[Cialug] VoIP

[Tim Perdue]

Jerry Weida wrote:
> One drawback for VoIP is that it requires a constant 110kbps in each
> direction in order to provide a "clear" line.  While most broadband
> connections can easily provide this in most packages, the problem
> becomes clear when a cable modem/dsl line doesn't have "reserved
> bandwidth" for the VoIP product.  It requires a constant rate, which
> many broadband providers don't have.
> 
> Mediacom is working with DOCSIS 1.1 which can provide the necessary
> bandwidth reservation and they did do a trial for VoIP in the current
> cable system which ended about a year ago.  Hopefully something more
> will come out of it soon.
> 
> I don't know if Qwest has any such bandwidth reservation available for
> the DSL platform, but it would be interesting to find out.

I've been using Vonage for about 11 months and think it's great. We went 
ahead and canceled the Qwest land line a month or so ago.

The vonage was having trouble with sending faxes reliably when we were 
running it over the cable modem, but since we switched to DSL, it's been 
extremely reliable. With the DSL line, I can be sending a FAX over line 
2 and talking on Line 1 without much trouble.

Jettisoning both the Qwest landline and Mediacom and using DSL+Dish 
network is pretty liberating.

Tim