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Any vonage users in the house?

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by flynnibus, Nov 25, 2006.

  1. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Considering vonage.. questions for any current customers

    - do you use their router or did you setup to use their adaptor behind your existing router?

    - in either setup.. do you have it setup so VoIP gets a protected segment of your total bandwidth? (restrict other data to a cap to ensure VoIP doesn't get squashed) - or implemented some other QoS mech?

    I use my connection quite heavily.. and of course only using a simple consumer grade nat/router (dlink) QoS isn't available but not sure I'd want to use another router for the 'head-end' router - unless there is significant gain to doing so.

    My biggest concern is simply not having my large file downloads killing the audio calls.

    Comcast voice looks decent, but who knows when we'll get that in the cutover..
     
  2. merky1

    merky1 Member

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    When I first got Vonage, I placed their device (Motorolla VT100) in front of my router. I experienced nothing but headaches with that configuration. The voice was ok, but the NAT service it provided was flaky and unreliable. I attempted to place it in Bridge mode, but according to the forums at the time, it should be labeled brick mode (Factory Reset on that one).

    Once I dropped it behind my router, my normal (at least normal for Adelphia) internet connections smoothed out, but my voice connections would get choppy when downloading large files. Basically, unless your router can do QoS, this WILL be a problem, consistently. I recently upgraded to a router that could do QoS, and have not had any choppy voice calls since then.

    Also, don't expect any customer service. I have invested approximately 8 hours of my life (7 on hold and maybe 1 with a human) in an attempt to fix the caller ID that my line advertises. Whenever I call out, people see "Take out Taxi." Not anything that affects the service, but definately annoying.

    Other than these things, outside of adelphia outages my vonage line has been as reliable as my phone line.
     
  3. Neighbor

    Neighbor Member

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    I've heard there is a real issue if you have an emergency. Fire, rescue, and police use your number to locate your house. I am by no means an expert, but if your outbound line is "Take our Taxi" I seriously doubt the resuce will ever find you. Even if you tell them the address, somtimes I have heard they use their "system" to locate your house. Too many people have lost their homes and lives because of glitches with the VOIP system (or so I have been told).
     
  4. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    While based in fact.. that yes VoIP systems are different then land-line systems for 911 methods.. the fact people are dying or there are not solutions for 911 are not true.

    The existing phone system is locked.. so its very easy for the phone company database to say exactly where a call is coming from and the baby bells were already tied into the 911 centers. A VoIP system does not have that simple, single locked down location as the call is coming from simply an IP address who's exact location isn't known and the VoIP providers were not tied into the 911 center. For a fixed home installation like Vonage, this isn't a big problem because they know where your subscription is from and they keep a database of that. The difference was early on, getting that information from the provider to the 911 center was the issue, or getting your call routed to the local 911 center. By law now, the providers must have 911 solutions in place.

    Doing this from a fixed provider like this isn't a big problem.. but if you are doing a internal solution (such as within a company) its a much larger issue that you must solve. There are emmerging standards and lots of work being done on this to improve it even further. (there are service providers who will host 911 service for you, plus lots of other work being done). This is a much larger problem for someone like a University campus who wants to provide VoIP and mobility services.

    So yes, the 911 methods are DIFFERENT but they are not missing.
     
  5. Neighbor

    Neighbor Member

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    This makes sense. Although, their are tons of pending wrongful death cases that I read about in the legal newsletters that I subscribe to. VOIP and 911 is a MAJOR problem and has been targeted heavily by the FCC. the problem is the dispach center that you reach could be on the other side of the country. For example, If I had VOIP and call 911 I could reach a call center in CA or some other state. Re-routing is a major issue. Just do a search on Google for 911 and VOIP. You will see what I am talking about. Here is the first link that I got....

    http://news.com.com/FAQ+Why+the+FCC+is+targeting+VoIP+911+calls/2100-7352_3-5712788.html
     
  6. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    I work in industry with the people who are pushing the bleeding edge of this technology and are the ones writing the standards on how to do it.

    The reality is simply early adopters just said 'good enough' and left it be. The government said no way.. fix it. Now they are forced to do so. I'm sure open lawsuits are more along the lines of the early days or more tit-for-tat over who said what.. and what people had to do, etc.

    The reality is fixed installations aren't a big deal.. its the MOBILE applications that are the fly in the ointment.

    Your VoIP handset/adaptor is mobile or you have multiple stations.. you can use it at home or while at the office. That's when the stuff hits the fan. But that's not the case in most home installations and that's why they get by with static databases. Localizing in IP is a huge issue people are trying to solve in a number of ways.. and not just for VoIP issues.

    The tie ins into existing 911 simply were an issue of being forced to do so, and standardizing information/access. The standardizing portion is still an active area of research and development.
     
  7. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    I've been using VOIP for a few years now... first with packet8 (didn't work great for me), then broadvoice, now sunrocket. all behind a qos router (m0n0wall). QoS is definately the key... it would rock if providers did qos as well, as there is only so much you can do to shape your incoming connection (outgoing qos is easy), etc. We've had our issues and I'm thinking about trying another company out
    . My buddy over in the Farm got FIOS.... now if only we could get FIOS here :(
     
  8. christinaandrob

    christinaandrob New Member

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    i've heard good things about sunrocket.com (local company), but have not tried them myself.
     
  9. Dawne

    Dawne HOA Sec/Treas, Tech Comm

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    Been on Vonage for about a year now. No real problems to speak of. Very occassionally, we'll get an echo in the outbound calls - sort of like way back when overseas calls via satellite - with the lag time.

    Can't tell you how hubby has it configured, other than it's after the router - and a separate piece.

    Now that Comcast has taken over Adelphia - we're looking into Comcast's VoIP system (in that, we could then combine the broadband, VoIP and TV into one system). However, we've heard horror stories about Comcast overall - especially for TV (current on DTV) - but can't seem to actually talk to folks that have used the Comcast VoIP product.
     
  10. Dwarflord

    Dwarflord New Member

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    I've had vonage for 1 1/2 years now and no problems. If you are looking to use a VoIP service as the "ONLY" telephone service, then don't do it. There are too many dependencies to overcome: internet must work, Vonage must work and if either is down, you are down. I keep my cell with me at all times so if my VoIP goes down (which has only been when my broadband goes down) I still have my cell. Other than that, Vonage actually works fantastic for me. $15/mo vs the $45 I was paying is a nice savings, not to mention all of the additional features you get with Vonage.
    I too tried Broadvoice for a year....blah! horrible connections, echo, dropped calls. Went to Vonage and have only had a couple calls with minor echo.
    As far as QoS: If you download a lot then get a QoS router, or connect your vonage router right to your cable modem then the rest of your network behind your Vonage router. I have had no problems with my Vonage adapter sitting behind my D-Link router at home Natting to a private IP address. If I am downloading a large file, I can barely tell that it is affecting my phone service. I think others tend to be impacted more, but if you are, just put in a QoS router in and you'll be fine.
    I'm happy with vonage mostly for the feature sets and forwarding capabilities. And I will never rely on them for my 911 service, I keep that cellphone around for that.
    G/L
     
  11. Pictor Guy

    Pictor Guy New Member

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    I've had Vonage for a couple of years now. No complaints other than issues with Adelphia. I do expect quality to drop a little due to the Comcast switch but that shouldn't be a long term problem. VoIP uses very little bandwidth; I even ran it over an 128k ISDL line. I do have two cell phone in the house that can be used in a backup situation but I also have my Vonage line setup to use E911.

    FWIW, many people will say that VoIP may not work in a power outage but many of those same people have cordless phones that have a base that is dependent on 110v power. In that situation you're SOL with VoIP or POTS. I keep my base phone, cable modem, and VoIP ATA hooked up to a battery backup for protection of the equipment and for to ensure I can operate the phone in a blackout situation.
     
  12. Zeratul

    Zeratul Well-Known Member

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    As someone with Openband (fiber) I can say that Vonage works very well (now). Initially, like a year ago, there were issues with how Openband allowed, or blocked this kind of traffic but it seems to be working well now.

    I have mine behind the firewall, set up just like they (Vonage) recommended in the installation kit and it has worked well. I have low quality calls occassionally but that is all over the world and seems to be just a fact of life sometimes with the countries you call. But I can get through and the price is worth it for sure, saving 60% easily on my international costs.
     

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