Question about VOIP & Vonage

[Jenny]

Anyone have any experience using VOIP? And what other companies are out there besides Vonage? Anyone have any recommendations?

[MikeD]

Anyone have any experience using VOIP? And what other companies are out there besides Vonage? Anyone have any recommendations?

We use Sunrocket and love 'em. Price is better than Vonage, too.

$199/year = $16.58 per month. They also give you two phones for free; that alone is worth about $50. That price also includes an hour of International long distance each month.

If you go with them and use me as a referral, I get $50. Keep me in mind, Jen!

www.sunrocket.com

[ShawnLee]

I have a question. Can you hook up the VOIP to any IP address? In other words, can you take the account out of the country and then call people in another country (for example, Korea)? If so, I think this might be cheaper for calling my parents than otherwise.

[Jenny]

We use Sunrocket and love 'em. Price is better than Vonage, too.

$199/year = $16.58 per month. They also give you two phones for free; that alone is worth about $50. That price also includes an hour of International long distance each month.

If you go with them and use me as a referral, I get $50. Keep me in mind, Jen!

www.sunrocket.com

Do you have to use their phones?

Also, "High-speed broadband service in your home - either through a cable or DSL modem. Your modem speed will need a minimum upstream and downstream capacity of 90 kbps." How fast is 90kbps? Does my upstream have to be that fast? My upstream is hella slow.

[MikeD]

Do you have to use their phones?

No. But the phones they give you are the type that has one master phone that connects to your broadband connection (or phone line), while the others (up to 4) simply plug into the wall. You can place them anywhere in your home, wherever an electrical outlet is present.

Also, "High-speed broadband service in your home - either through a cable or DSL modem. Your modem speed will need a minimum upstream and downstream capacity of 90 kbps." How fast is 90kbps? Does my upstream have to be that fast? My upstream is hella slow.

If you have DSL or cable, you have 90kbps up. I think even the slowest of broadband options are at 384kbps up.

Here are the phones they give you, BTW...$40 at Amazon.

[LegendKiller]

Whats the diff between the new e911 system and regular 911?

[Jenny]

I believe the e911 allows the 911 operator to see where you are calling from.

And the reason I was asking about the phones is because my mom bought us a new set for Christmas, so I'll need to use those.

[Jcranmer]

I have a question. Can you hook up the VOIP to any IP address? In other words, can you take the account out of the country and then call people in another country (for example, Korea)? If so, I think this might be cheaper for calling my parents than otherwise.

Yes, the phone number is tied to the router not the IP address.

Using Vonage in Korea would mean that the Vonage phone would have a US phone number. Just remember that even though the phone would be located in Korea, if they were to call someone in Korea it would be billed at the international rate.

Jenny, I use Vonage and I have only a 128Kbps upstream DSL connection. If you have issues, Vonage has a bandwith saver option that allows you to lower the voice quality to get by with a slower upstream connection. I had to do this, and even with it enabled I still have problems off and on.

However since my long distance bills have dropped from nearly $200.00 per month to $25.00, I am more then happy to trade off the quality of the connection.

[mcs328]

is Skype not a reasonable possibly cheaper alternative? Or is that completely different?

[Jenny]

Jenny, I use Vonage and I have only a 128Kbps upstream DSL connection. If you have issues, Vonage has a bandwith saver option that allows you to lower the voice quality to get by with a slower upstream connection. I had to do this, and even with it enabled I still have problems off and on.

I figured out that ours should be plenty fast enough.

[ApltnHkyMutt]

I have Time Warners Voip setup. Make alot of calls from Us to Canada. Love the new set up and it even shows the caller id on my tv when im watching.

[ShawnLee]

Yes, the phone number is tied to the router not the IP address.

Using Vonage in Korea would mean that the Vonage phone would have a US phone number. Just remember that even though the phone would be located in Korea, if they were to call someone in Korea it would be billed at the international rate.

Cool. Well, the issue isn't them calling other numbers in Korea, they have a regular phone there. It's them calling us back stateside, or us calling them. And (though it might seem stupid) they could theoretically carry around the router wherever they go and take the phone with them. Not a bad idea... Will think about this.

[Jcranmer]

Cool. Well, the issue isn't them calling other numbers in Korea, they have a regular phone there. It's them calling us back stateside, or us calling them. And (though it might seem stupid) they could theoretically carry around the router wherever they go and take the phone with them. Not a bad idea... Will think about this.

Yep, it should work well while traveling. This is one of the reasons the govt has been on them for 911. If you can take the unit with you, there is no way for 911 to know where you are at.

[AlpineJay]

FlyerTalk and other frequent flyer forums have real accounts of people taking the Vonage modem with them and making phone calls. Seeing as it's 25 bucks a month and if you talk to your parents a lot in Korea, it could very well be worth the money. All you'd need is a broadband connection.

[Jenny]

roflmao I just was looking at Sunrocket again and realized that they phones they are offering (through tomorrow), we got for Christmas from my mom. LOL Except we have 3 handsets. w00t.

[psycho-]

My parents live in shanghai and have a 408 (San Jose, CA) phone number there on Vonage. It's crystal clear.

[Houdini]

My parents live in shanghai and have a 408 (San Jose, CA) phone number there on Vonage. It's crystal clear.

That was going to be my question. How clear are the calls? I already have a nice broadband cable connection with a pre-N router, so without a landline, this may be useful and save me on cell phone minutes.

[Jcranmer]

That was going to be my question. How clear are the calls? I already have a nice broadband cable connection with a pre-N router, so without a landline, this may be useful and save me on cell phone minutes.

Mine isn't so great, but like I said somewhere above, I don't really have that fast of a connection. In my case I would never use Vonage as my only phone line, but it's great to use for LD calls. Even better it keeps the 17 YO stepson from tying up my main phone line for 8+ hours a day talking to his gf.