When you use Vonage does it slow down your internet connection such as cable?

Question

When you use Vonage does it slow down your internet connection such as cable?

Answer 1

Yes, it will use some of the Internet bandwidth, so it will slow down the Internet some, how noticeable this is depends on how fast your Internet was to began with.

Answer 2

All VoIP services use a portion of your Internet bandwidth.

How much depends on the Internet speed you are paying for... 256Kbs, 1Mbs, 3Mbs with your ISP.

With 1Mbs speed or faster, you should not notice any problems with your VoIP quality..... unless you are downloading big files on your PC while talking on the VoIP phone.... in which case voice quality may start to break-up.

I have 256/128 Kbs Lite speed from my Cable ISP and currently use VoIP exclusively for my phone calling.

I have no problems with voice quality.... as long as I don't surf the net or download files while on the phone.... in which case my voice audio will break-up a bit.

This is just a function of Internet bandwidth.

Someday, when saving money isn't such a big issue for me, I will upgrade to 1Mbs or 5Mbs service....

Answer 3

Yes you may notice your internet browsing slow down, as you are using some of your bandwidth. If it's something you cant tolerate you may want to adjust settings in talk quality that reduce the quality.

Answer 4

As the first answer said, it has some effect, but not enough to be bothersome.  I have Vonage, actually have had if for a year now, with no major problems( It's cheap too)

Answer 5

Yes it does.  Vonage supplies you with a router with firmware programmed to throttle your internet connection to all connected computers so that you never get drop outs on the phone.  Of course, this only works if you have all of your computers connected AFTER the vonage device and none connected before it.  You might notice a minimal difference in downloading speed, but web surfing is exactly the same.  It's worth the very minimal sacrifice to have quality cheap phone service.