vonage + Verizon DSL...quality?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 4

I hav ejust signed a lease on a new apt and I want to sign up for Voip service....I am looking at my otions and Vonage looks like a good choice.

Does anyone have it with Derizon's 3Mbps DSL service?

How is the sound clarity on both ends?

Can you still use a traiditojnal answering machine if you don't want to be bothered with voicemail?

does anyone have a virtual number and if so, how has that been working for you?

How much do you pay in taxes for service?

Coudl I order Vonage now to test it out even though I have not moved into my apartment yet? I move in at the end of August and will be staying at myt apretns' house int he meantime.

What happens if the power goes out or there is a servic eoutage on Vonage's side but someone is trying to call you?

Can you use Vonage anywhere you have high speed internet? If so, how does that work exactly?

And what made you choose Vonage overall? Thanks.

Posts: 646

Quote:

How is the sound clarity on both ends?

You can test how VoIP-worthy a connection is here: www.testyourvoip.com . If your connection is good, then the quality's almost indistinguishable from a normal phone line. The biggest problem you're likely to encounter is latency. It takes a fraction of a second longer for the voice to get from one phone to the other.

Quote:

Can you still use a traiditojnal answering machine if you don't want to be bothered with voicemail?

Sure, you can just disable voicemail, and connect a normal answering machine.

Quote:

How much do you pay in taxes for service?

The total price comes out to less than $28 a month.

Quote:

Coudl I order Vonage now to test it out even though I have not moved into my apartment yet? I move in at the end of August and will be staying at myt apretns' house int he meantime.

No problem at all. Vonage doesn't care where you're located.

Quote:

What happens if the power goes out or there is a servic eoutage on Vonage's side but someone is trying to call you?

I think normally it goes to voicemail, but you can enter a number to forward the call to in the event that your device is down.

Quote:

Can you use Vonage anywhere you have high speed internet? If so, how does that work exactly?

Each box has its own unique address. Whenever you plug the box into an Internet connection and turn it on, it contacts the Vonage servers and identifies itself. So, it connects you with your account and phone number no matter where you are.

Quote:

And what made you choose Vonage overall? Thanks.

They're the largest, the price is pretty decent, and they rarely have service outages... if they did, they'd have to answer to 600,000 pissed off customers .

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

EDIT: Looks like Paul beat me to it!

Quote:

How is the sound clarity on both ends?

Post a detailed test to boston from testyourvoip.com - internet quality will very even with the same level of service.

Quote:

Can you still use a traiditojnal answering machine if you don't want to be bothered with voicemail?

Yes, just disable voicemail.

Quote:

How much do you pay in taxes for service?
I'm paying:
FET Tax $0.75
Regulatory Recovery Fee $1.50

Quote:

Coudl I order Vonage now to test it out even though I have not moved into my apartment yet? I move in at the end of August and will be staying at myt apretns' house int he meantime.

If your. parents have broadband

Quote:

What happens if the power goes out or there is a servic eoutage on Vonage's side but someone is trying to call you?

You set a number which the calls will be forwarded to (e.g. your cell phone)

Quote:

Can you use Vonage anywhere you have high speed internet? If so, how does that work exactly?

Yes! Quality will very greatly depending on quality of internet (right now using Vonage in a hotel room). Just take your adapter with you and plug it into the ethernet port. If the only access if wireless you can get a wireless bridge (less than $80).

Quote:

And what made you choose Vonage overall?

Lower Price, Extra Featurs, Cool Factor, Being able to take it with me (e.g. Hotel).

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 2

HazelGirl, Voip uses something called QOS "Quality of Service" this is the process that marks the PHONE traffic important. This will allow your calls to get through your data line before other things, like email, downloading etc. Services like Vonage use this to give you the best quality call possible. There are different type of compression used for this but usually this Voice to data conversion uses like around 96K or so. So the faster the line the less you would have to run into a situation where QOS would be needed. The internet backbone and all the routers the transfer data now have commands to read this QOS settings and seeing that it is a phone call, will give your Vonage line high priority (and good quality) just about over any connection (in theory). Again it must support the small bandwidth that I mentioned above (or what ever compression it uses). Either way it is just as good as a analog phone connection will ever be. Since you are getting a 3mb DSL connection, i believe, you will have no issues.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 4

Thanks a lot for answering my questions....and I am glad y'all figured that when I typed "Derizon" i meant "Verizon" DSL...lol

Posts: 646 · Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:34 pm Post subject:

That's interesting, I vidn't eden notice. Although you can edit your posts, you know...