Using Softphone with standard account?

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 31, 2005 Posts: 7

Bottom Line. I am not taking my Desktop PC with me Anywhere.

Posts: 216 · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:55 am Post subject:

darthbader wrote:

Bottom Line. I am not taking my Desktop PC with me Anywhere.

Who said anything about taking your desktop?

I clearly stated that you would take the phone adapter. There is no need for a desktop PC.

Posts: 50 · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:16 am Post subject:

darthbader wrote:

the goeal is this. I have multiple pc's in my house but only one has my Vonage box hooked up to it. I would like to use Vonage through my other pc's without having to run phone wire from machine to machine.

Maybe I'm just dense, but I'm very confused, here. One doesn't connect the Vonage box to a PC, but to the cable or DSL modem (I know, or a router). What did you mean about having your Vonage box hooked up to a PC?

Posts: 85 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Feb 15, 2005 Posts: 85

I think it would be really nice to be able to take my laptop with me when I go on business trips and use as my phone. I have a tecra with a built in microphone designed for Voip usage. The problem is that I go on trips maybe quarterly and I don't want to have a different number or have to try to hook up a router in my hotel room so my laptop can work and phone adapter. I think they need to reconsider this option.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:25 pm Post subject:

I have travelled with the adapter and the only time I had problems was when I needed to make a non-standard VPN connection. That being said, I now try to stay at hotels with wireless and that presents a problem if they don't also have a jack for the adapter. I believe however that I could use network sharing on the laptop to connect the adapter, but I haven't needed to try it.

The only downside I see to having a different number is outgoing caller id. There are enough Vonage options that you should be able to get your incoming calls (call hunt, call forwarding, network availability).

Currently I can only travel with the adapter if the whole family is travelling so if I were to use a softphone a separate phone number would be essential. I can not see replacing my cell phone with an IP phone until WiMax makes IP connectivity ubiquitous.

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 31, 2005 Posts: 8

I created a similar thread when I first started my Vonage service a month ago ... As a matter of fact it was created on the same day this thread was created.

There was also a small survey attached too.

When I first signed up for service I too was under the impression that Softphone service was a part of the Vonage package. Now I know why I was also under this impression. When you first come into the Vonage.com web site, there is a little Flash animation stating "Check Out These Great Features!". If you click through on the Softphone, you then see:

Quote:

Vonage Softphone

Remember, SoftPhone is an add-on service. You need to have a Vonage plan to get Vonage SoftPhone.

So literally my first interaction with Vonage is one of disappointment.

One would think that a "feature" is something that is included with your Basic or Premium service. And an "add-on service" is just what it says. The problem is the Flash animation is not clear & could be misleading until you click through. That's even if you do click through. Softphone is the only add-on service that does not have a price in the animation. It's also the first item in that animation. So every time you come to that page ... boom you see Softphone as a "Great Feature" with no price or indication that it is an add-on service that costs $9.99 per month in addition to your service. If you saw the Softphone animation and saw $9.99 ... there would be no confusion at all. When you see 800-numbers you see the $4.99 cost of this add-on service, as is the same for a Virtual Telephone Number. You see the $4.99 cost of that add-on service as well. To add more confusion (no pun intended) Vonage also shows things like Caller ID & Voicemail in this "features" animation & they truly are features. No wonder people are confused!

I think if someone just redesigned the animation and distinguished "Great Features" from "Add-on Services" there would be no confusion.

As do others here ... I also think Softphone use from home should be a "Great Feature!"

Anywho ... that's my long-winded $0.02 Smile

Thanks ... Joe

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 01, 2005 Posts: 5

I oppose to your explanation because I quoted the exact phrase from the website which is::: "Take Vonage on the road with your phone adapter OR computer[/img][/img]", which is listed under Free Freatures.

jnuzzi wrote:

By "Take it with You" they mean that you can take your adapter with you and connect it to any broadband internet connection wherever you may find yourself. Wink

Quote:

Take it With You

The phone adapter available through Vonage is small and fully portable. Simply unplug the adapter and take it wherever you want it anywhere in the world. Just plug it into any broadband Internet connection, connect a phone, and your Vonage line is ready to go.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 1

Does the softphone not use the same protocol as the hardware phone adapters? SIP?

Presumably the only thing stopping the software from emulating the hardware is the fact that we are not privvy to the password stored in the hardware and used to log onto the network?!

This is simply a Vonage business choice - more $$

Greg

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 6

Vonage states you can take the service "with you" and plug the device you get with the service into any broadband connection and send and receive calls normally. Great.... I get this.

But the problem is even if you stay at a hotel with broadband in your room or to a company with a digital pbx, in most cases you cannot use the equipment Vonage provides.

Why?

Because you still have to have an Analog phone to plug into the Vonage's device. What is an analog phone? Just for the sake of simplicity, it's the kind of phone you buy at the store to plug into your wall jack at home that works with your standard telephone service.

What's the big problem with this?

Most hotels or moderately sized companies don't use analog phones. They use digital ones. This means they aren't compatible with Vonage's device. So if you do want to make phone calls at these places via Vonage and be certain you have all the parts necessary to do so, you have to bring an Analog phone with you! Do you really want to bring the device, power supply, telephone cord and a phone with you just to make sure you can use Vonage service when you are travelling? Forget to bring one of these with you or leave one behind and you can't use the service. C'mon people leave behind cell phones, palm devices and laptops behind all the time in their haste to leave. But to have to carry around 4 other items with you. What are the chances these are going to be left behind?

Softphone software, if you travel with a laptop (true with most business travellers), lets you leave all the equipment behind. All you have to do is plug your laptop in the broadband connection, plug in headphones (recommended) with a mic to your laptop or a mic and use the laptop speakers (not recommended because of feedback) and you are all set.

This option is available, but here are the conditions set by Vonage:

* $9.99 a month
* You only get 500 minutes of softphone usage a month. It is not part of the unlimited package. This is a completely separate package.
* You pay 3.4 cents a minute after your intial 500 minutes
* Your softphone number is different than your main/initial Vonage number

Does anyone else have a problem with this? I must be crazy.

I am definitely ranting.

Would like to hear other opinions for or against this.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:37 pm Post subject:

I do take a small non-cordless phone when I travel with my adapter.

I don't particularly care to use a softphone because of how I use my computer when I am on the phone. (Rebooting, changing user accounts, etc.)

I think the bigger problem I am facing is that most hotels I am staying in are moving to wireless. That means either using Internet connection sharing from a wireless laptop or buying a bridge just for travel. I may be unique though, my friends and I used to carry wireless access points when we travelled as a group so that we could share a single connection in hotels without free Internet. So carrying a few extra pieces of equipment is nothing new.

In practice now I rarely travel with my adapter. The combination of call forwarding and a mobile phone is currently meeting my needs.
Vonage is not currently offering any features compelling enough for me to burden myself with running a softphone. When eventually they add more features (selective call routing, call screening) and Internet access on the road becomes more reliable and ubiquitous I will reevaluate my position.