Customer Reviews

Motorola VT1005v Phone Adaptor for Vonage Internet Phone Service

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I was a little skeptical after reading the reviews - they seemed to be either advertisements from Vonage or people with a personal vendetta. Within an hour of getting it set up I had decided to return it, because I was getting some of the same problems I heard from other people - extremely tinny sound and a bad echo, sporadic dial tones, and missed calls. After digging into it a little more I found that Vonage recommends opening up a few ports on your firewall for optimum performance (I put this behind a linksys wireless-b router/firewall). I'd say that should be more than a recommendation - I did it and haven't had a problem since. It's ports 69, 5060-5063 and 10000-20000. I used port triggering on the linksys so it only opens up the ports for communication initiated from inside my network.

In any case, it really is nice and I'd say the sound quality is good to very good - at its worst it's as good as my cell which is what I'd be using otherwise. If I'm doing a lot online while talking on the phone I can get a little static on the phone but it's not bad at all and it is pretty rare. I love the online acct management and you can't beat the price. As for customer service I've only emailed them when I had trouble setting up my voicemail and they responded with an answer within a day or 2, which satisfied me. Is there any customer support line that isn't a waste of time?

So I've had it for almost a month now and I would definitely recommend it. For anyone who cares, I don't have any computers plugged into the Motorola - left my linksys set up the way I've had it and plugged the Motorola into the linksys. There are limits on the 14-day trial that I probably wouldn't have been aware of if it weren't for some of the bad reviews, but I'd say you can't lose much by giving it a try. If you don't have the same success then drop it, but I'm really glad I stuck with it.

I'm not overly impressed so far. On several occassions people have said that I'm 'breaking up' when I talk to them. It was almost definitely due to high internet traffic outside of my control (and likely out of control of my broadband provider). My caller ID also stopped working at one point. I reset the Vonage device and since then, the caller ID works, and I haven't noticed any 'breaking up' problems; however, I also haven't been using the phone at the same peak times as I was when I initially had that problem.

Knowing what I know now, I probably would've gotten a phone line installed. With Vonage, you can't use your existing phone jacks. I spent $200+ on cordless phones that work through power outlets just to keep Vonage convenient. My other choice was to wire vonage somewhere close to the incoming phone line and wire it directly to the NID. I'm not sure if that's completely legal, or kosher with the phone company, but that became impractical as it would've turned into me wiring other parts of the house with ethernet connections (so I could use the computer(s)).

Additionally, Vonage didn't effectively advertise that you don't need a router. That's not to say that they didn't advertise this, but rather that it wasn't really clear that this would be the case. The thought of changing cables around kept me from using Vonage for many, many months. I thought the Vonage box was going to need to be connected and that if I wanted to use the computer, I'd need to change cables around. This is not the case. The Vonage adapter has a pass-through/router built in. I bought a wireless router just because I thought a router would be necessary. I got wireless just to give me more options in the future.

All in all, my inner geek is impressed with the service. However, my practical side says that the savings will never make up for the lack of (effective, responsive) 911 support, should it become necessary. Additionally, the slight technical glitches I had caused a lot of tension in my house. My wife was a little leary of the system and how she can't use the phone jacks. If the phone jacks were used, she'd probably be none-the-wiser about what's really happening when one uses Vonage, and the potential pitfalls therein.

I was among the very first users of Vonage and in almost two years I had the service I gradutate to ditch my regular land-line phone and use Vonage as my sole phone number.
The big motivation was to enjoy the low rates and the voice mail that is free with the account. It is just great to have your voice messages accessible via Online no matter where you are and receive e-mails that someone left you a message. I also signed up for the 911 service Vonage offers, although I doubt broadband will be around during any catastrophe.
Still, I am now wondering whether I should go back to having a regular phone line. First, you essentially have only one possible outlet to use with the Vonage service. You then need to start multiplexing the line if you want to use more than one phone in the house with it. I went with a multi-phone cordless base which works perfectly fine.
Then, when I want to use my fax machine with it, I notice that it has problems synchronizing over the VoIP quality, especially when calling abroad but even when receiving faxes. Furthermore, when calling mobile phones, in particular ones that are abroad, quality is really bad.
Finally, and that is the most irritating, I sometimes just do not have a line to use when calling out. You get the dialtone, but no calls seem to connect. Maddening as it is, when trying to call Vonage to report this outage, you sometimes get a busy signal. Their customer service too, is on par with the less-than-spectacular you love to resent from your favorite neighborhood long distance company.
As a second line, Vonage is a great option. As a main line, I am moving on.

Got this last night took me about 20 min to unpack, register online, and get a dialtone.

Activation was easy, just had to enter the MAC address of the adapter on Vonage website, account was activated in minutes. I gave my adapter a static internal IP, and open up some ports in my router, plugged the phone, and lo and behold, I got a dialtone! I made some test phone calls, and it sounded MUCH better than a cellphone. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference from standard landline phone or Vonage phone in terms of sound quality. I recommend this. I have a 6megabit download DSL line, so bandwidth was no problem for me.

I read a few negative reviews about the Vonage service, but contacted an individual whom I trust who used the service and was convinced to try it out. Needless to say, I'm quite impressed. The adapter took a little longer to get up to speed when I first plugged it in (maybe 10 minutes instead of the advertised 5), but once it did there were no problems at all.

I have a Linksys BEFSR41 wired router between the ATA and my cable modem without any ports forwarded at all, and the ATA works fine -- calls are clear, crisp, and both outgoing and incoming calls work great. Bandwidth is adjustable between 30-90kbps, at the cost of a small bit of voice quality at the low range, but it's still comparable to a wired phone.

I've not had any of the troubles described by others in the negative reviews, but then again I usually have good Machine Karma(tm). I've not missed a single call (and if my connection was down, Vonage will auto-forward to another number, in my case my cellular phone) and nobody's been able to tell the difference between my Vonage phone and a wired phone.

With the low price of the service and the excellent features provided for free, I can safely say that I've not found a better deal or performance from a telephone company (let alone a VoIP company) around. Definitely try out Vonage.

If you are considering using Vonage, avoid this router. On my network it would occasionally cause the WAN connection to drop (although my LAN connection would be fine). This meant I couldn't access the Internet sporadically. When I removed the VT1005v from my network, it worked fine. It did not matter if I had the unit in front of the firewall or behind it.

If you put the unit in front of your firewall, you'll run into a host of other problems. Its port forwarding interface is awful with very few options, and the DMZ option it gives doesn't work.

When the system was not dropping my Internet connection, it worked fine. I have no complaints with Vonage. This phone adapter, on the other hand, is terrible.

It works and it is easy to set up (almost plug and play), but sound quality is bad on intl calls and sometimes impossible to connect to cell phones overseas. Local calls quality is acceptable, but for local calls it is cheaper my local phone provider.

It DOES NOT work well on DSL lines, as upload speeds are always in the low 100's... if you have an upload speed of less than 250 and download of less than 500, you will have a very bad line with lot of noise.

Still a better alternative (if your main issue is to reduce your bill on Intl calls) is to buy calling cards you are familiar with. Not as convenient but you can connect when you want and at a low price.

Customer service: It is really hard to get to a live rep. Give it a try before you buy this service and see if you can get to a Technical support rep at the firts try w/o listening to "sorry our reps are busy" 1-866-243-4357.

Check several available discussion forums before making your decision. This is a great new technology, but quality still bad and non acceptable.

They processed my return properly and got my money refunded, no complains on that aspect

I have had Vonage for a few months now and love it. My setup did require one call to tech support when my Voip modem wouldn't connect w/ Vonage, but my call was answered quickly and the problem was resolved within minutes. The calls sound great with only a very rare cell-phone-like digital sound which usually lasts no more than a few seconds. One problem I have noticed is my faxes fail more often than over a regular phone line. But I have tested my alarm system and it works perfectly. The number transfer process took several weeks (over 5) but my guess is it was MCI dragging its feet in releasing my number to Vonage because they didn't want to loose the revenue. Voip is really hurting regular phone companies becuase it is cheap and it works.

I have actually wired my Voip modem into my in-wall house phone wiring so ALL of the phones in my house work - just as they did before. There are several good web sites with info on how to do this. The one important thing to remember is to DISCONNECT your house wiring from the phone company's wiring (junction box, usually outside your home) before you connect your Voip modem to the line. Otherwise you could damage the modem.

My uncle who is only moderately technical also has the service and loves it. And he set it up himself.

Many have attemted this but few have succeded. A relativly small company Vonage was able to provide consumer grade VOIP for Dummies. you connect the cables and 3 min after that you are on. I had the service for more than 6 months and I have most of my friends and family moved to it. Great way of justifing the High Speed internet connection too (if you don't have one yet). Quality and volume is better than any of the POTS I had, not to speak about the minimal taxes and no long distance fees. Just look on the web for Vonage Best Deal and you will get even more. Enjoy!

Currenty I'm using the Vonage digital router in England.. that'S right England!!! I've cut my international billing from $320.00 down $25.99 per month. I would totally recommend Voange. Vonage web based interface which is so easy to use and very user friendly, you can even play back messages online from your voice mail... so cool!