Typical nonsense

[Mortis]

I get just about ZERO cell phone coverage in my new place, so I went out today and bought a Vonage package, set up an account, installed it, and waited for the fifteen minutes to hook it up.

I hooked it up and it didn't work.

I checked all the hardware.

Still didn't work.

Checked it again, and reset the modem.

Still didn't work.

Went to check online.

My payment didn't go through because my bank refused to pay.

Yes, my bank refused to pay the initial start up costs to start Vonage.

Why do you ask?

Because the initial payment is.....

46 cents.

Yes, you read it right.

46 cents.

For TAXES!

So.... now I have to wait til TUESDAY until I can call my bank and tell them authorize FORTY SIX CENTS!!!!

Sometimes.....

[BostonPatriot]

I get just about ZERO cell phone coverage in my new place, so I went out today and bought a Vonage package, set up an account, installed it, and waited for the fifteen minutes to hook it up.

I hooked it up and it didn't work.

I checked all the hardware.

Still didn't work.

Checked it again, and reset the modem.

Still didn't work.

Went to check online.

My payment didn't go through because my bank refused to pay.

Yes, my bank refused to pay the initial start up costs to start Vonage.

Why do you ask?

Because the initial payment is.....

46 cents.

Yes, you read it right.

46 cents.

For TAXES!

So.... now I have to wait til TUESDAY until I can call my bank and tell them authorize FORTY SIX CENTS!!!!

Sometimes.....

I would be on the phone with a few nasty words to the bank... the kind that I can't use here...

[Mortis]

I would have been on the phone with a few nasty words to the bank... the kind that I can't use here...

It was after 4pm....

[F9thRet]

LOL, sorry man, that is horrible, but it is kind of funny. Hell you can't buy a can of soda for 46 cents these days.

Call Vonage and tell them you already paid your taxes and own the bank. ;)

Stephen

[gdoane]

I get just about ZERO cell phone coverage in my new place, so I went out today and bought a Vonage package, set up an account, installed it, and waited for the fifteen minutes to hook it up.

I hooked it up and it didn't work.

I checked all the hardware.

Still didn't work.

Checked it again, and reset the modem.

Still didn't work.

Went to check online.

My payment didn't go through because my bank refused to pay.

Yes, my bank refused to pay the initial start up costs to start Vonage.

Why do you ask?

Because the initial payment is.....

46 cents.

Yes, you read it right.

46 cents.

For TAXES!

So.... now I have to wait til TUESDAY until I can call my bank and tell them authorize FORTY SIX CENTS!!!!

Sometimes.....

For something like that I'd probably use one of those stupid American Express gift cards my employer uses as a reward for good employees. Most of them use "points", like a "10 point" card is $10 and a "25 point" card is $25.

Usually I wind up throwing them away because they're pretty useless unless you're buying something cheaper than $10 with a credit card and who does that in the real world anyway? They're a bad fit for my shopping habits and they're kind of embarrassing when they're not enough to cover the purchase so it's easier to just not use them.

I think they might work for something cheap like this though. Just go buy a prepaid card and use that for the payment method. Don't get an expensive one though because 90% of it will probably be wasted.

[Mortis]

Account is ACTIVE....

Only took 12 hours, lol

[melinda]

Account is ACTIVE....

Only took 12 hours, lol

gotta love modern technology. :)

[gdoane]

gotta love modern technology. :)

It's great when it works but not so good when it doesn't. The problem with voice over IP comes when network connections are assymetrical because that's how most people use the internet.

For example, according to speedtest.net my download speed is a respectable 23 Megabits per second but my upload speed is less than a seventh of that at 3 Megabits per second. That's faster than 98% of the internet connections and more than twice the American average of 10 Mbps download.

Now, that's great if you're downloading a video or browsing the internet because you do send a mere fraction of the data that you're receiving.

It's not so great in a conversation where you're sending about as much data as your getting and that turns the upload speed into a potential bottleneck. What can happen is packets (VoIP breaks voice down into 20 millisecond packages) get delayed at the bottleneck and if they delay too long the word can't be recreated and becomes unintelligible.

The way the problem is mitigated is that packets are prioritized and voice packets are given top priority. Data is told to wait and let the voice packets go first. This results in slower data communications, however. Not so great for online gamers.

The main reason I won't get it is because I need, absolutely and without question, telephone communications that work in a power outage. A computer-based phone (soft phone) will not give me that. If the computer doesn't work, then neither will the phone.

I'm a radio technician and in the IT biz, where power failures mean I'm probably going to get paged on the standby pager and I'm not about to explain to my boss that I'm not returning customer calls because the power outage took out my PC. I'm not comfortable with depending on my cell phone because if power goes out to my house then it's probably going out at the cell phone towers near my house too, and they won't work either.

There are pros and cons to any new technology. The pros of VoIP are it's cheap, avoids long distance charges and once installed has no learning curve as it works like a normal phone circuit.

The cons are that if your PC or Internet is down, you've got no phone service, and if your network is too slow or congested you've got bad phone service. It's also not going to interface with 911 easily and may cost extra to make it route to 911 properly.

It's a good option for some people (for example, people who make lots of long distance calls) but not so great for others (like techs who need phone access 24/7 to answer customers). I wouldn't choose it but I can see a benefit for other types of use.