 NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | Ethics beyond reproach Sounds like a company i want to do business with.....NOT  | |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs: 
| Re: Ethics beyond reproach What would be ethical about them paying Verizon 5% going ahead for something they're not even using?
As for what happened in the past..I think that stories ran here at BBR raise some VERY serious questions about whether verizons patents were even legitimate to begin with.
I don't think that Vonage owes them a dime.
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The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! | |
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| | NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | Re: Ethics beyond reproach I was referring to them being sued by a lot of companies, implying that perhaps they are the common denominator in the lawsuit process.
Implied not inferred in this instance.  | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | Re: Ethics beyond reproach This is the legal version of "piling on", aka: "Throwing it against the wall and seeing if it sticks".
It's also a very good illustration as to why our patent laws, especially on software patents, could not suck more. | |
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| PDXPLT
join:2003-12-04
Banks, OR
 ·chambers cable
 ·Qwest.net
| I think it's more "naivete" than "ethics". They (Vonage) appeared to have just not done their homework.
I remember some postings by Pulver back in the early days of VoIP on an email reflector. He thought one could get around patents on speech coders by using "clean room" software design. Of course, that technique will work to get around software copyrights, but not patents. | |
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| | NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Ethics beyond reproach Yes and I guess Verizon and Sprint will do anything to slow down the competition under the guise of Patent infringements etc.
So does that topically applied "Head-on" shit really work?  | |
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| | | | NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Ethics beyond reproach I thought that head on stuff seemed like a really big scam and would never use it but I thought it might have some topically applied osmosis type of skin absorption effect or whatever.
You are right about the Motrin though except I have an allergy to Ibuprofen, I get flushed and my ears turn bright red when I take Motrin, Advil etc. It makes me feel like my face is on fire.
Excedrin works best for me with no bad effects. | |
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Jeffrey
Vandelay Industries Inc.
Premium
join:2002-12-24
Long Island
clubs:
 ·magicjack.com
·Verizon FIOS
·Vonage
| Re: Ethics beyond reproach said by NY Tel  :I thought that head on stuff seemed like a really big scam and would never use it but I thought it might have some topically applied osmosis type of skin absorption effect or whatever. You are right about the Motrin though except I have an allergy to Ibuprofen, I get flushed and my ears turn bright red when I take Motrin, Advil etc. It makes me feel like my face is on fire. Excedrin works best for me with no bad effects. You don't necessarily have an allergy to Ibuprofin, but you are one of the ones that do experience the known side effects.
That being said, take what works best for you. So, Excedrin it is.
As far as Head-On goes, there is no scientific information that it works, yet some people say it works for them and others say not at all.
Alas, I digress from the OT.
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"When you get lost in your imaginatory vagueness, your foresight becomes a nimble vagrant."
[Ramblings] [RIP Millie 1993-2006]
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| | | | | | NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | Re: Ethics beyond reproach Are the known side effects what I have described?
lol this is so way off topic it is not funny... | |
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| | | | | | | | NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | Re: Ethics beyond reproach Thanks, My internist Dr. Anna Phylaxis always tries to prescribe just what's right for me....At least that is what she tells me | |
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| | | | | | | | | NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Ethics beyond reproach said by Jeffrey :said by NY Tel :Thanks, My internist Dr. Anna Phylaxis always tries to prescribe just what's right for me....At least that is what she tells me :) Did you know that Dr. Anna Phylaxis is the distant cousin of Anne Thrax? And what about their cousin the wayward chef:
Sal Monella | |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by NY Tel :Sounds like a company i want to do business with.....NOT and they're as easy to cancel as AOL is.
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL | Vonage has ethis? Citron must have a lot paying $22.5 million for it. LOL! | |
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oolguy
@optonline.net | give them a year i'd say ebay buys them and merges vonage with skype. remember skype isnt being pitched as a dedicated phone solution but vonage is. | |
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| hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
 ·1and1
| Re: give them a year that or a group of Cable Co's would. Maybe TWC and Comcast team up together again and split the user base everyone gets converted to Digital Phone services that can get it and the ones that can't they turn Vonage into a standalone service over the 'net using the services they have for DP. | |
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| | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL | Re: give them a year I don't see that happening. What about all of the customers not in the TWC or Comcast footprint? Turn them off, or try to maintain Vonage as a viable company? | |
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| | | hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| Re: give them a year Do what AT&T does. Change the company name; turn them into a different company and offer it as standalone service available anywhere with a broadband connection, like I already said. They could just use the agreements they have with Level3 and Sprint-Nextel for voice services. And possibly use the servers and equipment the cable co's already have in-place instead of using anything Vonage owns or maintains. | |
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| | | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
·Mediacom
| Re: give them a year But that would be the part where they need to try and make Vonage (or whatever you want to call it) a viable company. Comcast and TWC already seem to be doing quite well in their respective markets, I don't think they'll be in a rush to offer voice services to customers around the world...especially by purchasing a company that hasn't been able to do so profitably yet. | |
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| | | | | hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| Re: give them a year they may not be profitable but that could easily change with the amount of customers TWC and Comcast are adding each quarter/year to their base. It would be an easy way to take on more customers and become the mega communications company they want to become. all 3 of them (Vonage, Comcast and TWC) provide great services and they must be doing something right to keep adding customers. and this would be a great way to expand out side of their foot prints and take more customers away from POTS users and other Digital Phone customers such as Cablevision or Suddenlink. | |
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| | | | | | openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
·Mediacom
| Re: give them a year said by hottboiinnc :they may not be profitable but that could easily change with the amount of customers TWC and Comcast are adding each quarter/year to their base. Since TWC and Comcast are doing well adding customers each quarter, I don't see purchasing Vonage (or any other VoIP provider) a big plus. Some of the customers that they could gain in the purchase would most likely be competing against the cablecos' existing efforts. Why spend a lot of money to purchase a company to buy customers that you are already gaining anyway?said by hottboiinnc :It would be an easy way to take on more customers and become the mega communications company they want to become. And they aren't already mega communications companies?said by hottboiinnc :all 3 of them (Vonage, Comcast and TWC) provide great services and they must be doing something right to keep adding customers. Not disputing that at all. However, large corporations need to be careful with acquisitions based solely on the desire to add customers. For one thing, the customers being purchased may not want to be part of the larger conglomerate and may ditch the service. Another thing is that if corporations grow too fast, quality of service tends to suffer, potentially leading to exodus of customers as well. | |
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Lumberjack
Premium
join:2003-01-18
Newport News, VA
·Cox HSI
·Verizon Online DSL
edit:
September 8th, @12:57PM
| Woo hoo woo hoo hoo NO MORE! I want any company that can to rape Vonage of any money it has so I can stop seeing (or more importantly listening) those dumb ass commercials. As far as I'm concerned the commercials are as much noise pollution as AOL disks are to mail pollution.
Really though, I don't understand why people would switch to Vonage if Skype or other (even Yahoo Messenger) freebie voice services are available. You still have to pay an ISP then rely on that ISP to make a phone call... might as well do that without paying Vonage.
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»www.fairtax.org | |
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dodgetech2
join:2002-01-01
Gouldsboro, PA | Re: Woo hoo woo hoo hoo NO MORE! I hope Vonage wins this one....Then maybe Verizon will have to compete on price rather than trying to sue the competition out of business | |
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dka2
@comcast.net | People switch to Vonage because it was the first to integrate cleanly into your phone equipment without needing a computer online. Obviously things are changing in the market but they still have the easiest setup for the n00b computer user. | |
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JammerMan79
Premium,VIP
join:2004-05-13
Prince George, BC
| Re: Woo hoo woo hoo hoo NO MORE! said by knightmb :said by Lumberjack :Really though, I don't understand why people would switch to Vonage if Skype or other (even Yahoo Messenger) freebie voice services are available. You still have to pay an ISP then rely on that ISP to make a phone call... might as well do that without paying Vonage. Does Skype have a phone box I can plug my old phones into? Can I get unlimited calling to nearly half the planet for $24.95 a month? Can they port my Vonage numbers to them? Will they even work in a business setting where being reliable is very important? Do they have nearly 3 years of 24/7 service without issues to claim? Can I have more than one phone line from a single IP address behind a firewall? That's just to start. The commercial music do annoy me, though some of them (the blond diving into the shark waters) did make me laugh. I can live with annoying commercials if I'm saving a ton of money on the phone bill. If I had stayed with Bellsouth (a.k.a. AT&T now), I would have spent nearly 4 times on the phone bill for identical service. When you can save money and get reliable service, comments like "switch to another" really mean nothing to us. does vonage?
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I may work for, but do not necessarily represent the views and beliefs of TELUS Communications. | |
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dodgetech2
join:2002-01-01
Gouldsboro, PA
edit:
September 8th, @05:34PM
| Re: Woo hoo woo hoo hoo NO MORE! Yes, they do | |
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knightmb
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN
·Comcast
·Vonage
·Speakeasy
| said by JammerMan79 :said by knightmb :said by Lumberjack :Really though, I don't understand why people would switch to Vonage if Skype or other (even Yahoo Messenger) freebie voice services are available. You still have to pay an ISP then rely on that ISP to make a phone call... might as well do that without paying Vonage. Does Skype have a phone box I can plug my old phones into? Can I get unlimited calling to nearly half the planet for $24.95 a month? Can they port my Vonage numbers to them? Will they even work in a business setting where being reliable is very important? Do they have nearly 3 years of 24/7 service without issues to claim? Can I have more than one phone line from a single IP address behind a firewall? That's just to start. The commercial music do annoy me, though some of them (the blond diving into the shark waters) did make me laugh. I can live with annoying commercials if I'm saving a ton of money on the phone bill. If I had stayed with Bellsouth (a.k.a. AT&T now), I would have spent nearly 4 times on the phone bill for identical service. When you can save money and get reliable service, comments like "switch to another" really mean nothing to us. does vonage? Not that I've ever seen them claim, only from personal experience have they been reliable 24/7 without a single "outage" in the last 3 years. I know it's not like that for all Vonage customers, but it has been for me. That has to speak more to the infrastructure Vonage has in place since they seem to be able to match what my local Telco could do.
Difference strokes for difference folks, but not every Vonage customers hates Vonage, else why would they still be using it? When Vonage sucks, I'll more on. Until then, I'm not going with everyone that wants to jump on the Vonage bashing bandwagon. Even after I leave Vonage, I won't look back. I'll have more important things to do and better use of my energy elsewhere than look up topics from 2005 when everyone said Vonage was going to go bankrupt. Heck, how many times have I posted here when someone says Vonage won't last past X amount of months and here we are, still getting the same great service. I've laughed at the comments for the past 3 years here and today I laugh again.  | |
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| satellite68
join:2007-04-11
Louisville, KY | ..."it takes different strokes to move the world"
Really, though, I don't understand why people give a shit what company others use. | |
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| Fraidman
join:2007-08-09
Aurora, CO | Well, Skype and Yahoo voice don't offer 911 dialing like Vonage does, for example. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Ah American "Free Market" System at it's finest SUE your competitors out of business!
Been practiced for hundreds of years.
Not that I'm really a freind of Vonage anyway. Sounds like their customer service techniques suck. | |
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| battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000 | Re: Ah American "Free Market" System at it's finest The big business way of doing business.
Plan A. Compete with the competition.
Plan B. Sue the competition.
Plan C. Lobby Congress to outlaw your competition. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Re: Ah American "Free Market" System at it's finest said by battleop :The big business way of doing business. Plan A. Compete with the competition. Plan B. Sue the competition. Plan C. Lobby Congress to outlaw your competition. Heh, I think it's more like:
Plan A. Sue the competition.
Plan B. Lobby Congress to outlaw your competition.
Plan C. Compete with the competition if Plan A and B fails.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
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| | | ncbill
Premium
join:2007-01-23
Winston Salem, NC | Re: Ah American "Free Market" System at it's finest Plan D. Thanks to number portability, your customer just takes their phone number to the any provider they want. | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Re: Ah American "Free Market" System at it's finest Wow, really. Ok I want Verizon POTS.
Oh wait.... Oh I know. Vonage! On my DSL line.... that comes with POTS.
Maybe Cox telephone! That's cheap... If I get bundled with Cox Internet and Cable TV....
Wait there's a bunch of third party resellers that offer Telephone service over AT&T's lines... Wait... they cost more then AT&T POTS.
Uh.
Nevermind. Guess I'm not taking the number anywhere.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| This is nutts.. First, Vonage wants to win on their appeal. They would appeal the ruling because they don't feel they did anything wrong. If they knew they were guilty of violating a patent, they would have admitted it and settled or something other than the course they are on now.
Second, if they did nothing wrong, which is a reason they are fighting, then why are they implementing a "workaround" that "doesn't violate the Verizon patent" in the first place? So they MUST have done something wrong and know it. So pay it forward and move on. They've said it would hurt to pay the fine but not destroy them...
Now Sprint wants a piece of Vonage and so does SunRocket too! What gives?? what's the moral to this story?
If ANYTHING it does go to show one thing.. those who allegedly own and hold the patents to the technology have NO interest in making good of them. IF this is the case, Vonage, like them or hate them, IS doing something with them and when they prove that the service works and viable, its only THEN that these birds are coming out from the darkness to pick at the body before its even dead.
You would think that Vonage, Sprint, and Sun Rocket (of all people) who hold these patents would put them to good use and make the money themselves instead of sitting back and suing those who are making it a success.
I'm not normally one to step into the market place, and still am not.. but if this isn't a good cause for change in the patent laws, I don't know what is. Patent holders should either implement their patented idea, market, sell or license it, or the patent should expire in a rather short period of time.. Regardless of who develops the patented idea or product, either use it or lose it. If you stand in the way, you are hurting society.. I think patented technology should be condemnable like anything else for the better good of the public use. If the patent holder is active in pushing their stuff into the market place, great! If not.. condemn it and release the patent.
Just my 2-cents
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-serving, the lazy, and I’m told it’s a woman’s prerogative..." | |
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oksoyoudontgetit
@verizon.net
| Re: This is nutts.. said by fiberguy :Second, if they did nothing wrong, which is a reason they are fighting, then why are they implementing a "workaround" that "doesn't violate the Verizon patent" in the first place? So they MUST have done something wrong and know it. Uhhh. No. Since they have to pay VZ 5% maybe a workaround is cheaper? DUH? | |
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| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
edit:
September 9th, @03:10AM
| Re: This is nutts.. Do you read posts that you respond to? or do you just log on as an anonymous coward with silly names and baseless statements at random? | |
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xdeadhead
220, 221, Whatever It Takes.
Premium
join:2000-11-08
Pangea
·Comcast
| Re: This is nutts.. said by fiberguy :Do you read posts that you respond to? or do you just log on as an anonymous coward with silly names and baseless statements at random? LMAO
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I am not herbert. | |
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Vonage Workaround Plan To Avoid Paying Verizon