I am thinking of getting vonnage. Just wondering if anybody has any
experience pro or con with it or the ATT digital phone service offered by
some cable providers.

TIA

shockie B)

"shockwaveriderz" <shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:2lr6hlFg2el6U1@uni-berlin.de:

I'm using vonage... but reliablity has been flakey lately.

I'm not sure if it's my router... or the service itself.

--
Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/

[This followup was posted to comp.dcom.modems.cable and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

In article <2lr6hlFg2el6U1@uni-berlin.de>, shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com
says...
1: How reliable is your broadband service? If it goes down, so does your
VOIP.

2: How do they handle 911? Do they support Enhanced 911 with full address
being passed on to your local emergency service? Or do they handle it
through some out-sourced, off-shore 3rd party company that just takes your
message and phones the police/fire for you?

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross

"shockwaveriderz" <shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2lr6hlFg2el6U1@uni-berlin.de...
I'm using Vonage for a 2nd line and it works great. There are two issues
that prevent me from using it for primary line:

1) Reliability: It's only as good as the power company, Comcast, and
the internet connections between Comcast and Vonage. I've mitigated
the power issue with a UPS. That said, I haven't had any outages
due to network issues in the 8 months I've had Vonage.

2) Vonage's 911 is not E-911. If I use it, it calls the local public
safety dispatcher on a non emergency line, and the dispatcher does
not automatically get my address. Since I have small children in
my home, this is an important issue for me.

By moving my 2nd line from Verizoin to Vonage, I cut $35/month from my
"telecommunications" bill.

If you do sign up for Vonage, make sure you get a referral from a current
customer (like me). Both you and the current customer will get one month of
free Vonage service. I haven't sent you a referral, as I don't send
unsolicited email to people I don't know. If you'd like me to send you one,
post again with the email address you'd like to use or contact me at
"spam8888 <at> comcast <dot> net".

-Gary

I've been with Vonage sincr November of 2003 and have loved just about
every second of it. At first there were some issues with the MTA, but
after those got resolved everything has been smooth sailing. I
especially like the virtual number feature.


CIAO!

Ed N.

shockwaveriderz wrote:

I am currently paying Alltel $45 for Local only and I pay 10 cents per
minute to Verizon for LD service(they will start charging a $1.50 monthly
fee in Sept).....I hear Alltel in Lexington Ky where I am moving to is $62
per month...! just for local service...
Vonnage at $30 per month for both local and LD would save me at least $20
per month .....

I currently have Comcast in Etown KY and they have been 99.5% reliable with
only 2-3 outages of short duration during the 2 years I have had their
service ..most of the outages have been lately due to the storms and there
was no electricity so no cable....

I will be moving to Lexington Ky and using InsightBB and they offer the ATT
digital but I thought I would go with Vonnage as a way of helping a smaller
company compete against the big boys.... Anybody from Lexington Ky care to
comment on InsightBB ?

And I of course have a cell phone ......

I've only called 911 once in my entire life so that's not an issue.... what
concerned me was having to have certain ports forwarded ... But this only
applies if you have the phone behind the router and not in front of it
correct?

thanks to all who responded..... I think I'm still going try Vonnage out and
see how it does..

shockie B)

"shockwaveriderz" <shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2lr6hlFg2el6U1@uni-berlin.de...

thanks for that info Bill, I didn't know if it was outfront the MTA would
also need a separate IP.... that might involve a charge from some cable
modem companies, so I guess I'll consider placing it behind the router..
My only concern about port forwarding is that it allows some degree of
access behind the router/firewall although I also use ZA for a soft firewall
inside my lan..... It just seems to me that opening ports and people
knowing what ports are used for Vonnage for example, people could
strobe/scan your IP and see that you exist and perhaps devise some form of
attack/exploit against those ports.. perhaps I'm just too paranoia for my
own good, although I have been on the internet now for 8 years and never
been compromised .....knock on wood......
poop happens as they say.. but that's why I have a cell phone.... :-)

shockie B)

"Bill M." <wbillups@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:iuoif05jio7t3mbnkah8b4uofjutvrtvaa@4ax.com...

Lucas Tam wrote:

I have them as primary lines with 4 numbers and had them over 2 years, not a
single issue. Very good service. We dropped our primary line a while back
and never looked back on it. All outlets in the house have access to
vonage. Our business line has the fax service with them. Many kudos to
Vonage.

Since we have 512kbps upstream from our cable company, the compression is
fantastic.


--
Fedora Core Linux Development Team
Kernel: 2.6.6-1.435.2.3
Registered Linux user #357785

shockwaveriderz wrote:

Using that logic, I've never had a fire in my home, so how long it takes
for the fire department to respond isn't an issue.

There's a reason why everyone spent so much money building an effective
911 system. It wasn't for emergencies that happened in the past. It was
for emergencies in the future. If 911 is as unimportant as you're
implying, then you're implying that every person who worked to make it a
nearly universal service was wasting their time and our money.

Having 911 service available to you isn't just your business. It's your
neighbors' business. It's your family's business. It's your guests'
business. It's the business of the letter carrier, the UPS guy, the
garbage collector, and anyone else who comes near your property. Their
lives and property are at danger any time there is a phone that someone
could grab that doesn't go to the local 911 dispatch center, and causes
a delay in help.

What ports need to be forwarded should be a trivial priority compared to
whether 911 works or not.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug: Get Black and Decker Landscaping Tools Here:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blac...ker/index.html

Before I got a router I had my MTA first in the line, with my PC
connected to the LAN port on the MTA. I kept losing connectivity, not
just on the phone line bit Internet access as well. Bought a router and
placed the MTA after the router and no problem since. Never had to do
any port forwarding, either. Just plugged everything in and great
service all around.


CIAO!

Ed N.

shockwaveriderz wrote:

"Bill M." <wbillups@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:iuoif05jio7t3mbnkah8b4uofjutvrtvaa@4ax.com...
Not true. The Motorola VT1000 that Vonage uses today has a built in NAT
router. It is enabled by default. When the NAT router is on, you can still
have another router (NAT or otherwise) behind the VT1000. I run an old
Netgear RT314 behind my VT1000, and only use one IP address from Comcast.

The VT1000's NAT router can be disabled. In that case, a router behind it
would pull a 2nd IP address from the network. The advantage is that the
VT1000's NAT router has limited port mapping options. So, an advanced user
may find it limiting. It works fine for me.

If you sign up for Vonage, be sure to get a referral email from a current
customer. You'll get a month free, and so will the current customer. Might
as well not leave money on the table!

-Gary

"Warren" <wholzem@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:WvgKc.103793$%_6.22265@attbi_s01...
I agree. That's the number one reason why I didn't drop Verizon totally
after signing up with Vonage. I still have a Verizon line available on all
my phones. Each phone also has a large sticker on the keypad that says
"911: Line 1," so that visitors to my home will be sure to use the right
line in an emergency.

Having two lines also gives me the benefit of giving out one number to
business and the other to friends and family. Even before the do-not-call
lists went into effect, almost all telemarketer calls were on the "business"
line. Now, it's a nice way before even looking at caller-id if the call is
business or personal.

Even with two lines, I cut my phone bill by $35/month by switching to
Vonage.

-Gary

"Gary" <bogus-email@hotmail.com> wrote in news:M9WdnYRUH5ILUWTdRVn-
ig@comcast.com:

Vonage is now lending VT1005 to their customers

--
Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/

Got and love it. No problems at all. Using it with Comcast Cable modem and
Linksys Router.


"shockwaveriderz" <shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2lr6hlFg2el6U1@uni-berlin.de...

Yes. But Comcast is pretty satbe, and we have cell phones. Plus you can
configure Vonage that when it detects loss of services, automatic call
forwarding kicks in - to say - a cell phone.

They have a process where you register yourself with Enhanced 911 with full
address being passed on to your local emergency service

The MTA they provide is a NAT router as well. When I put it in between the
cable modem and the router - I could not get my work VPN to work.

When I put it behind my Linksys Router - I had to opne a few ports for
Vonag - but it is working just fine.


"Ed Nielsen" <egnlsn@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:ALiKc.81129$WX.9034@attbi_s51...

In article <2lt5m0Fgn7cmU1@uni-berlin.de>, shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com
says...
This is the STUPIDEST answer I've ever seen. Do you PLAN on having a
heart attack? Do you PLAN on starting your house on fire? Do you PLAN on
having your child choke on something? Do you PLAN on a guest or yourself
having an accident? You NEVER know when you will need 911, and if it's not
available, somebody may DIE. NOTHING is worth more than a person's life.

ANYTHING that slows down contacting your local emergency service or
dispatch is NOT acceptable. I'm very certain there are going to be big
lawsuits involving this over the next few years, if they aren't already
happening. Bascially, as far as I'm concerned, ANY phone service at a
fixed address MUST have the exact same access to 911 services as landline
in that area.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross

"Jim Orfanakos" <jim@-nospam-orfanakos.com> wrote in message
news:-Z6dnei5oM4KrmfdRVn-tA@comcast.com...
You may want to check into it for your own peace of mind but Vonage does
not have E911. E911 is the service offered in most area that gives all of
your information to the 911 operator and in many areass shows your location
on a map and routing information for emergency services.

When you register with Vonage you simply specify which 911 call center is
located in your area. All 911 centers have regular phone numbers that are
used by police, alarm companies and others. When you call 911 using Vonage
your call gets routed to one of those regular phone numbers at the call
center. The operator does not receive any information about who or where you
are.

So for example you have a heart attack and your young nephew dials 911
(using Vonage) and says "uncle Bob is on the floor" you will not be any
better off than before he called. If you used "regular" 911 someone could
dial 911 and even if they just put the phone down someone would be sent.

If you have Vonage you will need to train everyone who uses your phone that
911 does not work at your house and they must be able to deliver your
address (and possibly additional directions) to the operator.

On 2004/7/17 3:05 PM, "shockwaveriderz" <shockwaveriderz@hotmail.com> wrote:

Routers are very cheap these days. Get another router ( a plain router, not
a firewall) and hook both the MTA and your firewall/router to that.