Vonage VoIP Forum Digest - July 26, 2005

July 26, 2005

By Daniel Connor

Welcome to today's edition of the Vonage Voip Forum Digest.

I am open to add others, just contact me with the info of the Newsreader.

As for today's Digest, we'll talk about a new Motorola home network gateway that will be offered on the Vonage site this fall. We'll talk about a new emergency services response center just launched by Vonage, as well as new Vonage availability in two fast-growing Toronto suburbs. We'll visit a Vonage Voip Forum thread on what to do when a PC shuts down, and the Vonage call drops as a result, as well as a thread with most surprising note one Member received from Vonage Customer Support.

Vonage In The Headlines

Vonage Launches TCS Emergency Response Center

Yesterday afternoon, Vonage announced it had selected TeleCommunication Systems to provide emergency call center service for Vonage customers. The TCS Response Center will supplement TCS' E911 Voip solution that has been selected by Vonage to comply with the recently published FCC Voip E9-1-1 Order.

Staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, the Center will handle calls from all Vonage subscribers who cannot be routed directly to the nearest Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). The service is designed to ensure that all callers have access to a live operator trained to help them secure timely access to an emergency services provider, and will get around the old system in which E911 calls would first land on a pre-recorded message or wind up on an administrative line that may not be staffed with a live 24/7 operator. The TCS Response Center operator answering the E911 Voip call will confirm the location of the caller and transfer the call to the appropriate PSAP serving the caller's reported location.

Even Vonage subscribers who have previously opted out of E911 service, but who place emergency calls can be directed to emergency assistance through the TCS Response Center.

Vonage Will Distribute New Motorola Gateway

Starting this fall, Vonage will offer Motorola's forthcoming VT2442 gateway on the Vonage website. The gateway which is interoperable with networks that use SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) combnes broadnand telephony and home networking capability. It has two lines for telephone service, with cal waiting, call forwarding and caller ID support, as well as four Ethernet ports for computers or gaming consoles.

"By taking two complex technologies -- Voice-over-IP telephone service and home networking -- and bringing them together into a single product, the Motorola VT2442 is making the Vonage service even more convenient for customers," said Motorola vice-president Charles Dougherty.

Vonage Now Offers Local Numbers In Suburban Toronto

Mississauga and Brampton, Ont., are two fast-growing Toronto suburbs. So fast-growing, in fact, that not all that many years ago, they were assigned a new area code (905) apart from Toronto's (416).

While residents of those two cities have been able to use Vonage for their local and long-distance service, the numbers they were assigned were Area Code 416 numbers. But now, Vonage has added local phone numbers for these cities. Vonage subscribers can keep their existing Vonage numbers, or transfer their existing inbound numbers to one in the 905 Area Code.

On The Vonage Voip Forum

On a new Vonage Voip Forum thread called Call Drops When Computer Shuts Down?? new Vonage Forum Member bmerad describes the problem like this:

"Calls placed using Vonage will be completely dropped when the ON/OFF state of my computer is changed mid call," he writes. For example if I place a call when my computer is ON, the instant I shut down my computer, my call will be dropped. I have tested this for various times, and there is clearly a cause and effect relationship. Also, if I place a call when my computer is OFF, the call will last and be completely fine until i switch the computer ON."

In the post, bmerad mentions his set-up: "phone line into WESTELL 327W DSL router/gateway; Ethernet cable from DSL router PORT 1 to Linksys RT31P2 Broadband Router and Ethernet cable from DSL router PORT 2 to Computer."

By the way, I recommend that when you make posts like this, you do what bmerad did and describe your setup. That information will help our other Forum Members help you.

OK, back to bmerad's take on things. He says that what he thinks is happening is "the DSL router senses the computer's network card ON/OFF state and by some mechanism this disrupts or resets the connection between the DSL router and the Broadband Router, thus terminating the call." He then asks whether he should I try a static IP address for his computer on the DSL router, and if there is some setting in a router that can be changed to help fix this problem?

Seems like paul248 is often the first Forum Member to respond to questions like this. He suggests connecting the PC to one of the LAN ports on the RT31P2.

Then, Forum Member VonageTPA offers this idea: disable the router portion of the Westell. "That'd let the RT31P2 sit wide open on the Internet," he writes. "Sometimes 2 routers inline like that can cause problems for some applications if they're both running NAT.

Vonage Forum Member MattB starts a thread today called Surprising email regarding LNP status and credit from Vonage. And guess what: MattB, (who joined the Vonage Forum three weeks ago today), says he's just received a letter from Vonage noting that because the phone number transfer he requested is taking longer than anticipated, that Vonage is giving him a $10 credit on his account!

That's what's hot about Vonage today. Check with us Wednesday morning for the next edition of the Vonage VoIP Forum Digest!!