THSCC Forums

Check out Magic Jack. Though I'm not a Vonage user I think this will kick it to the curb.

http://www.magicjack.com/5/index.asp

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“I feel safer on a racetrack than I do on Houston's freeways.” - A.J. Foyt

Kevin Butler
Mobetta Autosport Spec E30 #612
2003 C5 Z06 Corvette
AFR Miata, SM2 61, '93 w/200 SC'd RWHP - soon to be resurrected
Waaaay too many other projects....

Scott,

When my router went Tango Uniform last year Vonage gave us a $40 credit to compensate for buying a new router (Fortunately Dick Rasmussen gave me one that he wasn't using! Thanks Dick!!!!) I asked Vonage if they could send me one but the nice Indian (I believe his name was "Bill") said that they couldn't do it and it would be quicker to buy a new one and use the credit. We found out that to get the same router that we already had would cost us $90 and we couldn't find a generic alternative.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

You gotta start with the simple questions first such as "Is it plugged in?"

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Kevin are you currently using that?

I hear news of customer complaint issues regarding billing. You also have to wonder how they make their money. Apparently the revenue stream is ad based. Since you have to run this on a PC, you have some type of application that is running that can serve up ads.

Now if they didn't require a PC on all of the time then they might have something!

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

No. But at $40 to try it and $20/yr afterwards, it's very tempting.

Software runs off the dongle, so you can use it on any computer. Its got voicemail, so you don't need your computer on all of the time. I think if you've got a bluetooth headset and bluetooth on the computer, you don't need a phone.

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“I feel safer on a racetrack than I do on Houston's freeways.” - A.J. Foyt

Kevin Butler
Mobetta Autosport Spec E30 #612
2003 C5 Z06 Corvette
AFR Miata, SM2 61, '93 w/200 SC'd RWHP - soon to be resurrected
Waaaay too many other projects....

I have Vonage for business and I've looked into using Skype and Gizmo5. Both of which don't require hardware and are in the same ballpark as Magic Jack. Gizmo is based on open source tech. Skype is proprietary. The only issue is that you are computer based only. So if you're looking to go the bluetooth heaset route, those are cheaper (and in some ways) better options than MJ.

Now I will say that the reason I haven't given up the Vonage line is that the quality of the computer based VOIP stuff seems to vary more than I'd like. The reason I've been looking at other options is that the Vonage router likes to hog the connection and that jacks with my server.

One other thing people can look into (and it's free) is GrandCentral.com. While not a phone service per se, it gives you some pretty cool control over sending and making calls.

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

Got a new router (motorola vt2142) via craigslist. The phone calls are crystal clear again, however it's slamming my bandwidth. Speed tests normally show 3000-7000 kbps (depending on time of day). Right now I'm seeing 150-300.

Not sure what is up. I couldn't get the new adapter to work *behind* my router, so I can't test that theory.

Scott

Well, bandwidth is back up this morning. Maybe it was just a bad night in the neighborhood.

Hopefully this takes care of everything. Maybe I can get Vonage to give me a $40 credit like they did for Todd.

Scott