Vonage Update
 

Well, as some may remember, I signed up 4 months ago and haven't had any luck, despite numerous support calls. On one where they called me, they couldn't hear me well enough and they called me back on my cell :)

It still hasn't been fixed. I know a number of you have been saying Vonage is fine for you and you know what, it's probably OK (just) for me. BUT, its definitely not great and sometimes it's just horrible.

A guy from the UK, who is on Vonage called me on my cell phone yesterday and whilst I could just about make out the call, it wasn't great. He called my from his cell to my cell and it was perfect.

Some have reported that ISP's are chopping VOIP band-width so maybe that's it but I'm done. Since we call back on cell phones more than half the time as Vonage just isn't up to snuff. SOmeone told me they got AT&T home line for less than $25 a month so I'm switching back (or just might stay on cell phone). I hate paying more but it is what it is.

I know it's not my network BECAUSE when I use SKYPE from my PC, it's actually BETTER than Vonage in most instances!

Seems I am alone though on this as everyone else loves Vonage!

Re: Vonage Update
 

We have 5 lines on vonage and for the most part they are fine. i take it you have checked your bandwidth allocator on the internet?

good luck.

Carl.

Re: Vonage Update
 

try lingo?

Re: Vonage Update
 

Yes 12MBS download and 750k upload. I use slingmedia to the UK and have NO problems and use SKYPE, no problems.

The fact that the person I know in the UK on Vonage called me on my AT&T cell and he was garbled was my final straw in doing any more analysis on my network. This proved it must be Vonage. He has been with them for a while and said the service used to be great but has deteriorated over the last 12 months. I think, given the amount of people signing up, given the economy, it's not surprising. Their own band-width must be under a lot of stress.

Re: Vonage Update
 

When I had vonage it was terrible. Skype works perfectly and is only $10 unlimited USA to UK.
Anyway Vonage customer service is even worse.
So I would just go with something else.

Re: Vonage Update
 

How weird, my vonage started playing up about a week ago. I have been trying to make several calls back to England, but all the calls were all of a sudden bloody terrible!

I have had Vonage for about a year, never had a problem. I checked that the vonage box was 4ft away from my router, I have increased my bad width to max, Verizon has given me warped speed fios internet (even the vonage rep, said.....F'kin how fast when he done a line check!) but still the phone calls are shit.

What a bummer, looks like I will have to change to something else....it was a good price at 24.99+tax.

so what else is there?

Re: Vonage Update
 

I have an English friend that lives about 100 miles from me. When she calls me on her Vonage phone it goes along okay for a few minutes or so, and then I start getting that echo thing. I can't understand a word she is saying, because my own voice is coming back at me. Terrible reception. I call her on her cell phone, I hate to saying anything about her Vonage. Let someone in the UK tell her.

Re: Vonage Update
 

http://voip.about.com/od/servicesand...5Providers.htm

Lingo, BroadVoice, Packet8

Re: Vonage Update
 

Thanks Bob, I will look into it.

Re: Vonage Update
 

That happened to me and it turned out that some twat at vonage had altered a setting on my account - got it sorted out with a quick call.

Re: Vonage Update
 

The fact that you can use skype with success does suggest your network connection is good. But make sure it's good at a few different random times during the day - not just one or two quick tests. If skype is consistently good, and vonage is consistently bad, then you have really good evidence that vonage is bad for you.

Be aware that your ISP 'bandwidth' or 'speed' is not the ONLY factor that affects the quality; there is another factor called latency that can kill your voip performance. But again, it should affect vonage and skype in the same manner.

I have vonage at home (in ADDITION to land lines and cell phones) and it's good most of the time, but if I do high quality video streaming, that will really impact the quality.

My advice - get a basic land-line account, with NO long distance, for about $20/month, then use a calling card for all your long distance. That's what I do for most of my calls.

Re: Vonage Update
 

We've used Onesuite for years as a calling card-type service and they're pretty good. I noticed they've started a VOIP service (http://www.onesuite.com/products_Broadband_Main.asp) - haven't tried it though...

Re: Vonage Update
 

I've had Vonage for several years now, I have never experienced any outages with the service that weren't caused by the cable company, its a great resource for talking home to UK landlines, that's really why I got it in the first place.