Voice Over IP - A First Hand Perspective

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.devbuzz.com/content/vonage_voice_over_ip_pg1.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.devbuzz.com/content/vona...over_ip_pg1.asp</a><br /><br /></div>My friend Derek Mitchell over at dEVbuzz has written up a first-hand perspective of using the Vonage VOIP kit. I've always been curious about VOIP, but I don't do all that much long distance calling so I haven't looked into it. Curious about VOIP and the benefits? Check out Derek's article!

[OSUKid7]

Awesome. :way to go: I've been semi-interested in VoIP, and have tried out Skype and a few other VoIP apps, and the FWD service (free VoIP to PSTN calls in the US :)). Vonage's digital phone adapter is pretty cool. May try to talk my folks into that if (hopefully when) we get our basemsnet renovated and ethernet through the house. Glad you can keep existing phones and still use VoIP, but it would be better if the adapter were smaller. (Or even better yet if there wer just one adapter for all analog phones in the house...but that's asking a lot.)

[ricksfiona]

I use Vonage as my primary voice line where I live in California. I think it works VERY close in quality to that of my cell phone. Sometimes, there is a delay when I talk to the time the caller hears what I say, but it doesn't happen often.

Now, if they can get a software app for me to use on my PPC and use my phone number on it, that would be very nice. :D

[OSUKid7]

Quick question about Vonage: they have an app for PCs, right? So can you put that on a laptop, go away from your house, get on a different network, and still make and receive phone calls with your home number? When someone calls you in that case, would the softphone on your laptop ring as well as the phones in your house?

Also, is it possible to add a second "line?" Or have unlimited "lines" so that you can always make a call when someone else is on the phone?

Maybe I'm dreaming. lol :lol:

OK, more than a few questions. :oops: :wink:

[cmchavez]

I use Vonage as my primary voice line where I live in California. I think it works VERY close in quality to that of my cell phone. Sometimes, there is a delay when I talk to the time the caller hears what I say, but it doesn't happen often.

Now, if they can get a software app for me to use on my PPC and use my phone number on it, that would be very nice. :D

Not to be the voice of doom, but I read an article on ZDNet a couple of weeks back regarding Vonage. Basically, the article said that the services offered are good, but the long term forecast for the company is not as rosy because they don't own or maintain any of the infrastructure. Also, since their service is based on available bandwidth\data pipelines, any of the Telco's could make life hard on Vonage by limiting the amount of VOIP traffic through their system. This could also happen if a Telco starts up their own VOIP service and wants to limit competition.

[that_kid]

I've been using vonage for over a year and it's been great. I also use vonage on my pocketpc's and it's just great, especially with a bluetooth headset. Many of my friends also have vonage and with free world dialup you can call to/from vonage. The only bad thing I've found so far is trying to order pizza. I have a New Jersey phone number but I live in Virginia, when I need to give my home phone number, people think I'm trying to scam them. On the upside my phone bill is crazy low and so is the phone bills of my family and friends, that's what counts most.

[that_kid]

(Or even better yet if there wer just one adapter for all analog phones in the house...but that's asking a lot.)

That's possible now and that's how I have my house wired. I have one adapter hooked into all the phones in the house.

[OSUKid7]

(Or even better yet if there wer just one adapter for all analog phones in the house...but that's asking a lot.)

That's possible now and that's how I have my house wired. I have one adapter hooked into all the phones in the house.
Awesome. :D I know you can do that by hacking the phone box outside the house, but did you do that legally through Vonage?

[that_kid]

No hack involved, all you need to do is disconnect your local phone service from the nid(box on your house) and then plug the vonage box into a standard phone line. As long as all the lines are hooked up, you'll get a dialtone throught the house. Now if you have alot of phones throughout the house, then you will need something else to generate the current needed for the 54volt phone line. It's all legal as long as you stay on the customer side of the nid.

[ricksfiona]

I've been using vonage for over a year and it's been great. I also use vonage on my pocketpc's and it's just great, especially with a bluetooth headset. Many of my friends also have vonage and with free world dialup you can call to/from vonage. The only bad thing I've found so far is trying to order pizza. I have a New Jersey phone number but I live in Virginia, when I need to give my home phone number, people think I'm trying to scam them. On the upside my phone bill is crazy low and so is the phone bills of my family and friends, that's what counts most.
Where did you get the Pocket PC software? I've been looking for it and can't find it. I would LOVE to have it!!!

[rubberdemon]

I have Primus in Canada, for anyone North of the border who's interested, though Vonage just came up here too. They're not too bad, though as was said, it's more like cell phone quality and reliability than landline. I get echoes sometimes, and also every so often calls don't go through. But unlimited long distance in North America is pretty addictive. They haven't gone as far as Vonage in offering innovative apps, but hopefully soon - I'd love to try the PocketPC softphone, and I wish they had Vonage's web voice mail feature (check your VM as if it were hotmail).

Supposedly Shaw and Rogers (cable providers) are going to introduce VOIP in the fall this year, which should be interesting - since Shaw owns the cable infrastructure, they should be able to guarantee a certain level of service, you'd think.

[that_kid]

Where did you get the Pocket PC software? I've been looking for it and can't find it. I would LOVE to have it!!!

I'm using Xten's X-pro but SJ Lab's sjphone will also work . I contacted vonage about providing a ppc client as the two desktop clients they provide both come from companies who have ppc clients. They said they was really looking into it at the moment. The only drawback is that you have to subscribe to the softphone service which is $10. So now I have a second number just for my ppc's. Once you get the software just load in the proxy info and you're all set. I don't have my ppc with me right now but I'll check what the proxy is and post back.

[bucho]

Where did you get the Pocket PC software? I've been looking for it and can't find it. I would LOVE to have it!!!

I'm using Xten's X-pro but SJ Lab's sjphone will also work . I contacted vonage about providing a ppc client as the two desktop clients they provide both come from companies who have ppc clients. They said they was really looking into it at the moment. The only drawback is that you have to subscribe to the softphone service which is $10. So now I have a second number just for my ppc's. Once you get the software just load in the proxy info and you're all set. I don't have my ppc with me right now but I'll check what the proxy is and post back.
You're saying that you can use the standard Xten or SJLab PPC client and set it up to connect to Vonage? How do you do that? Do tell, do tell...

I have the $10 soft line and can connect fine with the bundled Xten client on my laptop...

[Oleander]

I'm using Xten's X-pro but SJ Lab's sjphone will also work

What PPC do you use?

I'm interested in using it on an iPAQ 5450 connecting to my iConnectHere account and would like to know if anyone has it working.

VoIP is great! It actually enables me to be a "virtual citizen" of the US living here in europe. 8)
I have a remailer address in Floria and the VoIP # has the same area code as the address - just in case people want to check my identity. :lol:

I plan on going to the US in a couple of months and would love to use a VoIP softphone instead of paying 4$ a minute for using my GSM phone.

[that_kid]

You're saying that you can use the standard Xten or SJLab PPC client and set it up to connect to Vonage? How do you do that? Do tell, do tell...

I have the $10 soft line and can connect fine with the bundled Xten client on my laptop...

Yes that's correct but Xten's client is a resource hog on the ppc, sjlabs version yeilds better results on some ppc's. The settings I use in Xphone are

usernamee = phone number (including 1 and areacode)
Display name = Your Name
authoization User = Phone number again
password = password vonage gave you for softphone account
Domain\realm = sphone.vopr.vonage.net
sip proxy = 216.115.25.198:5061 (must leave port at 5061)
No outbound proxy


What PPC do you use?

i'm using a Ipaq 5555 and 4350 at the moment. I've tried xphone on my 5455 and it didn't work very well but worked great with sjphone. The thing I like about xphone is it's multiple proxy use. I have both vonage and free world dialup setup and can make/recieve calls on both at the same time. [/list]

[sundown]

There is also a thread about this over at DMT -
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=42065

Here are my personal experiences with VoIP:

I've had similar experiences with Packet8 (http://www.packet8.net/). I've been using their VoIP service for 3 months now and mostly like it. Here's my story:

I needed a new phone number to use exclusively for business in my home and didn't want to pay the almost $40 per month the phone company wanted to charge (long distance is on top of that). Also, though I don't get reimbursed for business calls as much as I should, not paying for long distance appealed to me. VoIP seemed like a decent option for what I was looking for. I get a local phone number and don't pay any long distance, all for only $19.95 per month. Sure, there is no 911 service but I have a regular home phone as well as 3 cell phones in our family so no major loss there. The Packet 8 system is similar to Vonage - you get an adapter to plug into your switch and then you plug a regular phone into that.

After three months of extensive use, I find it to be mostly reliable. The call quality is good unless I'm uploading something or downloading a large file (I use cable). In a few cases I've had to use my home phone as a backup but 98% of the time it works fine. In May I spoke for over 5.5 hours total and didn't pay for any long distance. I'm probably saving around $45 a month over my phone company.

The only other downside has been some occassional downtime. Every once in a while (rarely) I pick the phone up and there is no dialtone, requiring me to hard-reset (power off) the Packet 8 adapter. A minor inconvenience, really.

[nirav28]

Hmm..the feature list doesn't say anything about HTTP support. So I guess that rules out using it for msn/hotmail.

I can't never get the httpmail plugin to work for pocket inbox.

[dragomia]

What problem exactly did you have with HTTPMail? Let me know, I'm the developer.

Adrian