Vonage on NTL - any experiences?

Posts: 110 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 110

I'm considering getting Vonage and using it on my 2mb download / 128k? upload NTL broadband service, thus doing away with my NTL phone service.

The NTL phone service can't provide some of the features of Vonage (eg caller id) and others it charges extra for. So I could get a better service but cheaper.

I'm concerned the 128k upload may affect quality of the call.

Anyone got any UK experiences with NTL and Vonage? I live in the South near Portsmouth.

Posts: 3 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 3:35 pm Post subject:

Ian,

I use ntl: broadband along with Vonage and it works fine. My connection is 768/128 - I'm still awaiting the 'free' upgrade to 2Mbps. I found that it was necessary to enable the "bandwidth saver" feature in Vonage's user config, else there was a huge delay - it was like trying to talk to someone on the moon. But once I had done that alI was fine: and don't worry about call quality - it sounds almost as good as a regular PSTN line.

Something else worth noting: enable the QoS settings in the Linksys router configuration and set the upstream link speed. I found that without that set, if anyone in my household was surfing/downloading/doing anything else on the net, it would interrupt a voice conversation quite badly.

FYI, ntl: can provide caller ID (well, they do here in Northamptonshire) for a fee of £1.75 per month. But for me I found their daytime and international call charges were quite expensive. Plus of course they charge 5p just to connect a call - and all those little 5p's soon add up!

Anyway, I hope that helped.

- Rob.

Posts: 64 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 64

how do you adjust the QoS on the linksys router?

Posts: 3 · Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 1:53 pm Post subject:

Using your web-browser, key-in the IP address of your Linksys phone router and log in to manage the device. Click "Application & Gaming" heading, then choose "QoS". At the bottom of the resulting page, you should see the heading "Voice QoS". Click the "Enable" radio button, then key-in the speed of your upstream link.

Now, although the config page indicates this figure is expressed as "Kb/s" (which would indicate kilobytes/second), I actually reckon this is in "kbps" (i.e. kilobits/second). So, as I've got an ntl: cable connection, I enter the value of "128" kbps.

It works for me, and means a voice call is uninterrupted even though the 'net is being accessed. And despite that, it doesn't seem to kill web browsing or downloading altogether (although things do slow down noticably when the phone line is in use).

- Rob.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 23, 2005 Posts: 5

ifd001 wrote:

Anyone got any UK experiences with NTL and Vonage? I live in the South near Portsmouth.

I've been using Vonage on NTL for two weeks with no quality problems at all. Everything worked fine with the factory default settings, and I've not noticed any problems using the web and phone together either, but this probably hasn't happened often enough to be sure either.

The only problem I did have was being unable to call the Vonage number from my mobile, but this has now been fixed and I don't think it was Vonage's fault.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 10

i too am near portsmouth, (denmead)
on ntl 3mb cable
have 2 pc's and a laptop, one on 24/7,
ive cancelled my landline and have only Voip (vonage of course) and a couple of mobiles,
had the occasional delay issue but nothing major,
i pause my downloads as a precaution and also game whilst the missus yacks, my own net useage seems to be unaffected by Voip and visa versa.
id totally recomend it to anyone.

Posts: 28 · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:34 am Post subject:

You should set the upload limit to between 80-90% of your total bandwidth, this will allow your upload limit not to max out and your connection become unstable

Posts: 110 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 110

Sorry to be thick, linksysinfo, but can you tell us which particular settings set the upload limit? and by "total bandwidith" do you mean the upload bandwidth? (in my case 128k) or download (in my case 2mb).

Embarassed

cheers

Posts: 28 · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:33 am Post subject:

it is recommended to use 80-90% of the upload limit. od which you say 128k so it is approx 102-115 that you use in the setting

Posts: 110 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 110

just to let everyone know - I now use Vonage on NTL and it's ok.

The other party have sometimes mentioned they can hear their own voice echo, and my wife has said sometimes they sound like they're in a tunnel.

My guess is this related to my low upload speed.

I have asked NTL to clarify what the upload speed is for my 2mb service. No reply (of course).