Comment "Internet Terrorism" (Score 5, Insightful) 194
I expect that The Government will brand such actions as "domestic Internet terrorism". Off to Gitmo!
Comment I found Vonage neat, but with limitations (Score 2, Informative) 250
I have had Vonage for 6 months and just cancelled today.
Very cool concept, and I'm a big fan of the company. Great product offering, great customer service, and super convenient in many respects.
But, I discovered a few limitations, and eventually decided that I just didn't need the service anymore.
The latency was a big problem for me. The latency for calls when using Vonage on my cable Internet connection (Cox in So. Cal.) was typically almost 1 second. I estimate that because I could hear the slight echo when the signal finally made it to the other end of the call, and because my friends would ask me what was wrong with my phone. After a few frustrating business calls, I stopped using it for important phone calls and only used it for a few evening calls to friends that were willing to tolerate the latency that reminded me of an international call. The actual quality of the sound was fantastic--no gripes there, but when you are stepping over the sentences of the other person constantly and having to wait for one another to finish sentences, it became very frustrating. I literally used my cell phone with 50% signal strength for important calls, since it had very little latency compared to Vonage on my Internet connection.
I did not tried Vonage on my DSL service at my new residence (due to wiring issues mentioned below), so unfortunately I can't offer a comparison of cable vs. DSL in terms of the latency. (And yes, I followed all of their tech support recommendations and opened up the swath of ports that they recommend to incoming traffic.)
The second issue that I had is that the phone must effectively be located next to the Internet connection (cable/dsl modem/router, etc.). You either have to run an Ethernet cable if you want to locate the Vonage device and phone elsewhere, or you have to run a long phone cord if you want to locate the phone elsewhere. Maybe there is some means of routing the signal into the copper wiring in the house, but I wasn't going to bother. My cordless phone crapped out, so I just gave up. My new location offers the huge benefit of actually having solid cell signal, so I now rely exclusively on my cell, and had no need for Vonage.
But, I give them tremendous credit for a great product (for those that can get acceptable call latency/quality) with a ton of features for an amazingly economical price.
Very cool concept, and I'm a big fan of the company. Great product offering, great customer service, and super convenient in many respects.
But, I discovered a few limitations, and eventually decided that I just didn't need the service anymore.
The latency was a big problem for me. The latency for calls when using Vonage on my cable Internet connection (Cox in So. Cal.) was typically almost 1 second. I estimate that because I could hear the slight echo when the signal finally made it to the other end of the call, and because my friends would ask me what was wrong with my phone. After a few frustrating business calls, I stopped using it for important phone calls and only used it for a few evening calls to friends that were willing to tolerate the latency that reminded me of an international call. The actual quality of the sound was fantastic--no gripes there, but when you are stepping over the sentences of the other person constantly and having to wait for one another to finish sentences, it became very frustrating. I literally used my cell phone with 50% signal strength for important calls, since it had very little latency compared to Vonage on my Internet connection.
I did not tried Vonage on my DSL service at my new residence (due to wiring issues mentioned below), so unfortunately I can't offer a comparison of cable vs. DSL in terms of the latency. (And yes, I followed all of their tech support recommendations and opened up the swath of ports that they recommend to incoming traffic.)
The second issue that I had is that the phone must effectively be located next to the Internet connection (cable/dsl modem/router, etc.). You either have to run an Ethernet cable if you want to locate the Vonage device and phone elsewhere, or you have to run a long phone cord if you want to locate the phone elsewhere. Maybe there is some means of routing the signal into the copper wiring in the house, but I wasn't going to bother. My cordless phone crapped out, so I just gave up. My new location offers the huge benefit of actually having solid cell signal, so I now rely exclusively on my cell, and had no need for Vonage.
But, I give them tremendous credit for a great product (for those that can get acceptable call latency/quality) with a ton of features for an amazingly economical price.
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