Vonage Phone Service; discuss...

[G35stilez]

So, in my area, Comcast has the market monopolized. Its terrible when you are paying $110.95 per month for Basic Cable (60 channels or so) and Cable Modem when you can get a full DSL setup for about the same price including a phone service. However, a DSL satellite is not allowed in our current residence, so we have to grin an bear it.

Now, a phone service wouldn`t bother us a whole lot as my girlfriend and I only use our cell phones. However, it seems as though we live in a rut. The only service that works here is Nextel, which I think is terribly overpriced, especially for someone who will never use the 2-way. We both have Verizon with 2 month old phones. We do the satellite update weekly and still have little luck getting service. We have tried the antennas but they are a PITA and tend to not be good for the phone. Anyways, we are about to get a phone service.

We did some research around and Comcast is a rip-off for phone service as are the alternatives. We found out about Vonage and I have liked everything I`ve heard (free module with signup, $15 a month for the basic plan, route the calls to your cell phone whenever, etc). The only bad thing we found was that when your power goes out, you lose your phone service. However, we have only lost our power once, which was in a really bad storm. The outage lasted no more than an hour. So, this is fine.

My questions to anyone out there who is using/has used/plans on using Vonage are:

-How do you like it?
-Can you call 911 from it?
-Any connectivity problems?
-How`s the customer service?
-Anything you dislike about it?


Feel free to fill in the blanks. I appreciate any and all help/advice.

[Jngrbrdman]

I have a friend who has it. He is nothing but happy. You can call 911 even from a deactivated phone. It is the law that every cell phone must be able to connect to 911 whether it is activated or not.

I`ve just said screw it to my home phone altogether. If someone wants to talk to me then they can send me an email. lol Seriously though... I never use my home phone. Its a wasted 20 bucks a month in my house. But I hear you on the comcast thing... I`m getting raped on a monthly basis for my cable and internet from those guys. This month I`m going back to DSL and satellite. Much cheaper. Screw you comcast!

[Bob]

-How do you like it? Love it! For the price you can not beat it!
-Can you call 911 from it? Yes, you have to sign up through Vonage for 911 service, it is nothing extra just a quick thing you do on their site.
-Any connectivity problems? Nope. Sometimes it is a little echoy but my cable internet is slow and sucky.
-How`s the customer service? Good when you can talk to someone who speaks english.
-Anything you dislike about it? Only thing I dislike is the one time I had to call service it took me about 10 calls to get a person I understood. But you should not have to call service often if ever.

[02SLVRon22]

It is a great deal, $27.11 for unlimited calls. No problems at all, and if the power or ethernet connection is down, you can configure it to call another line, cell etc... I haven`t had a need to call customer service. Everything is done from the website for account changes. I think there is a provision for the 911, but we have another land line in our house for work, so I am not 100% sure on it. I have been using since end of June without any issues. They also offer Refer-A-Friend program, which would give you your first month free, but not sure what other deals they have if you subscribe on your own. If you have other questions, don`t hesitate to ask. HTH

[mgm2003]

This is a very popular service over seas, and many of my friends have it and like it a lot. I`ve been looking into it too because of the price and features. The price/features look very good for $24.99 a month (and in my mind lowering your phone service bill off set`s the ridiculous price Comcast charges for high speed).



The downsides that I see:


* You`re limited to equipment choices (Motorola/Linksys/Vtech). I`m currently using Netgear equipment, and would have to switch, and lose my hardware investment. Yes, I could put it on e-Bay, but I`m not into that.


* Potential latency problems. A lot will depend on your hardware, configuration, comcast speed (in your area), etc..


* Relies on internet technology. If Vonage web services go down, you`re stuck (or have to use your cell).


*You might want to consider a battery backup UPS for your PC.

[Miami_Sunset]

:huh: Question since it is a VONAGE that transmits thru the internet, can i call central America ? I ask becasue my mom is visiting over there and she calls me thru an Internet cafe for only 0.50 cents every 30 minutes :noexpress . if VONAGE is with internet access i suppose you can do this around the world for lees than half of what Bellsouth Would charge me..

[05SilverTRD]

You might want to look at this story. They have been having some problem with establishing 911 service in all thier areas. They utilize a VoIP technology which is good. Some of the larger phone companies are going with VoIP to simplify their network. There is also a FiOS technology that is coming out through Verizon that is going to provide fiber optic cable to your house. You will be able to run up to 3 phone lines, a high speed data line (5, 15, or 30mb download) and you satelite TV. The TV service is still going through some franchise issues in a lot of areas. Not sure when they are going to get to all areas. There is a lot of infrastructure that has to be installed.

Here is the link that talks about Vonage.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/11/29/internet.phones.e911.ap/index.html

[G35stilez]

Thanks a lot to everyone for posting their feelings/info.


Liz and I ordered the service last night and set up the 911 service too. We recieved confirmation that everything went through as planned. I will report back once I recieve/hook it all up.