Comcast vs. Vonage

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:31 pm Post subject:

www.pingplotter.com

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 13

Nice idea to start monitoring, I have done the same now from both sites where I have a PAP2 connected...

These graphs are created using a piece of software called ipMonitor, test time is every 8min

Posts: 5

I signed up with Vonage in early January... service/quality was outstanding for the first 2-3 weeks. In February I started experiencing dropped outbound audio (the other party couldn't hear me), but I can hear them fine. It happens sporadically and it lasts 5-10 seconds. It happens ALL THE TIME! I have waited for a month in hopes that it would get better, but it hasn't.

We have a baby at home (I also am self-employed and have a home office) and I can't have the risk of my audio going out during an emergency call to the doctor, 911, business calls, etc. Whatever the politics are, these two companies need to find a solution and stop taking advantage of their customers. I am greatly disappointed in the whole experience and will have to discontinue using Vonage if things don't improve VERY soon. I've made my calls to Vonage and they had me run the various tests and made adjustments on their end and I'm going to give Comcast one last call to try to get a service tech out to double-check the lines/modem.

I've read many posts regarding customers experiencing the same issue I have and so far haven't seen any solutions. I've ran the tests, bought additional hardware (a Hawking HBB1), called Vonage, called Comcast and have decided that the frustration has outweighed the savings. I don't care to dwell too far into the troubleshooting biz (latency, packet loss, hops, etc) as it shouldn't be my responsibilty. If this turns out to be Comcast-related problem (which I believe it is), it looks as though they have succeeded in costing Vonage a customer. I feel like Vonage doesn't want to fight to keep their customers and find a solution with Comcast.....

Why can't things just work now-a-days?????

Posts: 14

Starting with page 24 of this thread, I am unable to view the full width of the post on screen. It is very frustrating! Pages 1 -23 are fine. Can you help?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:31 am Post subject:

It's probably a combination of your screen resolution and the bandwidth screenshots posted above. Wait until the thread reaches page 25 and the problem will go away, or if you are using Firefox and AdBlock or Image Zoomer, you can simply block the images or reduce their size to fit your browser window properly.

Posts: 114

I have the identical problem you do, but it happens infrequently. My downstream connect never stops, but my upstream will stop for 5-10 seconds (again infrequently - maybe 4-5 times a day). Just so long as we're not on a conversation during those blips, everything is fine. I believe it's a Comcast problem since running Pingplotter to "www.download.com" shows an upstream cutout durng the time the outbound voice goes away.

From reading this thread, I don't think it's the same issue. It appears that Comcast in the midwest is dropping packets both up and downstream. My downstream is perfect (and very, very fast) all the time.

-Craig

Shakedown wrote:

I signed up with Vonage in early January... service/quality was outstanding for the first 2-3 weeks. In February I started experiencing dropped outbound audio (the other party couldn't hear me), but I can hear them fine. It happens sporadically and it lasts 5-10 seconds. It happens ALL THE TIME! I have waited for a month in hopes that it would get better, but it hasn't.

We have a baby at home (I also am self-employed and have a home office) and I can't have the risk of my audio going out during an emergency call to the doctor, 911, business calls, etc. Whatever the politics are, these two companies need to find a solution and stop taking advantage of their customers. I am greatly disappointed in the whole experience and will have to discontinue using Vonage if things don't improve VERY soon. I've made my calls to Vonage and they had me run the various tests and made adjustments on their end and I'm going to give Comcast one last call to try to get a service tech out to double-check the lines/modem.

I've read many posts regarding customers experiencing the same issue I have and so far haven't seen any solutions. I've ran the tests, bought additional hardware (a Hawking HBB1), called Vonage, called Comcast and have decided that the frustration has outweighed the savings. I don't care to dwell too far into the troubleshooting biz (latency, packet loss, hops, etc) as it shouldn't be my responsibilty. If this turns out to be Comcast-related problem (which I believe it is), it looks as though they have succeeded in costing Vonage a customer. I feel like Vonage doesn't want to fight to keep their customers and find a solution with Comcast.....

Why can't things just work now-a-days?????

Posts: 14 · Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 12:30 pm Post subject:

NateHoy wrote:

It's probably a combination of your screen resolution and the bandwidth screenshots posted above. Wait until the thread reaches page 25 and the problem will go away, or if you are using Firefox and AdBlock or Image Zoomer, you can simply block the images or reduce their size to fit your browser window properly.

I, too, suspected it was the bandwidth shot causing the problem - my old eyes are really being strained to read this at 1280 x 1024 (which gives me almost all of the post), but can probably manage until pg. 25 is reached.

Keep posting, guys and gals! Wink

Posts: 1123 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 1123

This is a throw away post.

Posts: 27 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Feb 16, 2006 Posts: 27

Shakedown wrote:

I signed up with Vonage in early January... service/quality was outstanding for the first 2-3 weeks. In February I started experiencing dropped outbound audio (the other party couldn't hear me), but I can hear them fine. It happens sporadically and it lasts 5-10 seconds. It happens ALL THE TIME! I have waited for a month in hopes that it would get better, but it hasn't.

We have a baby at home (I also am self-employed and have a home office) and I can't have the risk of my audio going out during an emergency call to the doctor, 911, business calls, etc. Whatever the politics are, these two companies need to find a solution and stop taking advantage of their customers. I am greatly disappointed in the whole experience and will have to discontinue using Vonage if things don't improve VERY soon. I've made my calls to Vonage and they had me run the various tests and made adjustments on their end and I'm going to give Comcast one last call to try to get a service tech out to double-check the lines/modem.

I've read many posts regarding customers experiencing the same issue I have and so far haven't seen any solutions. I've ran the tests, bought additional hardware (a Hawking HBB1), called Vonage, called Comcast and have decided that the frustration has outweighed the savings. I don't care to dwell too far into the troubleshooting biz (latency, packet loss, hops, etc) as it shouldn't be my responsibilty. If this turns out to be Comcast-related problem (which I believe it is), it looks as though they have succeeded in costing Vonage a customer. I feel like Vonage doesn't want to fight to keep their customers and find a solution with Comcast.....

Why can't things just work now-a-days?????

This is exactly what Comcast is banking on - most will just get rid of Vonage evenyually and it won't take long.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:05 am Post subject:

How's everyone faring with it today? I was having some packet loss when using Vonage with Verizon DSL, so I gave tech support a call (only a 10 minute wait time...surprised the hell out of me) and gave them the traceroutes & pings... as of today, 0% packet loss! FWIW, My traceroute goes from Verizon ---> wcg.net---> Vonage. I'm just curious if whatever changes have been made helped anyone else.