Phone/Internt charges:

GSM just hit Cali in Jul-03. I don't know if you can buy a SIM card, but you can buy an unlocked phone for about us$60, and I assume pull the card. No plan is required, and you can from there simply buy cards/codes for usage.

At telecabines the standard is 200 per minute for local calls, and range 500-800 per minute for cellular.

You may also find hawkers along Av. Sexta that carry cell phones, and allow you to call a cell phone on them for 500 per minute.

Internet ranges at 2,000 - 4,000 per hour.

HELP PLEASE - Vonage connection in Cali:

I want to use a Vonage connection from my residence while in Cali.

Can anyone recommend a place to stay (hotel, apartment, aparthotel) that has high speed internet (ethernet cable connection, not dial up) in the room, but not the Hotel IC?

Thanks!

Hahahaha. Can't beat IC. In-room high speed internet service for less than $10 for 24 hours. What else can one ask for. I know you won't agree with me on this.

JKarp

I agree on the 'can't beat $10 for 24hrs internet' - but if you get stuck paying US$50/guest, and have two guests in a day, on top of say US$80 room (which is already about double the going rate for a nice-enough place, and I think the rooms at the Plaza las Am are nicer!) you're talking US$200/day after tax - hell, I don't even pay that when I stay at Sheraton or Hyatt in the U.S.

But, yes, $10/day for internet would be good...

FLhobbyer, after staying at IC four times on my 3 trips to Colombia, on my last trip I checked in twice as I went to Cali first and then Bogota, Cartagena, and Barranquilla and then back to Cali and stayed another two nights at the IC. They have never charged me a guest fee. The first 3 times when I checked-in I checked-in with the same amgia. But the last time I checked-in I was alone and I had 4 girls visits in 2 days and they never gave me any problem or asked for any guest fee. So I think I can safely say, at least in my case, that they do not charge a guest fee. I really liked internet access even when my laptop broke down I had 24 hours access to their business center to be on the internet, not that I needed to but the facility was available.

JKarp

I recently spent a week in Cali, and used my Vonage softphone each day. Here is a quick status report regarding my experience:

Equipment: Vonage softphone with a Dell Latitude and a Plantronics A.70 headset plugging into the factory soundcard. (Note, I need to try a digi headsent using the USB port, and I am shopping for a deal on a Plantronics DSP-400.)

Radisson (formerly Pacific Royal)
---------------------------------
Worked great!! Just like a day in the office. They give you a "twisted pair converter box with RJ45 port" made by TUT Systems - it plugs into the phone jack and gives you an ethernet cable. The box has IP/DNS setting instructions.

Sheraton Four Points
--------------------
Worked good enough at night, but during the day there were drop outs and/or digi-static/noise of greater than 5-second instances. Not sufficient quality for business use. You use the same type of converter box as at the Radisson, but your settings are automatically obtain an IP/DNS.

6th Av. Cyber-cafes (between 12th-15th)
---------------------------------------
I tried three different ones.
...The first is on the east side of the street (opposite of mountain) and the northern-most of the two cybers on this side... it did not work well, about equal to what I wrote about the Sheraton in the day.
...I used the cyber on the west side (mountain side) of 6th Av. three different days... this cyber has blue signs and is maybe between 13th & 14th?... the internet stations are on the second floor above a copy/photo shop, there is a spiral stairway in the back. The connection was awesome, and I worked long days there at 2.500,00/hr as they allowed me to unplug their machine and plug right into the network... basically taking over a corner of the shop. You'll need to enter the settings for that connection's specific IP/DNS.
...There was a feria one day (day of lights?) and the location above was closed. So I used the CyberMax on the west side between 12th & 13th (I think... next to Kokoriko chicken). It worked great here, 2.000,00/hr, and they let me plug right in. IP/DNS are automatically detected.

packet8 needs much less bandwidth then vonage.

Vonage also has a low bandwidth setting, but it still is a lot more then packet8

Packet8 credibly claims to work even with dialin. You set up your computer so packet8 plugs into the network plug, and you dial in with your modem.

It is possible packet8 may require less bandwidth - do they have the 'softphone' option? I'm using my laptop with a software switch (there is no switch/router equipment, no hardware like with a desktop pc).

Thus, regarding the bandwidth settings that Vonage provides - they are on the website, and I assume (any engineers out there?) the setting are 'downloaded' by the hardware (equipment, the router/switch you physically plug into your network) upon reboot. But because using the laptop and softphone doesn't use the hardware - I'm guess those settings won't have an impact.

Flhobbyer: Did you adjust the bandwidth on the softphone? I originally thought the bandwidths could only be adjusted when using the vonage modems, but recently learned that there are two numbers towards the lower right side of the softphone screen that when depressed toggle the softphone bandwidth back and forth. Both are hard to see on my computer screen but start with the letter G (the second one is for the lower bandwidth setting from what I have heard). OTOH, bandwidth is not the only issue with respect to the quality of the connection.

I called Vonage customer support. I'm told there are no settings to modify for the softphone. Yes, for the main line, using the router/hardware there is settings (off of the web account under 'features').

But for the softphone there isn't.

The little letters in the lower left that you can set are for items like "auto conference" and "auto answer".

(Message edited by FLmonger on December 14, 2004)

(Message edited by FLmonger on December 14, 2004)

Flhobbyer: Here is the email Vonage sent me on Dec. 5; it seems to contradict what you were told on the telephone:

"When you open up your Xpro softphone there are 2 codecs you can click on. G711=90 kbps or G729=30 kbps. These are are on the front of the
interface of the softphone."

OTOH, on my last visit to the vonage website, I believe I saw two different software packages that can be downloaded to act as the softphone; perhaps you have one that does not have the capability described above. Mine is the Xpro, and it conforms to what was described in the above email.

Hmmm, I also have X-PRO. But I can't get a number connected using the G729 setting. I get the initial 'dial tone' - but then after entering a number and hitting the 'green' dial button I get a fast busy signal.

Have you connect phone calls using both the G711 and G729 settings?

Flhobbyer: I just tried and I did get Vonage to work using the G729 setting, but only after having the problem you described--a fast busy signal. I'm not sure what is up with the fast busy signal as it happened enough to suggest there is some problem, but didn't happen every time. One thing I found, which may or may not be signficant, is that a couple of times I got the fast busy signal and then hit redial and got a good connection. Looks like it is going to take some more figuring out.

My understanding is that the "fast busy signal" is essentially a sort of "all circuits busy", without the user-friendly message saying that as such. Got this a good bit trying to call back to the states from Thailand recently (via regular cell phone).

Guys, with softphone, you're using a headset... do you plug in with USB (digital) or through the sound card (analog)? If through the sound card, is it the factory version, or have you upgraded it?

I have a Plantronics model a.70, which connects with the sound card (not upgraded). I wonder if I use a USB connected headset (I'm shopping for a Plantronics DSP-400) if that will improve my voice quality much as some tell me I shound like I'm in a tunnel or they hear volume increases/decreases each few seconds. This doesn't always happen, but it does sometimes, and I don't know if the variable is the bandwidth, the network I'm on, settings of the LAN or backplane, etc.

JK, even with no girl fee at IC, it's still too expensive IMO. Check out the new Sheraton - better location, great breakfast, people speak English, free in-room internet, free airport transportation... but no pool. Name drop a F500 corporation and ask for "the 130,000 peso rate".

The Radisson is also very comprable to the IC, but South location and price equivalent to the IC.

LAG, Thanks for the prodding. I spent some time on the phone with Vonage support today, and got it worked out. Yes, the G711 represents a 90k setting, and the G729 represents a 30k setting. There is a 50k 7xx setting but my version (all versions in use now?) doesn't have it.

Like you wrote, I had to repeat 5-6 times of getting the fast busy signal before my calls starting going through.

Hey FLhobbyer,

Any update on your experience with Vonage soft phone? Did you ever buy the USB version of the headset and did it improve your sound quality? Also, did you ever used VPN to access your company and/or client's network while in Colombia. I am mainly interested in Medellin, and Cali. Planning to fly away for a week but have too much work to do but if I can VPN then I can do work from there during day time and party at night time.

Please share your experience.

Phd

Hmmm, seems like there's quite a few among us with multi-personality disorder

I now toggle between the two Vonage settings when I suspect bandwith is an issue. It provides a small fix, but not a 100% quality fix.

I do own both the USB and analog connecting headphones - I find no noticable difference. I prefer the analog for their behind the ear vs. over the head style (I have Plantronics).

Unlike VOID, I've never had any issue doing VPN in any situation - even dial up. I'd say you need not worry about VPN... if you can see the internet odds are you'll have access to VPN... we'll that's my experience.

As for specific locations, please see the email reply I sent

With regard to Vonage softphone, I have experience a major problem with them for many months now. In many cases the system won't recognize my tones. For example, I'm in a hotel room in London, trying to make a softphone call to the U.S. to access a calling card so I can call Brasil. Either I get no answer (it answers but I hear nothing) or when I try to type in my calling card code the system doesn't recognize my tone/keystrokes. Vonage can't fix this, I've spent hours with them.

I'm ready to try an alternative - maybe Delta3/iconnecthere or something else.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCES ON MAKING PHONE CALLS FROM A LAPTOP USING VOIP SOFTWARE (without a hardware/router/hub/AP device)?

Very informative thread to say the least.

I'm still waiting for the packet8 people, etc to chime in... Do they have an equiv softphone option? If so, how does it compare in terms of reliability and performance w/ vonage softphone?

I did some research recently and didn't note that they have a software option, thus why no one has commented on them.

so is vonage the only softphoneske game in town?

"Hmmm, seems like there's quite a few among us with multi-personality disorder."

Hahaha. No multi-personality disorder here just I am in a witness protection program now.

Thanks for the information. My mobile works in Colombia with unbelievalbe rate so that could be a backup plan if softphone has problems. I do not have a backup plan for the VPN and that is what I need the most. I don't know if there is a technology out there that can detect from where VPN request is coming and block it if it is no from the USA. I did not think there was such a technology out there but when my client asked me my home address and my ISP name I got a bit suspicicious why would my client need this information. If I go to Colombia on 2-3 weeks plan and discover my client is blocking VPN then I must return to the States on the next flight to save my job and that could be a bit risky and not to mention costly and inconvenient.

Thanks.
Phd

I have never had a problem connecting to my VPN (I work for a F500-type company). Try posting on the Homebase and see if one of the tech-experts chime in?

I am currently researching softphone alternatives to Vonage. My first cut of information yielded nothing impressive, so I need to dig deeper.

No, there are other softphone games in town - but none obviously as good as Vonage.

iconnecthere/Delta3 is a candidate, Skype is not (too expensive for my usage pattern as they charge per call), and I hope to find others.

My first cut at research (internet search) yielded nothing obvious.

Input from others is greatly appreciated.