HELP! Anyone use Vonage for residential? Does Vonage bow to the NSA?

[Whoa_Nelly]

Here in CA, am stuck with AT&T/SBC for residential phone and Internet, but since we don't get Qwest, I could switch to Vonage.

Is Vonage a sellout to the NSA? Does Vonage provide phone good service, connectivity to the Internet?

Are there any other choices in CA that don't sellout to Big Brother?

Since AT&T has now unequivocally said, "FUCK YOU! WE CAN DO WHAT WE WANT WITH YOUR INFO BECAUSE IT'S REALLY OURS, NOT YOURS! PAY US TO FUCK YOU OVER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!", I so am ready to change providers.

Input, anyone? Thanks

[mikelgb]

1. i feel the same way here in CA

i use Vonage for work...

and it has ups and downs:
down: Not sure if they give data wholesale to NSA, but it goes over internet so is less secure
up: cheaper
down: not as reliable, because it relys on the internet and also at&t phone lines lines once you are out of the vonage network... so att will have the call recorded no matter what if you are talking to their customer. and on some long distance calls I get busy network (seems to be ATT giving lower prefernce to a VOIP call
up: vonage are not att

despite all the downs I am seriously considering using the vonage line permanantly

[Debau2005]

2. I am moving next week

I have called ATT and told them that I no longer need their service, and told them why! I am going with Vonage for now. If for no other reason it is cheaper.

There are other VOIP services out there, do a google search. You may find one you like more.

[mike_c]

3. I don't know the answer to the NSA question...

...but I've used Vonage as my sole residential phone company for over 2 years and I'm very satisfied with it. I use Cox Cable for my boradband connection. I talk to friends around the country MUCH more frequently now since there are no long distance charges. I've had zero unsolicited sales calls since switching to Vonage. The voice quality is always good-- on VERY RARE occasions I notice some minor packet "stuttering" but it's been like maybe two or three times in almost three years. My SBC landline was sloppier than that.

As for the NSA question, I suppose you could ask Vonage directly, but the truth is that if the NSA wants VOIP comms they can simply tap the internet backbones and filter the VOIP out of the data traffic. I would assume that they do that anyway.

If you need secure communication point-to-point, e.g. to discuss bomb making and the like, I'd recommend you check out software VOIP like Skype and hard encryption, e.g. Zfone http://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/zfone/index-start.html . All the hep terrorists are doing it these days....

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. All the terrorists are doing it these days ROFLMAO

:rofl:

Thanks for the input from all so far :-)

Will keep checking back to see if others have ideas.

DAMMIT! I HATE AT&T! :mad:

[datadiva]

5. I have looked around at whats available

In my are Central Ca, the one that looks good to me is Opex. I already use their long distance plan so I may be going that route. First I have to change my internet carrier. I have SBC now and am going to fire them this weekend. As soon as I get my new DSL hooked up I am switching to Opex for my VOIP phone service. Damn, the trouble these people cause. I feel like I am jumping through hoops.