Any issues with Vonage using Cogeco (Ont.) as ISP?

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 03, 2006 Posts: 2

I'm still looking into switching to Vonage (and I probably will), but I am curious if anyone has had any good and bad experiences using Vonage and Cogeco (Ontario) as the ISP.

Thanks.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 05, 2006 Posts: 13

I am a new subscriber to Vonage, using it very minimally at this time; I am moving in the next couple of weeks and wanted to get my new Voip phone number, and system working in advance. Anyway, I am connected through a Linksys PAP2 (purchased at Future Shop back in early December - with NO MAC address problems), then through a Linksys 10/100/54(g wireless) router with firewall, and then onto the Internet via High Speed cogeco.ca. I have had no problems to speak of, other than some annoying echo and some intermittant issues with failed fax transmissions (I also have a dedicated Vonage fax line). The echo seems to be reduced a lot by simply turning down the handset volume of my VTech 5GHz cordless phone. I'm still working on getting greater reliability of my fax transmissions; forcing a slower fax speed seems to help. (I'm not using the bandwidth saver feature so that's not a factor.)

As of February, I will be using Vonage exclusively so if you're willing to wait until then, I'd be more than happy to provide a report card of sorts.

Let me know.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 1

I've been using Vonage with Cogeco for a little over a week now. It took several days to get it working because I purchased my adapter at Best Buy and had the MAC address problem.

Apart from that difficulty, I have been very happy with it so far. Sound quality is good. I just have a tiny bit of an echo, but usually only noticeable during the first few seconds of a call. Tech support on the MAC address issue was helpful once I was able to reach Vonage Canada rather than the New Jersey or offshore support.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 03, 2006 Posts: 2

As of February, I will be using Vonage exclusively so if you're willing to wait until then, I'd be more than happy to provide a report card of sorts.

Let me know.

Thanks for the feedback. I will certainly wait, its only a month away. Is there any advantage to purchasing the adapter at FS or BB vs direct from Vonage?

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 31, 2005 Posts: 7

Well, if you get the PAP2 from the store, FS is having them on for $64.95 vs some other the retailers. If you buy it online, you have to pay the activation fee, but with the satisfaction that you don't have to fight with "Abu" to have the MAC address registered. Rolling Eyes

The trick with the phone adapters is to call from a retailer and have the MAC's tested out before purchasing them. The retailer will hate you for it, but most of them are oblivious to the problem. It took me 3 times to get a PAP2 to work. The PAP2's are not the only devices with this problem, so beware. Smile

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 05, 2006 Posts: 13

Is there any advantage to purchasing the adapter at FS or BB vs direct from Vonage?

My personal experience has been that going through Future Shop was fast and cheaper than going through Vonage directly. When I originally opened my Vonage account, the basic 2-line phone adapter was severely back-ordered. Of course, no one at Vonage TOLD me that until I called back for the 4th time asking why my device hadn't arrived yet. I got the runaround at first, blaming the fact that the device is shipped from California, blah, blah, blah. On my 4th call I got hooked-up with a call centre rep that really knew his stuff - he even gave me his name and a time at which he could be reached the next day once I had my Future Shop device in-hand.

Others on this board have had hardware registration problems with devices sold through retailers (specifically, Vonage Canada not recognizing them as valid hardware devices). That certainly wasn't my experience... and if you think about it, a lot of good things can be said about the front-line security of Vonage's network infrastructure given all the problems people are having getting connected using so-called "invalid" equipment. Now... how the problems are being handled and/or addressed by Customer Service and the company in general... that's another matter altogether...

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 31, 2005 Posts: 7

It's not a matter of "invalid equipment". The MAC addresses are not bad, it's that Vonage didn't provision them for use in Canada. The screwup is theirs, not the retailers.

Posts: 56 · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject:

i have used Vonage with cogeco in ontario for over a year and absolutely no problems, calls are always clear as a bell.

I have cogeco high speed (5mbps), which works perfect even while i am surfing on the net. I had their cogeco lite for a bit, the phone is just as clear until you are browsing the internet on your computer. Ex: if you hit the refresh button on your computers internet browser you will hear garbled speech until the page is finished loading then it will be clear again

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 05, 2006 Posts: 13

Yes, you're right - the MAC addresses are "good" - they are just "unknown" to Vonage.ca's infrastructure.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 05, 2006 Posts: 13

mopfubar - I'm using Vonage exclusively now and have had no issues (3 days and counting). One report of "echo" heard on the callers' end (they could hear their own voice after they spoke) but they were on a cell phone so you can't be sure it was a Vonage-only problem.