[G4] Airport and Vonage

[Tim Collier]

On Sep 17, 2006, at 8:11 PM, Ronald Steinke wrote:

>
> On 14 September, 2006, at 6:13:35, Harry Freeman wrote:
>
>> Try Skype for the Mac, it's FREE and does almost everything that  
>> you get from Vonage.
>> However I don't have any experience using Skype with Airport so it  
>> might not work either.
>
>  I have used Skype in my Pismo laptop with both SBC DSL wireless  
> service (my house) and Charter DSL service (my brother's house in a  
> different city). There was not much difference between them in tone  
> quality and clarity, so I would vote for Skype over Vonage which I  
> haven't tried because Skype already works for me and it was free.

OK, here's my Vonage nightmare.  In spring of 2005, I saw the Vonage  
commercials and thought "Wow, I have really fast cable, why not get  
Vonage and stop paying the phone company (BellSouth)."  So, I did!  I  
live in Miami, last year was one of our busiest years in recent  
history for hurricanes.  Usually our power won't go out here unless  
we're hit directly.  Katrina hit as a Cat 1 and power was out for a  
day--no big deal--no phone, of course since you need POWER for cable  
and Vonage.
So, one day with no phone, I went on from there as we have cell  
phones.  But then Wilma hit us as a Cat 2-3...power was out for 2  
weeks, no phone, no cable.  At least I have a generator so I could  
charge my cell phone.  But something I wasn't aware of if that most  
of the Cell transmission/relay towers have battery backup if there is  
no power, but that doesn't last for DAYS!  So, after a few days, no  
cell either.  Now all of those intelligent people who still had 'land- 
lines' never lost service.  True there is some 'spottiness' about  
regular phone service but it never totally fails.  As soon as we got  
power back, as I said, 2 weeks later, I called and cancelled Vonage.   
They were very nice and totally understood after I told them this  
story.  I got BellSouth to restore my service and even got my old  
phone number back.  So, if you live in an area of the country where  
you KNOW you will never be without power or cell phone service at any  
time when you REALLY need it!, go ahead, play with Skype and/or  
Vonage.  Me, if I need to call 911 I won't take my chances.

--
Tim Collier