New subscriber here - anything important I should know?

Posts: 6

Hello all,

I just signed up last night for the $24.99/month plan with the free trial month. I went with the V-Portal and am porting my current Verizon landline. Feels great to stick it to Verizon! Smile

Anyways - I was wondering if there were any initial issues I should be ready for... My ISP is Comcast and I am running my home LAN behind a Buffalo router running DD-WRT.

Posts: 1179 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1179

first, welcome to the forum and to Vonage.

it's always great to say goodbye to a telco. they have lived in a monopoly mindset long enough.

second, the biggest issue for you is to make sure that you give highest priority to the v-portal on your dd-wrt. make sure that under QoS settings, you give the mac address and also the port to which it is connected, the highest priority.

this should minimize any quality issues you will encounter when you make phone calls.

third, enjoy your new phone service. I have loved it every minute as it is ridiculously cheap and have had so few issues and 99% of those were ISP issues, not Vonage.

Posts: 6 · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 1:56 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the welcome!

I totally agree with you on the telcos and the monopoly mindset they have. Unfortunately for now I'm still stuck with Comcast Sad

That's what's great about DD-WRT is that you can change all those advanced settings, I love it!

My next task is to go out and buy a good set of cordless phones - the type that has a single base station and two or three extra "satellite" handsets to place around the house. I live in an apartment so I can't rewire the house, so this seems my only option.

Any recommendations for a good such cordless phone set that plays nice with Vonage?

Posts: 1179 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1179

I am not the best person to ask about cordless phone systems. I am using home wiring and have only 1 cordless a panasonic phone. it has been very good with Vonage and I have not had any issues with it and Vonage.

maybe others can chime in.

regarding comcast or any other isp for that matter, at least getting rid of one monopoly is a start.=) LOL.

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

jattardi wrote:

Hello all,

I just signed up last night for the $24.99/month plan with the free trial month. I went with the V-Portal and am porting my current Verizon landline. Feels great to stick it to Verizon! Smile

Anyways - I was wondering if there were any initial issues I should be ready for... My ISP is Comcast and I am running my home LAN behind a Buffalo router running DD-WRT.

Not sure about issues that you may run in to, but check out Vonage alpha! My favorites are Vonage contact book and Vonage talk.

Come to thilnk of it, one issue is if you install Vonage Talk do not mess with the simulring feature in the call forwarding section of features. It used to be real flakey after you installed Vonage Talk, not sure of the current status.

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

I have been using a V-Tech phone with 2 "satellite handsets" without any issues going on 2 years now. Make sure you don't get the 2.4 ghz phones.

Like already posted Vonage alpha has some neat features, but no tech support via the phone.

http://alpha.vonage.com

If you do use Vonage Talk application it will add 011username to your call forward/simulring, this will make both your phone and computer application ring. To disable it you can dial *73.

Welcome to the site and enjoy your Vonage, if you have any problems call tech support or ask your question here, and like stated already, if you are having issues, it is probably with your internet provider.

Posts: 114 · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:50 pm Post subject:

jattardi wrote:

Thanks for the welcome!

I totally agree with you on the telcos and the monopoly mindset they have. Unfortunately for now I'm still stuck with Comcast Sad

That's what's great about DD-WRT is that you can change all those advanced settings, I love it!

My next task is to go out and buy a good set of cordless phones - the type that has a single base station and two or three extra "satellite" handsets to place around the house. I live in an apartment so I can't rewire the house, so this seems my only option.

Any recommendations for a good such cordless phone set that plays nice with Vonage?

Allow me to add my welcome as well! As for cordless phones, I've always used Panasonic phones. The set I bought when I got Vonage was a 5.8 GHz system with a base/handset, and an auxillary handset and charging base. Depending on where you shop you'll find many Panasonic systems with more than one handset, with many different features depending on the model.

If you're interested in finding out more about Panasonic phones, my suggestion would be to visit their website at:

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Phones-Fax/Telephones.75059_11002_7000000000000005702

Good luck, and again, welcome to Vonage!

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

If you have a smaller area that you want to cover with the cordless phone, then get a 5.8ghz or higher. If you want good range on your cordless use a 2.4 but be sure it is not close to the Vonage box or the buffalo router, and if at all possible on a different channel. Remember the lower the frequency (2.4 vs. 5.8 ) the further the range.

The problem is the buffalo is using 2.4ghz for the wireless signal and that CAN interfere with the 2.4 cordless phone, and cause the phone call or internet connections to wireless clients (or both) to drop. If they are far enough (2-4 feet or more) apart And/or on different channels it shouldn't be a problem.

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 01, 2006 Posts: 11

jattardi wrote:

Hello all,

I just signed up last night for the $24.99/month plan with the free trial month. I went with the V-Portal and am porting my current Verizon landline. Feels great to stick it to Verizon! Smile

Anyways - I was wondering if there were any initial issues I should be ready for... My ISP is Comcast and I am running my home LAN behind a Buffalo router running DD-WRT.

The port may take 10 days to complete.

-Make sure you have your Vonage temp. number that can be used until it completes for inbound calls.

-Don't cancel Verizon account until Vonage has gotten number.

-Use your webaccount to get familiar with Vonage!!!

Posts: 64 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 24, 2006 Posts: 64

1. I've had three relatives port Verizon numbers to Vonage (near Boston, Phila, and Pittsburgh). All eventually worked but took up to a couple of months.... Ameritech was even worse (Detroit area) - took over six months. Ameritech claimed it was because the phone was half of an ISDN line and could not be ported (= switch back to us) - they waited Ameritech out and the line got ported, but they were stuck paying Ameritech in the interim for a line they no longer used.

2. I've had a V-tech 5.8 GHz base station with two handsets for about 5 years. Works great with Vonage.