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Scott wrote:
> Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
> connection? Please share your experiences.

I'm using Live with Vonage. No real experiences to share; it works great.

Swi
 
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can someone explain vonage to me?

If I get it right, I pay for the vonage service plus my high speed
connect.....

no phone bill, no long distance.....

Is it the same for dsl and cable?


Chuck
 
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garciyalater@hotmail.com wrote:
> can someone explain vonage to me?
>
> If I get it right, I pay for the vonage service plus my high speed
> connect.....

That's right.

> no phone bill, no long distance

That depends on what service you get. I've got the $14.99 per month
with 500 outbound minutes. I have no long distance unless I call out
more than 500 minutes a month (This is all of the US and Canada).
There's no limit on inbound calls.

> Is it the same for dsl and cable?

Yes it is. You get a box which connects to your internet (Mine connects
through a router which also connects one of our Xboxen to the net) and
you just connect your phone to that box.

Like I said, it works great, and the installation is a breeze. I'm very
happy with Vonage.

Swi
 

jlc

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<garciyalater@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1112325640.956425.185120@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> can someone explain vonage to me?
>
> If I get it right, I pay for the vonage service plus my high speed
> connect.....
>
> no phone bill, no long distance.....
>
> Is it the same for dsl and cable?
>
>
> Chuck
>

I've been using Vontage for a month now and it's great. I have the $24.99
plan and can call anywhere in the USA. Set up was very easy. I have it
running through a 5 year old Belkin router that has a built in firewall and
I didn't have to mess with any settings to get it to work. I just moved into
a new house and the first thing I did was set up my homes phone outlets to
all work with the Vontage phone adapter. It's very easy, all you have to do
is find where the phone line comes into your house. Open the box and
disconnect the phone wires. Once I did that (took 5 min) I jacked my phone
adapter into one of my phone jacks and now all of the jacks in my house work
with the service. I can now plug any phone into any jack, and I get a dial
tone. Very, very cool! And the sound quality is much better then any land
line I've ever heard. In fact the volume of the in coming calls is much
louder then when I had a land line. Plus Vontage has hired over 300 new tech
support people and have installed a new phone system, so when I've called a
couple of times with a question, I only had to wait for less then 5 min. As
for speed loss, I have cable and it has not affected my speed at all.
JLC.
 

Scott

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"USAF LM" <MMMmmmmm@spam.eat> wrote in message
news:114pehh6f5ifk9a@corp.supernews.com...
> Scott wrote:
>> Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
>> connection? Please share your experiences.
>
> I'm using Live with Vonage. No real experiences to share; it works great.
>
> Swi

Thanks. Do you ever use both at once? Got cable or DSL? Do you know your
speeds?

One of the reviews I read - and I can't remember if it was Vonage or
CallVantage - said that in their tests that computer downloads were slowed
about 30% and uploads were slowed something like 65% while using the phone.
They didn't metnion XBOX, but I would think it would be similar to the
computer. testmy.net reports my cable at 3.8 Mbps down but only 333 Kbps
up.
 
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Scott wrote:
> "USAF LM" <MMMmmmmm@spam.eat> wrote in message
> news:114pehh6f5ifk9a@corp.supernews.com...
>
>>Scott wrote:
>>
>>>Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
>>>connection? Please share your experiences.
>>
>>I'm using Live with Vonage. No real experiences to share; it works great.
>>
>>Swi
>
>
> Thanks. Do you ever use both at once? Got cable or DSL? Do you know your
> speeds?

I've used both at once. Right now I'm using RoadRunner premium, but my
speeds are right around 900 Kbps down and 460 Kbps up (The Speakeasy
server is very busy; my actual speeds should be around 3 Mbps/512 Kbps).

> One of the reviews I read - and I can't remember if it was Vonage or
> CallVantage - said that in their tests that computer downloads were slowed
> about 30% and uploads were slowed something like 65% while using the phone.
> They didn't metnion XBOX, but I would think it would be similar to the
> computer. testmy.net reports my cable at 3.8 Mbps down but only 333 Kbps
> up.

You shouldn't have any problem, I don't. You will take some hit on
speeds, you have to, but you can throttle your Vonage bandwidth online
using your account settings. I don't throttle it at all and have had no
problems.

Swi
 

Scott

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<garciyalater@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1112325640.956425.185120@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> can someone explain vonage to me?
>
> If I get it right, I pay for the vonage service plus my high speed
> connect.....
>
> no phone bill, no long distance.....
>
> Is it the same for dsl and cable?
>
>
> Chuck
>

Yeah, you've basically got it. Of course, if you've got DSL then maybe you
will still have a phone bill, unless they let you just have DSL without
phone service (don't know, I've got cable).

At any rate, I think a lot of people keep their basic phone service just for
emergencies and backup, which seems to kinda defeat the purpose (savings!)
of going VOIP. I mean, it looks like the bottom line for Vonage unlimited
would be $27.24 (24.99 plus a couple small taxes), and a landline is
probably at least $30 per month with all their ridiculous taxes - that's
almost $60, so for just a little more they could just get an unlimited plan
on their landline and avoid all the potential hassles of VOIP. It is a new
technology and is not nearly as dependable as a good ole landline. My
Sprint plan just went to over $80 with taxes (which is why I'm looking at
this), but it wouldn't be worth it to me just to save $20 per month. Maybe
the lower international rates factor into it for some people though.

I'd be looking at ditching the landline altogether though, saving over $50
per month, and using my cell phone for backup. I know both Vonage and ATT
CalllVantage support forwarding to another phone if they, the network, the
ISP, or you are having technical problems that prevent your VOIP service
from working. Check out their web sites.
 

Scott

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"USAF LM" <MMMmmmmm@spam.eat> wrote in message
news:114pgisql1rae9c@corp.supernews.com...
> Scott wrote:
>> "USAF LM" <MMMmmmmm@spam.eat> wrote in message
>> news:114pehh6f5ifk9a@corp.supernews.com...
>>
>>>Scott wrote:
>>>
>>>>Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
>>>>connection? Please share your experiences.
>>>
>>>I'm using Live with Vonage. No real experiences to share; it works
>>>great.
>>>
>>>Swi
>>
>>
>> Thanks. Do you ever use both at once? Got cable or DSL? Do you know
>> your speeds?
>
> I've used both at once. Right now I'm using RoadRunner premium, but my
> speeds are right around 900 Kbps down and 460 Kbps up (The Speakeasy
> server is very busy; my actual speeds should be around 3 Mbps/512 Kbps).
>
>> One of the reviews I read - and I can't remember if it was Vonage or
>> CallVantage - said that in their tests that computer downloads were
>> slowed about 30% and uploads were slowed something like 65% while using
>> the phone. They didn't metnion XBOX, but I would think it would be
>> similar to the computer. testmy.net reports my cable at 3.8 Mbps down
>> but only 333 Kbps up.
>
> You shouldn't have any problem, I don't. You will take some hit on
> speeds, you have to, but you can throttle your Vonage bandwidth online
> using your account settings. I don't throttle it at all and have had no
> problems.
>
> Swi

Thanks again. One last question: Do you use either of these:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6825368&type=product&id=1091101528286

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6778374&type=product&id=1089889717731
 
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Scott wrote:
> "USAF LM" <MMMmmmmm@spam.eat> wrote in message
> news:114pgisql1rae9c@corp.supernews.com...
>
>>Scott wrote:
>>
>>>"USAF LM" <MMMmmmmm@spam.eat> wrote in message
>>>news:114pehh6f5ifk9a@corp.supernews.com...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Scott wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
>>>>>connection? Please share your experiences.
>>>>
>>>>I'm using Live with Vonage. No real experiences to share; it works
>>>>great.
>>>>
>>>>Swi
>>>
>>>
>>>Thanks. Do you ever use both at once? Got cable or DSL? Do you know
>>>your speeds?
>>
>>I've used both at once. Right now I'm using RoadRunner premium, but my
>>speeds are right around 900 Kbps down and 460 Kbps up (The Speakeasy
>>server is very busy; my actual speeds should be around 3 Mbps/512 Kbps).
>>
>>
>>>One of the reviews I read - and I can't remember if it was Vonage or
>>>CallVantage - said that in their tests that computer downloads were
>>>slowed about 30% and uploads were slowed something like 65% while using
>>>the phone. They didn't metnion XBOX, but I would think it would be
>>>similar to the computer. testmy.net reports my cable at 3.8 Mbps down
>>>but only 333 Kbps up.
>>
>>You shouldn't have any problem, I don't. You will take some hit on
>>speeds, you have to, but you can throttle your Vonage bandwidth online
>>using your account settings. I don't throttle it at all and have had no
>>problems.
>>
>>Swi
>
>
> Thanks again. One last question: Do you use either of these:
>
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6825368&type=product&id=1091101528286
>
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6778374&type=product&id=1089889717731

No, I don't. I already had a router (with built in firewall, no
problems) so I got this: http://tinyurl.com/6b6lb

Swi
 

Eric

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"Scott" wrote in message

> Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
> connection? Please share your experiences.

I'm using TWC/Roadrunner's cable internet + VoIP, along with XBox Live.

My advertised download speed is 5 Mbs. Speed tests to local RR server
average around 4.82 Mbs, while the speed tests to the Speakeasy server (in
broadbandreports.com) in California usually average between 3.2 to 4.0
Mbs -- depending on the time of day/night.

I've done speed tests while using the phone, to see what the impact would
be. I noted zero impact to using the phone at the same time while doing
speed tests. This is even going through the air (wireless router) to a
laptop, so I don't suspect that using the phone has any impact to XBox Live
at all. The XBox is hardwired (CAT5E) straight to my wireless router.

I wouldn't suspect to Vonage to have any impact either. I'm paying
$39.99/month for TWC's digital phone service, which is more expensive than
the other VoIP providers but I wanted to maintain my existing phone number.
$40/month, will unlimited LD, is still a savings coming from the local telco
though.

(And, yes, I did fully research all of the major VoIP providers -- Vonage,
Primus Lingo, Packet8, ect -- only RR was capable of transfering my
particular number to their system.)

Cheers,
-Eric
 

Eric

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"Scott"wrote in message
>
> Yeah, you've basically got it. Of course, if you've got DSL then maybe
you
> will still have a phone bill, unless they let you just have DSL without
> phone service (don't know, I've got cable).
>
> At any rate, I think a lot of people keep their basic phone service just
for
> emergencies and backup, which seems to kinda defeat the purpose (savings!)
> of going VOIP. I mean, it looks like the bottom line for Vonage unlimited
> would be $27.24 (24.99 plus a couple small taxes), and a landline is
> probably at least $30 per month with all their ridiculous taxes - that's
> almost $60, so for just a little more they could just get an unlimited
plan
> on their landline and avoid all the potential hassles of VOIP. It is a
new
> technology and is not nearly as dependable as a good ole landline. My
> Sprint plan just went to over $80 with taxes (which is why I'm looking at
> this), but it wouldn't be worth it to me just to save $20 per month.
Maybe
> the lower international rates factor into it for some people though.
>
> I'd be looking at ditching the landline altogether though, saving over $50
> per month, and using my cell phone for backup. I know both Vonage and ATT
> CalllVantage support forwarding to another phone if they, the network, the
> ISP, or you are having technical problems that prevent your VOIP service
> from working. Check out their web sites.

Yep, VoIP for me was mainly for cost savings -- so I ditched the land line
in a heart beat.
Likewise, I have a cell phone for "back up". Prior to VoIP, I was even
considering ditching the land line and just the cell as my primary phone.

Unless you have a special system that requires a land line (some security
systems and such), no real reason for one anymore.

Kind of funny, after you drop the telco, they will send you "promotional
offers" for months and months afterwards. They'll offer you a monthly plan
(with unlimited LD) for roughly the same price as your VoIP service --
careful, however, not to disclose the additional taxes and "tack-on fees".

You can probably even just call the telco right now and tell them that you
are thinking about going with a VoIP service and asks what pricing
incentives the telco can give to persuade you to stay. I know a few people
that did that and had their monthly bills slashed by like 30 percent, in
addition to being given unlimited LD.

After you switch, or telco knows you are thinking about switching, they will
also send you out "scare letters" saying that VoIP won't work in power
outages and you might die from not being able to call 911 during a fire or
medical emergency, ect. Pretty funny.

Cheers!
-Eric
 

Scott

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"Eric" <nospam@nospam.not> wrote in message
news:Uhh3e.1287$Fh4.99@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
> "Scott" wrote in message
>
>> Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
>> connection? Please share your experiences.
>
> I'm using TWC/Roadrunner's cable internet + VoIP, along with XBox Live.
>
> My advertised download speed is 5 Mbs. Speed tests to local RR server
> average around 4.82 Mbs, while the speed tests to the Speakeasy server (in
> broadbandreports.com) in California usually average between 3.2 to 4.0
> Mbs -- depending on the time of day/night.
>
> I've done speed tests while using the phone, to see what the impact would
> be. I noted zero impact to using the phone at the same time while doing
> speed tests. This is even going through the air (wireless router) to a
> laptop, so I don't suspect that using the phone has any impact to XBox
> Live
> at all. The XBox is hardwired (CAT5E) straight to my wireless router.
>
> I wouldn't suspect to Vonage to have any impact either. I'm paying
> $39.99/month for TWC's digital phone service, which is more expensive than
> the other VoIP providers but I wanted to maintain my existing phone
> number.
> $40/month, will unlimited LD, is still a savings coming from the local
> telco
> though.
>
> (And, yes, I did fully research all of the major VoIP providers -- Vonage,
> Primus Lingo, Packet8, ect -- only RR was capable of transfering my
> particular number to their system.)
>

Thanks for the input. Yep, losing my current number is the only reason I
haven't gone ahead and taken the plunge, but for $50 per month savings,
that's looking like a minor thing.
 

jlc

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"Scott" <scott@mailinator.com> wrote in message
news:luh3e.125408$r55.53333@attbi_s52...
>
> "Eric" <nospam@nospam.not> wrote in message
> news:Uhh3e.1287$Fh4.99@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
>> "Scott" wrote in message
>>
>>> Anybody using Live and a VOIP service like Vonage on the same broadband
>>> connection? Please share your experiences.
>>
>> I'm using TWC/Roadrunner's cable internet + VoIP, along with XBox Live.
>>
>> My advertised download speed is 5 Mbs. Speed tests to local RR server
>> average around 4.82 Mbs, while the speed tests to the Speakeasy server
>> (in
>> broadbandreports.com) in California usually average between 3.2 to 4.0
>> Mbs -- depending on the time of day/night.
>>
>> I've done speed tests while using the phone, to see what the impact would
>> be. I noted zero impact to using the phone at the same time while doing
>> speed tests. This is even going through the air (wireless router) to a
>> laptop, so I don't suspect that using the phone has any impact to XBox
>> Live
>> at all. The XBox is hardwired (CAT5E) straight to my wireless router.
>>
>> I wouldn't suspect to Vonage to have any impact either. I'm paying
>> $39.99/month for TWC's digital phone service, which is more expensive
>> than
>> the other VoIP providers but I wanted to maintain my existing phone
>> number.
>> $40/month, will unlimited LD, is still a savings coming from the local
>> telco
>> though.
>>
>> (And, yes, I did fully research all of the major VoIP providers --
>> Vonage,
>> Primus Lingo, Packet8, ect -- only RR was capable of transfering my
>> particular number to their system.)
>>
>
> Thanks for the input. Yep, losing my current number is the only reason I
> haven't gone ahead and taken the plunge, but for $50 per month savings,
> that's looking like a minor thing.

Have you checked with Vontage about keeping your old #? You can check on
their web site to see if you live in an area where it's possible to keep it.
JLC