Softphone on Treo?? THEN, unlimited data, NO voice plan!!??

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 22

Ok, will this work? You get a pda phone like the Treo. Put Vonage softphone on it... and sign up for the unlimited data plan with verizon. If you are using verizon EVDO, for $80/month... and you get speeds of 300-500k... seems like that would be fast enough for VoIP.

So, then you can cancel your voice plan with verizon... just use their unlimited high speed wireless data plan... and you have softphone running on your Treo... and voila... free unlimited voice calls... plus unlimited broadband access... for just the $80/month (which is what i currently pay for voice ALONE).

Will this work? Anyone test it?

Thoughts?

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:33 pm Post subject:

There are two big problems:

Verizon's terms of service for EVDO restrict VoIP and other bandwidth intensive applications.

Vonage SoftPhone is capped at 500 minutes, not unlimited.

Additionally there may be voice quality technical issues with EVDO due to latency or packet loss. The EVDO network is new and not in heavy use now, so real world results today may not apply tomorrow.

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 22

what about their regular data plan? does that restrict voip too? hmmm. and while we are on the topic, which uses more 'bandwidth'... CDMA or VoIP?

Why does Softphone have a limit of 500 if you have unlimited plan?? What's the point?

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:47 pm Post subject:

race wrote:

what about their regular data plan? does that restrict voip too? hmmm.

Probably, if not they will soon.

race wrote:

and while we are on the topic, which uses more 'bandwidth'... CDMA or VoIP?

VoIP uses a selection of codecs, some of which use more bandwidth than CDMA, some which use less. Vonage offers a choice of 3 different voice codecs and a separate one for fax/data.

race wrote:

Why does Softphone have a limit of 500 if you have unlimited plan?? What's the point?

It is a heavily debated topic on this board. I believe it is to prevent you from easily sharing your line with all of your friends for long distance calls.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject:

For more info:

Vonage tested over EVDO

And from a link in that article, excerpts from Verizon's terms of service

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 22

thanks, very helpful. i looked at the link regarding verizons TOS... and i don't see anywhere that they limit VoIP. ??? in fact, they said it CAN be used for " individual productivity applications such as customer relationship management, sales force and field service automation" ..... which this COULD fall under, imo. Smile

and why was my original post moved... annoying!

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:31 pm Post subject:

I suspect your post was moved because it was directly related to softphone which is the purpose of this forum.

Separate forums were created because traffic in the main forum was at times too high. It also makes it easier to find answers by being able to look in just one forum.

The second link in my post points out that the terms of service is ambiguous and that other information from the site implies video conferencing is not recommended (therefore inferring that it is not prohibited). However, the terms of service gives Verizon the right to decide not to allow it at any time they want.

Verizon's terms of service happen to be very similar to Clearwire's which Vonage's CEO admits prohibits VoIP.

However you are still stuck with Vonage's 500 minute limit unless, like in the article, you want to carry around an inverter, adapter and a princess phone.

Posts: 2135 · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:38 pm Post subject:

race wrote:

and why was my original post moved... annoying!

Your post was in the wrong forum.
Yes, it is annoying, for you and for me.

A shadow link was left as a curtesy to you.

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jun 24, 2005 Posts: 20

Yes, it works. I've tried and plan to switch to primarily VoIP, dual band wireless, and data for my next PDA/phone combo. (not Treo, iPAQ ?? no Palm OS's for me!)

It would be very stupid, however, to use Vonage for this type of service since they drastically limit what can be done with VoIP, and in particular, softphone accounts:

No primary softphone.

Limited minutes on softphone.

No VoIP peering.

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jun 24, 2005 Posts: 20

wrong wireless data provider also...

You need to do more research.