Comcast vs. Vonage

Posts: 159 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 05, 2005 Posts: 159

And here we go again............

Posts: 63 · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject:

I'm seeing the exact same thing. Seems to be losing that last hop before it gets all the way to Vonage.

I've been running a 24/7 line monitor from dslreports to try to isolate these issues with Vonage. Have not been having any problems with my Comcast line the last several days but I've had a few calls on my Vonage line kicked to my cell phone, which is the standby number in case the network is down. This most certainly seems to be an issue with Vonage, unlike the problems I was having a month ago that started this thread in the first place.

I'm thinking it's probably worth combining this line monitor with a pingplotter to Vonage so that I have a complete picture of where the problems are coming up when they are coming up.

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 13

again, I am seeing this problem only from Comcast...

...incomming caller audio is terrible but my outgoing audio sounds fine to the caller.

...right now secure.vonage.com is totally unreachable on Comcast, but works fine from the datacenter.

Sad

really not happy

...(edit)... small error, the top graph is from the datacenter (ISP = XO) the bottom graph is from my home (ISP = Comcast) in one graph I incorrectly typed "ISP: Vonage" in red, that is infact the one from my home (you know cause it's allot worse and that's why I'm upset) it should read "ISP: Comcast" sorry for the confusion.

...these graphs are created with the software package ipMonitor7, I use it to monitor my internal servers/devices as well as my customers. For me the point is really less for historical logging as seen here, but more to send alerts to my cell phone when something goes down. I run two instances of this software, one at the datacenter and one at home, hence the two graphs and comparison. My Vonage setup in both locations is the same, a PAP2 connected to a firewall/router and then the Internet (albeit different Internet providers, and why the “problem” here is so apparent)

Posts: 63 · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject:

JPElectron wrote:

again, I am seeing this problem only from Comcast...

Wow, that's some amazing data. What program are you using to track that. I can set something up at my house (Comcast) and then from my work, where we have a T-1 line. Your graphs certainly "implicate" Comcast, no?

Posts: 33 · Last edited by JimBob on Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

The fact that people choosing Vonage are also choosing Comcast can be very important in preserving the cost of Vonage service in the near future. If AT&T is allowed to take over Bell South the behemoth will, in short order, snuff out competition which is using their networks. Even before the takeover attempt AT&T has tipped their hand about this intention.

Question

When Comcast took over AT&T Broadband, in 2002, their services were running on the AT&T networks and as I suspect some services still use the AT&T network pipes. What if the pipes connecting Vonage to Comcast were still on the AT&T Network? Do you think that it is beyond AT&T to cut back on the sampling rate of those pipes thereby degrading the Vonage Voip services? That said, if the resulting service issues were to be perceived as caused by a Comcast vs. Vonage conflict, customers may just flock back to AT&T for their telephone service with Comcast and Vonage perceived as the bad guys.

Idea

It just so happens that the Comcast/Vonage customers having voice quality issues are all in the region of Comcast which used to be AT&T Broadband.

Having spent my life’s work in the Telephone, Computer, and Cable industries, I have seen a whole lot of changes in my 60-years … some good … some bad … some yet to be determined. The bottom line is that good healthy competition is good for American Citizens. We, the consumers, need to keep our eyes wide open when making choices which could upset the balance of competition. Too many people of today are short sighted and fail to consider the long-term effects of their decisions until it is too late.

Cool

Let every consumer with a voice boldly speak up for the reasonable cost high-speed data and telephone service we deserve. Trophy

Posts: 2257

JimBob wrote:

The fact that people choosing...[/i] Trophy

Please note the forum rules:

"Use of all bold/caps is prohibited" and should only be used to emphasize single words.

Posts: 276 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 09, 2006 Posts: 276

I'm copying a response I posted in another thread because it has to do with Comcast. Thankfully, it had nothing to do with Comcast v. Voip or any other Voip for that matter, but since it involves an issue dealing with Comcast, one that a few seemed to imply was a Comcast/Vonage problem, I thought I'd repeat it here for the heck of it.

The thread in question is here:

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic11946.html

My last reply:

Quote:

Well, Comcast's tech was here this afternoon for about a half-hour and fixed the problem. It turned out that several connectors on the outside of the building were, as he described them, "decrepit." He replaced them and recut the cable that goes into my modem, this last thing being a "just in case" solution.

We did several speed tests and wow! Even the tech has never seen such speeds. My package is at their highest speed, supposed to be 8 megs down and something like 4 or 5 megs up. Well, my download speed was consistently at a blazing 9.8 megs! In fact, a few tests clocked it at 10.2 megs!

I got into a discussion with him about Voip, Vonage, Comcast's own Voip, etc. He was quite frank with me, telling me, "Don't get our Voip. We're still working out a lot of bugs. It's just not worth it." He didn't know that I specifically had Vonage, so he continues his discussion, "If you're going to get Voip, get Vonage. They're the best."

At that point I told him I had Vonage and have not been experiencing problems like many others have with Comcast. I told him about this forum and the Comcast v. Vonage thread and we chatted a few minutes about this issue. Here's what he told me: "yeah, we've been having some issues in certain areas, Michigan specifically." I asked him if Comcast was doing anything intentional or specific to disrupt Voip, and he said this: "No way. I can tell you straight, Mr. NNNNN, that our own Voip succks, but we are definitely not blocking any Voip. The FCC has warned us about this. We're not about to do something that stupid. The issues we're having are technical ones, but I don't know the details about that."

The words I used above are his words, folks, not mine, BTW.

All in all, a very satisfying service call, the first on site one I have had to have since the service was installed 15 months ago.

Posts: 277

JimBob wrote:

It just so happens that the Comcast/Vonage customers having voice quality issues are all in the region of Comcast which used to be AT&T Broadband.

Well, JimBob, to put another conspiracy theory to rest, the metro Dallas Comcast infrastructure is all from AT&T Broadband, and our service and my Vonage phone service have been just fine and rock solid, no issues whatsoever.

Posts: 159 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 05, 2005 Posts: 159

I don't think there is any conspiracy or ill intention going on here. But there is definetly a problem that needs to be addressed. Who owns the problem doesn't seem to be clear. For all we know the folks that can fix the problem aren't even aware! All I can do is point to a problem between two hops from a traceroute and hope that someone will pass this information on to the right folks eventually. BTW, I can honestly say that both Comcast and Vonage have been rock solid, this particular issue with latency between two hops has not. And I am referring to the hop between att-gw.chi.gblx.net and vonage-holdings-corp-vonage-toll-free-nwrk.ge-2-3-0.403.ar1.nyc1.gblx.net.

Thanks,
Kevin

Posts: 63 · Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

Not more than four weeks after a number of problems with Comcast/Vonage, I get this interesting letter in the mail today from our friends at Comcast. Feel free to connect the dots.