SIP credientials, why won't you give me this?

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 17, 2005 Posts: 8

Dammit, why? I am sick and tired of big companies telling me what I can and can't do. I'm just sick and tired of it, understand? I want to use a Cisco 7940 IP phone, but if I do I'm stuck with paying for a limited soft phone line.

When are you (Vonage) going to realize that I DON'T WANT THIS?!!?!?!?!

I want unlimited service on my Cisco IP phone like on your silly locked adapter. Why do you chose to limit the flexibility of your service in fear that I might compromise it? I don't want to compromise anything, I just want to use Vonage with my Asterisk box, WiFi phone, and Cisco IP phone.

And please, fix your firmware so I can use vomage with high speed 56k data applications like tivo and dial up modems.

Why, oh WHY is this SO HARD TO ASK?!?!?! I'm a paying customer, not a pile of dog turds. I expect flexability from a service I PAY FOR.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:04 pm Post subject:

Everyone needs to vent now and then, but get over it. Vonage is selling a product to the masses for as low of a price as they can. In order to do this tight control of connected devices is what works best for them.

If you want a bring your own device plan then you can pay Vonage for a high end business plan or you can find another provider.

Your complaint is like walking into a car dealership and yelling at them because you want a certain color exterior that they don't offer. Yes, the manufacturer could offer every possible paint color, but they don't to keep the price down for everyone.

Vonage is treating you for just what you are, one of soon to be a million people paying $25 or less for phone service with better rates and more features than is available through a POTS carrier.

And why complain about Vonage not supporting analog modems. Why not complain about the slow rate at which companies are adapting to use broadband. I had friends dropping POTS lines in favor of cell phones five years ago.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 29, 2003 Posts: 17

Why have a Wish List forum if you are going to jump down peoples throat for asking for features?

I am current Vonage voice but I have also signed with broadvoice.com for that reason.

Of course they have the same growing pains that I initally expierienced with Vonage to begin with.

Kieran Mullen

Posts: 29 · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:12 pm Post subject:

Its a wishlist forum, not a flame Vonage forum. Your tone is what sets people off. Instead of coming off like an educated person, you sound more like some hick working for a mom and pop IT contracting company that likes to throw buzz words around.

Now, on the flip side.. I do agree that it would be nice to be able to use my own hardware but..you get what you pay for.

/peace

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject:

instantnet wrote:

Why have a Wish List forum if you are going to jump down peoples throat for asking for features?

I wasn't jumping down his throat so much for asking for a feature, not that particular issue hasn't been discussed ad nauseum, but for the tone of his request and expressing the opinion that he was being treated poorly because the feature wasn't available now.

I don't think it is wrong to write to a car manufacturer and ask that they sell a car in pink, but I think it is wrong to go to a car club meeting and start screaming (notice the all caps) that the company is treating you like a "dog turd" because they don't sell pink cars.

So my objection is to his assertion that Vonage is doing something wrong by not offering this feature rather than just doing business in the way that is best for the majority of their customers. Sorry if I was unclear.

Posts: 5 · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 2:58 pm Post subject:

scerruti, I mostly agree with you. However, your "pink car" analogy doesn't quite fit in this case. Sure, we can't expect a car manufacturer to supply any arbitrary color; and more generally, we can't expect a company to support any arbitrary feature no matter how obscure. But we're not talking about an obscure feature or cosmetic issue: BYOD (bring your own device) would be really useful to some customers (myself included).

It would be trivial for Vonage to allow BYOD. They don't have to provide tech support for setting up or troubleshooting non-Vonage boxes, they just have to allow their use.

More importantly, other Voip providers allow BYOD right now. The only reason I haven't dumped Vonage for another provider (i.e., Broadvoice: they actually charge less when you BYOD) is that Vonage is currently the only one with phone numbers in my area. As soon as another provider can port my number, they'll have my business.

If your customers are leaving because you don't offer a trivial feature, I'd say you're doing something wrong.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 29, 2003 Posts: 17

toll free's are cheap from broadvoice 2 a month which inlcudes 60 min and .02 a min therafter.

I was paying .06 for mine.

it i funny I used to be a telecommunications reseller where we would go into business and quote a lD rate lower and make a certain % and we could also put on a monthly fee for toll free.. some companies used to charge $50 a month!

anyhow needless to say I didnt invest much time and the company primus finally dropped me as an agent... I figure there is no market for long distance any more...

Kieran Mullen

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:00 pm Post subject:

heathkehoe wrote:

It would be trivial for Vonage to allow BYOD. They don't have to provide tech support for setting up or troubleshooting non-Vonage boxes, they just have to allow their use.

I have made plenty of posts on this forum on why BYOD makes bad business sense for Vonage, and pointed out that it does indeed leave the door open for other providers to steal a minority of the tech savvy customers who need or want this feature.

A brief recap;

1) Fraud. Vonage is going to have to worry about people who share an outgoing unlimited line. They already have policies and procedures to handle this, but it costs money to do enforcement.

2) SPIT. With a BYOD plan a telemarketer can quickly and effectively spam thousands of subscribers before he can be stopped. SPIT on any large scale level is going to significantly damage VoIPs reputation.

3) Network control. Inability to control everything from what version of SIP is being used to what features are available. Loss of this control would increase technical support costs. It makes it more difficult for Vonage to segment their network and do load balancing from the user access points.

There are two decisions Vonage has made that shows a current unwillingness on Vonage's part to provide this service. The first is the termination of the peering agreement with FWD for security reasons. The second is the fact that they offer no SoftPhone plan above 500 minutes.

So I believe the analogy is valid. Vonage is not providing this feature because it would increase costs. Vonage it appears to me is focused on building a basic service to a vast number of customers rather than on trying to build a service that appeals to everyone.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 29, 2003 Posts: 17

Wireless phone will not be availabel until end 2005

Cry