We finally got our telephone working here in Mulege...
We have Dircway SAT Internet service
Vonnage is $19.99 a month for the first six months then $24.99 a month
We have a So. California phone number (909)
The phone rings here...Mulege
Long distance in the USA is free
Mexico calls cost us .08 a minute
There is a little delay but not much
People are a little disoriented when we first pick up but no
problems yet..
If you want to see how this works and sounds send me a u2 and i'll reply our So. Cal phone number.
We're not posting our phone number on the internet...yetWally - 9-8-2006 at 06:20 PM
If you’re inclined to ratchet the functionality about 1000% get take a look at this:
The PSTN-VOIP/VOIP-PSTN capabilities, along with the ability to tweak just about any setting thinkable, are really impressive.
I’m interest in hearing if you think the “delay” is due to the Internet connection speed or if it’s the VOIP. I know 2 others using Vonage in the
States and they comment about the same type of delay. They use cable and DSL broadband connections. Neither of them are tech savvy so when I ask
what they think it is they don’t have much of a response (they seem to have gotten used to it anyway). We use QuantumVoice’s service and don’t get
any latency so I’ve always been curious to hear other people’s take.
[Edited on 9-9-2006 by Wally]
[Edited on 9-9-2006 by Wally]Bob and Susan - 9-8-2006 at 07:37 PM
we used the vonage in Upland with DSL...no delay and no problems
We've only had it 60 days...we'll see
the only reason to have it was to use the Upland CA number with the internet... there is NO phone service in the area we're at...
oh yea the phone rings like at hometoneart - 9-9-2006 at 09:11 AM
I have a VOIP phone. The company is a new one called Sunrocket. They don't serve Baja but the reason I am posting this is because they have
continually helped me to tweak it to get better reception.
They send you to a webpage that gets a speed reading of the transmission capabilities over the cable to your computer.
You take 5 readings of several (i'm not an engineer so I'll call them "thingies"), spaced 30 minutes apart). Then you call them give them the
readings. Then they tweak it from their tech center. It seems to work better.
Maybe some technophile here can say it better...please.Bob and Susan - 9-9-2006 at 09:23 AM
I'm sure not pushing Vonage....
If there was a better company I'd dump them and re-sign up...
We have no DSL or phones in the area we are.
We use SAT internet with Direcway...regular account
To have a regular ringing telephone here with a Southern California phone number is a great accomplishment for technology.
There are minor gliches but I've talked to Alabama, California, and Canada already and thet ALL understood what I was saying.
They've called me and I've called them.Pescador - 9-9-2006 at 09:37 AM
have you tried Skype or Crystal Voice. I used Wayne's set up last year with Crystal Voice and it worked like a charm. Also much less expensive than
Vonnage and I think that the Crystal Voice is much better operationally. You prepay with your credit card and calls are only 2.9 cents per minute.
I think I used a whoppin 25 bucks all last winter.
You can download for free at www.cystalvoice.comBob and Susan - 9-9-2006 at 11:05 AM
We need a stateside phone number with a ringing phone...
Remember we use solar power and inverters
We don't have to have the computer on just the SAT modem
Also it has voice mail if we are out...
You pick up the voice mail from your email account at yahoo or hotmail Etc and listen to it anywhere
no fancy headsets and mikes just a regular phone
BCSTech - 10-1-2006 at 01:37 PM
Quote:
The company is a new one called Sunrocket. They don't serve Baja
Even if a company doesn't serve Baja,
there are ways around this. It just means you need an address where they do service.
I have used Netzero for a year ---
beercan - 10-1-2006 at 01:59 PM
and it works without delay anywhere I plug in the computer, except with my direcway----now Hughes. There is about a 2 second delay and once you get
the other party used to it, it goes fine.
I have a local Arizona phone number and it rings just like regular.
Works for me in Baja and only costs $4.95 / month !!! plus $.02 /minute for long distance.losfrailes - 10-1-2006 at 02:33 PM
Quick note on this. I recently upgraded to the new HN7000S and decided to go to the Professional level. The monthly cost jumped 10 bucks, but the
download speeds improved almost 100% and the uploads almost 300%. This upload/download speed is what we fight as 'latency lag'. For the extra
monthly, and the ability to stay on the same satellite as originally placed by DirecWay, it was/is well worth it.
And the upgrade is something that requires NO installer interaction. Just like plug and play.
Lots of fun!BCSTech - 10-1-2006 at 02:37 PM
Hey, LF, what size dish and sat are you on?BCSTech - 10-1-2006 at 03:36 PM
Hmmm...
I think LF is just referring to a higher bandwidth making things quicker. Changing the service level won't change the latency to and from the
satellite. That's controlled by physics, not by the NOC.
A higher service level does increase the "FAP" limit so you're less likely to have your bandwidth cut if you're downloading lots of files. Also, I've
noticed that a higher sevice level "seems" to smooth out some of the peaks and dips in the bandwidth speed. SM-5, the satellite many use in Baja, is
way over crowded so you get big fluctuations from moment as users log on and off.
Could be that higher service level traffic gets higher priority along with greater bandwidth. It definitely feels faster but that could be due simply
to greater bandwidth; all the little bits needed to construct a web page or file get sent through in less time...
Au Contraire
MrBillM - 10-1-2006 at 03:47 PM
DirecWay (now Hughes) themselves list in their advertising material different levels of Guaranteed Download/Upload speeds based upon the level of
service purchased so, yes, they are making a discrimination in service level. The FAP is concerned with total Mbs downloaded/uploaded in a given time
period.BCSTech - 10-1-2006 at 04:00 PM
No argument there. We were discussing whether the service level affected latency, which is a different issue than bandwidth. Service level does NOT
affect latency IMHO.
Also, when I used the word "priority" I meant that the packets from a user with a higher service level would be given preference over packets from
user with a lower sevice level, and would be sent first. Doesn't make sense to me that they could/would be able to do this since all lower service
packets would need to wait for all higher service packets to be sent.
Be interesting to read somewhere if they actually could do this, as well as increasing the bandwidth. I'll ask the question in a HughesNet Installer
Group.
[Edited on 10-1-2006 by BCSTech]Bajabus - 10-1-2006 at 04:23 PM
Actually.........
Hughes Net (or Starband or Wildblue for that matter) do not guarantee speeds, all speeds quoted on their website are stated as up to. In fact if you
drill down into the various plans you will inevitably find "Stated speeds not guaranteed."
The only satellite providers that give guaranteed speeds (guaranteed service levels) charge a hefty monthly premium for their monthly service. large
enterprise customers get SLA's but at a significant cost to them.
VOIP is most adversely affected by latency or ping times. If your ping times start to climb over 800 Milli sec or even worse if you start to miss
your upload time slots because of congestion and you see dropped packets or ping times roughly double or triple what you normally see then the quality
will be lousy. To check your ping times on a windows machine go to >start>programs>accessories>command prompt and click on that. You
will see a DOS window, Type in without the quotes "ping www.yahoo.com" or any other website and hit enter, that will give you 4 pings to that site.
to send a larger number of pings type "ping -n 20 www.yahoo.com" where 20 is the number of pings you want. Don't forget the spaces and remove the
quotes.
on a terrestrial system you will see ping times of around 50 millisec.... over satellite it will be anywhere around 600 millisec to 2 - 4 seconds.
Example you know you are on a congested sat transponder if you see ping times that look like 700 , 700, 1400, 700, 2100. ping times that are a
multiple of the lowest time you see means you are missing upload time slots because the system is too busy to get you in with any consistency.
The other problem with satellite consumer residential and SOHO services is that what works one month or a few months in a row does not guarantee that
it will work in the following month or few months. Especially applications like VOIP or other "chatty" applications like VPN or VNC or other remote
desktop applications. These applications are notoriously affected by high ping times. This is because transponder loading is constantly changing,
especially when a new transponder or hub is brought into service, initially service is great but as it gets loaded up you start to see degradation in
ping times and speeds.
Satmex 5 is notoriously overloaded and spotty from one month to next.....especially on the lower service levels.Bajabus - 10-1-2006 at 04:25 PM
BCS....I would have to agree with Bill on that...cough...cough.
But the lower service levels are more congested and therefore you are more likely to miss upload slots and get more dropped packets.BCSTech - 10-1-2006 at 04:31 PM
Do you mean you think that service level does affect latency? Interesting. OK, I think we can all agree that higher service levels are generally
faster, probably for multiple reasons...
Quote:
Satmex 5 is notoriously overloaded and spotty from one month to next.....especially on the lower service levels.
More like one minute to next....Bajabus - 10-1-2006 at 04:37 PM
Hughes and most use a time/frequency/shifting slotting arrangement to get your packets uploaded. As the transponder loads up those slots become more
rare and your ping times go up. Try doing some pings when service is good and conversely when service is particularly bad and you will see what I
mean. As for VOIP, bandwidth or what you are calling "speed" is really not an issue since it will work great over a 50Kbps upload connection as long
as latency is not bad and the network is not congested.Bajabus - 10-1-2006 at 08:34 PM
The rate of contention or over subscription of the transponder is not something the various consumer services like to talk about but anecdotal talk
among engineers and on boards puts the figure at over 100 to 1 on consumer service. Even commercial enterprise services are rumored to have
contention rates of 30 - 60 to 1.
Yes, on the upload and the download, but more so on the upload there is a permission to transmit protocol that happens hundreds of times a second as
the system tries to get packets into the limited number of slots available. Higher contention rates, a lot of folks on at the same time and a host of
other conditions cause the system to dole out space on the spectrum in a way that is supposed to affect everyone in the same level of service equally
( QOS or quality of service ). In practice it sometimes bogs down or hangs, particularly on large uploads. The problem with a side by side
comparison is that what may be valid at that given moment may not be true an hour, a day, a month or several months later. Only at that point in time
is it valid. I guess what I am saying is that just because it works over some ones connection is not a guarantee that it will work on yours when you
get it. This is true of both *B and HN and any dealer that tells you otherwise is full of it.
For instance right now *B's new Nova network has very low ping times and VOIP, VPN and VNC are working great, but will it stay that way?..Are they
going to load it up like crazy?...Especially the $49 pro plan, only time will tell. They say they are committed to keeping it superior to the older
48x network but I have been a dealer long enough to know better and until they prove it to me I am going to let past history be my and my customers
guide.
Don't get me wrong I am biased to *b because it is what I sell. I like it better for a host of reasons, some because of the commission structure,
some because of my access to their engineers and TS, some because I like dealing with a smaller more responsive company and lately because the new
Nova modem has a lot of cool features like a native 24vdc power input that makes it well suited to solar and portability situations......and a newer
compression algorithm and encapsulation of packets that makes it very efficient on the space segment bandwidth. I hope ping times will stay low but I
won't hold my breath or be to disappointed if they don't.QuePasaBaja - 10-1-2006 at 09:56 PM
It works great. We have it here in Rosarito, and with the connection that we have ( NOT TELNOR ), there is no delay.
If you use Telnor, or what ever the phone company is down south, DO NOT LET THEM FIND OUT! they will take your phone.Bob and Susan - 10-2-2006 at 12:07 PM
i used the vonage phone to call susan from my cell phone here in southern california this morning...
I dial dial local and it rings in Mulege...
There is a delay of 3-5 seconds when she picks up till you hear here say hello...
Some people will hang up not knowing about the delay
Then the response is clear with no delay...
You just cannot talk over each other....sometimes that's a problem for me
Saturday SATMEX 5 was having a few problems but last nite and today fine
