It really isn't Vonage's fault. Many PSAPs do not want to deal with VOIP calls at all until everything is right. That means no access to the actual number that represents 911 to you. Since not all PSAPs accept VOIP calls (some don't even accept wireless calls), Vonage did what the could and routed to the only thing they had access to.
E911 for VOIP is very difficult to do. Another thing to remember is that the VOIP providers were given 90 days to get over 4000 PSAPs tested. This may not be a big issue for the smaller carriers becuase they don't need to worry about the whole country because their customers are in certain geographical areas. Vonage has the most customers right now. Each of those 4000 PSAPs has to be tested manually.
I work in the industry. Personally I don't recommend giving up a land line for convience if you want to always be sure 911 will work. Wireless and VOIP will not work reliably during a disaster.
I have to agree with this. I have an SL-5000 and was happy with it at first. I then started noticing things about it that I didn't like. My biggest gripe were with applications. When I was using mine, I had most of the TKC apps to replace the stock sharp ones. The TKC apps were for the most part pretty good, but I got tired of the customer service I saw om the mailing lists by the prez of TKC. There were FOUR PDA database formats for the Zaurus. There may be more now. One of the great things about Palm is that all of the replacement database apps can work with the standard Palm database format. They will add the fields they need, but still leave it in a state that can be read by any Palm PDA app including the default app.
Another problem was you still had to configure lots of stuff by editing a text file. This is supposed to be a PDA? I went back and forth through the many ROM versions, Sharp, OZ, TKC and my own custom rolled solution. The closest one that did what I wanted was my own. I doubt many people are going to try that.
I liked how I could really hack on the Zaurus, but I really needed to have a good set of PDA apps. At that point I made the decision to go back to the PalmOS platform and buy a Zodiac2.
The Zaurus would be great as a vertical market handheld or a hacking (traditional sense) tool It just wont be right for the average user who wants to replace his day planner with an electronic device. Right now my Zaurus is in a box along with lots of accessories. I will probably put it on eBay soon.
I was able to buy a IBM PS/Valuepoint 433DX with OS/2 2.0 installed while in college. Trouble was OS/2 2.0 sucked. They could not get to work properly on their own hardware. They also didn't send install disks so all I had to go with was the backup disks you were supposed to make before using the computer. After many weeks of speaking with high level OS/2 developers, I read them their EULA about them replacing the software. A few days later I received a nice box containing OS/2 2.1. OS/2 2.1 was so much more stable than 2.0. I ran OS/2 through Version 4 of which I was a beta tester. I would really like to see IBM atleast release the source to SOM and DSOM which are the underlying object model for the GUI.
On an ironic note I am listening to "Alphaville - Forever Young" while writing this.
I had a few problems with AT&T activating a phone they didn't sell.
I had been waiting for them to release the Ericsson T39, but the launch dates kept being pushed back. I called them and they said they were going to be getting the T68, no date though. I called their GSM support center and got conflicting opinions on them activating a phone they didn't sell. They told me they could sell me a SIM and I would just put it in my phone. On that note, I went ahead and bought a phone on eBay because I was tired of waiting for them. When I picked up the phone from the person I bought it from, I also stopped at the nearest AT&T Wireless store to buy a SIM. They sold me a SIM ($25) and told me to call a certain number to activate it. I call said number and the CSR basically went ballistic about the store selling a SIM without a phone. He then refused to activate the SIM. No amount of convincing would work. He said they would only activate a SIM only if it was sold with a phone from them. At that point I thought I might be SOL in getting my phone working on their network. Well, I called back and spoke to a supervisor and asked the same questions again. He told me the same things that the previous CSR had said. I then asked him what would stop me from getting one of their phones and using that SIM. He said nothing would, and couldn't tell me not to do it. I had been with AT&T since 1994 so I knew I was going to get a good deal on the Customer Upgrade Program. I went to one of the AT&T stores in downtown Seattle and bought a Motorola Timeport that they were selling for $199, my price was $9.99. After the hour long wait for them to "move" my TDMA account to GSM, I pulled the SIM out of the Motorola and stuck it in my T68 (in the presence of the clerks at the store) and the phone worked fine.
I should not have had to go through all of this to get my phone to work. Had they activated the SIM that I bought, they would not have had to spend money to subsidize the Motorola I had to buy to get them to activate a SIM. I did pay more than what AT&T is currently selling the T68 for, but I did get the portability of taking it to whatever carrier will activate a SIM.
I have heard rumors about AT&T planning to do naughty things to people who are using phones that weren't purchased from them. One is not allowing any phone with an IMEI(sp) number that is not one they sold to access their network. I do not think this can possibly be legal. I think there is a requirement for all carriers to allow access to their networks for 911 service. They can't block a phone without being in violation of that.
The problem I had with the WAP stuff is that their WAP gateway was not yet configured for the T68. Shortly after they started to sell that model, the gateway was updated.
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It really isn't Vonage's fault. Many PSAPs do not want to deal with VOIP calls at all until everything is right. That means no access to the actual number that represents 911 to you. Since not all PSAPs accept VOIP calls (some don't even accept wireless calls), Vonage did what the could and routed to the only thing they had access to.
E911 for VOIP is very difficult to do. Another thing to remember is that the VOIP providers were given 90 days to get over 4000 PSAPs tested. This may not be a big issue for the smaller carriers becuase they don't need to worry about the whole country because their customers are in certain geographical areas. Vonage has the most customers right now. Each of those 4000 PSAPs has to be tested manually.
I work in the industry. Personally I don't recommend giving up a land line for convience if you want to always be sure 911 will work. Wireless and VOIP will not work reliably during a disaster.
I have to agree with this. I have an SL-5000 and was happy with it at first. I then started noticing things about it that I didn't like. My biggest gripe were with applications. When I was using mine, I had most of the TKC apps to replace the stock sharp ones. The TKC apps were for the most part pretty good, but I got tired of the customer service I saw om the mailing lists by the prez of TKC. There were FOUR PDA database formats for the Zaurus. There may be more now. One of the great things about Palm is that all of the replacement database apps can work with the standard Palm database format. They will add the fields they need, but still leave it in a state that can be read by any Palm PDA app including the default app.
Another problem was you still had to configure lots of stuff by editing a text file. This is supposed to be a PDA? I went back and forth through the many ROM versions, Sharp, OZ, TKC and my own custom rolled solution. The closest one that did what I wanted was my own. I doubt many people are going to try that.
I liked how I could really hack on the Zaurus, but I really needed to have a good set of PDA apps. At that point I made the decision to go back to the PalmOS platform and buy a Zodiac2.
The Zaurus would be great as a vertical market handheld or a hacking (traditional sense) tool It just wont be right for the average user who wants to replace his day planner with an electronic device. Right now my Zaurus is in a box along with lots of accessories. I will probably put it on eBay soon.
I'd rather them be turned into Orgasmatrons.
I was able to buy a IBM PS/Valuepoint 433DX with OS/2 2.0 installed while in college. Trouble was OS/2 2.0 sucked. They could not get to work properly on their own hardware. They also didn't send install disks so all I had to go with was the backup disks you were supposed to make before using the computer. After many weeks of speaking with high level OS/2 developers, I read them their EULA about them replacing the software. A few days later I received a nice box containing OS/2 2.1. OS/2 2.1 was so much more stable than 2.0. I ran OS/2 through Version 4 of which I was a beta tester. I would really like to see IBM atleast release the source to SOM and DSOM which are the underlying object model for the GUI.
On an ironic note I am listening to "Alphaville - Forever Young" while writing this.
The "extra" Motorola handset will be useful when I send the T68 back to Ericsson for the big firmware update.
Actually...
I had a few problems with AT&T activating a phone they didn't sell.
I had been waiting for them to release the Ericsson T39, but the launch dates kept being pushed back. I called them and they said they were going to be getting the T68, no date though. I called their GSM support center and got conflicting opinions on them activating a phone they didn't sell. They told me they could sell me a SIM and I would just put it in my phone. On that note, I went ahead and bought a phone on eBay because I was tired of waiting for them. When I picked up the phone from the person I bought it from, I also stopped at the nearest AT&T Wireless store to buy a SIM. They sold me a SIM ($25) and told me to call a certain number to activate it. I call said number and the CSR basically went ballistic about the store selling a SIM without a phone. He then refused to activate the SIM. No amount of convincing would work. He said they would only activate a SIM only if it was sold with a phone from them. At that point I thought I might be SOL in getting my phone working on their network. Well, I called back and spoke to a supervisor and asked the same questions again. He told me the same things that the previous CSR had said. I then asked him what would stop me from getting one of their phones and using that SIM. He said nothing would, and couldn't tell me not to do it. I had been with AT&T since 1994 so I knew I was going to get a good deal on the Customer Upgrade Program. I went to one of the AT&T stores in downtown Seattle and bought a Motorola Timeport that they were selling for $199, my price was $9.99. After the hour long wait for them to "move" my TDMA account to GSM, I pulled the SIM out of the Motorola and stuck it in my T68 (in the presence of the clerks at the store) and the phone worked fine.
I should not have had to go through all of this to get my phone to work. Had they activated the SIM that I bought, they would not have had to spend money to subsidize the Motorola I had to buy to get them to activate a SIM. I did pay more than what AT&T is currently selling the T68 for, but I did get the portability of taking it to whatever carrier will activate a SIM.
I have heard rumors about AT&T planning to do naughty things to people who are using phones that weren't purchased from them. One is not allowing any phone with an IMEI(sp) number that is not one they sold to access their network. I do not think this can possibly be legal. I think there is a requirement for all carriers to allow access to their networks for 911 service. They can't block a phone without being in violation of that.
The problem I had with the WAP stuff is that their WAP gateway was not yet configured for the T68. Shortly after they started to sell that model, the gateway was updated.