AT&T slaps Vonage with yet another lawsuit
By Darren Murph 
posted October 20th 2007 12:02PM
posted October 20th 2007 12:02PM
Just when you thought Vonage may be catching a breather from the total barrage of lawsuits it has been hit with of late, along comes none other than AT&T to prove you wrong. Reportedly, the company has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Madison, Wisconsin alleging that Vonage unlawfully violated a 1996 patent filing that "broadly describes the idea of routing telephone calls over data networks like the internet." It sounds as though the fledgling VoIP provider is hoping to resolve the dispute before it goes to trial, but it did note that it "couldn't guarantee" such an outcome. We're tempted to ask how Vonage's year could get any worse, but quite frankly, we're not so sure we'd like the answer.
Vonage is far from rock-solid. As a person who works the ISP side of things, I can tell you this much about Vonage:
1. It's call quality is, for the most part, sub-par. Now, with cordless phones and the like it's not usually noticed or, if it is, it is attributed to the cordless phone or the ISP.
2. Having just made the above statement, Vonage's reliability and (to some degree) call quality is reliant upon your ISP. Bad ISP or poor line quality= dropped calls and voice digitization and degradation.
I, however, agree wholeheartedly that the conglomeration of baby bells back into Ma Bell is a horrible oversight by our government and should have been stopped before it was allowed to happen. This is just the fallout from cronie capitalism.
I hope this doesn't affect us in Canada. Though I love Vonage, we are already overpaying over here. I pay 40 bucks for the same plan that costs 25 dollars, south of the border,
OF course there is prior art for VOIP, from at least 5 years prior. Tough luck, AT&T.
"broadly describes" = fucking bullshit.
Had Vonage for almost 4 years now and I've saved tons of money with Vonage. Never had a single problem with them. No issues with call quality for me. I agree with the the other poster said. "If you cant beat them, sue them". If these companies get Vonage out of business" Man! i guess we can sue them as well. This patent lawsuit is bullS#@t!
Vonage shouldn't let these companies just bully them. I wont mind paying 5 more bucks a month so Vonage can afford to get a better lawyer. They need to get a better lawyer coz these telecom companies are suing them left and right. They'll keep on doing this until Vonage waives the white flag...which i hope doesn't happen.
If Vonage was an ISP as well you think these companies would still sue them? probably not. It takes 90 kbps
While I am completely nodding in agreement with everyone who has said that our patent system is rubbish, I also question why everyone is picking on Vonage and not say, Packet8 also. I love my Vonage service, but to enforce their patents, should the Bells be suing everyone who offers VOIP? Heck, what about Comcast? I haven't read the patent, but "broadly describes the idea of routing telephone calls over data networks like the internet" is pretty broad.
Rubbish.
there seems to be a lot of growing pains with voip, but i suppose is the same to be said of any new technology. its just different because this is something people rely on day to day and expect it to work without fail (not like sunrocket).
i remember using net2phone forever ago when voip just came out, they were the first company to offer it. the quality of the calls weren't great but i just switched back to net2phone after 3 years with vonage and it's a world of difference how far the technology came in such a short time. i hope all these lawsuits don't kill a pretty good thing.
It won't. They want to exploit the tech for themselves, and run new companies into the ground. It's like the innovator's dilemma: Tech is developed in a research lab at company X. Company X fails to use tech, since it will destroy existing business that is going great, so it sits on a shelf. Company Y uses technology to invent faster, cheaper, better. If company X was smart enough to patent, they can sue. Otherwise, they go away. See also: Cisco and Linksys.
Waaaaaaa....Leave VONAGE alone!!!...anyone have a problem with Vonage, come see me!!
It's like watching a pack of geriatric lions hunt down a baby bunny. Sick, twisted, mean and unspirited. Keep fighting Vonage. Sometimes it sucks to be the innovator, but sometimes it works out ok.
Which reminds me, I filed a patent three years ago on "a litigious process to prevent unnecessary competition and threat to current and/or previous business environments." You're on notice AT&T, Verizon, etc. etc.
f-off att! ..let me use my vonage phone.