Vonage solves Clearwire blocking problem, asks feds for help

Interesting news from RCR Wireless News

Vonage Holding Co., the largest independent Voice over Internet Protocol provider, has solved the problem at least one customer was having when Clearwire Corp. blocked access to Vonage's VoIP service, said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage chief executive officer, on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Clearwire is a new wireless Internet service venture backed by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw.

Citron said Clearwire admitted to blocking Vonage and said it blocked anything as high as 64 kilobits per second-the amount of bandwidth necessary for voice-but Citron said this was not accurate. "When we contacted Clearwire they told us that they don't handle applications of 64 k. That is obviously not the truth because we have worked with the customer to use another port. That customer has their service, and it works fine. The network is fine. No one is being harmed. The towers didn't melt down. Nothing was destroyed. Every time a customer chooses Clearwire, it won't work until they call me and we change a few things in the settings, and all of the sudden the service starts working again," said Citron. More...

| 5 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Listed below are links to sites that reference Vonage solves Clearwire blocking problem, asks feds for help:

Vonage solves Clearwire blocking problem, asks feds for help TrackBack URL : http://blog.tmcnet.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2353

5 Comments

OK, let me start this by saying I worked for this pittiful organization and I can tell you how they think(or don't for that matter) and all thier little dirty tricks.

First I must disclose my reasoning behind this. 1. everyone deserves to know the truth. 2. I work for them between 60-80 hours a week in thier NIC, which was responsable for building(and I was responseable for comissioning all thier equipment too) all the cabinets the sit at the base of cell cites. After breaking my back I was graciously handed a pink slip from two unknowledable individuals who know little to nothing about this industry, yet the fate of the company lay within thier hands...

They block all ports! Except the basic email and web ports, they block the rest. They serve to the customers on licencsed 2.6G wireless spectrum and then do wireless backhaul using unlicensed spectrum! That is problem number 1. Then, then also plan to have approx 50+ customers per sector, with a 20/50/or 100 Mbps backhaul. Most people would say that is fantastic. But in truth, is is miserable. Even though the backhaul from the wireless site to the pop at "high speeds" thier connection to the Inet is usualy only 1.5 Mbps(1 T1) or even two or three. When you have 50-200 customers on a link, trying to share that little bandwidth, you'd be lucky to get the 64k I see referred to on this sites posts.

Furthermore, these cabinets are not built to any type of standard(which is the reason for the NIC, to standardize them). For example, they do not heat shrink thier power connections, and all equipment is hooked to a set of power relays for remote monitoring and power cycling abailities.

If I were to give anyone any advice about this company, STAY AWAY FROM THEM! Why would you want to support a company that insists on maintaining ignorance? Furthermore, why would you want to pay a company for a service that is far less quality than many other established providers out there.

PS, thier "Lead Engineer" at the NIC, does not even know the difference between a torque head screwdriver and a precision screw driver...

I am a new Clearwire subscriber, and they are also blocking my Packet8 VOIP service. I have given Clearwire until nightfall to make everything work.

I have been a Packet8 subscriber for years, and a Clearwire subscriber for a few hours. These do NOT work together without intervention in two ways.

First, I had to connect a computer and sign onto a regular website to get through Clearwire's signup language. Until then, nothing works with the Packet8 hardware. (I also had to close my browser afterward, because it cached Clearwire's IP for the website I had tried to visit.)

Second, I contacted Clearwire's customer support via their website (as my Packet8 service was acting strangely and not working). They wrote back quickly, as in within two hours, and said in part:

"Some of our ports are managed to maintain the integrity of our network. They can be opened by request under special circumstance such as third party voip."

They immediately did exactly this, and I now have a working telephone. This encounter, and an unrelated one earlier, suggests to me that Clearwire is willing to work with its subscribers to meet their needs.

| Reply

I recently signed up to Clearwire, and haven't been able to use it yet! 1, My laptop's ethernet port is bad and I need a USB-to-Ethernet adapter; 2, when I called them to order one, they put it on backorder, lost it, found it again, and now don't know when I am going to get it; 3, I finally had my group home manager go and get one for me. I should be able to use it tonight. If I had had a choice earlier, I would've not even bothered with them.

PS: My mother has Clearwire at her work, and she even agrees that their CS is terrible.

Hello!

I have Clearwire, it does not let me access my website which was recently moved to another server to improve it and the server works off of port 80 and I called Clearwire and they told me they did not know what the problem was, but I had a sense that they were not completely honest.
Please visit the following website http://3900income.com and tell what you see, if you have clearwire in Texas you will not be able to see it. Tomorrow I am going to see about getting another service.

Cruz

Leave a comment

Recent Activity

Saturday

  • Tom Keating tweeted, "Spending 4th of July with in-laws on their lake-side house. Coming soon - fireworks!"

Friday

  • Tom Keating queued Star Trek
  • Tom Keating queued Stardust
  • Tom Keating queued The Fountain

Thursday

More...

Recent Comments

  • ctjames: Yes , I've tried several times by using Cydia installed read more
  • http://openid.aol.com/drdaraban: Yes, I confirm antonioj's comment, both skype and the app read more
  • cmytroops: I was browsing the net and cam across a great read more
  • mike: Sorry if this is off topic but I’m thinking of read more
  • @NumberGarage: Our military service men and women should be driving new read more
  • https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlacBYIyCFI8mz5HS_pdsnSDV1wLz6Vgc8: We have implemented over 50 VoIP systems in the last read more
  • Theo Barton: Its a good phone. I have had a lot of read more
  • https://me.yahoo.com/a/ea7WMvNu2Mlud7dBwQPAAus9JCfo9qE-#27391: I don't want to go through all the problems, I read more
  • Claudio G.: I contacted these folks via e-mail recently (June 2009)and they read more
  • Kinjudah De- Morgan: I am using a strong satelite receiver and a Gateway read more

Subscribe to Blog

    View my Microsoft MVP Profile:

Blogroll

Archives

Around TMCnet Blogs

  • Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com:
    Problems at Joost
  • On Rad's Radar?:
    USF and Rural Reform
  • VoIP & Gadgets Blog:
    Worst Google News Headline Ever! - No public viewing
  • Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com:
    Heading to Rhode Island
  • First Coffee:
    SugarCRM Studied, Broadband 'Crucial,' EGain, OOCOSPI, NetSuite's Zander
  • On Rad's Radar?:
    Bells Giving Up on Landlines?
  • The Readerboard:
    Tougher Actions To Save Telemarketing
  • VoIP & Gadgets Blog:
    eBuddy for iPhone Supports Push Notifications
  • Latest Whitepapers

    TMCnet Videos