Questions re Vonage use - When travelling outside USA

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1

I am planning to move to Accra, Ghana and am considering getting Vonage service to stay in touch with my family in the USA. I would want to be able to call family at several different US locations from Ghana and have them be able to call me. I have some questions about how this works and would appreciate some input:

1. Assuming that Ghana doesn't block Vonage and I have access to a broadband connection, are there any other issues that might prevent me from using Vonage to call the USA from Ghana?

2. Can I pick a US-based telephone number so that friends in the USA can reach me in Ghana by dialing a US number?

3. Would each family location in the USA have to have its own Vonage account and hookup for me to be able to call them for free?

4. If I have a US-based number and use my Vonage hookup from Ghana to call another number in the USA, would I just be paying the internal US rate (or using my free nationwide calling minutes)?

5. Any other issues to consider in using Vonage for this purpose?

Thanks for your input

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 04, 2004 Posts: 22

I live half the time in the Philippines and half the time in the US. Though I have yet to use Vonage overseas because I'm new to Vonage, I have used Dialpad and others for phone calls for 2+ years. I have had 2 DSL accounts in the Phils and the best ping I can get is about 200+ ms. Since light takes a little time to get around the earth you probably won't be able to beat this. This will add a slight bit to the delay but not by a whole noticeable much. Before I had DSL I tried using the modem and usually got around 400ms ping and phone call success was about every other day give or take a little but only on my best dialup provider. Some dialups never had success. With DSL I usually have about 95% success days. You should put Vonage on the lowest bandwidth setting regardless if you have broadband or not. Voip transmission operates in real time and smaller packets will increase the chances they will make it to thier destination on time. This will reduce breaking up (jitter) which will happen more frequently overseas than the states. I almost always experienced a slight bit of breakup overseas.

Your friends will be able to call you and they need do nothing different. They can just call your US number and it will ring there.

Posts: 24 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 02, 2004 Posts: 24

I am also planning to travel outside the US. Unfortunately, the place I am visiting only has a dial-up connection.
With a dial-up, normally the setup is that a phone line which comes in from the phone jack in the wall, goes into the computer (internal modem).
What is the setup I should use if I want to try and hookup the ATA? At which point should I plug-in the ATA?

Posts: 79 · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:38 am Post subject:

Oooook. This first part is for Gregv. The answers to ur questions are as follows.....

1. The only other issue there would b ia availible bandwidth. Is it high enuf to support Voip?

2. Yes, Vonage only issues U.S. or Canadian phone numbers.

3 & 4. You would pay nothing but your service plan rate, since Vonage Residential Plans give you unlimited calling anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. If you have the Residential Basic 500 Plan, your only concern would b going over your initial 500 minutes, then you r billed at 3.9 cents per min overage. It would b just like calling from your living room.

5. If u have family & friends that live outside of Vonage phone area code, you can also signup for Virtual Numbers. A Virtual Phone Number is a way for people outside your local calling area to call you for the price of a local call (usually free) if you choose a virtual phone number in their local calling area.

This next part is for kool_maverik....

Forget dude, it ain't gonna work...period.
U need broadband.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 12, 2004 Posts: 12

OK, I'll take this one step further. I work for a US company and commute between the company's head office and Australia and New Zealand. I have broadband access (NZ: ADSL, Australia: cable) in both countries

I plan to take my non-wireless router (which I haven't yet connected) to Australia - so my first challenge is getting it connected if I have technical issues. I plan to have a wireless router for NZ

My questions are:
When you sign-up on-line, why doesn't Vonage provide the option of shipping a wireless router?
If I can buy a Linksys wireless router-and-phone-connections in NZ, can I just tell Vonage the MAC address and use the installation CD from the router first supplied?
Does it have to be Linksys?
[Related question] If I see a Linksys wireless router on e-Bay that is boxed as AT&T, can I simply use that by advising Vonage of the MAC address?

And here's a hint:
I asked Vonage some time ago if I could sign up with a non-US credit card. Their answer was "No way!" I knew that wasn't true as I have a friend in Thailand who used his non-US credit card to sign up. You can guess the rest

Posts: 79 · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:24 pm Post subject:

Ok homintern, got me boxed into a corner, so I have 2 come out swinging......

First, the wireless Linksys is only available retail...we aren't shipping from our warehouse.

Second, Yes, u can buy the wireless RT & do a MAC swap in your account.

Third & Forth, you can only use devices that r provisioned by Vonage. An AT&T Linksys Voice Adapter will not work.

And, I will say this...the ONLY foreign credit cards that will open a Vonage account r Canada (obviously) and Philippines, and THAT exception is ONLY for Vonage partners we have over there. So, if ur friend in Thai used a foreign card, he must work for Vonage in P.I.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 12, 2004 Posts: 12

JScott wrote:

And, I will say this...the ONLY foreign credit cards that will open a Vonage account r Canada (obviously) and Philippines, and THAT exception is ONLY for Vonage partners we have over there. So, if ur friend in Thai used a foreign card, he must work for Vonage in P.I.[/b]

Hmmm. OK, so you didn't correctly guess the rest. And no, my chum doesn't work for Vonage in any way, shape or form

Posts: 646 · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 8:13 pm Post subject: Re: Dial-up setup

kool_maverik wrote:

I am also planning to travel outside the US. Unfortunately, the place I am visiting only has a dial-up connection.
With a dial-up, normally the setup is that a phone line which comes in from the phone jack in the wall, goes into the computer (internal modem).
What is the setup I should use if I want to try and hookup the ATA? At which point should I plug-in the ATA?

You should be able to connect the ATA into the dial-up if you stick a network card in the computer, and share the Internet connection. Then, you could connect the ATA's Internet port into your network card using a crossover cable-- It might be possible to use a normal cable, depending on the equipment. You'd also have to forward the correct UDP ports from the computer to the ATA.

Now, it should be possible to actually get it connected, but I don't think it's likely that you'd actually be able to make a good phone call. The main problem is bandwidth. Even on the low-bandwidth setting, you'd need a near-perfect V.92 connection to even have a chance. Still, it might be worth a shot, to see what happens.

Posts: 24 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 02, 2004 Posts: 24

thanks paul....will try that.