# Bye, Bye Bell! Hello Vonage!!!!



## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

As some of you may know, I have been engaged in a long standing war with Bell over my business line cancelation fee ($230.00). No rhyme, no reason, and can't get it fixed. So, over the last 3 months we have canceled Expressview, DSL, 2 Mobility lines and the afformentioned bus line. 

The only remaining Bell product in our lives was the residential line.

And as Steve Jobs might say, "Until Today".

So, Finally made a move to pull the plug on Bell Canada. We have signed up with Vonage.ca For our home VOIP line. All the features listed below plus unlimited province wide calling, plus 500 North America for 34.99 + GST/PST. The beautiful thing is that if the internet go's down, your call is automatically forwarded to any number(eg-Cell) you configure. Voice mail to e-mail ect,etc.

Voicemail Plus
Caller ID with Name
Call Waiting
Call Forwarding
3-Way Calling
In-Network Calling
Traveling with Vonage
Area Code Selection
Call Transfer
Call Return (*69)
Caller ID Block (*67)
Repeat Dialing
International Call Block
Ring Lists
Call Hunt

Just waiting for the equipment arrive, hopefully all works well, and bye, bye you @$#%^$#$# at Bell.


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## Alex Sanders (Jun 13, 2003)

Thanks for the interesting info. My opinion of Bell is mediocre at best and it's nice to know there are cheaper alternatives out there.
Tried Sprint a few years back only to find they are almost as bad as Bell and very resistant to making the customer happy. I think most phone companies are in cahoots with one another.


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## misspentyouth (Sep 7, 2004)

Congratulations on finding a viable alternative Petie. I won't go into the problems my wife & I have had with Bell Canada (it would take at least 20 minutes for me to type it all out) but it's nice to see someone break free of their incompetence.  

It's only fair to add... there are good people working in the Bell hierarchy, and they try very hard to help, but the structure of the corporation is badly broken.

-Howie


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

> there are good people working in the Bell hierarchy, and they try very hard to help,


this may be true but in my experience probably isn't. my theory is bell human resources will only hire you if you're an incompetent prick. i've spoken to many people at bell who sounded like they knew what they were doing (and many who didn't) but ultimately they proved themselves to be entirely ineffectual.

at least 4 people have promised to personally look into my problem and get back to me. none have. in fact, they didn't even bother to make a note on my file. there is no record at bell of my dispute with them.

now on to the new issue: i just had a message on my machine that they will be charging me $80 for the line that was cut, even though it was my landlord who called them and it was supposed to go on his bill. how can those dirty pig f*ckers charge me for work i didn't authorize?


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

f*ck bell.

i've had worse luck with them than most. i just had another run in with them yesterday after my landlord snapped my phone line with a shovel while gardening. the phone line wasn't even buried.

again i was astounded by their incompetence.

i still haven't received the $115 for the cheque they cashed but never credited me for in May. this, despite the fact than that i've faxed six different fax lines on three different occasions with a photocopy of the cased cheque and have yet to receive a response. i will be filing small claims in the next week or so.

this is just one grievance of many over the last two years i've had an account with them. i could go on and on and on and on.

after all of the grief they've caused me i have nothing but ill will in my heart for the maggots that work for bell canada. some truly imbecilic people work there. 

please get back to this thread with your success/horror stories as i'm eagerly seeking a way to purge traditional phone companies from my life. once i find that alternative i will never give those bastards another cent and will convert anyone who will listen to VOIP.


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## fivedog (Aug 17, 2004)

I praise your trail blazing Petie. I looked at Vonage about a month ago but have been afraid to take the big step. I have a strong dislike for Bell also. Twice Bell disconnect my phone line to give it to someone else in my apartment (I don't know why) and both times Bells customer service people suggested that I had done something to damage the line (which was proven untrue both times.) They must be trained to scare customers into taking the Wire Care Plan.

I love how Bell customer service people can blame the customer and then boldly ask if you would like to add MORE services from Bell. Yah RIGHT! They can'y get my basic connection to work but I'm going to trust them with more?

I should add however the repair people that came out to fix the problems were very helpful.

Petie I hope you will keep us posted on how Vonage works out for you.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Will Definately keep everyone updated.
TMR- At least you know what they're trying to rip you off for. I don't, if they could come up with an explanation or even make an attempt I may have accepted it.
The issue IMHO when I talk to any Bell business seems to be "we're the phone company you idiot, you work for us and we don't have to justify anything to you because you're just a customer".

Times are changing, all of our bills we used to pay to Bell amounted to about $370 monthly. Now they have nothing. That's good business, Bell style for an unwarrented and unexplained, pay it now charge.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

> all of our bills we used to pay to Bell amounted to about $370 monthly. Now they have nothing.


that warms my heart petie. good for you!


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Well, Ordered Vonage on Wednesday and they shipped the same day. Package arrived on Friday. Opened package, hooked up wires, powered everything on in the order prescribed and picked up the phone. 

Presto, Dial tone. Way too easy, something has go wrong right? Wrong!!!  

I have been using for almost 5 days and have not had a glitch of any sort. The only issue was that I ordered a 905 number and it turned out to be a Hamilton exchange. I called C/S and changed to a 416 in about 3 minutes and they supplied the credit to my account real time. 416 works out much better any way as basically anyone in the GTA can call us and it is not long distance for them.

You can set the bandwidth for call quality, ours is set to high because we have bandwidth to burn and the quality is actually better than the Bell line. Many people have commented on it and my Wife also notices the difference.

It does use bandwidth, 

Off the Phone,

2004-10-05 20:34:38 EST: 5684 / 535
Your download speed : 5821189 bps, or 5684 kbps.
A 710.5 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 548696 bps, or 535 kbps.

On the Phone

2004-10-05 20:36:09 EST: 5527 / 215
Your download speed : 5660187 bps, or 5527 kbps.
A 690.9 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 220628 bps, or 215 kbps.

So, for the most part, it affects upload speeds more than down. Fine with me and it is set to best quality sound.
In the event of a power failure or a system failure, calls automatically go to my wifes cell phone. Voicemails are also forwarded as E-Mail to her as well. So, she can check the traditional way, or listen (.wav) to them in her E-Mail.

The Web interface is simple and effective. Even the newest of web types could easily navigate and manage the system.

Happy as a pig in @$#%.


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## MacGenius (Nov 13, 2001)

Sounds very interesting Petie.

I have a question though: They require a broadband internet connection. Now I have this but with Rogers. Will Vonage work with that or do I need DSL instead?


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

i'd hazard to guess you only need hi speed internet access - it doesn't matter how you get it.

my question is, say you're sharing an internet connection with someone, will vonage work if you're in the next apartment with a wireless connection? what about people with routers?


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

In reply, Macgenious and TMR
I have Rogers so that will definately work. I also have a wireless router and that also makes no difference. The Vonage box must hook up in between the router and the cable modem.
The phone line must plug into the Vonage box, so I don't know if this would work for you TMR. Especially if the internet connection is next door.
No Brainer if the connection is in your apartment.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Petie...

Even though that in my voicemail set-up I have selected that I want my e-mail notification to include the voicemail attachment, I never get it.

Does this work for you?


Best,
B


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Yes bilbo,
We do get our Voice - Mail Via E-Mail. This has never been an issue for us.

I'm sure you have already done so, but make sure you are recieving E-Mail's from your specified account. Also, check spam settings for your particular e-mail accounts as they may be stripping attachments. And Lastly, double check the address entered.
If all OK, give them a call, they've been very helpful for our one problem.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Thanks for the info Petie.

I just signed up this week and haven't recieved the analog to digital converter yet, it is due here on Monday. I did decide to give the soft phone a try, but in limited testing I am less than thrilled, I seem to ge a lot of echo and drop-outs using my 17" PowerBook. Hopefully the money back guarantee applies to soft phone if I opt not to keep that option. 

The voice mail notices go to my .mac e-mail address... I wonder if .mac is stripping the attachments on me? Tomorrow I'll try sending them to my Rogers account to see if that makes any difference.

Have a groovy Friday,
B


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Petie,

I did click E-mail with attachment with no luck. I called them yesterday and they said to set it to E-mail with attachment (again) and then click save, then wait for an hour and try again.

Still no luck. I think I'll double check to see if my .mac has a pref setting that might be affecting this. Then I'll try my Rogers account.

I agree totally with your comments about SoftPhone... I just thought I'd try it because it seemed kind of cool, I wasn't really expecting that I'd keep it. My whole goal here is to lower my monthly bill a bit and by adding SoftPhone, it sort of defeats the purpose. 

Better yet, just include it for free, tied to your regular number with no extra minutes. Think of the attention that Vonage would get. If I'm sitting in StarBucks having a coffee and the guy next to me sits down, opens his laptop and makes a call with SoftPhone I'd be asking "that is really cool, where can I get that?" It would be a great way for Vonage to get noticed. Personally, I don't really see why it needs it's own line and I certainly don't need the extra minutes.

Best,
B


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

No, it doesn't seem to be a .Mac issue, I have the same problem if I send to my account at work.

I'll have to work on this one... strange.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Make sure you clicked the E-Mail with attachment as opposed to the straight E-Mail option. I never had it forwarded to my .Mac account, so I can't day. It does work well with Rogers.

Don't know about the Softphone. I understand that you really need to use a headset. The softphone did not seem that good of a deal unless you travel.

Hope it works well for you when you get your adapter. We've been thrilled with it.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Ya! Kind of weird the softphone is not included in the regular account. I mean you can take the analog adapter anywhere in the world and make a call as if it were local.
It doesn't make a lot of sense does it. Unless, of course, thet're just holding that back for when they need it. They would seem to be in quite a battle with AT&T down south over pricing. At some point, pricing would have to stop falling and attracting customers would depend on features.
You are right about the coffee shop scenario. I personally would save a fortune on cell bills if I could do that When I drop in for a coffea break. I'm usually on the phone sorting things out anyway. Why not make the call free.


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## ajamett (Feb 5, 2001)

Hi to all contemplating the move to VOIP....

As a result of extensive research, and finally this thread, I moved to VOIP for my home land line. All I have to say is WOW!!! The Vonage solution works great, and the customer support is actually 'customer' based....good job folks at vonage!

After years of poor (that is the nicest thing I can say about these people) service with Telus, I am proud to say that none of my hard earned money goes to these mofos!!!

I would like to offer a different configuration option for those out there running a router with a voip solution. Try putting the voip box behind the router, rather than in between the broadband connection and router (as suggested by vonage and other voip sellers such as yak.ca). A friend of mine who was part of the beta testing for yak's voip solution told me that he was able to get better overall network performance by placing the voip box inside his protected network. I found similar results, without any change to voice quality or robustness, while still mainting kick ass broadband performance with 3web (Shaw re-seller). Check it out, as I would be interested in learning what others are seeing out there.

Peace to all (except Telus!!!)
Alejandro in Calgary...where it is snowing right now...yikes!!


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Interesting Thought about putting it inside the network. What worries me is that, if there is a week link in my equipment, it would be the router. So, theoretically, if my router takes a crap ( and it does) my phone service will go down.

If I'm not home and it happens, my Wife would kill me.

Glad to here you like the service, we love it, and as you say, the C/S is quite good considering how fast they are growing.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Well my stuff arrived today and so far I am underwhelmed. Vonage are experiencing all sorts of technical problems at the moment which will likely explain my frustrations. Their website is brutally slow at retrieving messages etc. if it doesn't generate an error all together. The voicemail is not working quite right yet either. I get no e-mail notifications at all let alone e-mails WITH attachments which my account is configured to do.

Sound quality on my end is not quite as good as Bell, but acceptable. The sound quality on the other end is definitely NOT up to snuff however.

Hopefully they fix some of their problems so I can accurately evaluate their services while under the two week money back guarantee.

Petie, how have things for you these past few days?

Best,
B


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Petie,

Sound quality on the other end has been described to me as not as loud, and quite "hollow sounding", like I'm in a bucket. I called my Bell line and left a message and sure enough it was not as loud, hollow sounding and not overly clear.

I really want this to work, while I don't do a lot of long distance calls, it would cost half as much as my Bell bill and I would be getting better value from my Cable Internet account. I also like the features like the e-mail notifications and call forwarding etc that Vonage offer. I may try putting the phone behind my router to see if that helps.

I have no doubt that they will get the v-mail stuff worked out eventually, but for me the sound quality on the other end is not good enough for me to seriously consider switching to Vonage. I'll work on that at my end to see what I can do. The phone I'm using is a good Panasonic cordless with a full charge, that sounds great on my Bell line.

Best,
B


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

We've had no issues except they took the V-Mail down for a while on the weekend for an upgrade. Since that happened they have been having v-mail issues as stated on the website. The website has been slow but I've had no error messages. The e-mail with attachment defaulted back to my e-mail from my wife's.

Our sound quality at our end is actually better than bell. Loud and extremely clear. When my wife has called me at work, I find the quality is actually quite good, but not as loud as a normal land line call. I have to turn the volume up one notch. We have the settings set to highest quality.

Sorry to see you're having issues. I hope they get them sorted for you ASAP.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

We seem to have the sound quality a fair bit better although it is still not as good as Bell. I switched to a corded phone from a cordless and that made a big difference.

I am still going back and forth with their support people trying to get the e-mail notification up and running. I told them that they will have to extend my money back guarantee period because I cannot accurately evaluate their services if the features are not even working.

B


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

We finally have the kinks worked out as far as the e-mail notification goes. The problem was on their end.

While the quality of sound is not quite as good as my Bell line, it is easily good enough as far as I am concerned. With Vonage I get a whole lot more features and my monthly bill will be cut in half... provided that I can stay within my 500 minutes of calls window. (not a problem for me, but I have two kids) If I do need to bump up to the $34.99 plan I won't save much, but I will have loads of more included long distance time than I presently get with my Bell account.

I think that I am about ready to fire ma Bell.

Cheers!


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Glad you got it worked out. 
Funny, I fired Bell yesterday. I'm on the $34.95 plan and have cut our total costs by at least half. Living in Bolton, we have a lot of local long distance (King, Tottenham, Ottawa etc.) to family. So the unlimited Ontario calling saves us a bundle.
If you take into account the services we have that we didn't have with Bell, the cost is probably more like a third of Bell.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

iPetie,

Are you using any cordless phones with your Vonage line?

If so, do they work as well as a corded phone?

I also assume that our Vonage numbers will not appear in the Phone Book or on www.411.ca. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing. 

Thanks in advance,
B


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

We use a Panasonic TG2730 Multitalk 8.

We did have to move the base station phone about 5 feet from belkin wireless G router. It was a small issue, but no problems since then. That was an issue of the phone and router, not the service. I guess you could say it is a potential VOIP issue as they were never close together before.

I believe that if you want to be listed, you can input your own listing at most of these services.


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## _Outcast_ (Oct 17, 2003)

I just got hooked up with Vonage last night and so far it all seems pretty good. I also opted for the 905 area code and then was dismayed to find out that you could only get a Hamilton number (for now at least). I had them switch it to a 647 one for me.

I am using a Panasonic cordless phone and while I can hear the other party fine they seem to have trouble hearing me. I don't think there's much I can do except try a different phone. Maybe I'll pick one up tomorrow to try.

Overall though, it seems like a great deal. Configuration was a bit of a challenge as I had to change the IP of the Vonage router to one within the subnet of my LinkSys wireless router and also disable the DHCP server on the Vonage one as well. Easy enough and everything is working as advertised. Just wish I could increase the outgoing volume but I suspect this may be something that, short of switching phones, is beyond my control.

Now I can ditch Metro Access, Primus, and all the calling features from my Bell line. That should save me about $50 or so a month.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

I was unable to get adequate sound using my Panasonic cordless. I went to Walmart and bought a $20 GE corded phone with caller ID display... works great. It works great UNLESS I am uploading a file. 

Last night I was uploading a couple of PDF files to a client while talking to her. I could still hear her fine, but she could not hear me very well at all, I was all choppy as she described it. This is not a big enough deal to get me too concerned, I'll just do my uploading while not on the phone, my files generally upload pretty quickly anyway and if I have a lot I can do it at night.

I also might consider buying the faster modem from Rogers since once I pay for the modem my monthly fee is the same as I understand it. This would give me even more bandwidth to play with.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Hey Bilbo, what are your internet speeds like.

Cogeco Speed Test


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

341 upload
1215 down


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Interesting, you may be right on the fringe as far as speed go's. Have you tried a speed test while on the phone? I think I posted earlier some speed differences.


EDIT: these are my speed differences. It may also explain the call quality discrepancies between the 2 of us.

Off the Phone

2004-10-05 20:34:38 EST: 5684 / 535
Your download speed : 5821189 bps, or 5684 kbps.
A 710.5 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 548696 bps, or 535 kbps.

On the Phone

2004-10-05 20:36:09 EST: 5527 / 215
Your download speed : 5660187 bps, or 5527 kbps.
A 690.9 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 220628 bps, or 215 kbps.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

iPetie...

That is interesting.

According to Rogers website, I should be getting 3mbs download and 384kbs upload. It appears that my download speeds are not terribly close to what they advertise, but my upload speeds are not that far off.

Vonage claim that you need 90 to 95 kbs upload for clear calls, and I have 3 times the minimum upload speed that they recommend. I would think that I should be okay, unless I'm missing something here.

Cable TV in our city has always been brutal, which is why I gave up on cable TV several years ago and went to ExpressVu. I think that I may buy the new modem and move to HiSpeed Extreme to see if that helps. I have tried DSL, but cable seems to give me the best performance. 

Having said that, will the new modem even help as the modem that I have now does not appear to be the bottleneck as I am not maxing it's capabilities?

I appreciate your comments and insight. I am determined to get this working as best that I can, so any suggestions are welcomed.

Best,
B


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

I'm moving up to the Extreme HiSpeed package to see if that helps. I'll stop by the Rogers Store after work and swap up to the newer modem.

If that doesn't improve my speeds, they said I can switch back.

B


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## _Outcast_ (Oct 17, 2003)

After using Vonage for a week or so I find that while the service is OK it is not perfect. It seems to be particular about what type of phone you use and outgoing voice quality is OK but could certainly be better. Incoming voice quality is great, apart from a faint white noise sound in the background. I can live with that. Everyone I talk to seems to complain of clicks and pops on their end. I can only attribute this to the discrepancy in upload/download rates. I ran the speed test and these are my results:

2004-11-02 05:12:16 EST: 2405 / 666
Your download speed : 2463206 bps, or 2405 kbps.
A 300.6 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 682011 bps, or 666 kbps.

I think my connection should be adequate. At any rate, I do like the service and am not giving up on it yet. I do wish the outgoing voice quality were a little better though.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Agreed. 

The sound quality is not quite where I would like it to be (so far anyway). The nice thing is generally, technology always seems to improve so I expect that it should only get better. 

My local Rogers store had no Extreme modems in stock last night. They said they'll have one for me tonight... hopefully this will help.

I like the features that Vonage offers, but I'm looking to switch to save a little $$$.

Cheers,
B


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Well I am now up and running with Rogers Extreme HiSpeed.

The speed still is nowhere near what Rogers advertises and in most tests, my upload speeds come back around half of what I was getting with my original cable modem. That's odd????

Most tests yeilded results in the neighbourhood of 2439 down / 169 up. That really sucks. The downloads are twice as fast as before, but my uploads are HALF what they were. Certainly not the 5,000 kbps download / 800 kbps upload that Rogers advertises. As a matter of fact, I'm still not getting the speeds that I SHOULD have got with my regular cable modem.

The test I just ran a few minutes ago:

2004-11-03 22:31:41 EST: 2384 / 354
Your download speed : 2441904 bps, or 2384 kbps.
A 298 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 363306 bps, or 354 kbps.

Mohommad, the tech support guy claims that my modem checks out fine and that my area is not overloaded with users.

I by-passed my AirPort router and plugged my PowerBook directly into the modem, and that made no difference in my speed tests.

ARRRRRRR! This is why I ditched Cable TV!

B


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Bilbo, have you asked about the possibility of Rogers putting a signal booster in your place.

They installed one here because we have three digi-boxes and the modem. I'm going to unplug it and do a speed test a little later.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

OK, the booster hurts more than it helps. Unbelievable! Ran several tests booster plugged in and not plugged in. These are pretty indicative average results.

Signal Booster plugged in.

2004-11-03 23:00:50 EST: 5476 / 459
Your download speed : 5607541 bps, or 5476 kbps.
A 684.5 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 470588 bps, or 459 kbps.

Unplugged.

2004-11-03 23:01:56 EST: 5439 / 846
Your download speed : 5569737 bps, or 5439 kbps.
A 679.8 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 866738 bps, or 846 kbps.

Figure that one out!


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Go figure!

Mohommad wanted me to keep running tests at different times of the day over the next day or so. If things don't improve, then call them again.

I cannot see there being much net congestion at 11:45 p.m. on a Wednesday evening. I just ran the test again...

2004-11-03 23:47:46 EST: 2794 / 283
Your download speed : 2861680 bps, or 2794 kbps.
A 349.3 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 290170 bps, or 283 kbps.

The part that really baffles me is why are my UPLOAD speeds worse? I am going through this excerise mainly to IMPROVE my upload speeds for heavensake.

I have no other cable connections being used in my house. The cable guy ran a brand new line to the modem in my home office last fall when I moved in.

This just does NOT add up.

Cheers,
B


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Well, technically speaking, the Extreme modem should give you the same results regardless of the time of day. I have little to no fluctuation in speed no matter what time of day I run the test.

Week over week my download speed will fluctuate between 5500 and 6500. It has never tested below 5000.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Rogers Hi-Speed Extreme is Extremely Frustrating!!! Why did I even bother?

I need to call rogers tonight... my speed across the board are just aweful. My download speeds occassionally get close to 3,000 kbps but usually are 1,250 to 2,000 kbps. My upload speeds are often BELOW 100 kbps but sometimes reach 150 kbps.

I have taken at least 20 speed tests at all different times of the day. The results are all over the map and none of them are impressive.

This is a far cry from 5mbps download and 800kbps upload speed that Rogers advertise. I am willing to be realistic, I do not expect to actually get those speeds, but they need to be reasonably close. If all they can give me is 1/3 the advertised speed then I should only be expected to pay 1/3 of my monthly bill.

B


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## Ohenri (Nov 7, 2002)

wow....

anyhow, just joining this thread in my announcement of a new Vongae client. Just ordered yesterday and look fwd to getting this.

So cordless phones are not _de choix_?? Even a 900 mhz? or how about a 5.4 Ghz?

Can someone outline what I'll be getting in the pkg, and how the hook up is made?? I'm running a NetGear router. Hey, a digi of the set-up/parts would be cool.

H!


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

OhHenri,
We have no issues with our cordless phones. Just make sure you can put a little distance between the Phone and your wireless router if you have one.


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## Caillou (Jun 9, 2003)

*Long time user of Vonage. Some notes...*

Interesting thread. May I volunteer some comments?


I have been using Vonage at the office for months now. Great product. Absolutely no complaints. No quality issues. No service cut offs. Nothing.

So much so that I decided to get a line for my home. One problem: Vonage does not yet have the right regulatory status in Canada to qualify for number portability (i.e. force Bell of other incumbent telcos to allow you to keep the same phone number. I do not want to change phone number at home, so I am waiting to switch. In a recent email received from Vonage Canada's VP marketing, I have been told that they are working very hard to offer this feature quite soon. Is this weeks or months... dunno.

The phone you use has an impact on the sound quality. I started using a regular, old (15 yo+), plain, one line Nortel phone. I had an issue with volume. I switched to a more recent Panasonic DataPort phone (model:KX-TSC14CB). Issue solved. Sound quality is even better than MaBell line.

Options set up. I love, I mean I love, the Simulring option. I have set up my account to ring both my main Vonage line AND my cell phone. If I happen to be away from the office, I can answer a call to my main business line on my cell phone. Great feature. Should I not answer either phones, my Vonage voice mail picks up and I get the recorded message sent to me by email. What a fabulous improvement for clients over the previous chasing game over two/three numbers, emails etc. I did have to test around on the set ups to get it to work perfectly however. PM me if you need help.

Softphone. Used it. Dropped it. Not there yet. The sound quality is not there, maybe tied to the fact that I connect to the internet through a wireless link. But it did prove helpful at times. I don't know if PC users are better off with quality. I do agree Vonage should give it away by the way.

Bandwidth use. 100 kps is the rule of thumb as indicated by Vonage technicians. Both ways that is. So high speed IS required. Upstream is the issue. Also, make sure your hardware set up is such that the signal is optimized for VoIP. See Vonage set up instruction.

Can't wait to really and finally said ByeBye to MaBell. Will be interesting to see how the market will turn out, especially in the short term in Québec (Montréal area) as Vidéotron has just launched its IP service and is planning to roll it out throughout its territory. They have number portability so it will facilitate the acquisition of new customers from Bell. They also have a slew of packaged offers to entice switchers with telephony-cableTV-internet access. I'm sure they will be successful. What does MaBell have up her sleeve? Something for sure. 

À suivre...


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## rampart519 (Sep 27, 2003)

Who's gonna fix it if you ever have trouble? VOIP is still not reliable.


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## rampart519 (Sep 27, 2003)

Bottom Line. If you damage Bell's equipment, you will be billed. "Call before you dig"


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## med8or (Jan 18, 2002)

Hi:

For what it's worth...and many of you have probably tried this, but calling the VP's office (the phone number is in the front of the white pages) usually helps to get resolution.

I personally haven't had a lot of problem with Bell, but perhaps it's just luck or I don't use them as much as others. The one serious problem I did have, I got fixed through the VP office. FYI.

Jason


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## Caillou (Jun 9, 2003)

*More on Vonage and VoIP*

True Rampard. VoIP is stil not 100% (or shall I say 99,99%) reliable like the POTS (plain old telephone service). BUT:

it is very close and getting better by the month;

it is very mucho soooo less expensive;

it has more features;

there exists a very viable, reasonable, and appropriate back up plan in case of those infrequent and relatively short services cuts: your cell phone!

So, I, like many industry analysts, say that the turning point is reached. 2005 will be a historical moment in the telecom indutry. And may I suggest as important as hybrid cars will be in 3-5 years (the car manufacturers lobby is stronger to oppose substitutes!).

So on Vonage, I found this from a Deutsche Bank AG analyst report (same report is on the Vonage Corp site (US):

_*Vonage still the best solution but will feel pressure from operators.* Vonage’s solution is the best on the market, in our view, but the cable operators have worked through most of their bugs and are finally starting to ramp up. Vonage added 305k subscribers in 2004, above its target of 250k, to hit 390k and is likely to surpass its public guidance of 1m by year end 2005, considering its 10-15k per week add rate. Cable operator Cablevision has just started to see a pickup in its take rate to around 8,000 per week and Time Warner saw a recent jump to 10,000 adds per week. The bottom line is that we think Vonage is here to stay, and operators are going to bring their brand and ability to offer other services into play._​
So here you go, my almost objective POV on VoIP and Vonage.
C.

P.S. I declare not having any commercial interests in Vonage. I'm just a happy, convinced customer.


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## skinnyman (Oct 25, 2003)

Is anyone using Vonage through DSL? Have you really replaced Bell completely? I was under the impression that you have to have local Bell service in order to get DSL in the first place, whether it be from Bell or from a DSL reseller.

My dad once switched local phone service from Bell to Sprint, and suddenly our DSL signal disappeared. Is that still the case today? I just need to know whether you can have VoIP service over DSL and cut off POTS completely. I tried to Google an answer but failed


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## Caillou (Jun 9, 2003)

*Vonage/VoIP update*

Vonage now offers number portability, at least it's on the ENG web site (not on the French one yet). Yeah! Lalalala, lalalala, heyhehe goodbyeBell...

Bell offers VoIP... at 40$! I.e. not a hellofalot cheaper than its regular line. Only reason: defensive move. If VoIp interests you, it should be because of the CHEAPER price tag (ok, and for some additional functions). But do watch out for Bell's selling arguments... As predicted earlier, nice marketing battle on Montréal's south shore between Bell and Videotron.

More later...
C


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

Vonage is looking very tempting


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

Any more comments on Vonage? 

Thinking of switching but I only have a high speed lite connection though cable. Anyone using Vonage with a high speed lite service? Or did you have to upgrade to regular high speed?


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

JumboJones said:


> Any more comments on Vonage?
> 
> Thinking of switching but I only have a high speed lite connection though cable. Anyone using Vonage with a high speed lite service? Or did you have to upgrade to regular high speed?


Go Here and run a speed test. Post your results in this thread and I'll let ya know.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

Go Vonage. No doubt. Cheap. Reliable. Easy to install. Using it with regular Rogers Hi-Speed.


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## Bilbo (Jul 12, 2001)

Vonage was a no-go for me. The Vonage service itself was fine, the problem was my Rogers connection sucked. My download speeds were about half of what they advertise. This was not a huge factor for me, my surfing speeds and stuff were easily acceptable. The problem was my upload speeds. They were absolutely brutal. With lousy upload speeds, the quality of your call suffers dramatically (mainly for the person on the other end).

After months of carrying both my Bell line and my Vonage line, I gave up. I fired Rogers all together. I went with a TV/Internet/Phone bundle with Bell. The idea was to save a little each month, but I wasn't getting rid of my Bell line until I knew that I was satisfied with Vonage. This experiment wound up costing me money. It was not Vonage's fault at all, what they offer was great and worked as advertised, it was Rogers that screwed things up. After countless phone calls and service visits they were unable to give me acceptable upload speeds for good quality Vonage calling. 

They kept wanting me to "hang in there" because they (Rogers) have a VOIP option coming soon... Uh no.


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