what sort of strategy should Vonage pursue?
969530
HI, \nIf I were in control of vonage, I would be just a bit more user friendly in the customer service area. I felt they were a little deceiving . I needed to ask a question that would put them in a bad light and they wouldn't answer.{I forgot to mention this was on their website} I was a bit surprised , didn't feel like it was good customer relations.\nAs far as quality goes, they can only be as good as the ip service the customer is using...broadband is great but there can always be problems that would simply be out of the vonage control.\n\nI'm willing to give it a go...oh on more thing some type of firewall or similar so no one could hear your call would be great.\n\nPEACE
457109
Standard voice-over-IP uses about 100kbps.  Something like Vonage will use slightly less.  If you have cable or DSL with like a 3mbps service or better, you won't notice the extra load.
129946
wow, sounds like you need to just call vonnage and have a chat with the sales team. i use vonnage and its great as long as you have a good reliable internet connection. the features are unlimited (caller id/call waiting/call forwarding/etc and these are all at no extra cost for the unlimited minuites plan)and if you make long distance calls it'll certianly save you the bucks!\ni make tons of distance calls so it saves me big time in the green area. the setup free was like 2 months worth of payment but they also gave you 2 months free so it worked out fine. dont cancel your current service till you work out all the bugs (a few weeks to get everything how you like it). \nmy best feature is being able to have my calls forwarded to my cell phone when the internet goes down.
7084
Step through this site to get the hang of it.\nhttps://voip.dev.java.net
352040
Honestly, you wont' find anyone (myself included) who understands VOIP on here that will just give you the answers for free. Additionally, there are huge drawbacks to VOIP that you may want to consider\n\nVoIP technology still has a few shortcomings that have led some to believe that it is not ready for widespread deployment. However, many industry analysts predicted that 2005 was the "Year of Inflection," where more IP PBX ports shipped than legacy digital PBX ports.\n\nImplementation challenges\n\nBecause IP does not provide any mechanism to ensure that data packets are delivered in sequential order, or provide any Quality of Service guarantees, VoIP implementations may face problems dealing with latency (especially if satellite circuits are involved), and jitter. They are faced with the problem of restructuring streams of received IP packets, which can come in any order and have packets delayed or missing, to ensure that the ensuing audio stream maintains a proper time consistency. This functionality is usually accomplished by means of a jitter buffer. Another main challenge is routing VoIP traffic to traverse certain firewalls and NAT. Intermediary devices called Session Border Controllers (SBC) are often used to achieve this, though some proprietary systems such as Skype traverse firewall and NAT without a SBC by using users' computers as super node servers to route other people's calls. Other methods to traverse firewalls involve using protocols such as STUN or ICE.\n\nDSL Internet access\n\nVoIP technology does not necessarily require broadband Internet access, but this usually supports better quality of service. A sizable percentage of homes today are connected to the Internet through DSL, which requires a traditional phone line. Having to pay for VoIP in addition to both a basic phone line and broadband Internet access reduces the potential benefits of VoIP. However, some regional telephone companies now offer DSL service without the phone (often called "naked DSL"), thus saving you money when you switch to VoIP. VoIP can also be used with Cable Internet instead of DSL, eliminating the need to purchase two telephone lines.\n\nReliability\n\nConventional telephones are connected directly to telephone company phone lines, which in the event of a power failure are kept functioning by back-up generators or batteries located at the telephone exchange. However, household VoIP hardware uses broadband modems and other equipment powered by household electricity, which may be subject to outages. In order to use VoIP during a power outage, an uninterruptible power supply or a generator must be installed on the premises. Early adopters of VoIP may also be users of other phone equipment, such as PBX and cordless phone bases, that rely on power not provided by the telephone company.\n\nSome broadband connections may have less than desirable reliability. Where IP packets are lost or delayed at any point in the network between VoIP users, there will be a momentary drop-out of voice. This is more noticeable in highly congested networks and/or where there is long distances and/or interworking between end points. Technology has improved the reliability and voice quality over time and will continue to improve VoIP performance as time goes on.\n\nEmergency calls - 911 calls\n\nThe nature of IP makes it difficult to geographically locate network users. Emergency calls, therefore, cannot easily be routed to a nearby call center, and are impossible on some VoIP systems. Moreover, in the event that the caller is unable to give an address, emergency services may be unable to locate them in any other way. Following the lead of mobile phone operators , several VoIP carriers are already implementing a technical work-around. The United States government had set a deadline, requiring VoIP carriers to implement E911, however, the deadline is being appealed by several of the leading VoIP companies.\n\nThis is a differe
16866
It may be. Vonage would know.  You could try a different voice over ip company to see what they require.  There are companies that are cheaper than vonage anyway.\n\nI don't see any reason for them to lie to you, and I don't think that is something they could easily mis-inform you about.
544845
Vonage is awesome!  I now work from home and have them for both our home line and my work line.  When you get a business line from them you also get a free dedicated fax line.  The work one I've had to reset a couple of times (unplug it then plug it back in) but it's no big deal.  The price is amazing and since we live in PA and my family's in TN it's a huge savings.\n\nThe main problem you might run into is if they can get you a number that's local to where you are.  Even if you're area code is available you're prefix might not be.  This can mean that when your next door neighbor calls it's long distance for them.  We get around it by telling people when they call we can call them right back since it's free for us.
905626
I use voipfone & can recommend it. As far as I know there is No limit to the number of participants in a conference call at any one time.\nhttp://www.voipfone.co.uk/
977791
I use Vonage...and yep...if you loose power or internet access...you're pretty much SOL...but...it's so cheap (as am I), I just love it, the phone quality is great, the free long distance is great...and my phone number isn't in any bleedin' phone books!  Whoo-Hooo!    And Dee's lasagna sucks man....mine is so much better.
557018
Yes, do some research on customers waiting times before a call centre rep picks up the phone.Use queueing theory to arrive at optimal recommendations.
1022727
I had Vonage for about 2 weeks and it was awful. The phone was always crackling. When we called to cancel it, there was a cancelation fee of $135. It's not worth it.
721698
You can setup some voip gateway or proxy (Asterisk or SER/OpenSER) and a billing system. then you can register clients and allow them to call anywhere using soft phone. and bill them using cdrs. If you need further info contact me at asterisk.expert@yahoo.com
176455
Lots of possibilities, however these come at a cost, I'll give you one.......\n\nRoute planning, should it expand enough, your service could be incorporated with another service, thus; while providing directions, these directions could be "smart".
1149537
Vonage is pretty cheap, but you need either DSL or Cable setup. Problem with DSL is that you need a phone landline for it, and vonage requires a high speed internet connection. So there are people who dont want a phone line after getting vonage, but you need it for DSL. I would get cable and then get vonage as my phone provider.\n\nI use the vonage plan where I pay $20 for unlimited calls, both local and long distance.
937792
I use Vonage here I went to the website and whenever I see free* written like that usually means read carefully all the small print. I also looked at their pricing structure and you need a collage degree to understand what are the charges
88351
cost:  vonage is less.\n\nsetup:  timewarner set it up. vonage did not set up mine.  I set it up vonage myself.  you can have the geek squad at best buy or someplace set vonage up.  or a friend that can do it for free.
75729
Vonage has a WiFi phone available that I think is pretty much what you are looking for.  \n\nhttp://vonage.com/device.php?type=F1000\n\nHope this helps.