[nflug] Off topic Vonage phone?

[joshj at linuxmail.org]

Thus spake Joe on Wed, 8 Mar 2006

> I know this is a bit off topic, but I'm sure some of you have experience with 
> this.
>
> A friend is moving into a new house.  Looking at prices, Verizon dsl+Vonage 
> seems cheaper than regular phone service alone.  She will have cable, but the 
> monthly cable Internet charges seem a bit high.
>
> Aside from normal phone usage (USA & Canada occasionally), she does basic 
> email and web surfing - no big downloads or media files - unless I'm there 
> upgrading software.
>
> What do I need to watch out for etc. in selecting/setting this up?
>
> She has a regular cordless phone/answering machine and an old notebook 
> running Win 98se (Firefox/Thunderbird/OOo) that has a built-in winmodem and a 
> 3com ethernet card in it.

The kind of computer and such doesn't matter for Vonnage. It comes with
an adapter/router that you plug your regular phone into (eg. her
cordless phone and answering machine will work fine). I've had it for
over a year and am pretty happy with it. I have adelphia cable. Once in
a blue moon it will be a little echoey. But that hasn't happened in a
while. If you can, test the connection first:
http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/index.html

I'm not sure about the differences between DSL and cable speedwise but
its probably fine. When I tested it out before I bought it I found this
great site that tested your connection speed and then told you about how
well your voip service would sound: calling over seas, calling next door
on a lanline, cellphone, tin-can-on-a-string. But I can't seem to find
that site now.  Even if she has it for 2
months and then decides it sucks and drops it for a regular phone you
can't beat the price.

-Josh

>
> Thanks for any pointers.
>
> Joe
>
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