International Calls hard to make

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 19, 2005 Posts: 2

There are terrific international rates, but I find that I experience many minutes of dead air each time I call, before the call terminates, and that Vonage (and one experienced customer of Vonage) all treat this as "that's the way it is, just get a calling card". THis is quite disappointing as it would have been great to not go through the hassle of calling an 800number, and then a pin and then the international number.

Posts: 492 · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 5:44 pm Post subject:

International calls are still made using the PSTN in countries that are not currently internet enabled as we are in the U.S. For Instance, a call to France must be transferred from the internet to the international PSTN somewhere along the way. Likewise, it must be disconnected.

As far as international calls are made, they still take place in the same manner that they have been since the first intercontinental cable was run long before I was born. Therefore, it still operates in the same manner that it has for 70 years.

Thus, the problem is not one of Vonage, but of the ancient PSTN still in use in most of the world. Like others have said to you, "That's the way it is", and that's the way it has been for over a century. Everyone who has ever placed an international call has had to endure it. We as Americans, do have a propensity towards expecting everything NOW!

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 5:47 pm Post subject:

what about all the posts that say "vonage won't connect" or "vonage quality is horrible" compared to the pots call I make 1 minute later?
I suspect much of it is carrier related.
and what does "internet enabled" have to do with anything?

Posts: 492 · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 5:58 pm Post subject:

Are you suggesting that Vonage is at fault? I don't think so. The internet can move from Los Angeles to New York just as fast as it can from Los Angeles to London. Beyond there people rely on the PSTN alone. Like the cost of fuel in Europe, so is an ISP. They are very limited due to cost. This is what I mean by internet enabled. They don't have it.

If you use a local PSTN phone and call Rome it will take just as long as a call from Vonage. I do not have anything against Vonage. I am a very happy customer without complaint.

All I'm saying is that no matter how you slice it, you have to use European PSTN in order to make a call there. Were you critical of my last post?

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 6:36 pm Post subject:

so if you considered this person's situation as so:
pots to international: works fine, as normal
Vonage to international: never connects, have to dial 10-15 times to get through, etc.

then yes, there is a problem with Vonage somewhere. if you like, I will suggest it is the carrier that Vonage uses, instead of Vonage themselves.

Posts: 492 · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 8:02 pm Post subject:

John, I didn't say that. Are you feeling OK today? You seem to be a bit testy. I'm just being friendly now, and a bit concerned.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 19, 2005 Posts: 6

I don't see the problems with international calls, well to the UK anyway.

I made calls today and yesterday and connection time is quick with no drop outs and call terminates correctly.

Enjoy

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 20, 2005 Posts: 6

When I first used the service 3-4 months ago, international calls went through rather quickly and had acceptable quality for the price. But lately, it's getting increasingly hard to connect and when you do connect, quality is pretty bad. What has changed?

This maybe related to bandwidth overload on Vonage's end if they are not keeping up capacity with usage as new users are signing on? Or there could be other variables here that can be changed to fix the service?

Any suggestions by anyone with better knowledge will be appreciated.

Posts: 13 · Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 11:38 pm Post subject:

Just made three calls to central america today, one of them to a cell phone, all three where crystal clear Cool

Posts: 65 · Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:44 am Post subject:

I agree with reebok. I have the same problem. Making call via Vonage is horrible in sound quality and making call from a land line min later is perfect. So who is to blame? the CLEC or Vonage? Problem is still not resolved.

reebok wrote:

so if you considered this person's situation as so:
pots to international: works fine, as normal
Vonage to international: never connects, have to dial 10-15 times to get through, etc.

then yes, there is a problem with Vonage somewhere. if you like, I will suggest it is the carrier that Vonage uses, instead of Vonage themselves.