Crossed calls

Posts: 18 · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:38 pm Post subject: Crossed calls

"No service announcements" yet I just got several phone calls from people trying to reach other numbers.
Vonage is routing calls incorrectly -- if you call a Vonage number, it's currently a crap shoot as to who you will receive.

There's another area where people say they are losing messages and receiving messages left for other people, I wonder if this is related.

This has been happening all this week, too, it's not new. I guess the fact that you may or may not reach the intended number doesn't warrant a service announcement?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 30, 2005 Posts: 1

I have been considering changing my present phone service to Vonage. Although I am ready to change, the problems folks seem to be having isn't very encouraging.
Is the matter of "incorrectly routed calls and lost messages" only one example of problems with the Vonage Broadband system or just one of many?
What I would really like to know is: Is the Vonage system "head and shoulders" above the "standard" dial-up phone service and, after having used it for a period of time, do you prefer it over the typical dial-up ... even with a few inconveniences?
Thanks

Posts: 52 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 21, 2004 Posts: 52

FIrst off - I am a Vonage champion, but not a cheerleader (if that makes any sense)...

Second - Other 'big name' services have issues too -
I have 72 (3 t-1's) 800#'s at a callcenter hosted by XO communications. For 2 days last week my customers could not get through to my callcenter if they were calling from Colorado, NY, or AZ, GA. This was a problem in the LD switching/routing equipment run by XO. It took XO and GlobalCrossing a reset of 3 major trunk switches to get the problem resolved. These voice t-1's cost us over $2K every month and I cant get calls from 3/48 of my customer base for 2 days. Do I get a refund/credit? No. Why? Its regulated service and I had dial tone on all lines and could 'use' the service. Never mind the matter that it is used for inbound calls only...

Third - there are inherent problems with widespread use of Voip on the consumer level - be it CallVantage, Lingo, Packet8 or Vonage. The one reason you hear so much about Vonage is: The customer base is much larger. Those that have Brighthouse or other cable services that are offering 'DigitalPhone' service have the luck of the cable systems 'prioritizing' their own SIP traffic.

As I have posted many times before - if you have a stable ISP and broadband provider, a good router, and good network management, you should have no/minimal issues.

I currently pay about $79/mth for my 3 lines of Vonage service (with direct asst.) and log about 500-800 minutes of LD usage every month. This in contrast to my $135 for Verizon (plus long dist + taxes). I have had to re-boot my adapter ONCE last month, and since inception 13 times. Additionally I made 14 short calls to Columbia last month (only $3.84) On my old long distance that would have been over $8.70!

I for one can justify 30 minutes of 'rebooting' time in one year for my savings of $52.00 per month!

Heres the math - in my case =
$135 - 3 Verizon lines ( + taxes)
+$22 - feature pack
+$14 - Verizon LD
- $80 - 3 Vonage lines
=$91 - Gross savings
- $45 - cable broadband
=$52 - net savings

I recommend to all - try Vonage (or any Voip) for 2-3 months - and keep your POTS line. Its the only way to tell for sure if its for you. If you like it port your number and cancel POTS. If you hate it, cancel Voip and you are out $75 and have gained knowledge that Voip is not for you, and maybe something more...

Is it 'head and shoulders better' than Verizon? For me $52 a month savings and the added features (call xfer being one) is.

Is the service better? Nah. Is Vonage customer service great? No way. Are the problems I encountered in the beginning fun? Get real!.

DId I learn a lot about my router? Yep. Did I gain quite a bit of knowledge? Sure did. Do I have usable phone service? Uh-huh. DO I save money? Sure do. Am I utilizing my broadband more efficiently? Of course.

Now that I have babbled, I will pause and get flamed of course.
I am sure I made a mistake in my math, or someone else's time is worth like $3000 per hour, or they somehow get a POTS line with no static, strange messages when they dial and all of this for $21.00 a month, I am sure.

Posts: 59 · Full Forum Member Joined: Dec 16, 2004 Posts: 59

sdstuckey wrote:

As I have posted many times before - if you have a stable ISP and broadband provider, a good router, and good network management, you should have no/minimal issues.

Precisely. And yet crossed calls, complained about several times in this forum, have nothing to do with any of these, and have never been complained about for other Voip services in other industry forums. Clearly a vonage-specific problem. As is the ubiquitous "beep" problem for that matter. Face it, Vonage has some endemic problems other Voip services do not.

Posts: 52 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 21, 2004 Posts: 52

See? I knew I would get flamed. I guess thats what one gets for trying to be neutral and reasonable.

I guess my t-1's arent something for me to complain or compare
- granted they arent (legally) Voip.

I never meant my comment about internal networking/ISP to be a comparison to Vonage's technical inabilities - but you have a point.

Maybe XO and GXing are in the same boat? Just beacuse their LD routing problem didnt mess with you for 2 days isnt a reason to ignore that larger organizations than Vonage have problems too.

Dont ask me why I am on Vonage instead of Packet8 or Lingo. But that isnt what you want to hear either is it?

I may have been defending Vonage, but I was really trying to balance the posters comments that there are issues with much more involved situations than the Voip in the home that dont get 'service announcements'. I figure the problem I had with my t1's cost me about $1000. And it could have been more if a customer didnt email me.

Now I know why I dont hang out here much.