VoIP -- Cable, DSL, Fiber -- Which is best?

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 23, 2005 Posts: 2

Hi,

Here's my 2 cents, and I'm sure someone probably said this (didn't read entire thread). It boils down to how good your provider is. I live in Staten Island, NY. I've had 2 providers in the past 5.3 years. For the first 5 years I had Time Warners Road Runner (damn rock solid, only problems I ever had about 1 complete outage a year and the shortest I had was 20 minutes, longest was several hours). I did not have any problems using Vonage on it when I signed up for it which was for about 1 to 2 months.

Then good old Verizon made FIOS available in my area. I jumped on that like a fly on horse sh*t. (funny side note the Time Warner people told me I'd be back needless to say I laughed at them and still laughing). I am now running FIOS 30Mbps Down / 5Mbps Up. Vonage has been perfect on this line. Using a WRG614 V5 router (wanna find time to build a custom router) with a Linksys Pap2. Never a hiccup in audio, no disruptions so far in service unless I unplug it.

Its all about how stable the provider's network is. If its unstable on the cable/dsl/fios network in your area look elsewhere or you will be fighting with them cause Vonage's service will suffer greatly.

I love my FIOS service and would not think of giving it up or changing the package. You may want to take a stroll over to www.dslreports.com and look at the isp forums in your area, see what they rate, user complaints etc. Use that to help base a decision on what connection you should get in your area.

I hope my rant helps you in some way.

Later,
Phx

Posts: 82 · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:46 am Post subject:

I have used Vonage on many types of connections. The best is obviously the DS3 I am using now (45mb/s symmetrical), Ping time to Vonage on this thing is around 16 ms. But to be realistic since no one has a DS3 ,I have FIOS over in Tampa. Vonage has ran better than POTS on that. The latency to Vonages data-center in New Jersey from FIOS is about 32 ms for me, which is not bad. I haven't got the ping time from that to the Global Crossing gateway that is located in Phoenix, but it shouldn't be that bad.

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 16

I have fiber-optic through my local public power company and am getting 10 - 12 Mbps down, 4 - 5 Mbps up with no service interuptions at all, and no need for a modem. The Public Utility District (PUD) installed fiber-optics to monitor and control the electric distribution system and the hydro-electric dams, so it's built for reliability. I've had RoadRunner, Comcast, and Charter Internet in the past (not to mention dial-up starting at 300 baud in the mid 1980's!), and the fiber-optic connection is by far the fastest and most reliable I have ever had. The Vonage connection is clear as a bell and rock solid.

Posts: 82 · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:35 am Post subject:

The best home connection I have used with Vonage was FIOS in Tampa. The latency is very low, 31ms to Vonage. Also, I have never had any problem with dropped or choppy calls on the FIOS. The worst connection I had with Vonage was with Comcast in Chicago. Vonage was basically unstable on it. The best type of connection I have used is the DS3 I am currently on. The latency to Vonage's data center on this is 6ms. The calls are extremely clear on the DS3. The latency on the DS3 is also noticeably better then with any home connection I have used.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:43 am Post subject:

This one really depends on the market you're in. In Tampa, I'll gladly take Verizon DSL over Bright House's RoadRunner service. FAR more reliable, more consistent speed, etc. Down south of here, I use Comcast (a.k.a. Comcrap, as one of their own employees I spoke with this weekend called it) because the local phone co is Sprint, and their DSL service is terrible on a good day, totally useless most of the time. Best thing to do is to ask around your area and see what people use. Maybe even call up a locally-owned computer shop and see what they recommend (they might even use VoIP).

If you do go with FIOS, MAKE SURE THEY LEAVE THE OLD COPPER LINES IN PLACE!!! Verizon likes to yank these as part of the "installation"... Phone cos are required to open up their copper lines to competing companies...but aren't with fiber, hence the removal. Once Verizon installs FIOS, you're stuck with Voip even on your Verizon line.