Would you recommend Vonage ?

I have heard some of the same things you said about Vonage, but was going to try it out on one of my lines anyway. However, I got it home and discovered I couldn't get a local phone number.

I had also had a customer that had Vonage and had trouble running it through the same firewall I use.

A friend suggested I try Packet8. So I returned the Vonage and bought a Packet8. I've had it more than a year now and can't be more pleased.

I have had 2 or 3 occasions where I dialed a number and it failed, but a redial attempt worked each time. No one knows that I'm using an internet phone connection - it's clear as a bell.

However, I would never use one of these to replace a primary line. I want a phone line that will work in a power outage or when the internet is down.

DJG

Yep. Been using them for almost a year now. Occasionally notice a cell phone like sound quality, but mostly they are fine. Your experience will be highly dependent on how stable your internet connection is. Here, Comcast is fine.

I've got the $24.99 plan which in reality is $30 per month since the E-

I'm running it via Cox broadband connection and having no troubles at all. Co-worker of mine uses it with Comcast and doesn't have issues with it either.

I've been using them for 2 years now. The number port took the intervention of the PUC, but it got done.

I've used it as a 2nd line (over DSL) for 3 years. It's been no trouble at all. I've heard of others having problems with their customer service but I've never had to call them. I can handle everything I need through their website.

I went to Mexico recently and took the Vonage router along just to see how it would work. Our friends have DSL at the hacienda. It came right up and we spent the whole weekend letting them talk with relatives all over the U.S. It was completely transparent to the callers that we weren't in Chicago (where the number comes from).

I've also used it from hotels and remote offices although the router is a bit much to carry for a short trip.

In my case the only time I had to call Vonage was when I first setup my service. The Linksys RT31P2 they sent me wouldn't push the ringer on a standard 2500 set. The gentleman I talked to at Vonage was formerly an AT&T Long Lines guy. He upped the ring current on the unit and sure enough, enough juice to ring a regular phone.

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Can one really say that Vonage DSL is equivalent in any way shape or form to Vonage VoIP? (I would expect those services are not only technically different but run by different divisions, YMMV).

DSL is the physical carrier, VoIP is a protocol. Vonage uses VoIP protocol over any broadband physical carrier.

Let me concede that point, but to compare one Carrier with another I maintain that it must be over the same type of carrier, and DSL is not equivalent to broadband.

Well, it is and it isn't. True broadband comes in a very fat pipe. DSL is on a set of frequencies over and above the regular voice band.

They're all multiplexed services - the coaxial cable that comes into my home delivers both television and network services. That network connection carries my VoIP connection.