Getting online with Vonage, possible?

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yozee
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Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by yozee »

i have windows vista and a dreamcast. yes i have a modem. yes its a dial up modem. its a ntsc/u console. i have a vonage home phones. how do i conect my dreamcast online with this method. any help can help. please comment with any info at all.

Dreamcast wireing setup:

Coaxial cable=======Cable Modem<><><>Router--------DC
(source)

==== is coax cable
<><><> is ethernet
------ is phone line

With all this said and shown. can any one help me figure this out or point me to any other documents or websites or tutorials.

Note: ive search this forum and nothing came up.

thanks for anything!
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Warp2063
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Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by Warp2063 »

I admit that I'm only so familiar with Vonage, but last I checked, they provided digital phone service. I don't think they were an ISP... so here I go...

I'm making a few assumptions here...
1) Your Dreamcast has equipped with the standard 56Kb/s modem. Unless the modem is missing, you've replaced it with a modem from another region, or it has been replaced with a Broadband Adapter, this should be true.
2) Vonage has either provided you with a box to plug a phone into, or there's a master box for your house that allows you to use some of the wall jacks in your home (if any). I'm hoping this is what you mean by "Router"... that this box has an actual phone jack to plug into. If you're plugging a regular phone cord into an ethernet jack, it's not going to work.

Now, if by "getting online" you mean "browsing the internet", you're going to need to obtain a version of the Dreamcast Browser by PlanetWeb. If you don't have one, they can be had cheaply from eBay or other sites.

Next, you'll need a dial-up ISP (internet service provider). There are some free ones out there, as well as some paid ones.. Here is a site with a list of a few ISPs that are supposedly compatible with the Dreamcast's browser:
http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtop ... f=3&t=3175
It's important to understand that the Dreamcast browser is rather old at this point, and will not work with all ISPs. That page has some recommended ones, but there may be other options out there that work.

If you want to play Dreamcast games online... the method depends on the game. Some games will still work as-is... games that allow you to direct-dial a friend, for example, or games that use GameSpy's network to find other players. Some games such as Phantasy Star Online or Quake III no longer have official servers, but people have developed private servers. The difficulty of connecting to one of those depends on the game. There are various tutorials for the different games available via simple Google searches.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
yozee
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Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:14 am

Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by yozee »

ok, i do know that they are digital. and i seen a guide about vonage and then useing metconnect to use there dial up. i signed up for that and tried that with all kinds of setting. dreamcast says no answer to ISP. then i tried netzero. same thing.

my setup is how it is. cable modem to router(router have normal ethernet ports as well as 2 phone lines, one goes to DC(was the fax machine) and other goes to the entire house. routing all calls throught cable modem and router, which is why when i unplug router or modem we lose phones as well) frum router to dreamcast. ive tried blind dial, pulse dial. no go. also with DNS i found on my computer by checking the ipconfig comand and without dns leaveing it all 0's.

also, i know that dc is lacking with online shit and everything. yes u need cracked servers for a lot of stuff. and sum ares till online.

note, i have planet web 3.0


ok, anything else needed for my information to help clear this up. i really would love to get something working but i dont have a rfeal dial connection. and im not sure i wanna resort to pc-dc server if somehting im doing is wrong and something can be simpler then that.

thanks again for reply and for any future answer.

please help :D



EDIT: added attachment showing dc setup
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DC setup
DC setup
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yozee
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Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by yozee »

also, the router is a linksys router. so its a great brand.

and, to make sure:
internet: comcast/xfinity
Digital phone service: Vonage


when i pick up a phone i have a dial tone.


i have more then one phone in the house. so uut of the router that phone line connects to the main line previously in the house giving entire house phone line capabilities i think
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Warp2063
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Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by Warp2063 »

Hmm... I'd check to make sure that your phone cable is good, that you're getting a dialtone on that jack and can dial out using a phone... and if you have a cell phone (or a friend does), try setting the number to dial for your ISP to that number, try to connect, and see if that phone rings. Just a battery of simple tests to rule out some potential reasons for your connection failing. Unfortunately, the best communication test would be a successful connection to the internet or another player in a direct-dial game...

If the line itself is working, but your Dreamcast won't dial out, there may be a problem with its modem. Try disconnecting the Dreamcast from all its cables, then unplug the modem from the DC. Check for dirt or corrosion on both the contacts between the DC and the modem (both the system and modem side), and inside the modem's phone jack. Be careful if you need to clean any contacts... you don't want to damage any of the pins.

If everything's working there, then it's likely that there's something wrong with connecting to the ISP. Many ISPs just don't work with older systems. They often require software to be installed that isn't available for the Dreamcast, or use encryption schemes that weren't common then. If the article you're reading is quite old, its information may be outdated and no longer accurate -- dial-in access numbers may have changed, connection methods or protocols may have changed, free service is no longer offered or there are restrictions on it...

A third possibility is that Vonage's analog-to-digital codecs are messing with your communication with the ISP... but that's supposed to be far less of a problem on the Dreamcast than on the Saturn (when it comes to multiplayer games, anyway), as the Dreamcast uses protocols designed to compensate for interference and latency, so I'm less likely to blame that as the cause of your problem.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
yozee
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Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:14 am

Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by yozee »

another note: im useing planet web 3.0

so im trying the pulse dialing while connected top a phone line in my house that had a phone attatched to it that i unpluged and then pluged into the DC. it has a dial tone. and im ttying to connect, while its dialing i hear my other phones making a ring sound every 1 second. then again, no answer from isp. im useing met connect this time with the access number listed on their site and i signed up also and useing all the correct login info and password. feel like im getting closer. any other things u can answer for me? =)

also, wat is blind dial? and shud i use a dns or leave at 0's?
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Warp2063
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Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by Warp2063 »

I have no idea if Vonage supports pulse dialing (most likely not); you should uncheck that option. Pulse dialing is accomplished by rapidly connecting and disconnecting from the phone line a certain number of times for each number being dialed. This is likely why your other phones are ringing - you're probably creating voltage spikes and drops with the rapid dis-/re-connects that your other phones are interpreting as an incoming call. In fact - if that isn't the only issue, it's probably one of them. The phone company would interpret these rapid pickup/hangups as numbers on the line... but your router probably has no idea why you keep doing that. Most likely it's only meant to deal with touch tone dialing, which uses pairs of specific frequencies for each key press. The phone company (or Vonage router, in this case), would interpet the chords as certain button presses.

Blind dialing is when you dial even if you don't hear a dial tone.

Another possibility is that you have too many phones/devices connected to the phone line. Each phone draws a certain amount of power, measured in something called REN - Ringer Equivalency Number. In the early days of telephones, ringing was accomplished by an electromechanical bell, which took a fair amount of power - something like 1 REN. Phone companies would guarantee a certain number of REN to a house, which determined how many phones/devices you could connect to the line. I don't know how much your phones and the DC's modem draw, but your router is now supplying the power rather than a phone company. You might be drawing too much power. It's not highly likely; modern phones and modems usually don't draw much power, opting for electronic ringers instead. It's still a possibility, though.

As for your DNS settings... I'd say consult with your dial-up ISP. Back home, our router is configured with certain DNS settings; we can't connect to the internet without having them set. A lot of times these numbers can be auto-detected, but I don't know if the Planetweb browser can or not. If you ask your ISP, they can probably provide you with the correct settings.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
yozee
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Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:14 am

Re: Getting online with Vonage, possible?

Post by yozee »

thanks ill try sum new things again.
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