Does Vonage Phone Service work with Net Zero?

Question

Does Vonage Phone Service work with Net Zero?

Answer 1

I would say no.

NetZero is Dial-up Internet.  Dial-up is "generally" not fast enough for Vonage VoIP service.

For Vonage you should have at least a DSL "Lite" speed of at least 256/128 Kbps, but 1 Mbps is better.

If you want to try VoIP PC-PC that works over dial-up, I would recommend GoogleTalk.  I have talked to people PC-PC using GoogleTalk over dial-up and it works good that way.

If you want to try a PC-Phone calling over dial-up on your PC, here are some services that you can make VoIP calls PC-to-landline Phone calls using dial-up:

PcCall

MediaRing Talk

Efonica

VBuzzer

InPhonex and CallCentric will also work over dial-up connections if you use their free downloadable softphones on a PC (see my profile for links).  

The speed required to use VoIP over dial-up really a function of the "Codec" that the VoIP service uses to encode the voice data with.  InPhonex and CallCentric have the ability to select different codecs for voice compression, based on the voice quality you desire and bandwidth you have to work with.

Thus, they have optional G.729 and GSM codecs, which will work over 56K modems with a softphone on a PC.

All that said, it "may" be "possible" to use the Vonage V-phone softphone on your PC over dial-up connection.  Vonage does have ability to adjust the codecs of your voice codecs with a feature they call "Bandwidth Saver":

http://www.vonage.com/help.php?keyword=B...

It has 3 settings High, Medium, and Low.

This is the equivelant of changing VoIP Codecs from G.711(high), G.726(medium), and G.729(low).

So, if you are able to change the bandwidth settings of your Vonage account to low, then it "may" be "possible" to use the Vonage Softphone on your PC with dial-up connection.

If I were you, I would first try testing with GoogleTalk PC-PC(free).

Then try CallCentric or InPhonex with their free downloadable softphones (link through my profile).

CallCentric and InPhonex VoIP services are Pay-As-You-Go services.... that means No Contracts.... so you can try with no obligations....as long as you want....quit any time you want... not penalties or gotchas.

Vonage will lock you into contracts...after the first 30 days....