Is there a time limit / call length limit on Vonage

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 6

I would love to know who you were speaking with about that. I am with both Vonage and Primus, and Primus disconnects calls after only 3 hours for the same reasons that Vonage disconnects them after 4. There was a big talk about it on the internal Primus forum.

Seeing as Primus is one of the major Voip players in Canada along side of Vonage, it strikes me funny that you did not come across their 3 hour limit somewhere in your investigation.

I e-mailed 4 providers and called ATT.
Here is my question as I put it to Lingo (Primus) and their response follows:
Does Lingo have a time limit on calls, either incoming or outgoing, the way Vonage has a 4 hour time limit per call.

Dear customer,
Thank you for your interest in Lingo.
Lingo has no limitation of calling time.

Thank you
Lingo sales support

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 14, 2005 Posts: 1

dilligaf wrote:

I would love to know who you were speaking with about that. I am with both Vonage and Primus, and Primus disconnects calls after only 3 hours for the same reasons that Vonage disconnects them after 4. There was a big talk about it on the internal Primus forum.

Seeing as Primus is one of the major Voip players in Canada along side of Vonage, it strikes me funny that you did not come across their 3 hour limit somewhere in your investigation.

I e-mailed 4 providers and called ATT.
Here is my question as I put it to Lingo (Primus) and their response follows:
Does Lingo have a time limit on calls, either incoming or outgoing, the way Vonage has a 4 hour time limit per call.

Dear customer,
Thank you for your interest in Lingo.
Lingo has no limitation of calling time.

Thank you
Lingo sales support

Good than quit Vonage you promised that two days ago!

Posts: 336 · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject:

I can assure you that Primus disconnects after 3 hours, and the Primus forum has many posts stating this.

I think this entire thing is quite petty. Your analogy of being on the phone with some hot movie star is pretty far fetched too. Let's get real. You get disconnected in 4 hours - so what. Pay $100 more and go with Bell who won't disconnect you. Then you can complain to them about their prices instead. At least it would be a more meaty concern.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 6

Gee, what a good idea!......I did quit Vonage 2 days ago...not that I ever promised anyone I would.

Good than quit Vonage you promised that two days ago![/quote]

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 26, 2005 Posts: 11

How about Vonage solve the problem with a code customers can put in before a call is placed. If you think your call may last over 4 hours, do a *44 or something similar to disable it on that call only. Similar to how *67 makes your # anonymous for that call only.

This would solve the original posters problem as he knows twice a quarter he has these type of calls.

Posts: 336 · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:27 pm Post subject:

Internet telephony works much differently than PSTN. Sometimes packets of data are still being transmitted to your Vonage adapter, even though you have hung up. I was talking to my Mom one time, and I asked her to hold while I took a call waiting call. Being impatient, after 2 seconds she hung up. Or at least she "thought" that she hung up. She left the phone off of the hook. When I switch-hooked back to her line, I could hear her talking in the background to someone, so I eventually hung up. 30 minutes later I tried to call her back, and while her phone was sounding busy in my ear, I could also hear noises in the background that sounded as though I was still connected to the original call with her. I actually determined that I was still connected to her. I called a friend and we could barely hear each other because my mother's line was still transmitting packets to my Vonage connection. I had to get my friend to call me back, and that seemed to clear the line, but my mother's line was still connected to mine. I tested this by dialling another number, and sure enough, I could hear my mother's line still in the background.

This has happened to me a couple of times. Another way it will happen is if you pull the power plug out of your Vonage adapter (or the power goes off) while you are on a call, and the person you are calling does not hang up. You will not be able to disconnect that connection until that person does hang up. Sure, you will get a new dial tone, but just try calling another number while the original caller still has their phone off hook. You'll see that the call is really still there.

This is a good reason to have some sort of a forced release of all calls after 4 hours. If the calls were never released, or if you could punch in a code to prevent the releasing of your call after 4 hours, you could become victim to an endless phone connection that totally renders your Vonage line useless.

Someone on the Primus forum suggested programming the system to detect if there is still a conversation happening. If there is, then keep the line connected, else drop the call. That might work, but in the case where I could still hear my mother talking in the background, how would the electronic surveillance equipment know the difference between that and a real conversation? I think the only solution is to force the calls to drop after a pre-determined period. PSTN works differently. You cannot have your phone hung for hours on end. If a POTS party calls you on a POTS line, then 10 seconds after you hang up from talking to someone on POTS, the line disconnects. If you placed the call, then the line disconnects immediately once you hang up. Two different infrastructures working two different ways. The disconnect signal is sent from POTS lines, whereas Voip does not always send a disconnect signal. This means the POTS line will stay connected to you forever.

I'm sure Vonage recognizes the need for some people to stay on a call for 4 hours, but they have to balance that with the need of others who have their phone caught up in the system. Four hours is a heck of a long time to have no phone service.

I think people's expectations of this type of phone service are too high. There are other things, like Anonymous Call Blocking, and Do Not Disturb, and even lower-priced unlimited local calling that I would be more inclined to complain about. Complaining about a 4 hour limit on a call is not very constructive considering there is a good reason behind why it is being done. What's the solution? I don't think there is any at this time. Possibly they could re-engineer the Voip system to have smarter disconnect signals going to the POTS systems. Other than doing that, we likely have to tolerate the 4 hour disconnect cycle, and be happy that we are paying lower prices for this service which works quite remarkably well 99% of the time.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2005 Posts: 7

dilligaf wrote:

un·lim·it·ed [ n-lm-td ]
adj.

Having no restrictions or controls: an unlimited travel ticket.

Having or seeming to have no boundaries; infinite: an unlimited horizon.

Without qualification or exception; absolute: unlimited self-confidence.

If thats the case you can never use the word unlimited because no matter what company you have you cant call outerspace. theres a limit.

Posts: 102 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jul 04, 2005 Posts: 102

mikeamor wrote:

Wireless companies do the same thing. It also helps to protect you if you leave the phone off-hook. Should be made known to the subscribers though.

never had this issue with sprint. i have had my pone in a data call for over 12+ hours daily a while back and never got cut off. it may be done in some cases but never has it happended to me...

i agree with the earlier posters here.. unlimited is without limits...

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:24 pm Post subject:

Both of my cell phones cut off after a couple of hours (can't remember the exact #). No biggie overall, just know it happens & anticipate it.

Posts: 215 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Nov 24, 2004 Posts: 215

didnt read the whole post -- dont know if anyone confirmed it or not, but yes, Vonage cuts the calls off after 4 hrs