Two and half weeks into my 31 day trial with SunRocket (see my VOIP series here), I have decided to stay with SunRocket. I analyzed six areas; the cost, the quality of voice calls, the fax/Tivo connectivity, the quality of the included VOIP router, the functionality of the user web portal, and E911.
Cost
The clear winner is SunRocket, especially when the majority of your calls are made to the US and Canada. SunRocket offers a 12 month plan for $199.00, which comes out to $16.58 per month taxes included. This plan also includes a $3.00 credit per month for any international call. You can also purchase a $299.00 12 month plan which includes unlimited calling to 41 countries, this comes out to $26.92 per month taxes included. Vonage offers a month to month unlimited USA, Canada, UK, France, and Ireland plan for $24.99 plus $1.98 for taxes for a total cost of $26.97 per month. One item you have to watch for is that many international destinations only include unlimited call to lines. Countries where inbound cell phone calls are not charged to the cell phone user are pretty expensive and are not included in the unlimited plans. To call a UK cell phone for example, the cost is $.34 per minute with Vonage and $.28 per minute with SunRocket. Any way you look at it SunRocket is cheaper.
Quality of voice calls
Both Vonage and SunRocket use the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the G.711 standard for transmitting voice. With both services I found some calls to be better than others but none were so bad that both parties could not continue a conversion. As I mentioned before, the calls are somewhat better than cell but not as good as wire line, however yesterday I made a call to France and was very surprised by the clarity. I could not tell the difference from a wire line call. Call quality is related to the available bandwidth on your broadband connection. This means that placing the VOIP router behind the DSL or Cable modem or placing the VOIP router behind a router that can perform bandwidth management is critical. My current setup places the InnoMedia MTA 6328-2Re VOIP router behind my cable modem, once I receive my D-Link DFL-210 router (this router has bandwidth management) I will be placing the InnoMedia behind the DFL-210.
Fax/Tivo connectivity
Both Vonage and SunRocket support Fax and Tivo. This again is based on the available bandwidth on your broadband connection, since a fax or modem connection will take up 90Kbps. The fax does not always go through on the first try but it makes it within 5 tries. I think I still have some tweaking to do with the fax software, but I use faxes infrequently so this service works for me. I love SunRocket's free Signature number with distinctive ring, Vonage charges $4.99 per month for their Virtual number service. The distinctive ring works very well with the VentaFax software I just purchased. If you receive or send many faxes I would suggest looking a web service like K7 or a wire line connection from your local phone company to avoid too many retransmissions. VOIP technology was never designed to support modems.
Quality of the included VOIP router
Vonage has many more choices than SunRocket. I tested Vonage with the Motorola VT2442 VOIP router. I found this router to be far superior to SunRocket's InnoMedia VOIP router in terms of router and firewall options. However both do a good job of handling voice calls. Had I chosen to stay with Vonage I would have probably gotten totally rid of my NetGear FVS-318. I am still getting rid of my FVS-318, but I am replacing it with the D-Link's DFL-210. This router is probably overkill for my use, but I believe I will grow into it, especially the VPN functionality. The InnoMedia just does not have all of the basic router and firewall options I am looking for. Other popular options seem to be wireless routers like the Linksys WRT54G and the Trendnet TEW-611BRP.
Functionality of the user web portal
Both the Vonage and SunRocket user portals are good, Vonage's is probably a little more polished but the options are similar (see my first post here). I miss the click to call application that Vonage has and I will probably end up writing one myself. SunRocket has the Signature Message screener application which is helpful. I like the Find Me Feature SunRocket has but miss the clearly spelled out Network Availability forward feature. The Find Me should work the same but I have not tested it.
Update 8/28/06: SunRocket has updated their portal to include a very nice feature that allows you to click to call, save to contact or block numbers on the home page call log. They also added helpful links, making navigation easier. All in all an excellent upgrade.
E911
If you are replacing a wire line phone, Enhanced (E911) is very important to replace the traditional 911 service. Vonage and SunRocket offer E911. For E911 to function correctly you must register the address where your VOIP router resides with the VOIP provider. When you place a 911 call the VOIP provider passes the registered address to the 911 emergency center which is responsible for that address. If you move your device to another location, you should register the new address. If you do not and place a 911 call at the new location, the call will be routed to the old location's emergency services facility with the old address information. You could loose precious time in getting help. E911 takes an additional step to access the VOIP provider's database before connecting to the appropriate emergency service number. With wire line service you do not have that extra step, since in most communities, the local phone company has the contract to provide 911 communication services. The other point to be mindful of is being able to dial 911, you are dependent on your broadband connection being available both connectivity and power. The local phone company likes to tout the fact that they can run wire line service longer, this is true but I had one outage after a tropical storm which knocked out power and our wire line phone went dead. We were left to rely on our cell phone. It is important that you take 911 into consideration before switching to VOIP, although E911 is an excellent step forward, the extra address and emergency center lookup step makes it less efficient the traditional wire line 911 service. SunRocket does not offer service in areas where E911 is not available.
Conclusion
Clearly Vonage has more experience and is a larger provider than SunRocket. You need to compare features, costs, your available broadband bandwidth. If you are using DSL, you might want to consider Vonage since you are on the lower end of available broadband bandwidth, unless you purchase or own a router with bandwidth management. If you have cable, then SunRocket provides the better value and you should have enough bandwidth to overcome the InnoMedia's VOIP router lack of functionality.
Sunrocket - Verizon vs Vonage
Last week when I read the press reports on the Verizon vs Vonage patent case, I was perplexed by lack of detail of the patents involved in the case. During the Blackberry case there seem to be plenty of detail analysis available. Clint Ricker had the same thought and spent the time to research the matter. Here is the link to his findings and analysis. This case seems to have many of the attributes of the Blackberry case which in my mind should never have gotten as far as it did and just illustrates how broken our patent system is. Unfortunately Congress has other pressing issues to deal with it and I am afraid this issue will not be dealt with anytime soon. Left with this system, companies will continue to use questionable patents in defensive moves against competitors.
You could argue that Vonage is not really a competitor of Verizon's. With only 2.2 million subscribers, they dwarf Verizon's customer base. Verizon's real competitor is Comcast and the other cable companies. With their VOIP phone service Comcast is poaching customers from Verizon. Given the reliability ads Verizon is showing in the Washington, DC area, they are concerned with defection rate. Vonage has been since 2002, yet this lawsuit was only brought in the last year. Verizon chose to attack the middle player in the field which does not have the deep pockets of a Comcast to fight this kind of litigation. The result shows.
The problem for consumers is that the ruling affects us. With VOIP services from Vonage, Sunrocket and others, we have been able to save considerable amounts of money and have started to break the strangle hold local phone companies have had. The technology is maturing and from my own experience with Sunrocket, I can vouch that the service has gotten better and better. Although the call quality still does not equal the Plain Old Telephone System (POTS), it works as well as a cell phone service. Should the ruling stand, it could have a detrimental impact on the nascent industry and in the end kill competitiveness for local dial tone service.
The major patent in question describes how a call and its associated billing information get passed from a VOIP (or in a broader sense a packet based system) network to the POTS network. The irony is that all of the traditional phone companies are moving their POTS networks towards some form of VOIP or packet switched system making this patent obsolete. As I have said before, judges and lawmakers are not technologists. This works to the advantage of large technology companies like Verizon who put their business agenda first. Unfortunately as a stockholder I agree, but as a technologist and consumer I disagree. We need a balance and there does not seem to be an easy fix. I hope that as the Vonage case works its way through the court system some balance is found, otherwise I fear we will end up with the local phone monopoly VOIP gave us a glimmer to get away from. Maybe Comcast and other cable companies should donate to a Vonage lawsuit fund...
One last note, as Verizon is deploying FIOS they are urging people to switch their local service from copper to FIOS. At first I thought that this meant VOIP but I was told by Verizon marketing folks that it is not. They could not tell me what technology they were using but I am assuming it is some sort of packet based system tied into their POTS network.
Posted by sskarlatos on April 13, 2007 at 09:22 AM in Commentary, SunRocket, Verizon FIOS, VOIP, Vonage | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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