Vonage Over-sells their Network - Bad Service!

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 26, 2006 Posts: 2

So I've been with Vonage for over 8 months now, and the service is progressively getting worse.

My main problem is there over-selling of inbound PSTN ports to their network in my local area code.

Over the last few months I've had numberous people try to call into my line and get a fast busy signal. I call tech support, they call me from a non-Vonage number and sure enough my line works. The first couple times I believed them, but after the 3rd time, I decided to try calling from 2 different providers in my local area code, and then one in the US. Sure enough, local numbers didn't work, and the US number worked fine.

When I called tech support again and gave them this info, they tried calling from a local non-vonage line and sure enough it didn't work. I was transfered to a next-level tech support guy and he confirmed that this is a common problem and that ALOT of people have this problem and don't even know it. Most people just assume that your line is busy and try later.

Anyways, thats my rant. I'm going to see if they can either fix the network within the next 30 days otherwise its time for me to find a new subscriber.

PS: For all those that will claim it is my equipment, I receive 0 packet loss and 30-50ms latency between me and the Vonage server. In addition my Vonage router is plugged in directly to my Rogers High Speed Cable connection which is capable of 800kb/s upload and 2.2mbps download. Also, I have test other Vonage numbers at the same time as my problems in the same area code and they experience the exact same problems.

Posts: 120 · Member of the Week Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 120

what area code are you in? I haven't personally experienced that. I assume my friends/family would let me know if they ran into this issue when attempting to call me. I'll have to ask them just to make sure.

Last night there was a 3-4 hour outage (at least.. I didn't stay up to verify, so it could have been longer) for outbound calls, where the other end did not receive any sound. This was confirmed by Vonage tech support when I called them.

I have also noticed degraded *outbound* calls over the past couple of months. A lot of echo, and garbled ringing on 1/4 of the calls... not sure what's up with that.

I have a couple months left of free credits. Hopefully it will get better before they run out Wink

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 26, 2006 Posts: 2

I'm in area code 416 (Toronto)

It is really hit and miss with the inbound call thing. Since its a network load issue it often comes in waves and by the time you get through to tech support the problem is gone Sad

Posts: 120 · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject: degraded service

I used to work for a well know UK cable company, and they had the same problems in the city of Manchester, my partner used to call his parents for hours on end, only to get an engaged signal, when he finally got thru his parents had never even been using the phone!
I did some internal investigation and found out that this also was a case of over subscription in that area, too much load for the circuits to handle, especially at peak times in the evening after 6pm (off peak UK calling times).

Posts: 92 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Aug 01, 2006 Posts: 92

While I understand that your issue may lead you to believe the conclusion you have come to, I find this very hard to believe.

The Vonage networks contains several failure or full load rollovers to avoid these kind of situations.

There certainly appears to be an issue in your case related to the carrier (or possibly something else) but I don't think you can conclusively assume what the issue is.

It is my understanding that Vonage uses many underlying carriers that are shared with many other Voip providers such as Skype and Primus that are no where near capacity. In the case the primary route fails or is full there are many other carriers setup to handle the load. While the load may become high under primary failure and not function perfectly, the issue you described would not occur. You would usually receive an error message from the PSTN gateway stating that all circuits are busy. (You can also receive this error for many other reasons).

I would suggest following up with technical support again, despite your recent lack of service. As with any other technical support, some agents are more knowledgeable than others.

- Kukk

Posts: 105 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Nov 19, 2005 Posts: 105

Yea,

I don't think it is an over subscription problem for incoming. Incoming calls all come from Vonage NJ via the PSTN for Canadian customers. If it is an over subscription problem it would be a problem for incoming to all of Canada I believe. Still likely a problem with the Vonage network though.

I had problems about a month ago with occasional fast busy on outgoing calls in BC. That, I DO believe was an over subscription problem since outgoing are routed through regional Internet/PSTN gateways in Canada. For BC they are all in Vancouver. Seems they added more outgoing lines as I have not had this problem lately.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 1

I've been experiencing problems as well. My number is in the 905 area code (Mississauga, Ontario). I tried calling from work twice, only to receive a busy signal, then tried from my cell phone with the same results. 5 hours later, I tried again, with the same results. When I got home, no one had been using the phone or was aware that there was a problem.

I then tried again using my cell phone, and with the same results. I called tech support and all they told me was that this was an ongoing problem and that it was being looked into. In the meantime, I don't know how many calls I've missed because of it. During this time, the outgoing calls have worked fine.

My wife has also had calls dropped. She was on the phone with her workplace and got blasted with static. She had to hang up and call again. If the problem persists, I'll call back tech support, and if they can't fix it, I'll have to consider the options.... Sad

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 5

I have also been having the problem for the past few days. We have only had Vonage for just over a week, but we have been having problems almost the whole time.

Sometimes when you try to call our number (705 area code) you get a fast busy signal, and sometimes it is totally blank, and sometimes people have got a the number is not in service????? It happened to more than one person so I doubt it was a misdialled number.

The network availablility number does not kick in when this happens. I tried to call home from work and got the fast busy signal, and my cell did not ring.

Tech support just keeps saying they are fixing the problem, but it looks like it is an ongoing one from what I have been reading. My husband missed 2 days of work because he is on call. I am wondering if I should cancell the service.

Posts: 105 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Nov 19, 2005 Posts: 105

Care wrote:

I have also been having the problem for the past few days. We have only had Vonage for just over a week, but we have been having problems almost the whole time.

Sometimes when you try to call our number (705 area code) you get a fast busy signal, and sometimes it is totally blank, and sometimes people have got a the number is not in service????? It happened to more than one person so I doubt it was a misdialled number.

The network availablility number does not kick in when this happens. I tried to call home from work and got the fast busy signal, and my cell did not ring.

Tech support just keeps saying they are fixing the problem, but it looks like it is an ongoing one from what I have been reading. My husband missed 2 days of work because he is on call. I am wondering if I should cancell the service.

Yikes!
That's pretty bad! Do you have network availability option enabled where it will forward to an alternate # like a cell phone if it can't reach your Vonage adapter? If so is that working?

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 5

Mustardman wrote:

Yikes!
That's pretty bad! Do you have network availability option enabled where it will forward to an alternate # like a cell phone if it can't reach your Vonage adapter? If so is that working?

Yes, as I posted above I have it set to go to my cell. And when I tried calling from work I got the fast busy and my cell never rang. It's called NETWORK availability, so you would assume it would work with network problems as well. So far as I can understand it only works when the power or internet itself is down.

The thing is; I can understand having some network problems for a bit and then getting them fixed, but from what I have been hearing is that this has been an ongoing problem for some people.

I just don't know what to do.