Vonage VoIP Forum Digest - May 7, 2007

May 7, 2007

By Daniel Connor

Welcome to today's edition of Vonage Forum Digest.

Today in the news section we will come to know about the benefit that Vonage is going to derive from the Supreme Court's rulings then we go through a discussion raised by a Vonage Forum member on the Sonicwall and fast busy signal. Finally we shall conclude with the Vonage Stock price update.

In The News

Vonage to benefit from SCOTUS ruling on overseas use of 'obvious' patent

Two rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) have come over as advantage for Vonage. As per the recent Supreme Court ruling, new standards for patents were set up. These would be of far reaching consequences, mainly over the technical and the pharmaceutical industries.

The Court rulings were made to curb litigation from the so-called "Patent-rolls" or the firms, which are chiefly run on payments of royalty. Legal analysts have been referred to at 'The Age' as saying that the court's decisions in a way might lower the absurd patent lawsuits.

In one of the rulings of the US Court, nine justices treated the patent for an adjustable accelerator pedal for the motorists as obvious. In the case, where a lawsuit was filed by KSR International against Teleflex, the justices had the opinion that a company cannot hold a patent for a device like a wheel or a door, which could have been invented by anybody.

In a second ruling, the High Court recommended that AT&T could not collect damages from Microsoft for patented software sold in other countries. These two Court decisions, as believed by the analysts, move away the power from the Patent Holders.

The decision also could benefit Internet telephony firm Vonage Holdings. According to John Fuisz, practising Law at Washington, Vonage can take lead from this KSR decision in its ongoing controversial patent dispute.

As per Harold Furchtgott-Roth of the New York Sun, "Under pre-existing law and precedent, companies could and would file multiple patents for various modifications of the same innovation. The Patent Office and Courts followed tedious standards that permitted standards that permitted patents that were sometimes derivatives or variations of other patents. The Supreme Court ruling in KSR International vs. Teleflex modifies, but does not reinvent those standards."

On The Vonage VoIP Forum

A Vonage Forum Member started a new thread titled, "Sonicwall and fast busy signal".

He hasn't come up with a problem but has tried to provide some information. He writes, "If you use Sonicwall firewalls and cannot receive calls or get a fast busy signal after you dial out, I have a solution for you!!!! Make sure "Use SIP Transformations" is unchecked."

Navydavy the Vonage Forum MVM replies, "We need to see some more of these. Thanks Clache for providing some real solutions to a problem. What seemed like a complex issue was easily fixed with a check box. Outstanding! I read your other post, and it's saddening that Vonage TS didn't help you, that you figured it out on your own. Good on you, bad on them."

Noct had a few query regarding this so he says, "Well, let's be realistic here. How common is a Sonicwall firewall? Their techs seem to be built around the typical home user with Linksys, Netgear, and Belkin routers. I just took a peek at newegg and zipzoomfly.com, and the sonicwalls are very expensive, they seem to be built around a business-type network. Now, if you're investing several hundred dollars into a router or networking device, you most likely have a network admin running around or some type of liason."

He continues, "What I'm saying is that the issue might have been better resolved calling the manufacturer of the router and just asking them if there's anything specific you need to do to use VOIP behind it. Especially because if the only thing modified was a router setting, and you connect the adapter directly to the modem or gateway, and it's resolved - you KNOW then that the SonicWall is what's causing all your frustration. In ANY line of business it's IMPOSSIBLE to know every single model of networking device ever created. This is why most ISP's will have you connect the computer directly to their modem, and if the internet is good, they send you on your way and blame the routers.

At least Vonage, in the past anyway, troubleshot the issue with you. What I don't understand though is that if Vonage told you that advice in the past, why there wasn't any notes on your account saying that the problem was fixed with the simple configuration setting."

Clache steps into the discussion saying, "Well, the reason the notes weren't there should be pretty self-evident. Like I said, I dropped the service 2 years ago due to the state of the technology.

If you look on eBay, where many cost-conscious home network builders go, you'll see that Sonicwalls are very common. In fact, they can be much cheaper than buying a new Linksys router off of NewEgg.

Now, I realize that several Vonage devices go directly behind the cable modem. But, there are several devices, like my Linksys PAP2, that don't have routing functionality and only have 1 Ethernet port. Therefore, Vonage needs to be able to troubleshoot firewalls. This particular model seems to be the most common Vonage unit sold on eBay. Not to mention that Sam's club is selling them for $12. Can't beat the price.

More than having people that know every firewall out there, having people that know SIP technology that is specifically designed for VOIP would be helpful. That's really the only requirement. And, best of all, they only need to be tier 3 support. What does that mean? Only a few calls not answered by tier 1 & tier 2 support need to be manned. But first, you need people who speak & understand English on tier 1 & 2. In my experience with Vonage, tier 2 support doesn't appear to know more than tier 1 (which is how to read off of a note card)."

Noct adds his viewpoint saying, "This particular model seems to be the most common Vonage unit sold on eBay.

Vonage terms of service prevent the transfer of the device between individuals and accounts unless it is the same individual. While this may be done, just keep in mind that at Vonage's discretion, they could flag the account. Plus, if you buy a device off eBay and it's associated with an account that has an outstanding balance, Vonage won't turn it on unless you cover the balance. I've been told this usually happens with the customers that change their credit cards trying to avoid the disconnect fees, but what they don't realize is that they kill their credit because Vonage sends collection bureaus after you. As for Tier 2, in my experience, Tier 2 and 3 are located in the same building at their corporate. How do I know?"

"Hi this is so and so. Yes I'm with level 2. Yeah, I'm located in NJ." etc, etc. Then when transferred to Advanced Tech Support - their highest level, they say they're in the same building. In fact, I've been put on hold while the Advanced agent got up from his desk to talk to the tier 2 person to figure out what troubleshooting he'd done."

Dolphinjr0 replies to Noct saying, "Noct: Most tech support that has tier 2 and tier 3 are located in the same building. Tier 2 and tier 3 can even be sitting right next to each other. I am a tier 2 agent for Verizon DSL tech support."

Noct immediately relies saying, "Right the original poster said that TIer 1 and 2 didn't speak english. My point was for Vonage at least T2 & 3 phone support was right down the hall. Pretty neat."

Dolphinjr0 concludes saying, "Yes it is neat. Most call centers even have floor control. When an agent puts a customer on mute the customer normally knows it. When they do must them, its because they are asking floor control a question or floor control is telling the agent to get off the phone because of AHT issues. That part I don't believe in. My call center does not have AHT and we can be on the phone with the customer for as long as we need to resolve the issue that the over seas agent didn't do or correct their mistakes."

There is a thread on the forum from a member named, flyerhell. He began the thread titled. 'Connecting Netgear FR114P router to Motorola VT2442'. This thread has not been answered so far but helpful replies from the rest of the members are expected and will be appreciated.

Vonage Stock Report

On Friday, at the New York Stock Exchange, Vonage stock closed at $3.12 a share which is same as that of Thursday's closing price. The day's lowest price was $3.03 per share. The total number of Vonage share traded on Friday is 644,900.

Once again, our Vonage Stock Forum can be reached from vonage-forum.com/forum15.html">www.vonage-forum.com.