Vonage home phone service...

[T-Bone]

Does anyone have the Vonage phone service or had it in the past? What can you tell me about it? Good and bad...
t

[BucksandDucks]

What you want that for??? Just another fone you won't ever answer??

[jksboxofchocolates]

I had it years ago. Wasn't impressed. People said I always sounded like I was in a well. But it was years ago.

Janet

[CJs Toby]

What would any one need a home phone for these days?

[T-Bone]

What you want that for??? Just another fone you won't ever answer??

Shut up punk!! Trying to save a few bones to pay for new monthly HD service.

What would any one need a home phone for these days?

Chris,
911 service is the only thing I can think of??

[dukdawgn]

Ask your 911 dispatch center about their capability to read ANI/ALI info coming from Vonage.

ANI/ALI data is the acronym used to describe the name and location of the caller to 911. AT&T sends this to 911 when you dial. Vonage can send this to 911 as well, but you want to ensure your 911 center has software that can receive and read the data coming from Vonage as well as it can the data coming from AT&T.

That was a big problem for 911 call enters when cellular users started dialing 911.... the dispatcher had no means of knowing from where the call was placed, if the caller was on the move, etc. The govt mandated that cellular provides send the caller data to 911 in an uniform manner, like AT&T would have to do. I'm sure Vonage has had to adapt to the same standard, but the overall success or failure of the 911 center to see "Tony is calling via Vonage from 123 Main St" relies on the 911 center having up to date software that can handle any of the 3 types of calls to 911.

Given where you live and what I know about the systems in place there, your 911 center should not have any problems with it. They have some spent nice money on public safety software in your neck of the woods.

[T-Bone]

I would love to do away with all the land line service. How does the cellular side of it work now if you call 911 from your residence

[Drakeshead]

You can register your cell phone with 911 service, but if you dial 911 and are not at home you will have to be able to tell them where you are. Then again, if you can't tell them where you are I guess it won't matter if they show up at your house and you aren't there.

[dukdawgn]

When you dial 911 from a cellular phone, the cellular provider sends the latitude/longitude data from the cell phone that originated the call to 911. So the dispatcher would not see "Tony from 123 Main St", the dispatcher would see "Cellular caller 910-234-1234 from 34.362088,-89.570016 Ask caller for name and location." This is for any cellular caller to 911. You can register your phone with 911, but they'd just be entering it into a separate database. AT&T, Sprint, etc, are just going to send the data over as shown above; expect the dispatcher to still ask who are you/where are you, even though he/she could have the info available from another software system at the 911 center.

The land line standard of sending ANI/ALI from ma'bell to 911 is known as Phase I compliance. BellSouth, AT&T, PacBell, etc all had to accept to send data to 911 in a format that any 911 center software would expect it receive it as and be able to work with it. When cellular providers came along, for a number of years there was no compliance required for this that was in use. Nowadays, there is one and it is known as Phase II compliance. Other than better quality cellular service, providers moved to not supporting your older analog-only phones such as old Nokia, LG, etc from '96 because those phones and the providers that had them were unable to send over lat/lon data. Fast forward to today and every carrier out there has compliant networks and devices.

Doesn't end there, unfortunately. The 911 center has to have a call receiving software system that can a) read and interpret the cellular data received, b) plot the data on a map using the received lat/lon info, and c) update as the call is maintained. Updating as the call is maintained is known as 're-bidding'. In other words, if you are on a cell phone for 10min with a dispatcher while you are driving down the road b/c some mad man in a silver F-250 is trying to run you off the road over a flower pot double you set up on a Seasoned test (completely hypothetical situation here), then the dispatcher software system is going to update to show that you are on the move and where you are.

[Drakeshead]

I do not know about other places, but in Vicksburg you can register your cell phone to a specific address. So, if you call 911, it will show to be registered at XXXX address. Maybe this is just something that is offered, here, I don't know.

[T-Bone]

thanks for the input. I wished I could do away with all land line service but someone else brought up another point....my 10 year daughter...what you going to do about her phone usage. Imho she is not old enuff for cell phone that she will loose or break in 30 days. I am just not ready to go there yet!! So I now I am back to square one, looking for alternatives!!! t

[BucksandDucks]

thanks for the input. I wished I could do away with all land line service but someone else brought up another point....my 10 year daughter...what you going to do about her phone usage. Imho she is not old enuff for cell phone that she will loose or break in 30 days. I am just not ready to go there yet!! So I now I am back to square one, looking for alternatives!!! t

Must have been a very smart man....You should value his insightfulness!!!