Vonage

[dboat]

I have seen enough of the commercials to make me consider this as an option to my Verizon and ATT (long distance).. anyone have any experience with this service? pros and cons..

Thanks
Dana

[98Cobra]

Works great, as long as your broadband is reliable. My parents have it.

The only con, besides it being off if your broadband drops, is that when you move you have to remember to update your address online so that if you call 911 you will get the right 911 operator. There has been a lot of bad press in the last year about that, but seriously, they tell you several times, if you arent smart enough to do it after all the warnings(including one you must agree to before activating service) you probably deserve to watch your house burn down anyway. :mad:

[dboat]

Works great, as long as your broadband is reliable. My parents have it.

The only con, besides it being off if your broadband drops, is that when you move you have to remember to update your address online so that if you call 911 you will get the right 911 operator. There has been a lot of bad press in the last year about that, but seriously, they tell you several times, if you arent smart enough to do it after all the warnings(including one you must agree to before activating service) you probably deserve to watch your house burn down anyway. :mad:

Our cable modem has been pretty reliable.. it has the ability to shift or save calls if your service is down.. plus we have the backup of our cell phones. The price is pretty cheap and it sure is appealing, except for those stupid sounding commercials.
Dana

[dboat]

I took the plunge today and went to Best Buy and bought the equipment.. signed up, filled out the form to move the phone number, service and all.. lets see how long it takes to make this all happen.

should save me about $500-600 per year.. enough for another mod or two..
Dana

[Logan]

I run Time Warner Cable's VOIP service... Works great and best of all, is driving SBC nuts trying to get my business back... :)

[L1nt2B]

I have had Vonage for about a year now and we love it! It's my little way of sticking it to the man:tu:

[Silver_2000]

I tried Lingo but it wouldnt work with my ADT alarm - I did get it working with the Dishnetwork recievers but not ADT - Im about half way thru a ADT contract - Once I either figure out how to make it work or the contract is up Im going for VOIP - The 14.95 500 minute plan would be serious overkill for me ...

Doug

PS some folks on the Vonage forums have said they got it working with ADT but some didnt ..
Also - I wired it so that the Lingo device made every RJ11 jack in the house live - which they DONT support

[99WhiteBeast]

Just curious- are you tied to computer via a headset or there handheld cordless devices?

Reason I ask is I just had Avaya IP Softphone installed for work and they are using a USB headset which I hate

[Silver_2000]

Just curious- are you tied to computer via a headset or there handheld cordless devices?

Reason I ask is I just had Avaya IP Softphone installed for work and they are using a USB headset which I hate

No its different

You get a router like device - You plug it into your high speed connection and your phone plugs into it - the only way the support more than one extension is to get one of the multi handset phones

[Logan]

My Time Warner one backfeeds the rest of the system. They rewired it at the feed into the house to use one of the internal jacks as the source for the rest of the jacks in the house....

[gagspa]

Are you guys replacing your landline for that? My concern would be if the power were out. How would you call?

[Silver_2000]

Are you guys replacing your landline for that? My concern would be if the power were out. How would you call?

If power is out you would need to have battery backup for all your internet devices and your phone - Most people use Cordless phones so they would be dead - I use FIOS internet which has battery backup - I have a few UPS's which I could use as backups for the routers and phones - BUT - I use my cell for that stuff - if my cell was to run down I could charge it from my truck

[dboat]

We are now up and running, its a nice service with all the bells and whistles..

Now, I just need to get someone to do the phone service mod to the phone box at the house. I am not inclined to do this myself. But once done, then I can plug the converter into any wall jack and all the other jacks in the house will be active.. it does have about a 5 phone ringer max, unless you get a ringer booster.. In the long haul, this will save me some bucksknana , plus you dont have to pay all those other darned fees and taxes..

I hate taxes... :flaming:

Dana

p.s. Doug, thanks for posting up about the Vonage forum, that is where I found the house phone wiring mod. :tu:

[Silver_2000]

We are now up and running, its a nice service with all the bells and whistles..

Now, I just need to get someone to do the phone service mod to the phone box at the house. I am not inclined to do this myself. But once done, then I can plug the converter into any wall jack and all the other jacks in the house will be active.. it does have about a 5 phone ringer max, unless you get a ringer booster.. In the long haul, this will save me some bucksknana , plus you dont have to pay all those other darned fees and taxes..

I hate taxes... :flaming:

Dana

p.s. Doug, thanks for posting up about the Vonage forum, that is where I found the house phone wiring mod. :tu:


The home wirig mod can be EASY
On my house I have a verizon box with rj11 jacks in it
http://www.homephonewiring.com/images/nid-1.gif

All you have to do is oppen that box, unplug the connections that go OUT to verizon, its just like unplugging your phone from the wall
http://www.homephonewiring.com/images/nid-4.gif
Then run a phone cord from the vonage box to a wall jack in your house

And test it ...

Some of the wiring chages that they talk about in the forum are to put the vonage access in front of the alarm system and to switch the tip and ring wires. In my mind neither of those things are required

Even if they are, switching tip and ring is easy - phone works on 2 wires - the center 2 in the jack- one is called tip and the other is called ring - just open the jack that you use to run the wire from the vonage box to the house and switch the 2 wires. takes about 2 min and a phillips head screw driver. I have worked on my home phones a LOT and done some for DSL customers. Im sure we have phone techs here that will cringe BUT most phones dont care if tip and ring are reversed. And if you are worried you can buy a little tester at Home depo for about 10 bucks

links

tester I bought at the depot looks like this
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/webtronics/smarmodtes.html

But if you dont have a button set it may be over kill -

http://www.homephonewiring.com/nid.html

i have mnost of these tools - almost never use them
http://www.homephonewiring.com/tools.html

http://www.askthebuilder.com/B155_Telephone_Wiring_Tips.shtml

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2073401265.1140786717@ @@@&BV_EngineID=cccgaddhdkkjdiecgelceffdfgidgmk.0&CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+3865&pos=n22

http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050206_voip_over_phone_wiring.html

[dboat]

The home wirig mod can be EASY
On my house I have a verizon box with rj11 jacks in it
http://www.homephonewiring.com/images/nid-1.gif

All you have to do is oppen that box, unplug the connections that go OUT to verizon, its just like unplugging your phone from the wall
http://www.homephonewiring.com/images/nid-4.gif
Then run a phone cord from the vonage box to a wall jack in your house

And test it ...

Some of the wiring chages that they talk about in the forum are to put the vonage access in front of the alarm system and to switch the tip and ring wires. In my mind neither of those things are required

Even if they are, switching tip and ring is easy - phone works on 2 wires - the center 2 in the jack- one is called tip and the other is called ring - just open the jack that you use to run the wire from the vonage box to the house and switch the 2 wires. takes about 2 min and a phillips head screw driver. I have worked on my home phones a LOT and done some for DSL customers. Im sure we have phone techs here that will cringe BUT most phones dont care if tip and ring are reversed. And if you are worried you can buy a little tester at Home depo for about 10 bucks

links

tester I bought at the depot looks like this
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/webtronics/smarmodtes.html

But if you dont have a button set it may be over kill -

http://www.homephonewiring.com/nid.html

i have mnost of these tools - almost never use them
http://www.homephonewiring.com/tools.html

http://www.askthebuilder.com/B155_Telephone_Wiring_Tips.shtml

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2073401265.1140786717@ @@@&BV_EngineID=cccgaddhdkkjdiecgelceffdfgidgmk.0&CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+3865&pos=n22

http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050206_voip_over_phone_wiring.html

I MAY give it a try but the wife is gonna kill me if I screw up something and the phones go dead.. the voice mail still isnt working right but I will call and see what that problem is.. but so far so good otherwise.
Thanks Doug..

Dana

[dboat]

I MAY give it a try but the wife is gonna kill me if I screw up something and the phones go dead.. the voice mail still isnt working right but I will call and see what that problem is.. but so far so good otherwise.
Thanks Doug..

Dana

Well I went outside today and tried it.. It was so easy I am almost embarrassed to think I couldnt do this.. I disconnected the two wires on the house side of the connection, then we checked a phone in the house (after we plugged in the router to a jack) and it worked.. woo hoo:banana:

This is great and I am saving some money in the proces. Actually, the service is quite good and I love being able to go to the website, looking at my calls, my bill, etc..

I want to thank you guys that helped me make up my mind on this.. great decision so far.

Dana

[Silver_2000]

Well I went outside today and tried it.. It was so easy I am almost embarrassed to think I couldnt do this.. I disconnected the two wires on the house side of the connection, then we checked a phone in the house (after we plugged in the router to a jack) and it worked.. woo hoo:banana:

This is great and I am saving some money in the proces. Actually, the service is quite good and I love being able to go to the website, looking at my calls, my bill, etc..

I want to thank you guys that helped me make up my mind on this.. great decision so far.

Dana:tu::tu:

[dboat]

I am using the service and loving the savings.. but that wont be for long it looks like.

Dana

http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/news/2007/04/16/278110.htm

http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/news/2007/04/12/277271.htm

:flaming: :flaming: :flaming:

[Tex Arcana]

Just a reminder to everyone thinking about doing VOIP: ALL POTS jacks in your home that are still connected to the POTS network MUST be able to place 911 calls. This means you can have just ONE phone attatched to the jack, and the only call out you can make is 911. This also applies to all cellphones.

[Tex Arcana]

I am using the service and loving the savings.. but that wont be for long it looks like.

Dana

http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/news/2007/04/16/278110.htm

http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/news/2007/04/12/277271.htm

:flaming: :flaming: :flaming:

I guess they need to change their name to "OWNAGE", am i rite? :(

[dboat]

I guess they need to change their name to "OWNAGE", am i rite? :(

I think so now.. this is so disappointing because it really did save me money and I was ok with the service too.. yes, if my internet was down, it was down but thats why I have a cellphone too..

Dana

[gagspa]

I was just thinking about opening a Vonage account too. I guess I'll wait and see what happens.

[TXLIGHTNING]

Just a reminder to everyone thinking about doing VOIP: ALL POTS jacks in your home that are still connected to the POTS network MUST be able to place 911 calls. This means you can have just ONE phone attatched to the jack, and the only call out you can make is 911. This also applies to all cellphones.It is called E911 compliant. Fed law requires all phone carriers land or air based to be e911 compliant. It all passed with the patriot act, this way they can track and pin point your location's, calls, etc if need be.

[Tex Arcana]

I think so now.. this is so disappointing because it really did save me money and I was ok with the service too.. yes, if my internet was down, it was down but thats why I have a cellphone too..

Dana

Actually, I was discussing this with a friend of mine in the industry, and his take is that Vonage needs to demonstrate prior art, because Verizon's patents were given by a monkey with a stamp. :(

[dboat]

Actually, I was discussing this with a friend of mine in the industry, and his take is that Vonage needs to demonstrate prior art, because Verizon's patents were given by a monkey with a stamp. :(

Tex, I guess your post means they are screwed.. and thats what it looks like.. problem is, I really liked the service and the savings.. about $50-60 per month for me..

Dana

[Tex Arcana]

Tex, I guess your post means they are screwed.. and thats what it looks like.. problem is, I really liked the service and the savings.. about $50-60 per month for me..

Dana

It actually means there's a chance for them to dig this out, if they can find and present the info they need to prove the prior art. They really need to dig this out, becasue if they get nailed, you can see Verizon buying them out for next to nothing and making it theirs--tho, there's some that would say that's not a bad thing.

[Tex Arcana]

Update:


Vonage gets injunction stay made permanent
Still confident of victory, but squirreling away cash just in case
By Bill Ray
Published Wednesday 25th April 2007 12:44 GMT

The US Court of Appeal has granted an indefinite stay on the injunction which threatened to prevent Vonage signing up new customers while its patent row with Verizon drags on - meaning the company might just remain viable.

Vonage has agreed to pay a 5.5 per cent royalty payment into escrow, as well as posting a $66m bond, which should cover its liability to Verizon if the case goes against it.

"We believe the original verdict was based on an erroneous claim construction - meaning the patents in this case were defined in an overly broad and legally unprecedented way," said Sharon O'Leary, Vonage's executive vice president, chief legal officer, and secretary.

An extension to the stay was essential if the company wasn't going to be driven out of business before the patent spat was over. VoIP services suffer very high churn rates, and if Vonage wasn't able to sign up new customers, there would be little left to sue by the time the case was settled. ®