Vonage Hits 25K Subs > I have it too

I have it too

What exactly is Voice over IP? From what I understand its using the internet connection to speak. What are its advantages over regular phone service?
--
"Eternal Vigilance is the price of Democracy." - Thomas Jefferson

Price...and for me reliability as Verizon in my area is horrid. You also get to choose your area code and you get a much larger local calling area. With Vonage you can also get virtual numbers at $5 a pop making calls from friends local. Say you live in L.A. but you have family in NYC. You can get a NYC virtual number than your family would call and it would ring through to you. So for the $5 a month, they would get to call you as a local call. This is in addition to the other calling features you get for free.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 14:22:56]

reply to RyanB186

said by RyanB186:

---

What exactly is Voice over IP? From what I understand its using the internet connection to speak. What are its advantages over regular phone service?

---

reply to RyanB186
Voice over IP or VOIP is about using an IP-based connection to transmit data packets that represent the sound of your voice. The concept of making a phone call to another person is the same. The difference is that instead of using your local telephone provider's infrastructure (at least for your end of the conversation) and, if a long distance call, a long distance carriers network, you use the Internet.

Vonage offers a service that allows you to plug a box into your broadband modem and plug your phone into the box.* You'll immediately be able to call anyone, anywhere in the world regardless of whether or not they also have VOIP or traditional phone service.

This might be different than original views which generally regarded VOIP using the Internet as a point-to-point connection between two people who wanted to conduct a conversation free of LD fees using their sound cards, microphones and existing dialup or broadband connection.

Vonage and other recent providers, have taken this concept to the next level. While you certainly can call another Vonage subscriber and never enter the public phone system, Vonage has partnered with various competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) to connect your broadband-sponsored VOIP phone to the rest of the public telephone network. This is not unlike the cellular phone networks which are also connected to the public telephone network.

If you don't call another Vonage subscriber, the service works by routing your call over the Internet. The call enters the public telephone system as close as possible to the actual destination call. By the time your call enters the public network, it's usually a local interconnect instead of a long distance interconnect. That's why they can offer unlimited LD for $39/month. There's no difference in cost to Vonage for you to make a call across the street or across the country because the call rides the Internet instead of a LD carrier's more expensive network.

* - If you want to surf and make calls at the same time, you'll need to purchase an inexpensive router that allows multiple PCs and the Vonage device to share the same broadband connection. NOTE: Some DSL services are not capable of using such a device. For instance, AOL DSL broadband makes its connection via PPOE and special software loaded on the PC. This type of connection may not work with a broadband router. You could put a second NIC card in your PC and with Windows ME/2000/XP, enable internet connection sharing. Vonage would work with this but it isn't as easy as setting up a broadband router on a cable or normal DSL connection.

reply to oliphant5
Very happy with vonage also, I have it for about 5 months now. I will never come back to verizon.
--
Browsing with Mozilla!

reply to rradina

said by rradina:

---

For instance, AOL DSL broadband makes its connection via PPOE and special software loaded on the PC. This type of connection may not work with a broadband router.

---