Has anyone tried Vonage?

[kjnorman]

Subject says it all.  Has anyone tried or is using the Vonage VoIP service is this area?

What did you like/not like?

Did you suffer from network conjestion or your broadband going down?

Incidentally I use Roadrunner and can not remember the last time there was a line fault.

Kerry

[sp44again]

I tried it and it sucked for me.  It didn't sound good and sometimes had connection problems on both ends. That was a year ago so it might be better now.
The wife definitely hated it. We couldn't get back to SBC quick enough.

[The Law]

I cannot tell you about vonage, however, I use Cisco's IP Softphone via VPN frequently using TWs Roadrunner and am amazed at the quality.  Granted, I'm us g.711, but I receive little jitter or packet loss.  Call quality sounds better than cell phone.

Also, I don't have to pay for anything since I'm hitting the corporate network, but the calls are still going out accross the 'net and subject to all of the nuances that go along with that.

I also use this at customer sites - some with partial T's some with as low as 128k.  If you're doing big file transfers during a call, expect some packet loss.

[gparris]

TWC's  "Digital Phone" should be in our area-at least it is almost out - unless you are like me, and your cable "nodes" are not setup yet. The cable company is advertising it already.

Call 1-888-892-8642 for additional information for your area.
Since some of you are RoadRunner customers, this could be good for you. Their is an introductory $19.95/month 3-month billing with voicemail included and it uses your existing telephone wiring installed by TWC installers and you get to keep your existing phone number and nothing to buy. It comes with all the phone features you are used to having including caller ID, etc.
Currently this system allows for only one phone line per household, but that will change.

:cool:

[Bebop]

There's always Packet8. I had the service for over six months. There are some periodic problems and getting better, but for $20 unlimited calls I can live with them.

[rpine]

I have just finish a 4-month "trial" of Vonage. I had no intention of keeping it in, just wanted to see how it works and what problems there may be.  My observations:

1. Install -- easy! I put the TA device on a switch port after the cable modem and router.  I lose the QoS capability of the Vonage TA box, but since the TA cannot pass-thru traffic at the 3Meg Time Warner rate to the rest of my PCs, I gave up the QoS ability of the device.

2. Service - worked good. Some drop outs in the evening when the neighborhood was downloading like crazy, but normaly the dropouts were minimum and did not affect my ability to understand the conversation.

3. Problems - the last two weeks I had some quality issues on calls back to a PSTN number -- the voice was all crackly and distorted -- hang up and redial and it worked fine.  My guess is that Vonage had a PSTN-to-IP gateway that was having some problems.  This affected 5 out of 500 calls.

4. Web Site -- Cool!  Vonage has a nice website to view your calls (both received and made), review your voicemail, check billing, etc.

5. Billing.  No problems! I went with the $14.99 package for 500 minutes of call time.  I had a 2-month free deal.  All months were billed correctly.

Would I use it as a 2nd line -- definately.
Would I use it as my only phone line -- no. Between Time Warner outages and power outages, there are too many issues that can leave you without phone service. (Of course, I am one of the dinosaurs who does not have a cell phone).

[kjnorman]

Okay, thanks to all for the replies.

I think I will just be sticking with Sage for the time being.

Kerry

[Mike Sura]

Time Warner sent me a flyer for digital phone service. They have a web site for it.
 http://www.twcdigitalphone.com/sewisconsin/friendlies/index.htm

Before I got the flyer, I called and ordered it. It will be installed Friday. I noticed that my community is not listed in the areas available so that must not be up to date.

[John L]

TWC is getting ridiculouis with their prices.  They want to charge $39.95 for Digital Phone Services???  

I guess I won't be changing from my analog SBC (formerly WIsconsin Telephone Co.) at anytime soon.

Besides TWC will want me to get my house re-wired for cable.  They don't like me using Radio Shack stuff. I offered to re-wire it myself if they gave me the hardware.  They won't do that, they perfer to do it themselves. Only if I get a good deal like $200 to $300, then I may let them re-wire the house.
 This is why I hate it when Road Runner stops working.  When they send a tech over, all he does is complain about my wiring even thou the problems have often times existed in their box.

I might consider going back to dialup since I don't do much heavy downloading like I used too.  At least with dialup you can go as low as $9.95 per month instead of $44.95.

-John L.

[gb4fan92]

I had my house re-wired because I was having 2 problems.  INHD 1 & 2 the picture was constantly breaking up, and then my road runner wasn't working. The Tech supervisor said he didn't like the way the splits were located in the house. He mapped out how he wanted the house re-wired and set up the installation time. After the re-wire job was complete everything worked great! Total cost was $75.00

[StarvingForHDTV]

Originally posted by John L
I might consider going back to dialup since I don't do much heavy downloading like I used too.  At least with dialup you can go as low as $9.95 per month instead of $44.95.

-John L.

Hmm.  I can't imagine going back to dial up....  You could save a few bucks a month by buying your cable internet through Earthlink instead of Road Runner.  It will still be billed by Time Warner, and they do the tech also.  It's $41.95 a month plus taxes which brings it to $44.30

Another option would be the SBC/Yahoo DSL for $26.95 per month plus taxes/fees.  Who knows what the price will be in one year though.  They refuse to tell me that, so I refuse to switch.

I hope you can find a non dial up solution.

Starving

[gparris]

Originally posted by John L
TWC is getting ridiculouis with their prices.  They want to charge $39.95 for Digital Phone Services???  

I guess I won't be changing from my analog SBC (formerly WIsconsin Telephone Co.) at anytime soon.

Besides TWC will want me to get my house re-wired for cable.  They don't like me using Radio Shack stuff. I offered to re-wire it myself if they gave me the hardware.  They won't do that, they perfer to do it themselves. Only if I get a good deal like $200 to $300, then I may let them re-wire the house.
 This is why I hate it when Road Runner stops working.  When they send a tech over, all he does is complain about my wiring even thou the problems have often times existed in their box.

I might consider going back to dialup since I don't do much heavy downloading like I used too.  At least with dialup you can go as low as $9.95 per month instead of $44.95



-John L.

You know, I really fail to see what the big deal is with $39.95 a month as it includes all local and long distance charges.
My home phone charges with Verizon (formerly GTE)  dropped to  $65 for the same plan and were upwards of $100+ before they got scared with Digitial phone coming in from TWC for competitive reasons and dropped their pricing. Being in a new construction area I was not allowed to change out of Verizon for a couple of years and now, with Digital Phone, that is not a concern, anymore.

IF you never call out of state, then maybe it IS too costly for you or maybe you think you can go cellular alone and work out a plan (if you can find one out there) that is best you. It is a preference and usage thing. I live next to Illinois and my calls end up out of state or into Milwaukee so either way I'm ahead.
Now I will have one bill for TV, Internet and Phone, Great!

I just followed the website that Mike gave me (thank you) and my Digital Phone installation will occur next week and I will end up saving hundreds or dollars a year on phone service, thank you very much, TWC!


:wave:

[rpine]

A couple of comments:

1. $39.95/month for TWC Digital Voice. gparris is right on the mark -- all depends on your calling habits.  If you make tons of LD calls, then $40/month is a good deal -- on par with the standard wireline carriers and thei bundled offerings.  Yes, you can get Vonage for $29.95/month, but looking at Digital Phone service per the DOCIS statndard, it should be better than VoIP, at least up to the head-end.

2. Regarding the wiring issue -- I work for a company offering VoIP service to business (not one of the ones we have been talking about) and wiring/LAN issues are the killer.  I understand that this does not have a 1-to-1 correspondance to rewiring Coax, but with signal reflections and loss, Coax wiring quality can have a big impact on your service. When it comes to voice traffic, a few dropped packets is a major quality issue.

[gparris]

After I got the call to get the Digital Phone installed I had installation concerns about it, as my spouse is an IT professional who sometimes works from home, depending on client.  
So I needed more information about the installation.
The Digital Phone representatives could not be specific about the actual installation until the call escalated to more details about the install.
Here is what I was told:
That the modem would be changed out at the computer location  and only my office phone would be a digital phone, which I thought was ridiculous.
I told them all the phones had to be working like the ad seems to indicate.
No one knew what I was talking about, until I got someone else on the line and I told them I have 8 phone outlets scattered about my home, and if I am getting a run around about installation, maybe I will not be the test subject, neither for me nor the spouse, who uses both phone and cable modem, for work and needs reliability and stable connections.
Then the suggestion was made to put a modem at the main hub where the phone lines separate to go through the house and I asked how that would work and no one could be sure.

Point here is : Digital Phone is probably a great service if you have cable, but it seems as though there is a "learning curve"with the SE Wisc. TWC folks in the education level.
Unclear and Guessed Responses do not make for a comfortable installation for at least this consumer, who does not want to be the "test subject".  
If you have only one phone line, one near your computer setup, good for you (and a cell phone service that works).
If not, keep you present phone service or try to change with another phone company from one you have, at least until the training bugs are out with the TWC folks.
If you had cable and hated the service, you won't want to do or try this new one, at least not for now, IMHO.

[rpine]

You are correct -- there is a steep learning curve. Everyone thinks that "voice is easy" -- after 100 years of practice, the phone company has made it seem that way. There  are a lot of gotcha's that you have to deal with.


The TW suggestion about putting the cablemodem near the entrance to the house, then wiring to the phone lines makes sense.

I have done that with my standard cable modem (no voice) -- the cable modem is just inside the house, then I have Cat-5 run to my computer (Actually, cable modem connects to a Router, who feeds several computers and a wireless Access Point, but that is way beyond what we are talking about here).

You could then run wiring from the Voice Port of the cable modem to your internal phone jack wiring, which usually all connects at one point just inside your house.

Now, for voice, the Cable Modem "Voice Port" should have a listing as to what "REN" it can support.  Each phone has an REN - Ringer Equivilency Number - that lets you know how much load it places on the phone line to ring the phone.     Add up all the RENs and if it is lower than what the Cable Modem Voice port can support, you are good to go! (yes, cable length and quality of wiring does come into play,  but for a basic check, the sum of RENs will work).

For the best service, a small UPS on the cable modem would be a smart move so that when the power goes out, or bumps, your phone service still works.  As you say - if you are not happy with your cable service, don't put your voice on there.