Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Seems Ma' Bell didn't like the competition and has also not taken to kindly to Vonage using it's patents to make a buck.
C|Net's Version, CNN's Version The short version: Standard "Did not." "Did Too." Verizon says Vonage is using Verizon's patents to make money. Vonage says it's not. Grand Jury said they are using two of Verizon's patents and ordered Vonage to pay $58 Million USD and 5.5% fee per customer. Seems this will in the end effect all VoIP providers and that Vonage is just the big fish to take out and set the ground work for further settlements and lawsuits. As a Vonage user myself, I'm not pleased with the idea of my phone company having to pay out more money than they have. With not turning a profit yet, I'm not sure how they are going to come up with the money for this. However the biggest concern is Verizon's trip to court again immediately follow the verdict to have Vonage to be forced to shut down all services related to the patent infringements. Quote:
Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Hmm... does anyone else think it's high time to give Ma Bell a good shakedown once again?
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Banging the Bottom End
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
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Within a year or two, we'll basically just have AT&T and Verizon. And, if this is any indication VOIP might be in trouble. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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I don't know if anyone else agrees, but I think the present setup is completely half-assed, benefits nobody but the corporation, and their terroritiality really fucking irks me.
I've thought that the networks (e.g. the phone line systems) themselves should be the property of government, while allowing private companies to charge fees for the connection and providing services, and allowing private companies to expand network which will be sold to the government with some profit. Best of both worlds: We get just one network without having to duplicate network or pay hefty fees to use another network, making upgrading and maintence much easier while we get to choose among competitors, regardless where we may live, and there are plenty of incentives for competition among companies. While I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony, too. Bassplayinfiendmac- Just because FCC doesn't agree with me doesn't mean they're right. As far I'm concerned, they're bought and paid for by Ma Bell. |
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Not sayin', just sayin'
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Sorry to get political for a second, but this is just yet another reason why I can't stand this executive administration and the last 12 years of Congress.
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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What makes this a real issue is the fact the Vonage was using Verizon's patents without approval and compensation. This isn't a government issue at all. Executive and Legislative branches aren't to blame here, patent infringement is.
I'm not a fan of Ma Bell in it current state though, which is why I went to Vonage for my "land lines". I'd rather not pad my cable companies pocket anymore either since they are getting a pretty good chunk of my money for broadband as it is. VoIP is also just about the only way to combat ATT and Verizon or the Cable Companies. The only way to communicate outside of them is cell phone. While that's convenient, I want my house to have a phone number. I don't want every marketer to call my cell phone and be force to resort to screening my calls based on caller ID. When someone wants to get ahold of my wife and I, they can call one number and then we can both pick up and talk without having to do a three-way calling with the cell phones. There are many other reasons why I would rather have VoIP. If Vonage is forced to shut it's doors I'll just move somewhere else. Most likely to cables "Digital Phones" service. Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Sorry, you're right- This is irrespective of whatever they may do about the present system; if Vonage did infringe Verizon, then shame on them (even though it'll hurt consumers in long run). I was more of commenting on Verizon's perceived belligerence and out of instinct, rooted for the little guy.
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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I wonder if this will affect my service. I'm using Time Warner's digital phone over cable.
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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The implication in one of the articles I read was that is will effect them in some way. The question is how informed was the author of the article. I'm not familiar enough with the technical workings of cables "digital phone" service and how many patents it has on it's own. If they are doing the same thing that Vonage did, then I can see a bunch of settlements and a royalty fee as well. The cable company would probably absorb the fee at first and then once the dust settles pass it on to the customer. Just my guess though.
Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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The way mine works, a phone line is run from the cable modem into the closest wall jack, and that drives all the other phone jacks.
Can also plug a phone directly into the modem, or both at once, it has two phone plugs. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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No offense to anyone who had/has it, but personally I hope Vonage goes away for good. One of the most gimmicky companies to come along since the .bomb era, and full of the same problems. Untested services, rolled out too early to too many people, serious flaws (911 problems, voice quality, et al), poor customer service, and plenty of loud, annoying commercials trying to be hip for the 20-somethings.
One smart decision among many, many stupid ones? The way I hear it from customers the dumbest decision any of them made was signing up for Vonage. Nothing worse than a disingenuous company that comes along, trying to act like they're something new and refreshing, and it's the same ole BS, only not as reliable as the old bullshit. Vonage makes most of the other phone companies look like text book paragons of quality and service. Vonage is useless. ...into the light of a dark black night. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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So Verizon is just slightly less evil than Vonage?
Gee, thanks! I sure feel much better about that now. |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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As for useless. Where else can you get international calling for $25 a month flat rate? I can take my VoIP adapter where ever I go and still get phones calls at my number, this includes overseas. Emailed voicemail really helps too because you can listen to the messages from anywhere you get your email. Same with bill management and service changes. In other words, a truly portable service for flat rates. How is this useless? Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Well to be fair, I'm sure there are pockets of good service around the country. That's true of crappy ISPs, too. You'll always find some people who are happy because they've been fortunate enough not to have tons of connection problems, billing problems or whatever.
For VoIP, probably depends a lot on the local infrastructure, whether you happen to get a good installer, etc. I've just read plenty of horror stories, and to me the 911 thing is inexcusable on their part and the fact that it still exists a problem shows they're not really dedicated to solving it, just foot-noting it. Comcast has some of the same troubles, too, they just seem to be much better at solving them / avoiding them more often. And why don't they have the 911 problem? Because they've invested in the technology to avoid it. Vonage hasn't and won't AFAIK. ...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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I like my cable method. I think it operates differently than Vonage in ways, but it's fairly cheap, unlimited long distance, etc.
Plus Time Warner has the e911 service, so I'm perfectly comfortable with it. The only downside is it doesn't work when the power is out, since it comes through the cable modem. Although I'm planning to get a UPS power supply just for the modem and router soon (Laptop has its own battery, which after over a year still lasts 3 hours.) so that part will be taken care of. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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But would it still work in a local outage that would also affect the cable's system?
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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That's the downside that will always be there, most likely. If the cable TV and internet service is out, the phone is out.
In the event of a local 911 outage, like if the dispatch center has to go "inactive," e911 will instead connect to the closest working dispatch center. The majority of the cable lines around here are buried, and there are very few outages. When I had regular phone, it was out a LOT, as all those lines are above ground and most of them pretty old. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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SWEEET, VONAGE!!
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Wait. I'm confused. Who's the bad guy here? (I'm not talking about from a legal viewpoint but rather from consumer viewpoint here)
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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I was being sarcastic with my "sweet" comment. No secret I'm not a fan of Vonage. From a customer standpoint, all I can say is existing customers (according to Vonage) will not be affected by this ruling; only new ones.
...into the light of a dark black night. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Yeah, it's just that I thought Vonage were "better" for consumers, since they had a competitively priced plan that made much more sense than any telco's "Bend over like a good boy and let us fuck you and rob you blind" plan.
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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That is one of the selling points, though there are far more features that are built into the service. A simple one is that I can take my phone adapter with me on a vacation and connect it to a broadband connection and get calls on my same phone number. As in, I can go on vacation in Europe and take my adapter with me and still receive local calls where my home phone is dialed to my adapter from my family back home.
Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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monkey with a tiny cymbal
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Lost
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Individual voicemails, tagged by phone number, sent to my email address. Brilliant! |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Good news for Vonage according to C|Net! Quote:
Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Wo HOO, Wo-hoo-hoooO!
Buh-bye Mr. CEO! http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/04...php?lsrc=mwrss Quote:
...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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I still have never seen the ads, but the good part is I'm not going to have my phone shut off. The legal officer for Vonage thinks that the appeal will last more than two years and by that point the laws will change and there will have to be another trial. At that point, Vonage will no doubt have a work-around in place.
Since I never kept up the the CEO's, I guess this news doesn't shock me. The ship started to go down on his shift, time to put someone in who can (hopefully) save it. Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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