Re: AT&T to discontinue CallVantage voip service [Telecom]

In <20090501210958.74983.qmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> John Levine <johnl@xxxxxxxx> writes:

Can someone recommend another VOIP service?

I didn't like Vonage either, but I've been reasonably happy with Lingo,
the voip service from Primus Telecommunications, a largish international
long distance telco.

If interested, write me directly and I'll send you a coupon.

Vonage is certainly more expensive than the new comers, but let's
give them credit where it's due - they pretty much are the folk
who pushed this whole technology out there to the public.

So I'll give them a bit more of a look than I would the others.

That being said, the economics of most VOIP companies are very,
very, shaky, and are based on _huge_ dept loads. Oh, and their
business model can colapse very quickly with some regulatory
changes.

I personally would recommend two services. The first
is Skype, which is "free" to any other Skype account and
pretty cheap to a PSTN number. They've got a rate card, with
plenty of options at http://www.skype.com

The second is available to folk who already have a t-Mobile
cellular account. They'll provide you with a special router which
accepts a SIM card, and that'll give you a psuedo-landline jack
out the back of it (which you can hook up to a landline
phone, or a wireless unit, or others stuff). Cost is $10/month
plus taxes and fees, which winds up totalling about $15 month.
Again, this is only applicable if you've already got a t-Mobile
cellular account.

I'm mentioning the latter one because t-Mobile is a valid fullscale
telco, thus the VOIP portion isn't likely to disappear without notice.

Disclosure: I'm a t-mobile user and shareholder.

Oh, one related point. It's pretty important to have a router
that has a "quality of service" option for the VOIP packets. Otherwise
anything else going on at the same time, such as your e-mail or web
browsing, could easily cause you grief. (The QOS isn't perfect, but
it makes a big difference).


--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@xxxxxxxxx
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

***** Moderator's Note *****

I wonder if Vonage is using a new "single port" router because of QOS
issues. If the Vonage box has to be first in line between the cable
modem or dsl modem and the "regular" router feeding your other
Internet usage, then Vonage gets first pick at the bandwidth.

Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator

Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never
see your post! Thanks!

We have a new address for email submissions: telecomdigestmoderator
atsign telecom-digest.org. This is only for those who submit posts via
email: if you use a newsreader or a web interface to contribute to the
digest, you don't need to change anything.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT-Letter to Vonage
    ... your signing up for one of those VOIP contracts do you? ... Linksys Wireless router went down because of the firmware from Vonage was ... customer service to answer then when they do answer they get it wrong. ...
    (rec.radio.shortwave)
  • Re: SBS & VOIP
    ... I thought Vonage only had a maximum of 2 different lines... ... assuming your router has more than 1 ... > Does anybody have any experience with VOIP in conjunction ... > is on the lan side of the sbs2k3 machine. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: O.T. - Shared Fax on Vonage problem
    ... faulty router, in my opinion. ... dialup modem, and a Brooktrout TruFax fax board in my server ... I'm using VT2442 devices provided by Vonage ... VoIP tests used many different ISP's, routers, and service suppliers, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: O.T. - Shared Fax on Vonage problem
    ... and he has the same router and the same ISP." ... that my father-in-law has the same Vonage router, ... Mainpine Limited - Support ... VoIP tests used many different ISP's, routers, and service suppliers, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: O.T. - Shared Fax on Vonage problem
    ... and he has the same router and the same ISP." ... And as I noted, my father-in-law has NO problem faxing, and he has the ... that my father-in-law has the same Vonage router, ... VoIP tests used many different ISP's, routers, and service suppliers, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)