VOIP (Voice Over Internet)

I am currently trying out a telephone service that uses the internet rather than the traditional telephone companies. The name of the new supplier is Vonage and it is available online at vonage.ca. Just click on the title of this posting and a live link will take you to their website. The service is now up and running and, after a few missteps in the installation procedure, it now seems, so far at least, to work as advertised. The voice quality is as good or better than what you are used to from a telephone company. In addition, it comes with all sorts of features (call display,call forwarding, voicemail which can be emailed to you) and a whole host of other "included with the program" extras and all this, in my case at least, for about half what I have been paying my old telephone service provider. Only time will tell, of course, whether this turns out all it's been cracked up to be but I do note that Vonage claims to have about 500,00 customers so they must be doing something right. This not a recommendation of any type, just an information posting. Check it out and see if it's the kind of thing you might be interested in. I will do a follow up posting on this after I have had and used the program for a while.

May 1, 2005 - Follow Up!

I have now had and used the Vonage broadband telephone service for a month and, even with a few small problems, I am quite pleased. The service has been good and the sound quality excellent. On the downside, I have discovered that telephone numbers using the #310 prefix, mostly fast food ordering numbers, cannot be reached by either broadband telephone and/or some cellphones. This is because the #310 numbers are used exclusively by "landline" telephone service providers who make no provision for the connection of services other than their own. Vonage.ca assures me that they are working to find a way around this slight bottleneck. In the interim, both broadband and some cellphone users must locate and dial the "regular" numbers with area code, etc. which were in use before fastfood companies began their alternative dialing system for use in some localities. I must reiterate that the #310 dialing sequence is not in effect in all locations, and so this is a problem only in specialized areas.

Other than the item mentioned above, I have been satisfied with the telephone service, the quick customer service response, and the ability to review your calls and billing on a daily basis to keep track of costs. We have opted to pay automatically by credit card, and Vonage sends a confirming email on the payment date that this has been accomplished and for which amount. All the "included" features that one would pay extra for with a regular telephone service provider more than make up for the small problem noted above. We have tested the 911 service and, while the emergency services people cannot automatically tell who is calling (another feature Vonage is working on), 911 calls do reach the local emergency services office, in our case the local RCMP, who were not surprised by the lack of a viewable caller ID on their equipment. So no real problem exists, unless one was unable for some reason to give them an address or describe a problem. So far, not a perfect solution as the same problem occurs with cellphone emergency calls, but certainly a step in the right direction.

All that being said, we have decided that we will keep Vonage as our broadband telephone service provider for all the positive reasons noted above. Terry

Back to Top