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I got tired of $70 phone bills. I mean, really. I call my mom once a week or so. My brother about as often. Maybe 1 local call a day. Maybe. 70 d@mn dollars/month?!?!

I finally got Roadrunner (never going back to dialup. NEVER!!!!) and took the opprotunity to kick Bellsouth to the curb. I got Vonage. For $15/month, I get 500 minutes of calling anywhere in the US & Canada (Goodday, eh?) anytime. I have yet to use all 500 minutes a month. If I use more than 500, it's only $.08/minute after that, which is comparable to Bellsouth (hereto refered to as BS). For $25/month, calling is unlimited, anywhere, anytime. Call quality is good.

So my combined cost of phone AND high-speed internet service is ~$55/month. I'm saving almost $50/month on the combo.

If you have broadband, do yourself a favor and kick the phone company to the curb. You won't regret it. Eventually, they will get the message that we aren't going to put up with $70-$100 BS phone bills anymore.

Cliffnotes: Bellsouth sucks. Roadrunner good. Vonage will be ripped from my cold, dead hand...

ditto what he said

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In need of car.

One tidbit of info.....

Hang on to one of those POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) phone sets (you know...... the one with the wire from the handset to the base and from the base to the phone jack).

The existing public phone system is powered by -48vDC and is required to provide a minimum of 8 hours battery reserve so that the phone network will work when the power is down. This doesn't include cellular phones, which are still viewed as a "convenience."

In the event that you have an emergency and road runner/vonage is not working (as well as your cell phone), you can take the phone set out to the box on your house where the old phone service was wired in, connect to it, and you will still have access to 911.

Yeah, I know it sounds like a lot. But it cost nothing and if you truly have an emergency, you'll be glad that you have the phone. However, if you are like me, when that day comes and I need the phone, I'll be running around screaming "where in the hell did I put that phone!!!"

BTW.....which VOIP phones did you go with?

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Rob Harvey
919-697-5485
1997 BMW M3
1992 Acura Integra (Simon)

Rob, I'm using my old phones. They gave me a box that converts the data to a normal phone line signal. Just unplug the connection from the street and plug this box into your house wiring. The phones don't know the difference.

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In need of car.

Is there a fee for the box?

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Rob Harvey
919-697-5485
1997 BMW M3
1992 Acura Integra (Simon)

I use the same phone I was using before. The *setup* fee with Vonage is $40, it comes with a straight pimpin Cisco Systems Linksys router.

If you got 'referred', this would have been cheaper I've been on Vonage for about 20 months. I run it with Earthlink Cable (aka Roadrunner)

As for power emergencies, I have a UPS that can hold my computer and network for about 45 minutes.

One thing Rob is also forgetting is that most of us on Vonage have disconnected at the street from POTS, thus, it would mean a walk with a flashlight to reconnect if the power dumps.

Screw that My Blackberry will get me through - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

There are 3 things have kept me from Vonage (or some of the other companies out there offering better deals). And trust me, I want to.

1. When my cable goes out (infrequently), my phone dies too. That would suck since I'm working at home a LOT these days and spend a LOT of time on the phone. Bellsouth has proven to be more reliable than Time Warner.

2. The phone would be stealing my bandwidth! And I need it ALL during the day, especially when I'm ... on the phone

3. The emergency issues. Again, I've noticed that everything else in the house and neighborhood can be kaput, and I still got a dial tone. It's pretty amazing.

Then again, my phone bill is only $20/month, a small price for a little security, 99.99% uptime, and unabridged bandwidth.

Just the differing opinion.....

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Another data point...

I have been using Vonage for awhile and like it. Like Aaron, I use a UPS so if the power goes out, I still have phone service. I use TWC, so if if the cable goes, the phone does. Also like Jason, I basically have connected Vonage to the phone lines in my house at the "point of demarcation". So all phone jacks in the house are connected to the Vonage adapter (linksys VOIP/network router in my case)

Many people may not know, but if the Vonage system knows you are down (i.e. the adapter at your house is not connected to the Vonage network), you can have your incomming calls redirected to another phone (such as your cell). This is done automatically. This is helpfull if you have your broadband or power go down for an extended period of time. I have not had a problem yet with TWC going down when I needed it. But I know it will eventually happen.

Nobody has mentioned the E911 issue yet. That is just something you need to be aware of before you switch. I believe (based upon recent FCC rulings) this will be solved soon.

The only other downside I can think to mention is that if you have some type of computer equipment that requires a modem connection, then some of these might have problems with VOIP. DirecTV TiVo receivers fit into this category. Their on-board modems try to run at a high speed and the qty of digital to analog to digital converstions that happen with modems and VOIP cause problems. The SA (Stand Alone) TiVos don't seem to have this problem as they can be configured to connect at a lower modem speed. You just have to go online to find the way to do this if you have problems with your TiVo.

Overall, I think you are going to get a more reliable service via POTS, but you will pay much more for that. You also get some Bing features with Vonage that are generally not offered by your POTS provider. The question is... Do you want to continue to pay the big bucks for what the POTS provider can offer or not? It is a personal choice. The cost savings can be signifiant if you are on the phone a great deal.

(Mike, I haven't had any bandwidth problems. I think that the Vonage footprint is pretty small.). I have run Xbox Live (which includes its own voice system) and Vonage and Surfed the web ok all at the same time)

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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.

Richard, what E911 problems are you talking about? As long as you sign up correctly, it works great. Packet8 and other VoIP's don't have E911, but Vonage does. I called the police at 2am about 4 months ago when I saw a strange dude walking around the neighborhood and the call went to my local area police. The police were there in about 4 mins after my call.

Here are some also little known benefits:

1- I have it ring my cell phone at the same time of my home phone when a call comes to the home, not just when the system drops.

2 - I have Vonage email me my voicemails in .wav files. That way, no need to call into it or pick them up online, they're sitting in my inbox on my home network or Blackberry where I can play them.

3 - I take my Vonage router with me on trips. If you have a hotel that has land line ethernet (wireless adapter if needed), I attach it there and have a travel phone hooked up. Then hook in my computer via the router portion. The same can be true when you go to someone's house for the weekend. Plug it in line and you can make phone calls without needing to waste cellular minutes, and still have a local # for people to call you on, even when your 10 states away.

4 - Virtual #'s. I have 3 different area codes that ring to my Vonage box in Charlotte. One is a 704, one is 518 (upstate NY) and one is 845 (Southern NY). That way my whole family can call me via a local #. There is an additional charge of $5 per month for a virtual #, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than an 800# from your local LEC/IXC.

5 - Mike brought up the 'issue' with upload/download speed problems. I have never encountered any. Once I had packet loss that was noticeable, but that was due to a failing router on my network. I can do online gambling, download movies and talk on the phone at the same time... there never seems to be speed loss.

- AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

We have both a POTS and a VoIP (VoiceWing) line ... VoIP for Joan's home office with the usual features - vmail, free LD, spiffy .wav files, etc.
DSL for the IP connection, all on a UPS.
POTS for emergencies, local calls, etc.

You probably think having both is weird.

But remember, most folks in the world have no concept of a "street car" and a "track car"

Aaron : did you ever try e911 with that IP phone when you're traveling? That's the tough nut to crack. Otherwise its a relatively simple database lookup ANI/ALI spill for the PSAP. The FCC is requiring all VoIP providers to get their subs registered which is probably a good thing. Wiretaps are next ...

Frank
In terms of disclosure, I am a Verizon employee. So I do get employee discounts, etc.

Get a rope.....

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Aaron,

I have not been keeping up with it that much, but as Frank mentions, currently most (I believe Vonage in most of the US as well) just translates your "911" dailing to your PSAP phone number. When you sign up with a VOIP provider today you are going to get a slew of warnings about how the 911 system works (again the FCC is involved).

"Real" E911 (E=Enhanced) does a bunch of stuff that maybe VOIP will never be able to do (can the 911 center person force your phone to ring when it is off the hook?). There is no "911" phone number. A call to 911 is direct hack into the phone switching network so that you are directly connected to the 911 center. And as part of the direct hack, there is a bunch of other things that go along with it (such as the ability to know your address, and other features).

So... If you have a PSAP that is not as good as some (or your VOIP carrier screwed up your 911 to PSAP mapping) you may call 911 and this results in a phone ringing somewhere that may or may not be in a 911 center. It most likely will NOT be at the same console that "regular" 911 calls come into. It MAY be at the same location. Hopefully whoever is tasked to man that phone is not working 9-5.

This all sounds negative. And to a degree it is. BUT it in my opinion is one of the things that people can bash VOIP over the head with. This problem is going to go away as the FCC has mandated that this be fixed. It is generally not rocket science. The FCC has said this has to be fixed by Nov 28 of this year. VOIP providers are asking for an extension. It has been rolled out in some places (don't think it is done here in RTP or maybe in any of NC) but is not close at all to being nationwide. I think that the major problem is that to make this work correctly the VOIP providers needs a "hook" into the local telcos system. This allows them to route into the 911 center just like any other 911 call. The problem here is that the local telcos have no reason to make this happen. I think the FCC mandate was for the VOIP providers to make this work but with no mandate for the local telcos to help.

With all of this said. I still am a VOIP fan. But until this small problem is solved, people need to be aware.

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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.

Unfortunately a UPS helps out about as much as a pile of crap if roadrunner's network goes down, which happens quite often when the power goes out.




You are the first person that I've heard of that had their existing phone connection changed at the street (not saying that it doesn't happen, just that none of the people that I know of who have Vonage have had their connection changed at the street). That sucks....

My point was simply that it cost you nothing to tap into the PSTN at the box outside of your house, run a connection inside your house, and then you will have access to E911 in the event that everything else has gone to hell and doesn't work.



Most of the time, it probably will. Will it get you through everytime......I can promise you the answer is NO. Wireless and Cable are NOT required to provide the reliability (Five 9's - 99.999%) and reserve power (minimum of 8 hours) that the PSTN is requlated against.

I'm not against Vonage....I'm in the process of comparing a couple of different companies so that I can drop my local Sprint service (way over priced). However, once I change over, I will make sure that I connect back into the PSTN for a "reliable" connection to E911.

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Rob Harvey
919-697-5485
1997 BMW M3
1992 Acura Integra (Simon)

How often does your power go out? I can't imagine it's that big a deal. Prior to Vonage, I was 100% cellular for 6 years straight. How many times did I have problems? Once.. on 09/11. I have had my cable modem drop once in 19 months, and that was for about a 1/2 hour.



1st person? Your friends are all running directly off the box? What a waste of viable ports. Almost anyone I know that has Vonage has disconnected from the street in order to activate every port in their house.




I understand, but I can always go outside if 'everything else has gone to hell'. If it gets to that, I'll need more than just E911 help.



Sure the answer is no. Even standard POTS won't get you through 100% of the time. Ever have a phone line cut? It tends not to work so well. I had that happen when the the fine cable company cut the buried phone line.




I can understand, but with just me and my dog, I'm not too worried about it. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S