V-Portal question

Posts: 17 · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 2:58 am Post subject: V-Portal question

I've seen that Vonage has a new device called the V-Portal, which is a new Vonage adapter that is also a router. I am just curious if I HAVE to connect up a computer downstream to the adapter in order to take advantage of features. I do not want my Vonage adapter to get between my Internet connection and my current router. I'm currently using a PAP2 adapter I've been using for about three years. It seems as though they've included a router in most of the devices since, which I do not care for. My current router has two sub-networks... 192.168.0.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24. I place the PAP2 on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and all my other computers and appliances on 192.168.0.0/24. Bandwidth for call quality is of no real concern for me as I have a 20Mbps bidirectional connection, so I don't really need the Vonage device to throttle my traffic for QOS, plus if I really need it, I can set up QOS in my current router. I have several VPN's set between my router and several family members routers and I'm afraid placing the Vonage device between my Internet connection and my router would screw that up.

Back to the original question, will I need to have a computer connected downstream for the V-Portal to work properly? Would it be a waste to connect it up with all my computers on a completely separate network?

Posts: 203 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 203

No. You don't need a PC after the adapter. The V-portal doesn't really do anything different then the PAP2. Except that it displays CID, timer, and Logs, and allows to dial out from the log (click to call). Not much else, and anything else it does you need the phone for not a PC. My Uniden phones have done all this and much, much, much more for 5 years.

IMNSHO, Vonage, once again, missed the mark and is behind the rest of the world. They haven't really done anything intuitive since they began. (Don't get me wrong, they did get that right and certainly lead the way to Voip, but.) Since then they have been doing nothing to lead the way. They do cave and add new features (that everyone else has) under pressure, and goofy crap like this that has been around for years, and years then call it "new". Maybe someday they will once again lead. How's it go? Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.

Posts: 17 · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:53 am Post subject:

I guess it really doesn't offer my anything all that new. I currently have a 3-handset AT&T wireless phone system that essentially does all that too. Is there any other reason to try to get a new Vonage adapter of any kind? Is there any that are better than the PAP2? After having it for 3 years, I'm just curious as to what else there might be.

Posts: 203 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 203

Really up to you. I have 3 PAP2Ts (all on different providers) and they are excellent. Vonage is on the old Moto v1001 (think thats the model) Stability is all I look for in an ATA. I don't want bells and whistles (routers, call logs, etc.) Just connect my calls - all of them in and out.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

brian188 wrote:

IMNSHO, Vonage, once again, missed the mark and is behind the rest of the world. They haven't really done anything intuitive since they began. (Don't get me wrong, they did get that right and certainly lead the way to Voip, but.) Since then they have been doing nothing to lead the way. They do cave and add new features (that everyone else has) under pressure, and goofy crap like this that has been around for years, and years then call it "new". Maybe someday they will once again lead. How's it go? Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.

I wonder. I've thought for a long time that Vonage needs to stick to their basic mission of providing phone service, and that attempting to support a lot of different adapters, adapter/routers, and so forth exacerbates their tech support weakness.

My solution has been for them to provide one, and only one, adapter that is like the VT2142- a router/adapter with just one ethernet port. The big difference is that I would insist on the router function being very robust, so that it would handle very high speed traffic without a hitch. Then tell everyone to put the Vonage unit first and everything else behind that.

Maybe the new box is supposed to be a step toward that scenario. I'm looking forward to reports on how well this new box performs.

Posts: 203 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 203

Agreed, I have always been of the opinion that Voip providers need to get out of the router/adapter business all together. First of all if Vonage was going to go down this road they should have created the adapter you speak of 5 years ago. Or they should pick one from a third party that works exceptionally well and be done with it. Instead they are going to what most likely will be a inferior product, spend unknown $$ and time developing this failure when they could have been improving the feature set.

In other words. Too little too late.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

brian188 wrote:

In other words. Too little too late.

Well, maybe it's "better late than never". I have no interest in in the features of the new box, but it may be that they made a quality product with a robust router function. Let's give it a chance.