Comcast vs. Vonage

Posts: 199 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 26, 2005 Posts: 199

BigDaveB

My girlfriend and I both use DLink routers (WiFi). Different models but neither have QOS.

However, lately we've noticed that problems have been bad with audio quality when uploading or downloadin. With the speeds we have this shoud NOT be an issue at all.

Comcast has been to my house twice in the last six months and checked inside and out and claims everything is fine. Of course there could be issues elsewhere as I've heard that they can prioritize traffic. Who knows. They've been testing VoIP here for a little while. The last tech that was at my place said he was one of the testers and the Comcast VoIP worked great.

Posts: 44 · Full Forum Member Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 44

maryjane wrote:

att has a known issue when tracing or pinging even on the dsl broadband boardband reports forum. It doesnt affect voip on my side though.

Is your voip quality bad now, or is it just your tests that are bad?

The VoIP is unusable! That's why I ran the tests and the problems coincide with the lost packets every time I've had a problem so far.

Posts: 409 · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:50 am Post subject:

Posts: 58 · Full Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2006 Posts: 58

Interesting site to monitor.....

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/main.htm#graphs

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:11 pm Post subject:

firewall wrote:

Interesting site to monitor.....

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/main.htm#graphs

In the same vein, but broken down by major carrier in a more detailed view:

http://www.internethealthreport.com/

Internet Health Report focuses more on the "handoff" between the various backbone carriers.

Between the two, you can gather some pretty decent information about what's going on. Wink

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 5

NateHoy wrote:

In the same vein, but broken down by major carrier in a more detailed view:
http://www.internethealthreport.com/

Where is Comcast there?

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

What if Comcast were to restructure the way they provided service to its customers and what if that restructure was to benefit their company and most consumers although having an adverse effect on Vonage users. There really would be nothing that could be done since the Company can claim it is not deliberately blocking Vonage Customers. In addition, the packets are technically not being blocked because they are still getting through. It would then be up to Vonage to figure out what to do. The biggest downfall of Voip is UDP. So with an IPO on the ground this is such a coincident. Also I am sure if Comcast were to get assessed fines I am sure they could suck it up but Vonage unfortunately cannot suck up the damage if this were to continue especially if others were to follow. Let’s be honest who's going to cancel their internet service because their Vonage doesn't work. Yea a few who can will move to DSL but hey that’s going to cost more for they cannot package it with cable services. I foresee some battling in the future. Could someone actually force a company to restructure to appease other company goals. As for 911 I hope all of you have a means to call if you need it. Lives are not important to companies who want to profit; it has always been that way. Some have already calculated the cost of any loss of life that may occur.

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

This article is from February 16, 2006

Provider blocking Vonage

Small Provider? I am sure it is Comcast. I have found numerous articles in which the issue at hand is being discussed and Vonage did not want to release name of the Company.

I gonna take a guess that they are negotiating a price and Vonage is not willing to pay much if anything at all to piggyback because that will raise the cost of Vonage. Interesting to see what the outcome will be.

Posts: 409 · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:39 pm Post subject:

Interesting reading that article you posted. Do you think it boils down to prioritizing traffic?

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

Most definitely. Google is also a target. I think that large bandwith hogs ( and competitors) will in the future have to fork up the dough or run their own lines. Rightfully so I must say though. This is going to in the end hurt the consumer but if done carefully will be accepted by the consumers just as the gas prices go up. What choice will you have. Cable companies could if they wanted to just crush Vonage but I am sure they will find a way to have them pay which will then need to be incorporated into price. Let's look at this scenario what if Comcast told Vonage to pay up and Vonage refused so they gave them a taste of what they could do to see if they could get Vonage to rethink. And really do not think companies don't play these games, please, look at the strike in New York with the transportation.