Vonage and VoIP, Inc. sign a two-year contract

Posts: 44

Quote:

Vonage has signed an agreement with a Voip network services provider to carry calls placed by Vonage customers, giving the troubled Voip provider an out on two of the three Verizon patents it was found to have infringed. According to a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Vonage and Voip, Inc. have inked a two-year contract under which Voip, Inc.—likely under its VOICEONE brand—will provide network services for Vonage customers.

~snip~

Quote:

By signing the agreement with Voip, Inc., Vonage has provided itself with a measure of protection against the injunction. Voip, Inc. owns its own network, describing VOICEONE as the "first, seamless nationwide IP network." Perhaps most crucially from Vonage's standpoint, Voip, Inc. claims to own the intellectual property around its network and services.

Story Here

Posts: 72 · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:01 am Post subject:

Follow the ..Story Here link ...above in NewView's post
Published: April 02, 2007 - 05:15PM CT

I really enjoy the last lines::

[quote]Despite the financial concerns, it was a necessary move for Vonage. The agreement all but kills the threat of a shutdown of Vonage's network, giving both the company and its customers (me, for one) some peace of mind.

Yeah baby, I can feel it !!!!! Juggle

I can have my Vonage and Vonage too: LOL Keep up the good work

Posts: 233 · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:11 am Post subject:

This thread will probably be moved to Vonage Stock, but the good news is continued service with exception possibly to the WiFi phone. I'm not sure where it lies. I now expect to see stock recovery on the way.

I also expect Sprint may re-evaluate their position. But don't forget, thanks to those who have contributed through their now spun-off local service Sprint has deep pockets for their lawyers. Thanks to the fine folks at Embarq who took Sprint's troubles away from them Sprint, including their debt, Sprint enjoys a good stockpile of cash for legal havoc. If all goes according to my thoughts, Sprint will throw that cash away and at a rapid pace. Sprint's only concern is long distance and cell service. Voip doesn't impact cell service YET. They no longer have a local service after they realized they missed the boat on Voip and spun off Embarq.

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

Good news. Thank you for the post. But I hope they continue with there own solution finding so as to limit the cost of the 2 year contract acquisition which will be passed to us.

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

At the bottom of the article hyperlink:

Quote:

Update

After the story ran, Ars was contacted by a Vonage spokesperson that claimed that the agreement with Voip, Inc. has "nothing to do with the patent situation." She described the deal as another termination deal similar to those Vonage has signed with other carriers, reiterating that the agreement was unrelated to the Verizon agreement. However, an unnamed source at Voip, Inc. suggested to TelecomWeb that Vonage would indeed be using its network to carry its calls, while refusing to speculate about the patent dustup.

Posts: 233 · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject:

Is this deal sort of like the access deal they have with Level 3 Communications in certain areas?

Posts: 208 · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:49 pm Post subject:

I don't think so. According to Wikipedia, Level 3 is just a CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) that basically is the "Vonage Presence" in your local switch near where your telephone number is connected (this lets you get calls from landline callers)

From what the article sounds like, Vonage will now be using the Voip, Inc internet backbone rather than tapping into Verizon's.

"VoIP services

Level 3 is a Network Services Provider for several Voice over IP (VoIP) companies, providing among other services a Direct Inward Dialing (DID) number. Level 3 offers customers local DIDs that cover over 93% of the U.S. population, making Level 3 the largest CLEC in the U.S. This coverage was built to serve the Managed Modem data dial-up business in the late 1990s and has since been leveraged to provide local voice services as modem traffic has matured and declined.

Level 3 provides E911 services to Voip providers to ensure that every 911 call goes to the correct 911 center with the correct information to quickly aid in dispatching emergency services. Level 3 covers 91% of all U.S. households with 911 coverage. Level 3 also offers one of the industry's first I2, NENA compliant nomadic 911 services. The FCC has mandated that all Voip providers offer a nomadic 911 service, although as of July 2006 has not been enforcing the requirement."

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

Sounds like great news, just hope prices don't change.

Vonage has lots to offer, but people just don't want to change to a new system that works and Vonage works for me.

Posts: 61 · Full Forum Member Joined: Mar 09, 2007 Posts: 61

As a new customer to Vonage I am confused. I have read and reread the messages. I think this is a good thing that we are not going to have an interruption of service. But I thought we was already told that. I read other articles that said they Vonage was doing fine with this case. (that is another thing I know nothing about) other then I was scared I made the wrong switch. But, I kept reading that Vonage was not going to have to change anything, because of appeals. Now this, what does this mean to us. If I am understanding it, another company will be taking over for the next two years. Well if this is so, I didn't sign up with a company that I don't know anything about. I want to know features, prices, sound, comparisons and I switched to Vonage because it worked with my homeseer system. I might be going up the wrong tree, but for someone new to Vonage and seeing all of this stuff is scary. I never knew anything was going on until somehow I stumbled into this message board and now I am confused.

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

I don't think we have anything to worry about.