No Dial Tone or Phone Lights

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 17, 2005 Posts: 5

I think that one more plus for Sun Rocket is that they offer true 911 service. Vonage will have to offer this in the near future, but for now, it is not true 911 service. On the day that I enrolled with Vonage, they told me that they had taken care of the 911 service activation. Then, several days later when my phone number was transferred to them from Verizon, they said that I would have to activate 911 service. My account page showed that it was already activated. I sent an email to enquire, and they actually said that they weren't sure if 911 was activated or not, so to call 911 and tell them that it isn't an emergency, but that my phone service carrier recommended that I check to be sure that it was active. I couldn't believe it. Do you know how annoyed 911 would be if everyone from Vonage called to be sure that they had 911 service? A friend told me that they always send a police officer out when you call 911, even if you tell 911 that there is no emergency. There is no way that I will call 911. I just hope that I am able to convey my location info to 911 if I ever have to use them. Eeeeegad! I would look closely at Sun Rocket if I were you. Or maybe Packet 8. Good luck.

Posts: 103 · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 4:43 pm Post subject: Why does anyone need two routers?

I read that fellow's plight with his Vonage router. My setup is listed below as part of my signature. I got a PAP2 and plugged it into my WI-FI router and everything works fine. I have a friend who got a Vonage Wi-Fi router and already had a router, and I am not sure how she hooked everything up, but she had problems with it. Why would anyone need 2 routers? I think that having an all in one device with a Voip adapter and Wi-Fi in the same unit will lend itself to problems. Also, it is easier for me to disconnect my PAP2 and take it to a new location and just stick it in to a new RJ-45 port. Do the combined Router/Adapters have an RJ-45 input?

Cargo Jack

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 4:55 pm Post subject: Re: Sun Rocket

joolee wrote:

I think that one more plus for Sun Rocket is that they offer true 911 service. Vonage will have to offer this in the near future, but for now, it is not true 911 service.

Well...not exactly... straight from SunRocket's website: "in most cases when you dial 911 as a SunRocket customer, your call is routed to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) supporting the service address you registered with your account. Emergency 911 may not be active on the day you receive your equipment, but will be available within approximately 10 days of receiving your equipment."

This is the same deal as Vonage in many areas, and Vonage is starting to get real E911in some areas. At this point it's the RBOCs dragging their legs, not the Voip providers.

As far as SunRocket goes, take a look at the other forums on the 'net... they seem to be having quite a few issues with their phone adapters crapping out and dropping calls.

FWIW, I don't have Voip service with any of these providers (yet)... still investigating the options before I take the plunge. I have used Vonage at friends' houses and had very good luck with it... so we'll see. Vonage so far seems to be what I'm leaning towards. It doesn't have the best price, nor the best features (would love to be able to use a Cisco 7960 IP phone on it, but at the same time, they appear to have the most reliable network out of the providers I've seen and don't have the worst price either.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 2

We have been Vonage customers for about three months and have never had any problem, until now. The first problem was that we were not receiving any calls, but had a dial tone. The next day, which was a Saturday, everything was out. We have called Vonage 10 times today, speaking with supervisors twice. We have plugged, unplugged, held reset buttons, again and again while desperately trying to understand the "english" that is spoken in India. We have asked repeatedly to have our router replaced and because we feel that a storm surge may have caused the problem, they have refused. We have even sent e-mails but no one responds or knows what is going on. We have been without phone service for 4 days. I plan to call the parent company, Vonage Holdings in Edison, NJ @732-287-0003 and speak with Dan Bemis, Sr. VP or customer operations and let him know that the contract they have with India for their tech support is horrible, not customer friendly and they will loose customers. Maybe us, we will see. Affter speaking with a supervisor, we were on hold for about 30 minutes.
Frustrated in Florida!!

Posts: 497 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Apr 29, 2005 Posts: 497

cargojack wrote:

Do the combined Router/Adapters have an RJ-45 input?

All routers have a WAN (internet) input (get it? - It "routes" the internet) which works the same as a the RJ-45 port on the PAP2, except that you cannot access the network past the Vonage router without some changing of the settings. It works fine for phone service (as I write my laptop and phone are using a RT31P2 on a hotel network).

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 17, 2005 Posts: 5

Please let me know what happens with your phone problems. After 6 days without a dial tone, and 3+ hours to India for plugging and unplugging, we have received our new router. Can't wait to see how long this one lasts. I had to call them, however, to get a pre-paid shipping label, as none was included with the new router. I also demanded a refund for the lost days of service. They offered $10. Wooopeeee. I agree that they have to do something to improve tech support. We shouldn't have to do the problem-solving for them. 3 hours on the phone is ridiculous...and frustrating due to the language issue.

Best of luck. Please post the results of your efforts.

Thanks!

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 18, 2005 Posts: 2

We received our new router today (7-20) after 6 days of no service (first day we had a dial tone but could not receive calls). To get our new router, I finally had to call and ask to speak to someone in Edison NJ (I actually posed as a new customer and the gentleman in the Phillipines connected me to NJ). It took the lady in NJ 14 minutes to ship me a new router, overnight! No questions (or "plug, unplug") asked! Everything worked fine when hooked up. We did not receive a mailing label to return the defective device but were told one would be e-mailed to us. Guess we will have to call for that one, just PRAY we don't get connected to India! We will see how long this router lasts.

Customers should not have to go through this grief to get customer support. We would not have joined Vonage, had we known the company's defination of customer support.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 17, 2005 Posts: 5

Congrats on the new router. Next time (I am sure that there will be one!) I will call Edison, NJ. Our new router is ok for now, but we never did receive the email with the mailing label. I called this morning, and was told that our server had a problem (??), so they had to send it via the post office. Am going to get the mail soon, so hopefully it will be there. I recommend that you call them to see if it is "in the mail".

Yes. This is all just too much of a hassle. As much as I dislike the hold that Verizon has, I miss my dependable land line!!! Did Vonage ever recommend to you that you call 911 to confirm that they got you set up correctly? That is what they told us to do. I refuse to tie up 911 and possible have a patrol car sent to my house, so we are just going to take our chances. The web site states that our info was activated, so I'll just hope for the best.

Good luck to you and all Vonage customers!!