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VoIP Price War Declared

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the battle-met dept.

gardel writes "Voxilla reports that a VoIP price war was declared today. An announcement that AT&T would drop its prices for its CallVantage Service from $34.99 to $29.99 per month was followed quickly by an announcement that Vonage would drop the price on its unlimited calling plan to $25 a month from the previous $29.99. Analysts say the price cuts show the VoIP market is not only competitive, but it's serious."

55 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Any VoIP users? by NoInfo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Has anyone used Voxilla or AT&T's VoIP services?

    Any reason why someone would pay want to pay more for AT&T?

    --
    bug.gd: error search engine. Humanity working together to solve all errors.
    1. Re:Any VoIP users? by SpiffyMarc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      AT&T is a huge behemoth of a company, that isn't going anywhere. Vonage is a start-up.

      For us, Vonage is a household name, but not for many outside this circle.

    2. Re:Any VoIP users? by danimal67 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I use CallVantage. I've read many reviews that compare to Vonage and other competitors. A good portion of the reviews have said that they think CallVantage is less prone to distortion than competing services. I believe it is in part because the TA has to sit directly behind the cable modem and priortizes the packets. Apparently a recent firmware revision lets the TA sit behind routers, but I haven't moved mine. I don't know if this negates the positive audio qualities that reviews have cited.

    3. Re:Any VoIP users? by The-Bus · · Score: 2, Informative

      Vonage let's their hardware act as a router (poorly) or sit behind a router. Vonage lets their hardware do QoS and packet shaping. I don't think the hardware makes that big of a difference.

      --

      Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    4. Re:Any VoIP users? by timsch · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why pay those monthly fees at all when http://skype.com/ lets you

      (1)talk to other skype users for free.

      (2)ring any other telephone (including cell phones) in the world for 1 euro per hour (about $0.02 per minute)

      It works surprisingly well on a dial-up connection, small (8 MB), and clean with no spyware or other junk.

  2. 3 Cheers for Free Markets by stinerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even social democrats like myself can appreciate good free-market competition like this.

    If only all markets worked this way, I might be a Libertarian. . .

    1. Re:3 Cheers for Free Markets by rnd() · · Score: 4, Insightful

      All markets do work that way, it's just a matter of perspective. Markets don't naturally create a welfare state, for example.

      It's kind of like gravity, you may not like it all the time, but it is a consistent phenomenon.

      p.s. Markets are not a perfect way of allocating resources and capital, they are only the best way yet discovered by mankind.

      --

      Amazing magic tricks

    2. Re:3 Cheers for Free Markets by BobPaul · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Doubtful. They don't seem to be offering any areacodes ourside of what vonage does (actually fewer in many states it looked like) so they aren't even taking advantage of their existing networks. And, since AT&T owns massive infrastructure, they will be renting most of their bandwidth from themselves at cost, rather than other companies at markup the way Vonage and others have to. There's no way AT&T has a lower profit margin than Vonage...

      I think AT&T is just betting that people will pay more because they are familiar with the AT&T name, but isn't quite matching other companies deployment because they are taking VOIP cautiously and don't want to invest a whole lot until it becomes more profitable. Vonage, a startup, must invest whatever they can cause they have no other products or services to fall back on.

  3. Still about $20 too much by metamatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem I have with my phone service is that the fixed per-month charge is about 5x what I pay for the actual calls I make.

    I'd much rather have more expensive calls, and a lower per-month fee. I have no trouble with paying 5 cents a minute to make a call; it's paying $25+ a month for no calls that pisses me off.

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    1. Re:Still about $20 too much by DrZaius · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're probably in the minority. My guess is that most people would prefer to have lower per minute rates than monthly rates.

      I supposed the ideal would be having different packages -- the more you pay flat, the less you pay per minute..

      --
      -- DrZaius - Minister of Sciences and Protector of the Faith
    2. Re:Still about $20 too much by angle_slam · · Score: 2, Informative

      Vonage has a plan that gives you 500 minutes for $14.99 per month.

    3. Re:Still about $20 too much by bleckywelcky · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Imagine if we only had to pay $50 or $60 for a phone, internet, and cable combination service. That would be great. But I'm sure we would need more than the 1 local cable company we currently have in most areas to do this. The government should buy or seize (since cable companies have probably made back their investment in profits already) the broadband infrastructure or force the sharing of the infrastructure (as it has been with phone lines) to open up the markets to more providers. Then we could have 20 or 30 companies offering all these services together and prices would get pounded into the ground while the quality of services would keep rising. Man, that's a pipe dream.

    4. Re:Still about $20 too much by angle_slam · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Just did some calculations. At 3.9 cents for additional minutes, if you use less than 884 minutes per month, you're better off getting the 500 minute plan and paying overage charges.

    5. Re:Still about $20 too much by sportal · · Score: 2, Informative

      Then switch to a VoIP provider with that pricing model. Like VoicePulse Connect http://connect.voicepulse.com/

      US Per Minute Rate:
      2.95 / minute

      If you want an Incoming phone number tied to your VoIP line:
      Incoming phone numbers:
      $7.99 / month (each)

      Incoming rate:
      0 / minute

      If you don't have an incoming phone number, no monthly fees, only usage fees.

      There are other that offer this also, like:
      TerraCall http://www.terracall.com/
      NikoTel http://www.nikotel.com/

    6. Re:Still about $20 too much by extremescholar · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How about setting up your own Asterisk server (yes, it's Linux, but it works, get over it). Then you can use VoicePulse Connect! to get a cheap rate for an incoming line.

      --
      Using the Freedom of Speech while I still have it.
    7. Re:Still about $20 too much by pwinkeler · · Score: 2, Interesting

      With Voicepulse Connect http://www.voicepulse.com/ I pay $7.99/mo for an unlimited minute incoming phone number and 2.95 cents/min for outgoing calls (local or long-distance). Even with a wife and two daughters my call accounting tells me I would spend less just paying by the drink than my SBC local analog line at $34 (taxes, fees and caller-id included) by almost $20/mo!
      In short, you'd be surprised how few minutes you really do use.
      On top of that you might want to consider Voicepulse connect because I now get multiple incoming calls and multiple outgoing calls at no extra cost other than that the meter runs for outgoing calls.

      The catch? You gotta run Asterisk http://www.asterisk.org/ and get at least one FXS port card from Digium http://www.digium.com/.

      Anything over $15/mo is robbery in my opinion

      --
      PaulW, IT Consultant
    8. Re:Still about $20 too much by Alrescha · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "I'd much rather have more expensive calls, and a lower per-month fee. I have no trouble with paying 5 cents a minute to make a call; it's paying $25+ a month for no calls that pisses me off."

      I use 'iconnecthere.com'. I pay $8.95/month + 3.5c per minute.

      This $8.95 includes:
      a pots-number in the city I choose
      unlimited incoming calls
      caller-id
      voice-mail (that I can listen to on my mac)

      Call quality is generally good, once in a while some latency is noticable. There is no 911 service that I'm aware of - it wasn't on my list of required features.

      A.

      --
      ...bringing you cynical quips since 1998
  4. I'm not sure I'm the majority by Spytap · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not sure i'm the majority, but I'm really only going to care when they're making these services available in a handset that works not just inside my home, but outside in the rest of the world too. Fancy home calling services are nice and all, but I'm frankly not there that often, I need these fancy services (and higher calling quality) on the phone that sits on my hip all day wherever I go.

    1. Re:I'm not sure I'm the majority by angle_slam · · Score: 5, Funny

      They have invented them. They're called cell phones.

  5. VoIP prices? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    $25/mo? Lets see Walmart offer VoIP.. I'm sure they could make it go lower.. then we'd really see the masses come... Heck, why not have Walmart take over the world? They might be able to lower the price of earth.

  6. What about broadband? by Flizesh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Never see a price war with broadband.. esp. recently. Is it because of the monopolies had by Time Warner and other giants? Last sign of competition i've personally seen was TWC increasing from 2mpbs to 3 one year ago.

  7. What's the 411 on VOIP? by toupsie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How is the quality of the VOIP services? Are there delays? Dropouts? Access to local 911? What happens when the power goes out in my house?

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    1. Re:What's the 411 on VOIP? by danuary · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've had Vonage for a little more than a year. In that time there have been -reported- outages -- none of which affected me. My phone has had dialtone every time I've picked it up and I've had to do basically nothing special to get it working. My service even worked during the Aug 2003 blackout in NYC -- had my Vonage box and cablemodem on a UPS and everything worked fine. The one time I've had occasion to dial 911 was at 5 in the morning when someone attempted to break into my apartment when I was in it asleep. 911 location is set up via Vonage's web interface; when I called 911 the operators were a little confused -- something about how the call came into them -- but the location was passed along and I had three cop cars in my door in 30 seconds flat. I perceived no difference between Vonage and a traditional land line. In short -- couldn't be happier. Works great for me. Little perqs like being able to get your voicemail e-mailed to you as a wav is fantastic -- as is being able to take the box with you and have free phone service anywhere you have ethernet.

    2. Re:What's the 411 on VOIP? by angle_slam · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've had Vonage for 2 months. On and off (mostly off) echo problems. No dropouts. No delays. Haven't had a chance to call 911, but set it up to transmit my address to 911 operators. When power goes out, I'm screwed. Then again, my only phone is a cordless, so I'd be screwed anyway. You can always get a UPS, but I don't know how long you have power through those (will they work in multi-day outages, like in Florida?)

    3. Re:What's the 411 on VOIP? by jgalun · · Score: 5, Funny
      Access to local 911?
      Nope. But a gun is faster way of handling most emergencies.

      I just hope I have enough ammo to shoot the fire out.
    4. Re:What's the 411 on VOIP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nope. But a gun is faster way of handling most emergencies.

      My first reaction is: like heart attacks?
      But then, it does work for those! Makes the problem go away, in any case.

    5. Re:What's the 411 on VOIP? by CoreDump · · Score: 4, Informative
      Quality? Better than cell-phone in most cases.

      Delays? Not really.

      Dropouts? I get dropped more often by my cell provider than my VOIP provider. And yes, this includes standing still while on cell and having call dropped.

      911? The industry is still figuring out how to support this properly. Some carriers sort of fake it today, but nobody really supports it "natively". This should change in the next 6 months as the 911 standard/method for VOIP carriers is being finalized in the next few months.

      Power? I've got my cable modem and VOIP adapter on a UPS, so not much happens to me. Assuming that your DSL/Cable is still up in a power outage of course. If your net connection goes down, your phone goes down, might be power, might be your provider, might be the lawnmower.

      --

      ---
      Segmentation Fault ( core dumped )

    6. Re:What's the 411 on VOIP? by rpdillon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Vonage does support 911 - but you have to manually update your current address since the system cannot track your location. Instead, they look it up (automated, obviously) when the call comes through. If you do not update, then you'll have a problem, but otherwise, its transparent.

  8. This is bad news... by Arcanix · · Score: 5, Funny

    Personally, I'm against all this competition.

    What is clearly needed here is for the government to step in and start dividing up different areas of the country and assigning monopolies to the various telecom companies. I think we can all attest to the wonderful customer service and prices that a government sanctioned localized monopoly provides.

    1. Re:This is bad news... by stinerman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think we can all attest to the wonderful customer service and prices that a government sanctioned localized monopoly provides.

      In cases where monopolies naturally occur, a government monopoly is as good as it gets.

      Energy deregulation was supposed to lower bills by adding competition to the equation. If you lived in California, prices skyrocketed due to the fact many energy producers (see Enron) were keeping production off-line in order to artifically inflate prices.

      In cases like these, I like my government-granted and regulated monopolies. In cases like this (VOIP), I'm inclined to agree with you.

  9. Vonage rocks by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm signed up for the 500 anytime minute Vonage plan for $14.95. I've been extremely impressed with the service so far. They sent out the box right away, I plugged it into my network, and it "just worked". The online control panel is really slick, too. Very well designed, all the options right there, including listening to voicemail.

    Even transferring my phone number was painless. I just faxed them a phone bill and they took care of the rest.

    I was a little concerned with "voice lag", where you get that delay effect, but so far it's been unnoticeable. (but I also have a four megabit cable modem).

    In short, Vonage has rocked so far. I had my doubts about VoIP, but no doubts any longer.

    --
    Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  10. It still sounds expensive to me. by genericacct · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I realize Americans have the all-you-can-eat mentality more so than the rest of the world, but is an unlimited domestic long-distance plan really the only way they can compete? I don't make enough long distance calls to justify that much for land-line voice service, and I have broadband. I suppose it's cheaper than a POTS line plus unlimited long distance, but of the people with broadband, I don't see a huge market to compete within. Please enlighen me if this is really a fast-growing market segment, because I just don't see it.

  11. If only the cable company would follow suit... by kasek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have considered vonage, because of the low international rates, but I don't want to dedicate a certain portion of my bandwidth for my telephone service. My upstream is hosed enough as it is, let alone dedicating part of it to phone use.

    I would love to see a drop in prices for my cable modem service however. Since i got a cable modem 4 years ago, my bill has gone up 5 bucks. Meanwhile, new subscribers get their first 6 months at 29.95. After that, if they call to cancel, they are given another 6 months at 29.95 (I know this for fact, my dad called to cancel his account, and they offered him this deal).

    Meanwhile, a 4+ year subscriber like myself calls, and says they are thinking of switching to Earthlink from Roadrunner, since it is 3 bucks cheaper a month, and they give 6 months at 29.95, they do nothing to try and keep me as a customer.

    Of course they don't tell you that it is essentially the same service, since Earthlink goes through the Time Warner lines. So techinically they are not losing the customer. Which begs the question, how can Earthlink charge less per month?

    On top of which, Comcast and Time Warner are working on a coop bid for the remains of adelphia, which will only damage competition even further in the cable industry. *sigh*

    sorry for the mostly off topic rant, but it bugs me to see services like this that can slash prices left and right in the name of competition, and the cable companies are still firm in their prices.

  12. Didn't lower the costs for all plans.. by sisukapalli1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have a plan with vonage that was 25 bucks when the premium plan was 35. The premium plan fell from 35 to 30 to now 25, but my plan has stayed at the same level at 25 bucks. It is an unlimited local plus 500 national minutes free. The remaining option is a basic 500 minutes, which was at 15, and still is at 15.

    For some reason, Vonage doesn't want to cut the price on the basic and intermediate plans :(

    S

  13. Thumbs Up for Vonage by Omega1045 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I just got Vonage.com about 2 months ago for their $15/month plan (500 minutes plus $0.039 for overage minutes). I really like the service. I had a very small issue with installation and the tech support was very helpful. Pretty much no brainer to get running with my wireless router and cable modem. The sound quality is IMHO better than any traditional landline I have had. I would recommended them to anyone.

    --

    Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

  14. AT&T callvantage prices drop to $20... by Vellmont · · Score: 5, Informative

    for the first 6 months, $34.99 thereafter. Thanks slashdot submitter for that fully objective and accurate portrayal of pricing.

    --
    AccountKiller
  15. I like price wars! by ChiralSoftware · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm basically happy with my Vonage service. Only a few minor complaints:

    • I can't listen to my favorite Internet stations while I'm making a call. Ok, this has nothing to do with Vonage; I just need a faster DSL connection.
    • I can't seem to find a client for it that runs on Linux so I can connect straight from my computer or laptop, without having to use any of their hardware. I know it uses plain old SIP so this should be possible, and I have tried some of the web pages that have instructions on how to do this, but I can't get it to work. Skype has a Linux version ready for download and it works well. I wish Vonage had the same level of Linux support.
    • I wish it had better security. I think it uses plain old unencrypted SIP. It should be encrypted at the IP layer. Eventually we need to have end-to-end voice encryption for call security. Again, Skype already has this, albeit without published sourcecode.

    If Skype had a service that gives me a phone number and lets me receive calls I might switch to that. I also think that Skype has better sound quality, in my experience.

    1. Re:I like price wars! by Pastis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Talking about Skype voice quality, I advice people to read what GnomeMeeting developers have to say about it. It's on the front page.

      --
      Sneak teach kids Algebra using a game
  16. know what's funny by Skadet · · Score: 2, Interesting

    know what's funny? maybe 5 years ago I used Dialpad.com... VoIP, 'cept through your soundcard... and you could call actual phone numbers. (this was in the day before free long distance was a staple in the cell phone community).

    The funny part?

    It was free.

    --
    Sony ha
  17. Re:Any VoIP users? - Lingo by aacool · · Score: 4, Informative
    I use Lingo as my exclusive phone service - I cancelled my POTS line after two days - SBC was very difficult to cancel when I told them I was going to VOIP

    I have had absolutely no problems for the last two months. I get an amazing price - $19.99 for unlimited US, Western Europe & Canada, and the first three months absolutely free.

    I can't imagine not having the convenience of VOIP. The online bonuses - email voicemail, detailed billing, etc are good too. Ob. referral - contact my id for a ref bonus:)

    The rates to the rest of the world are good too

  18. what value is added for $25 per month? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't see how charging $25 per month for "phone" service can be justified much longer. You are just sending and receiving data packets over your broadband connection, which is already paid for. If you consider a phone number is a lot like a IM ID name or a email address, what's the real difference between your phone ringing and getting a IM message window popping up? One costs you $25 per month and the other lets you talk for free. Why don't we just make things that look just like a phone, ring when you get a message, and emit a dial tone when you pick them up and let you dial a number instead of a IM ID or email address? Why pay $25 for this? People think it's a great deal but that's because they are comparing it to the old phone service which costs more and charges by the minute for long distance. Compare it to how you use Yahoo messenger for example and you wonder why pay anything at all for it?

    1. Re:what value is added for $25 per month? by Trigulus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I am a vonage user. Most of my friends, family, coworkers, businesses I deal with etc.. are not uber geeks and do not wish to be forced to communicate with me in some strange and unusual way (IM, computer phones,proprietary sip services etc.) With vonage they pick up their phone, dial my number and we communicate. Anyone out there on traditional phone lines can reach me without any inconvienience to them. And it costs me very little compared to the same service from those traditional phone lines. You dont seem to live in the real world or at least communicate in it. At work we have completely switched our phone lines to vonage. 15 lines!. We have a 100MB internet connection so we dont even feel the lost bandwidth but we save over $2000 per month! and our customers have no clue. in fact most of the employees are unaware of the switch. To me that says it all. My only complaint is vonage limits a "company" account to 10 lines so we had to set up 2 accounts. And that is very minor.

      --
      If something exists that does not need a creator (god) then why must the cosmos need one?
  19. HA HA! HA HA HEH! by techsoldaten · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I signed up for Vonage, it cost me $40 a month which was a huge savings off the $60 a month I was paying for traditional service.

    Now the price is going down to $25 a month? This is amazing. I was briefly considering building my own VoIP system, this news makes it not the worth the trouble to go out and buy the parts I would need.

    Now I have time to focus on all the other projects I've been thinking about.

    M

  20. Stunning savings on international. . . by Sialagogue · · Score: 2, Informative

    (Pre-rave disclaimer, I'm unafilliated with Vonage except as a customer.)

    I set up Vonage for our company - we're running 4 lines over a 5Mbps DSL with only occasional stuttering problems.

    But the real benefit comes from the fact that although we are a small company, we have offices in five countries in Europe which we speak to on a daily basis. So, we signed up with Vonage for five new lines each tied to a New York number, then when we received the adapters we turned them right around and shipped them to the outer offices. They plugged them in and bingo, all five offices are now accessible with a local call. Plus, that local call is free because all in-network calls with Vonage are free.

    That plus the super-low international rates for our other business calls have saved us close to $1,000 a month, which for our sized company is huuuuuge.

    Just a week ago I used three-way calling to set up a conference call between London, Prague, and New York and ended up paying 6 cents a minute total. Crazy.

    Only downside has been number transfer - they haven't made any progress with cutting our lines over, so we're still having to pay Verizon 80 bucks a month for forwarding - but even there Vonage siad they'd credit our service for any time over 40 days.

    I'm a fan so far. . .

    --
    The only acceptable defense of scientific results is to say that they were the product of the Scientific Method.
  21. Re:Vonage rocks (dissenting opinion) by davemabe · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've recently switched from Vonage to AT&T. The call quality on Vonage was not very good. There is often a nagging local echo and there were several times that I had to reboot the telephone adapter to get it to function. This was unacceptable. Everything about AT&T's service has been better so far: call quality, customer service (much lower hold times!), and more features (locate me!).

    Also, AT&T's telephone adapter sits on the internet side of your home network - this allows the device to perform QoS functions by prioritizing the voice packets. Vonage's device sits behind your router and therefore can't do anything about a busy connection. There will inevitably be dropped calls if you use your internet connection heavily while on the phone.

    Dave

  22. VoicePulse has had those prices for a while by Grue · · Score: 2, Informative

    VoicePulse has had prices that low for a while, and they allow you to setup your own VoIP reseller type service, VoicePulse Connect. It works great with Asterisk, which they push as a solution. Very geek friendly.

    --
    Josh

  23. This market shouldn't even exist. by Don+Tobin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Everyone is missing the forest for the trees on this one. We already pay a fee to connect a device in our homes to a network around the world.

    $25/month is $25/month too much for VoIP (when you already have a cable modem).

    What is it that we want to pay for exactly? Is it that we want to rent the VoIP hardware phone? Are we insecure putting our voicemail on our PCs at home instead of a SAN at some over-hyped corp?

    Stop, think, repost.

  24. Re:Vonage rocks (dissenting opinion) by Scowler · · Score: 2, Informative
    Why would you want to put the telephone adapter on the internet side? The newer routers (including the fabulous WRT54G) can already do QoS, and probably a better job at that.

    Also, you can use just about any adapter on the market with either VOIP provider, in either configuration (with a little work). I have the Vonage adapter on the router (with QoS) side of the network and have had no quality issues.

  25. Have Vonage, will probably drop in favor of Skype. by rthille · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've got Vonage, but since I'm on DSL, I'm paying for a phone number anyway, and with the amount of calls I make Skype is a much better deal.
    Now if only I could get some hardware (like my vonage/cisco ATA) which would do Skype instead of vonage....

    --
    Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
  26. $25? I smirk in your general direction! by Cleetus+Freem · · Score: 2, Informative

    I use onesuite.com and pay 2.5 cents a minute within the USA. I pay that same rate for calls to China.

    That means that for your "competitive" $25 a month, I could make over 16 and a half hours of calls (to just about anywhere in the world... from any phone... at any time of day... on a regular, echo free phone line no less... and no I don't have to enter a bulky code every time I call... calls from my home automatically bypass the need for a code).

    None of the options presented here are that cheap and convenient and until they can at least come close, I will stick with my onesuite.com (which I've used for 2 years now).

  27. Re:Vonage rocks (dissenting opinion) by The-Bus · · Score: 2, Informative

    Vonage's hardware can sit in front or behind your router. It all has to do with how you configured it.

    That being said, it's not 100% service. But it's a lot, a lot less frustrating than using a cellphone.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  28. Re:What minority? by llefler · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It could also be the lack of reliable e911 service. Or the fact that when the power or cable go out, you'd lose VOIP but not POTS.

    --
    It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Harry Truman
  29. How come no mention of packet 8? by Danathar · · Score: 2, Informative

    I use Packet 8 communications at $19.95 with no problem. Since it's cheaper than either Vonage or AT&T why was it not mentioned?

  30. Vonage user past 5 months by The-Bus · · Score: 4, Informative
    Recently I was switched over to working almost full-time from home. I can easily be on the phone 500 minutes in one day, so only unlimited service would really do. Here's my experience, abridged:

    • Set up with Vonage. I decide on them because they are the biggest and well-known. I only have a couple days to research, so I order the damn thing. I get to pick a number which is supposedly in a certain town here but I don't recognize the exchange.
    • Installation. It comes in the mail a couple of days later. I set up and *bingo*, it just... doesn't work. The next day I figured out the phone was plugged into "Line 2"... Who puts "Line 2" on the left hand side of "Line 1"? Doesn't make sense. My mistake.
    • So now it works. Sort of. The router is still not part of the equation. The hardware is an awful router, so I eventually decide to put it behind the router. Forward the right ports, etc... Bingo. Works perfectly.
    • No wait, it doesn't work. What I didn't mention was that a large part of my job has to do with faxing. Well, the POTS fax protocol used (excuse my butchering of telephony terms) doesn't play nice with VOIP. I can get faxes fine but I can barely send them. Everything drops out. No matter where. This will not do.
    • A long difficult period. I contact Vonage tech support for help and no matter what I say they put me on L1 where they check to see what version of Windows do I have and do I have the router set up right etc. etc. eventhough my phone calls work just fine!!! Argh. Over the next week or so I literally spend 20+ hours researching this issue.
    • Finally, an agreement. I turn down the send speed of my high-speed fax, I do a bunch of hardware and software tweaks, and now about 70% of all faxes work. Not a terribly high ratio, but I've learned to rely on other forms of sending documentation now.
    • Over time. My only major complaints is the complete lack of support for faxes. VOIP natively is not good at handling faxes. If you ever really really need to send a fax, VOIP is not for you. Call quality was perfect except in one major teleconference call, and there were no outages until last week when outgoing calls where butchered for the entire day.

      Overall, I'd give it a B+. I've probably saved $100 or so over the past couple of months, at the expense of a really bad headache. Still, if I ever go anywhere I like to know I can take my Vonage box with me and have my number be there.
    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  31. Re:Vonage rocks (dissenting opinion) by little_blaine · · Score: 2, Informative
    >Also, AT&T's telephone adapter sits on the internet side of your home network - this allows the device to perform QoS functions by prioritizing the voice packets. Vonage's device sits behind your router and therefore can't do anything about a busy connection.

    Not true about the current vonage telephone adapters. I signed up about 6 months ago, and the motorola box that they sent can sit either in front of the router and perform QoS, or behind the router with no QoS.

    I still haven't given up my POTS line, although I've reduced to the bare minimum service with no features. Problems with echo and occasional service disruptions made me hesitant to switch to VoIP exclusively.