Vonage vs SunRocket part 2

After ordering SunRocket on August 8, 2006, I received the SunRocket VOIP device on August 10th. The email communication was not as efficient as Vonage, however they got the device to me within the same time frame. I replaced the Vonage Motorola VT2442 with the SunRocket InnoMedia MTA 6328-2Re (behind the cable modem), fired it up and it connected within 10 minutes (you need to follow the power up sequence in the instructions). Comparing the web interface between the two, the Motorola VT2442 is clearly the more polished and sophisticated of the 2 VOIP/router/firewall. However on the voice side the InnoMedia seems to be doing the job. My current impression is that the voice quality between the two is similar, better than cell phones but not as good as wireline service.

The InnoMedia MTA 6328-2Re web interface can be a little confusing and there is no documentation to configure it. I was able to find the DMZ and port forwarding settings to expose my Netgear FVS318 router sitting behind it. I have noticed that my download speeds (using SpeakEasy's speed test) have been cut in half to about 2Mbps, my upload speeds have remained constant at 353Kps. My web browsing is fine but my file downloads have suffered. I tried adjusting the Quality Of Service (QOS) setting on the MTA 6328-2Re with no real effect. It seems other people have had this problem as well and have resorted to placing the MTA 6328-2Re behind their router. Unless you have a router with bandwidth management or traffic shaping capabilities I think that is a big mistake. For VOIP to work correctly the data stream needs to have priority over everything else. Since we do not have control of the Internet outside our connection to it and the fact that there is no standard QOS solution, it is paramount that we control how the traffic in and out of our personal networks gets prioritized. Routers like the Motorola and the InnoMedia attempt to do that (the Motorola clearly does it better). Unless you have a router that allows for the prioritization of traffic, it is my opinion that in order to get decent voice quality you must place the VOIP router behind the cable or DSL modem.

If you have to have a separate router, like myself, two of the most popular consumer grade routers with bandwidth management capabilities are the Linksys WRT54G wireless router and the TRENDnet TEW-611BRP MIMO wireless router. I already have two wireless access points (one upstairs and one downstairs) and a wired Netgear FVS318, so I would like to stick with a wired router. The Netgear FVS318 does not have bandwidth management. Wired routers with bandwidth management are much harder to find. It seems that the industry targets those solutions towards small offices and consequently charge much more for them. If I stay with SunRocket and given the price and current service quality, I plan to, I will be looking at purchasing the D-Link DFL-210. It is expensive at about $300.00 but it has the bandwidth management feature I need plus a full featured VPN server which I could definitely use to connect back into my network.

Currently the bottom line for the most efficient configuration is to have the MTA 6328-2Re behind a router with bandwidth management. If you don't have one those routers, then you should place the MTA 6328-2Re behind the cable modem. Your 3 choices then become:

1. Switch to Vonage, pay more and get the Motorola VT2442.
2. Buy a router with bandwidth management.
3. Live with the reduction of download speeds until InnoMedia provides an upgrade that solves the problem. The current InnoMedia software level is 3.0.75.

I did get a response back from SunRocket tech support that they do not have an Outlook client add in at this time but are investigating the possibility. I placed a query on the SunRocket forum about using a SIP API, and was given an excellent tip to use a URL to trigger a call. I will investigate writing an Outlook 2007 add in.

Since I was coming up on the Vonage 30 day money back guarantee, I decided to cancel the service. After a little bit of run around and being passed from one customer service person to another, I was able to cancel the service. They are charging me a $39.99 cancellation fee which will be refunded along with my activation and shipping charges once they receive the Motorola router back. Fair enough.

Update 8/28/06: Last week I received a refund of $84.93 for the activation fee, cancellation fee and VOIP router shipping charge. However, Vonage does not refund the cost of shipping the VOIP router back to them. The experience cost me $6.70.

Comments

[Josh Einstein]

Interesting. SunRocket uses Sylantro (www.sylantro.com) as their VoIP software. Sylantro has a very rich development platform. I have worked quite a bit with the Sylantro platform and it's possible to do all sorts of cool things like hook up to call notifications (not just via SIP which would do a single line, but at a subscriber level) and initiate and drop calls. None of this is exposed for end users, but SunRocket could easily create an API wrapper around this to expose to customers if they wanted. I really would like to see a VoIP carrier do that because it would allow me as an application developer to create some kick ass application like a Vista "missed call" sidebar gadget and tell people "you must sign up for SunRocket to use this". It's good for everyone - SunRocket gets a customer, I get a customer, the customer gets cutting edge applications.

Maybe I need to talk to those guys again...

[US vpn]

I suggest that you get that router since it gives much needed security.

[data center]

A good practice for VOIP is to understand global government toll-bypass regulations. It may not be legal to offer five-digit dialing for international calls to and from certain countries.