Need a new VOIP service

[red-beard]

Yep, due to the iminent demise of Vonage, I need to replace my VOIP service. Skype will not work, since this will be business lines.

Any suggestions?

[rcecale]

What is this "iminent demise" you speak of. I'm a Vonage subscriber...I haven't heard of this.

Randy

[Joeaksa]

Too bad Skype will not work, their service and such has done nothing but get better in the last year.

[rcecale]

Nevermind, I found this article...

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/vonage-gets-stay-still-selling/story.aspx?guid=%7BB3F6D44B-37A7-4C19-9AC7-11AAD2C4FCBD%7D

Doesn't look good.

Randy

[competentone]

Originally posted by red-beard
Yep, due to the imminent demise of Vonage....

I wouldn't conclude that Vonage is going to go away.

I was reading over some of Verizon's patent claims (as part of some stock research on Vonage) -- I'm nearly 100% sure that the jury that awarded Verizon their recent win in court, and set the stage for the current position Vonage is in, really didn't "have a clue" about what the patents involved. I think the jurors tried to be "fair" in their decision, but were making a decision based upon court room activity completely unrelated to the patent details. (This is a common problem with patent suits; jurors just don't have the technical/scientific background where they can make informed decisions about critical aspects in the patent dispute.)

Vonage's attorneys had tried to argue that Verizon's patents are similar to putting some lights on a tree, then trying to get a patent controlling all Christmas trees! Reading some of the details in portions of Verizon's patents, I would have to agree!

That said, once a jury has spoken, judges are very reluctant to overturn the jury's conclusions on appeal, so I'm not convinced that Vonage's appeal will be successful.

As I see it, the more likely scenario will involve Vonage creating "work-arounds" to Verizon's patents, which will probably lead to another suit by Verizon, but Vonage will keep running their business. Odds are, Vonage customers won't lose their service.

Of course, if Vonage's stock really plummets, maybe Verizon will just buy Vonage -- it could be a cheap way for them to acquire 2 million customers and end all lawsuit costs trying to protect patents which (in my opinion) are "too broad" for them to defend successfully in the future.

[VincentVega]

Anyone use http://www.sunrocket.com/ ?

[slakjaw]

Check our Packet 8 I have heard good things about them. I am ditching Vonage now as well. Other companys tryed to sue Vonage over this same thing but Verizon won it. I am out.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

A client of mine recommended sunrocket as well. I'm going to check it out this week.

[masraum]

a co-worker spent a lot of time a year ago researching and went with Broadvoice. I've got no personal experience with them though.

http://www.broadvoice.com/

[legion]

Does anyone on this board understand the technical stuff behind the Vonage/Verizon patent issues?

It seems to me that Verizon waited until Vonage was successful, then sued. They decided not to take any risk but to swoop in and take rewards.

Also, many patents that I have firsthand knowledge of should never have been issued in the first place. I know of several patents (like Amazon's One-Click ordering) that claim to be a novel use but are really just repackaging of public domain or other patented concepts.

I guess the bottom line is that I am skeptical of patent claims because I know the government does a poor job of vetting them.

[RKC]

Both my business (4 lines) and home/wife's business (2lines) are with Vonage.

Sick of copper lines, now sick of legal fights with VOIP.

Any complex cell phone systems our there?

[azasadny]

Originally posted by rcecale
Nevermind, I found this article...

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/vonage-gets-stay-still-selling/story.aspx?guid=%7BB3F6D44B-37A7-4C19-9AC7-11AAD2C4FCBD%7D

Doesn't look good.

Randy

Randy,

I like your new "Devil dog" avatar!

[MysticLlama]

There are always a lot of things like this going on in the tech world, and a lot of them never come to anything, or only come to royalty payments.

I agree with the idea that they may get bought out simply for the 2 million customers and the name.

I have to think that Vonage has a pretty good brand going when even my mom has it, that's gotta be worth something.

On that, I picked up about 100 shares this morning just for fun. (At $3 I may as well make a little gamble)

[jluetjen]

I've got Packet8's 8x8 system and it works fine. I get the occasional drop-out when I'm on a conference call, but that clears up if I make a small noise like clearing my throat. I have to submit my expenses and getting access to your bills in a timely fashion on-line used to be really painful, but they fixed that problem late last year and now I can download a .pdf of my bill and email to my boss in no-time.

In general when calling Asia the reception has been better then competing services, but I do occasionally have to try two or 3 times to get through. Fax reception on the line is kind of iffy -- it works for some numbers and not for others. But who faxes nowadays? My wife works for another Internet Telephony company (they do phone cards or deal directly with the local phone companies and so you wouldn't even know you were using their service) and to be honest I like 8x8 a lot better.

The price is good too -- $40 for basic service to NA, + $20 each for Europe and Asia. The per-unit price for calls to cell phones is slightly higher. My wife is pretty familiar with the going rates for international calls, and this isn't a bad deal.

[RickM]

If considering Sunrocket then wait for the $99 per year offer (2 year contract). They almost always run this discount during holidays. They might have run one during Easter. Mothers' day, Fathers' day, Memorial/Labor day are included in their campaign.
www.slickdeals.net announces these as they come up.

I was ready to go with them but went with the Cablevision internet/Phone/TV package and I'm very happy.

[rcecale]

Originally posted by azasadny
Randy,

I like your new "Devil dog" avatar!

Thanks, Art! A comical side-note here. I ran the Airframes Work Center for a few years in a combined Navy/Marine Corps F/A-18 Training Squadron. My Marines, I called Devil Dogs, and my Sailors, I called "Devil Ducks". Kinda made us all one big "devilish" family...

Randy