An a-d-a of mine is stuck in B.A. and needs to make some heavy international calls.

Can anyone out there recommend a "real" VOIP solution (i.e., one that can connect him to a phone at the other end, unlike Skype which requires both ends use the computer client) that is simple enough for him to set up and install?

I'm comfortable with giving him a bit of handholding via email, but I'm sure not interested in a 3200 mile tech support round trip.

Thanks in advance,

Dem Technophile Gnomes

www.vonage.com
www.everywhere.net

Personally, I use everywhere.net as they use Belkin products. I believe Vonage uses linksys products and I've had... problems with them in the past. I have many friends that have used both services without trouble.

Your friend will need a nice, reliable broadband connection. With the softphone feature available through both providers, all your friend needs is a laptop, headphones and a microphone and can make crystal clear calls, otherwise you'll need to ship him one of the boxes to plug into his cable/dsl modem.

E

Vonage has been very reliable for me for over a year now.
Another new service coming to the market is Netel. Ship you a little SIP headset and microphone and you just plug it into a USB port on your computer. Can't vouch for their netork though. Haven't tried it. Big advantage is it will work on dial up.

Broadband (cable or DSL) will be required with Vonage, Broadvoice or everywhere.

Actually, if you add vonage's softphone to their basic configuration, I believe you can use dial-up although the quality will not be as good as with broadband. An advantage of the softphone (which does not require a box external to the computer) is it allows the use of WIFI connections, which some hotels in Europe (and I suspect elsewhere) are now using exclusively for their guests. Moving back to the use of hardwired broadband, I should add, so VOIP newbies don't get too excited, the quality of the vonage broadband connection varies from hotel to hotel, etc., and seems to depend on the quality of each location's broadband system (which does not reduce simply to bandwidth, although bandwidth plays a role). I have found some locations (not the majority) have broadband connections that simply are not good enough to use Vonage for reliable communications.

Thanks, troop!

I have been using Vonage for over a month now but the one problem that everyone has when I am using Vonage service is the called party cannot hear me well. I can hear everyone just fine but the other part cannot hear me well. I have changed many phone sets but it did not make any difference. I have the same problem for local, long distance, and international calls.

So I am wondering if anyone else has experienced the same problem and knows how to fix it. I really like Vonage international rates and hate to discontinue service because of the sound problem.

JKarp

Jkarp: I don't have an answer for you, but vonage customer service usually responds reasonably promptly to email requests for help. While I haven't experienced what you have, I find that with low quality broadband connections the other party often hears me fine, but their voice often "cracks" or "stutters" when I listen to them. If anything, this is the opposite to what you are experiencing.

For the hell of it, if you haven't already done so you may want to try your vonage box using a different internet connection to see whether this fixes the problem. If it does, you may be SOL with the internet connection you are currently using. Vonage, on one of their help pages notes some internet connections simply are not well-synched (or some such thing) which will result in poor vonage performance.

jkarp - laguy
I had a lot of problems at first but the key is to have high broadband speed. In Brazil I used Velox with 768k shared service and had problems. Now I have Virtua Net Cable 1200kps and have no problems at all. So max out the highest internet connection you can and you'll be fine with Vonage. I have no experience with the others mentioned. - Hemp

Hemp: Broadband speed is part of the equation. However, Vonage states on their website that another potential problem is whether the "packets" (or some such thing) are properly synced by the internet provider. I have actually had an adequate connection using a 64k (yes, that is a "k") "broadband" connection at the Hilton Morumbi (they charge by the speed of the connection) and have had significant problems with some connections that clocked in at around 300k (using a testing program). I believe Vonage says you need at least 90K, but even that is probably an overestimate given my experiences at the Hilton. So, while broadband speed may help, it is not the whole equation, and from my experience probably only a small part.

Laguy - Quite honestly I don't understand all of it and it is way over my head but when I was having difficulty I got our MIS department in the states on the phone with Vonage and myself at the same time and they were doing things in the background and things work fine now. I'm sure there is a lot to it. All I know is I am very pleased now. Thanks - Hemp

Great Scot! I just cannot get my fax to work with Vonage. I've invested at least 20 hours on the phone with HP and Vonage and spent endless hours are these techie forums. Anyone have any success getting this heap of garbage to send or receive faxes with an HP laserjet 3330?

Mitch I had nothing but problems with my Vonage fax. I trashed it and went with JFAX - that works GREAT. Any questions PM me. - Hemp

I like EFax.com

> Learning Center
Do all models of fax machines work with the fax service?

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In our product testing, we have never encountered a fax machine that does not work over the Vonage network.



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This is such total bullshit. They should look at their own forums where everyone has fax problems. This product has been misrepresented.

I use Vonage softphone all the time, from Brasil, Colombia, England, all over the US... LAN, WAN, WIFI, wireless...

Yes, at home for about 4 mos I've been having poor quality (I have over 1M connection - cable service). My softphone will work from some places like a cyber cafe in Cali (Av Sexta) or Tudo Facil in Copa or wireless in Miguel Lemos 8 apt... but then not well from the Cali Sheraton 4 points or other spots.

I agree, it's all about your bandwidth with Vonage.

packet8.net has worked for me for years. I started using voice over IP about a year before everyone else.

You need a good internet connection. If anyone else shares your connection, you are doomed. My friend's Packet8 phone always was terrible whenever his son ran a video chat.

Packet8 needs really small bandwidth (30 k?), and, they claim it works via dialup (set up your computer's network card to plug the packet8 hardware in).

I guess the other maior players are good too.

I am trying to use Everywhere plan but they told me that I cannot use my business line overseas like the softphone you guys are talking about. What is a softphone and what the hell does that mean? Is there a softphone plan that can be used so that I can use that business line overseas? The idiot in customer service just couldnt answer my questions and had the attention span of a fly.

With Vonage-

You download a software application ($10/month extra - 500 minutes anywhere in US/CA) that gives you a mini-phone on your pc (looks like a picture of a cell phone). You dial numbers by pushing buttons on the screen with the mouse pointer (or using your keyboard) and hit the 'send' key. You plug a headset into your computer (companies like Plantronics sell both analog (mic and speaker) and digintal (USB) connecting models).

Thus, any internet connection in the world gives you a US dial tone.

Yeah I just signed up for Vonage for my business, office and softphone. Unreal thing to have for traveling, especially if the hotel you are staying at has wireless broadband. Im going to test it with my current mic/headset and call people to see how it sounds...if its not clear enough, I will have to upgrade. By the way, now you can sign up for Vonage and they waive the first month costs and sign up costs and only charge you shipping for the equipment($10)....sweet fuckin' deal.

They've always waived the first month costs.

I wonder if most realize just what VOIP on a laptop means - I now take trips where I'm sitting in a cybercafe (or hotel room) for 8-10 hours straight, working. No, it's not fun, I'm not on the beach in Ipa or Copa, ...it's just work, and it's not vacation. But my nights are much more interesting than if I was back in the US. And I'm not taking any time off - no claim of vacation.

Imagine flying into Rio and arriving Fri or Sat AM, having your weekend, working 2-3 days getting as much done and being as effective as if at a home office, and returning mid week. And at parts of the year you can stay up super late at night at Help and in bed with the girl, sleep in - and if you get online sometime around lunch it's still only 9a on East Coast. Work into the evening (you might miss some terma action) and even if you work until 6p on the East Coast you still hit TA or Help with perfect timing.