am thinking about using Vonage as my primary telephone for my new home.  Can you tell me anything about it?  Does it sound like a normal phone?  Does it go out with the cable? 

Do they provide the routers or should I go out and get one? If I buy one, which one?...  Can I have a fax and a phone on that line?

Vonage is a great choice. It is VoIP (voice over internet protocol) technology for the home and small business. By routing your calls over the internet you can save TONS on phone bills and have multiple phone lines for a very low cost. Vonage phone plans range from 19.99-49.99. Most plans have unlimited local and long distance with very low pricing for international calls.

Vonage will sound like a normal phone if it is directly connected to your cable/DSL modem (before the router). Connecting this way (modem>vonage box>router>computers) allows vonage to throttle your internet connection and pull all the bandwidth it needs during phone calls (therefore possibly slowing down your file transfers on the internet). Connecting the vonage BEHIND the router (modem>router>computers and vonage) will allow you to have a faster internet connection on your PC during vonage phone calls but will sometimes cause a slight bit of a drop in quality (not too much though).

Vonage will not provide the router and you would do best by going with any standard linksys router (IE: 4port wired or wireless w/4ports). You can have your fax connected to the vonage line and also may purchase a separate fax line for $9.99 a month. Vonage local phone numbers (you can have a local number for a different area if you wish to make your calls cheaper to others) are $5 per month and will forward to your original vonage phone number.

 You will lose your vonage connection during a cable/DSL outage and during electricity outages, therefore if you have vonage you may wish to also have some sort of cellular plan.

Hope this helps

-- Edited by Computer Geek at 17:01, 2004-10-11

Yes,

We can provide a router when hooking up your vonage as part of our networking services we offer.

AOL is a bit different than other broadband providers.  This is most likely what is causing your conflict.  I would recommend you changing to Road Runner or Earthlink, or any other provider that does not require you to use only their browsers, email, etc. This may save you more problems with other networking issues in the future.

I would also suggest you give Vonage tech support a call as they will assist you with initial setup.  If you do not wish to deal with this any further, please give us a call and we will be glad to come out and help you get set up.