had any problems at all in about 5 days now. It may have just been normal network issues.
I have the Sipura 2100. I got that because it has QOS whereas my router does not. Its a byod, but I need to get the password from Broadvoice to manage it.
I dont run any p2p at all and there was no outbound traffic at all during the time of the problems, so there shouldnt be any bandwidth limitations. Ill keep monitoring. Right now my setup is like this:

Adelphia->Cable Modem->D-Link router->Sipura 2100
|
\/
10/100 Switch -> Multi pcs

Most folks have the sipura where the D-Link is to utilize the QoS, but I like the d-link better as far as configuration options go. I can always swap the two if bandwidth does become a problem.

DwArFlOrD

 

I have been considering getting VOIP - specifically from Vonage and was wondering if anyone knew where the Washington Zones conpared to. Most of them have a city but these two do not. Not sure it really matters as I'm really looking for Long Distance outgoing only.

 

I can't remember but if you give them a call they'll tell you the town the zone is in. I know the closest 'Zone' is McLean. The other option is going with a Herndon number. But if you're going to use it mainly as an outgoing number I would get a number where you have out of town friends or family that call you on a regular basis (inter or intra state). That way they can call for free.

__________________________________________________________
Some software money can't buy. For everything else there's Micros~1

 

Do the zones really mean anything? I was under the impression that it is just a "pool" of numbers with a specific area code, not really specific to any 1 locality......I could be wrong.
The virtual phone numbers mentioned by Pictor is a great idea. I think Broadvoice will allow up to 2 virtual phone numbers at $1.95 per month. The biggest advantage to this is that that virtual number will be a "local" call for those that live in that area code. For example, my parents live in a 540 area code, If I had my normal 703 number only, then my parents would have to pay long distance, but with my virtual phone number (say a (540 xxx-xxxx), their phone call to that number would be considered local because they too live in the 540 area code. Isnt technology great?

DwArFlOrD

 

The zones don't really mean anything. At least not that I know of. They're just areas where the prefix are from. So they may or may not be a local call for some people. For example... the zone my Vonage number is from has a 738-xxxx prefix. It's local for people in the McLean/Vienna area to call it. And depending on your service from Verizon it may be a local call if you're in a 202 area code as well.

__________________________________________________________
Some software money can't buy. For everything else there's Micros~1