Vonage - yea or nay

Anyone who has used this, or is using it, please let me know your opinions. Thanks!!

 

I used it at the last place I worked for about a year or so. My verdict: ok, nothing special. It worked the majority of the time, but being at the mercy of cable/internet isn't that great to me. The problems I had with it was the frequent loss of quality (you'd hear every other word spoken to you). This happened quite frequently...we were hooked into a major technical school computer network. I don't pretend to know why we had so many problems with it...so don't assume that everyone suffers from this problem (I'm sure most do, but rarely)...

If you have a stable line and don't get the loss, then I'd say it's a pretty good product. Money-wise though I still think you're better off rolling with a cell phone... but that totally depends on your needs. hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the reply. I am sticking with Verizon.

 

I've used Vonage for over a year. Quality is awesome. If there is a pause, it's do damn clear I have to ask if the person is still there.

 

I am not sticking with Verizon because they are better, just because DSL is not available in my area any longer. I am pretty certain Vonage cannot be used with a cable connection, right?

 

INCORRECT!
Vonage can be used with ANY broadband service.. including cable..
I'm on Time Warner Cable.

 

Then again....why would you want to get a broadband phony service when you've got DSL!?!?!? You have to pay for the basic phone service into your house in order to get the DSL. So since you've already got the basic phone service...i'm pretty sure that it would be cheaper to just add on some kind of cheap-a$$ long distance deal, instead of internet phone!?!?!?!

For me...I have basic SBC phone w/DSL, and a flat 10cents a min on the long distance (I use my cell for all my long distance calls) and I pay approximately $60.00 a month!!

But, hey.........I could be wrong!!

Roger

 

I have ordered the Vonage.

 

This is not always the case. Some DSL services offer seperate phone and BB service.

 

There is a local company that supplies DSL service and I did not have to have any type of phone connection in order to use it and Vonage. Comcast and Vonage is actually cheaper than what I would pay for DSL and any other phone service (keeping in mind we use a lot of long distance.)

Thank you for all of the opinions though.

 

I have had vonage for 18 months, love the price, quality is good - plus, but I travel frequently and all problems seem to occur when I am away, and my tech-ignorant family can never fix the problem(always something simple, but yet...NO). I am trying to educate them but to no avail. all in all I am still in the trial phase due to previously mentioned problem.

 

Just set it up last night. If you have static IPs & router it can be a pain to configure. I had to connect one of my PCs directly to the v-tech base and hardcode that PCs TCP/IP to the base's IP and gateway so that I could log in to the v-tech to set it up with an IP on my network. After that, change the PCs TCP/IP back to my original IP, plug the PC back to the router, plug the v-tech into a LAN port and finally in business.

So far it works perfectly and no more long distance charges.

 

<blink blink> <crickets chirping>

Thank you, did not understand any of that, except that it works.

 

Sorry...

The V-tech is the phone/hardware I ordered with the Vonage package. But, actually, any of the phone units you choose will need the same setup. From what I can tell, setting the system up with a system using dynamic IPs or one w/o a router should be pretty simple.

Basically, with the static IP addresses and router, I had to find a workaround to the set up instructions because my configuration isn't accouted for in the documentation. Since the Vonage hardware had to become part of your DSL or cable hard wiring, the modem has to be able to "see" the new phone, which has its own IP address (192.168.15.1).

What I was blabbering on about is that getting a network and broadband phone to talk to one another can be a little tricky with static IPs.

36 hours now and still no bugs.

 

It seems like no one knows that you dont need an IP phone to use vonage. you dont even need to plug a phone it by the vonage box. All you have to do is go outside and unplug your house from the phone company. This will insure that no power goes back to the vonage box and shorts it out. Then just plug a phone cable from the line jack on the bacck of the vonage box to the wall and bam all the phones in your house will work as they normally did before vonage. Just use the phone jacks like normal.

 

All is good, I have not had any problems with it yet. Everyone I speak to says it sounds normal, and it sounds normal to me. I do notice a little difference when I am downloading something at the same time I am on the phone though. Easy enough fix.

Thanks for the info all.