[rant] Number port times are ridiculous Page 4
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nitzan @ 2nd Nov 05:30AM:
Re: [rant] Number port times are ridiculous

said by WAVZuser :

Why isn't another non cable VoIP provider taking off? Is it because they don't spend enough on marketing, or because their lack of reliability drives customers away?
It has absolutely nothing to do with reliability. It's 100% marketing. Vonage spends $400 per new user on marketing. They're the only ones with an extensive national TV ad campaign. TV ads bring a lot more customers than other forms of advertisement - but they also cost a whole lot more. No other sane provider wants to go down that path and guarantee themselves a bankruptcy down the line.

In essence Vonage has always been and continues to expand on debt. Paying $400 for a customer that isn't going to actually give you $400 in profit is not only meaningless - it is a recipe for bankruptcy. Sure- they can go from loan to loand to loan to loan right now. But how long do you think the banks are going to wait? eventually someone is going to realize it's a dead investment and pull the plug on Vonage. This almost happened late last year when they were saved at the last minute by yet another loan.

Being the biggest is not always the best. You have to actually make a profit to survive. Take a look at the auto and banking industries for case in point.
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Mango @ 2nd Nov 10:21AM:
Re: [rant] Number port times are ridiculous

said by WAVZuser :

Which providers offer better audio quality and reliability than Vonage?
Evasive answer :)

Based on the »/gbu which PX Eliezer brought up earlier, the following providers have better marks than Vonage in the Call Quality and Reliability categories:

Callcentric, Callwithus, ooma, Phone Power, Future Nine, VOIPo, VoicePulse, VoIP.ms, Comcast Digital Voice, and AT&T CallVantage.

m.
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WAVZuser @ 2nd Nov 09:02PM:
Re: [rant] Number port times are ridiculous

said by Mango :

Why do you think that? I'm honestly not trying to be argumentative. But you haven't offered any specific reasons why you think Vonage is superior, other than it's a large company and has lots of customers. Those statements certainly are true, but I would rather consider audio quality, reliability, support, features, and price when choosing a VoIP provider. I know I can at least match the first two and beat the last three with smaller providers. Of course I'm not saying Vonage is a bad choice. But it's also not the only choice.
Sorry, I was responding to PX's financial arguments.

I like Vonage because every time I pick up the phone there's a dial tone, every time I try to dial a call it goes through, and every time someone calls me it comes through. Also, the call is usually of good quality (though I must admit there have been an exception or two.)

The cheaper providers I used (SunRocket and ViaTalk) were a dice toss. They worked maybe 80 percent of the time.

I talk about the number of Vonage's customers because I find it hard to believe that an outage affecting a few thousand people at a smaller company would be dealt with as quickly as an outage affecting millions, based on my experience.
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brg @ 2nd Nov 09:23PM:
Re: [rant] Number port times are ridiculous

said by WAVZuserI like Vonage because every time I pick up the phone there's a dial tone, every time I try to dial a call it goes through, and every time someone calls me it comes through. [/BQUOTE :

Hope you are still able to do that, because the press of the day is that Vonage is having a massive network outage. Maybe it is only in the UK but I just read about it. Those that can actually get through to tech report are allegedly being told there is no time-frame for a fix.

PILE ON!

:-)
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PX Eliezer @ 2nd Nov 10:10PM:
Re: [rant] Number port times are ridiculous

said by WAVZuser :

I like Vonage because every time I pick up the phone there's a dial tone, every time I try to dial a call it goes through, and every time someone calls me it comes through. Also, the call is usually of good quality (though I must admit there have been an exception or two.)
This is very fine. It should be true of any good VoSP, not only Vonage.

said by WAVZuser :

The cheaper providers I used (SunRocket and ViaTalk) were a dice toss. They worked maybe 80 percent of the time.
SunRocket of course was troubled, to say the least.

Now, I do not want to get into a fight with ViaTalk fans. I think that it _is_ safe to say that ViaTalk went through some service challenges in the past, but things seem smoother now. Having said that, I do not think that it is fair to generalize from ViaTalk to independent VoSP in general.

I consider CallCentric, VOIPo, F9, and PhonePower, as some examples of high quality reliable VoSP. There are others out there too. But I assure you that SunRocket and ViaTalk would never have been on my list.

said by WAVZuser :

I talk about the number of Vonage's customers because I find it hard to believe that an outage affecting a few thousand people at a smaller company would be dealt with as quickly as an outage affecting millions, based on my experience.
What experience? You made two unfortunate choices and now seem incapable of recognizing that there are some GOOD companies out there.

And by your logic, the New York City public schools should be the best run in the country. Trust me, they are not.

And do you ever read Dilbert? Dilbert is about a BIG telecom company, not a small one.

Google G-Mail is huge. But they have had repeated outages lasting for many hours and affecting millions of people. Lots of other examples out there as well.

said by WAVZuser :

I talk about the number of Vonage's customers because I find it hard to believe that an outage affecting a few thousand people at a smaller company would be dealt with as quickly as an outage affecting millions, based on my experience.
You contradict yourself. In the VoIP world, ViaTalk is regarded as a relatively large company, SunRocket was even larger. Yet those are the two with whom you had a bad experience.

Indeed, it IS the smaller companies---CallCentric, F9, Voip.MS, VOIPo, PhonePower---who are providing some of the best service and most innovations these days.

---------------------------

I think that this theme is pretty well played out....
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WAVZuser @ 3rd Nov 02:36AM:
Re: [rant] Number port times are ridiculous

said by PX Eliezer :

What experience? You made two unfortunate choices and now seem incapable of recognizing that there are some GOOD companies out there.
This is a valid point.

It is rather irrational of me to assume all of the cheaper providers suck just because the two I tried did.

I'll withhold further judgment until I try a few more of them.
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