Vonage Phone Service: Experiences and Reviews

[AmyjonesPC]

Does anyone here use Vonage for your phone service? If so, have you been pleased? I'm thinking of doing this, but I would like to hear from others that are using the service

 

[DZmom]

I've been using Vonage for a year now. While I've had some problems, mostly I've been completely satisfied. Especially, when my phone bill has never been more than $35 a month! It's great since alot of my hosts are long distance. The only down fall is that in my area code Vonage doesn't have any local numbers, so all my host's and friends in the area must call long distance to get a hold of me, but I can't really afford the area phone providers outrageous rates!

 

[Chef Michelle D]

I saw an add on TV and in small print I thought I saw something about not have 911 service. Is that true? I would not want a phone service if I could not call 911.

 

[whitetiger]

I saw an add on TV and in small print I thought I saw something about not have 911 service. Is that true? I would not want a phone service if I could not call 911.

i love the price on my bill now
the only problems we have is when my husband does a large download, so we just do those at night when we are sleeping

 

[nikkijo]

You can call 911 with vonage. About a year ago when people called 911, 911 could not locate where they were calling from the caller had to tell them. I would check to see if this is fixed, if it's not I would consider twice about having them as a carrier. In an emergency it's amazing that you can forget the simplist things like your address.

If 911 can not locate you and send help out, is it really worth the low phone bill? I know I like the piece of mind of knowing that if I need to call and for some reason I can not talk or if a babysitter is calling and forgets the address that help will be on the way.

 

[KennethandTiffany]

I have Comcast digital voiceI IT! Voice over internet providers are not regulated like the regular phone company is. The regular phone companies have to make sure that something like 99% of the data makes it through to the other line, but VOIP don't have to do that. I personally have had terrible luck with Comcast, when my internet service is slow, my phone service is non existent, or I sound so garbled that no one can understand me. Unfortunately on my end everything sounds fine, so I never know when I am leaving a message for someone whether or not they can understand me! I would continue to do some searching online for info on Vonage and find out what everyone thinks. It may works really well for you and you might absolutely love it!

 

[GeorgiaPeach]

VOIP... Avoid AOL Total Talk!!I had a VOIP line through AOL (AOL Total Talk). Do NOT go with them!! I had it for almost a year....loved the low phone bill but when I had trouble it took 7 weeks and 25 phone calls before they fixed it. I was without a phone for all that time! Customer service and customer satisfaction are definitely not words in their company handbook!!

A VOIP line is great...quality of calls were equal to regular phone lines. The question about 911. It is called e911 with VOIP. You can call 911 like a regular phone line but you have to make sure that your address is correct with your carrier. That is where my problem came in....we moved and even though my phone worked at the new house, if I were to have called 911 they would have gone to the wrong address. With VOIP you have to have your phone line disconnected and then new service reinstated at the new address. My problem started when AOL disconnected my phone but then said they were having problems with new service and couldn't reinstate me!!

Vonage is not available with my area code or I would go with them. I would recommend a VOIP phone line

 

[dianevill]

VonageWe have Vonage and don't like it at all. I'll be in the middle of a conversation and I'm disconnected. Sometimes when people call me they'll get to my voice mail but then it just hangs there - no message. Sometimes when I call people I get their voice mail and it does the same thing - just hangs, no message. A lot of times there's a delay when I'm talking, and for some odd reason when I call one neighbor in particular it sounds like I'm in an echo chamber. When I called Vonage, they said we had to return the router and then they'd send us another. Well....hello, what am I supposed to do while I wait the two weeks for them to send me a new router?

The price is nice, but not worth it. We're switching back to MCI...

Diane

 

[pampchefrhondab]

Some more info.I actually work in the telecommunications management business for my day job so I have some information for you.

My boss has Vonage and loves it. He set up his Vonage account and made sure he liked it before porting his existing home number to it and cancelling his local service. One great thing about Vonage is you can pay an extra $5 a month to have an additional number ring to it. This means if you are in an area where it would be long distance for some of your customers, you could have multiple numbers assigned to your Vonage account to make it a local call for your customers. Also, you can go online from anywhere to retrieve your messaages, forward your phone to another phone line, etc. My sister is getting ready to move from California to Indiana. She is going to port her existing phone number to Vonage because she is going to be working from home for her current job. This way it will be a local call for people in California to call her. She will also pay the extra $5/month to have an Indiana number.

If you disconnect your local phone number it should still be active in the central office to call 911. This is the case for many people who only have a cell phone. As long as you had a phone line before, you should still be able to call 911 from your local phone line. I would check with your local provider about this. I'll ask my boss about this tomorrow for additional info.

The other advantage about Vonage is if you do move you can easily take your phone number w/you. Just think about all the old customers who have your phone number. You want them to be able to reach you.

I hope this info. is helpful.

Rhonda B.

 

[AmyjonesPC]

Wow! It is a 50/50 split on the Vonage. What a decision to make.. We have a local company that owns everything in town, phone, cable, security internet, dsl and cable modem. There is NO competition, We never even made long distance phone calls before I started my business, but now I prefer to use the land line when I make my PC calls. Hopefully a few more people will give thier opinions about Vonage and I can make a decision.

 

[pamperedbecky]

This is a very interesting thread!! I'm considering switching to Comcast digital phone, but now I'm wondering if that's worth it. It would be quite a drastic cut in my monthly phone bill. I have two lines and for both they say it would be $60 or so. All LD is included, so I like that. I'm glad I saw this thread because now I want to ask about the 911 issue. Hmmm, I'll be interested to see others' reactions!!

 

[chefstephj]

We had Vonage for 3 months and hated it. We only had a dial tone about 15 days out of the 3 months. They messed up our billing(overcharging us for $150 modem), we had calls dropped during conversations, lines crossing, and numerous other problems. I would not recommend them to anyone. It is not worth the money considering the time you will spend on the phone with "customer service". Don't sign up with them!!!

 

[amya]

OK. Here is my opinion. We love Vonage. We were told that a cable modem was needed for Vonage, luckily we already had RoadRunner so we were fine there. The only time we get a garbled sound is if someone else on Vonage (such as my brother-in-law) tries to call and leave a message on our machine. His message doesn't always come through clearly.

As for 911, we have a feature on our service that if we dial 911, we won't be connected to the main 911 service, but we will be connected with local police.

My one complaint is that when I call someone else, such as a customer, and that person has caller ID, my name does not appear on their ID box. Either just my phone number appears or "Vonage Communications" appears. Because of this, not everyone will answer their phone because they think it is a telemarketer. I just leave a message and they usually call me back pretty quickly.

All in all, I would definitely reccommend Vonage.

 

[DZmom]

Vonage 911Under the Account section of your Vonage account, it asks for you physical address that way when you call 911 it transfers you to the local 911 dispatcher. I've posted below what Vonage has to say about their 911 service.

Vonages 911 Dialing is different than traditional 911, but it is a safe and reliable means of emergency dialing that may differ depending on where you are located when using your Vonage service.

Most of our customers (other than WiFi and Softphone customers) have access to either basic 911 or Enhanced 911 (E911) service. With E911 service, when you dial 911, your telephone number and registered address is simultaneously sent to the local emergency center assigned to your location, and emergency operators have access to the information they need to send help and call you back if necessary. Customers in locations where the emergency center is not equipped to receive your telephone number and address have basic 911. With basic 911, the local emergency operator answering the call will not have your call back number or your exact location, so you must be prepared to give them this information. Until you give the operator your phone number, he/she may not be able to call you back or dispatch help if the call is not completed or is not forwarded, is dropped or disconnected, or if you are unable to speak. As additional local emergency centers become capable of receiving our customers information, Vonage will automatically upgrade customers with basic 911 to E911 service. Vonage will not give you notice of the upgrade.

Certain customers do not have access to either basic 911 or E911. If you dont have access to basic 911 or E911 your 911 call will be sent to the Vonage national emergency call center. A trained agent at the emergency call center will ask for the name, telephone number and location of the customer calling 911, and then contact the local emergency center for such customer in order to send help. Examples of situations where 911 calls will be sent to the Vonage national emergency call center include when there is a problem validating a customers address, the customer is identified with an international location, or the customer is located in an area that is not covered by the landline 911 network. In addition, if you use a WiFi or SoftPhone, due to the portable nature of these Devices, your 911 calls will be routed to the Vonage national emergency call center. Emergency personnel do not receive your phone number or physical location when your 911 call is routed to the Vonage national emergency call center.

You must register with Vonage the physical location where you will utilize Vonage phone service (Service) for each phone line. Also note that if you move your device to another location, you must register your new location. If you do not register your new location, any 911 call you make may be sent to an emergency center near your old location. You will register your initial location of use when you subscribe to the Service. This process can take several hours, and you will receive a confirmation email once 911 Dialing has been activated for your initial location or for a newly registered location. Regardless of what address you register for a WiFi or SoftPhone, emergency calls you make from these devices will be routed to the Vonage national emergency response center. Remember that our 911 Dialing service will not function in the event of a broadband or power outage or if your broadband, ISP or Vonage phone service is terminated.

 

[Chozengirl]

Wow, what an interesting thread!!!
Has anyone ever thought of just using thier cell phones for thier business?
I couldn't afford long distance on my home phone, so I do all my calling from my cell phone.
I have Cingular, so all of my unused minutes get rolled over, and I have plenty of minutes.
Just a thought

 

[cmdtrgd]

I use my cell for my business - I do not give out my home phone. That way I can use my cell bill as a business expense!! Woohoo!

 

[DZmom]

I have no cell signal at the house and I couldn't use the cell bill as a write off since it's a gift from my MIL. She bought the phones and the service for my husband and I as a Christmas gift. I also like that I have a set phone bill not matter who I call or how long I talk. My closest relative lives about 3 hours away, and the farthest lives in France. Vonage also has reasonable international rates.

 

[ChefNic]

We have Vonage , and don't like it.

A couple times talking with my mom , she heard a beeping noise on the phone, I couldn't hear it...
Another time, I was talking to a friend, and he heard an annoying beeping... he said it was so distracting he wanted to hang up!
>>>>> I couldn't hear either one of the beeping...

OFTEN while talking the person I'm talking to suddenly can't hear me. In my mid-sentence, they start saying "Hello? Hello?" then they hang up! I hear them just fine, but they suddenly can't hear me... My good friend who I talk to often, knows this happens so she hangs on the phone until it goes away and she can hear me again, but it is very annoying! Especially when it happens to someone who isn't aware of it.

ALSO, We needed a termite inspection... every March to keep our contract active. I called many times, and it said the line was disconnected. I looked it up in the phone book, called information, looked on our bill, etc etc... everywhere said it was the same phone number!
I asked a couple neighbors who all use the same termite place, and finally one neighbor who has Vonage, said it was because we have Vonage, the termite place recognized our number as long distance and wouldn't accept it! He suggested we use our cell phone - which is also long distance !!! ? - and it worked!

Not to mention the echo I hear often -not always- when I call people.

We got it since my husband's mother, grandmother, etc, live in Istanbul - it is VERY CHEAP to call internationally! So I imagine we will stick with it and just deal with it.

I've never had a problem with hosts not being able to call me long distance, etc... I give them my cell phone number sometimes too so they can reach me always... and tell them , "It's long distance" and most just say "Oh that's fine I have a cell phone!"

 

[agw]

We've had Vonage for quite a while now, I'm not sure just how long though. We've been mostly pleased with it. The bill is dramatically lower than our SBC/ATT land line was. We also both have cell phones, so the monthly cost before Vonage was a good $50 more than it is now.

The only problems that we've had are getting used to the delayed connection - which is all of about 5-10 seconds, but it seems long after using a regular connection my whole life - and having our phone # show up as "Vonage" instead of our information on caller IDs.

There has been a few times that our cable went out, so our phone service did, too, but that's more a cable service provider issue than a Vonage one. We have cell phone for those times.

 

[ChefLisa]

Hi all!

I have never used Vonage because I used to work for the major phone company in our area and my husband still works for their cell phone company.

When I worked for the phone company I had the opportunity to tour one of the buildings that houses the equipment that makes our phones work. The actual phone lines are the same regardless of which phone company you use. For the other equipment, the monopoly phone companies must make space available in their buildings for the non-monopoly companies. Therefore, service should be comparable.

The beeping on the lines sounds like a fixable problem. Have you had much contact with Vonage about the problem? If you have and they have not really tried to fix it, I suggest a call to the Public Service Commission for your state. One of their responsibilites is to help resolve issues with telecommunication companies.

Lisa

 

[taguinn1018]

I use my cell phone we also have Cingular. Thought about Vonage but dont think I would ever use it. Everytime I go to make a call I automatically pick up my cell phone.

 

[AlowayFamily]

Cingular is great!I do the same thing Melissa does. We have Cingular, and I am on the family plan with son and hubbie. DH never talks on the phone, so my son and I use a lot of his minutes. Once I convinced my son he does not need to just sit on the phone and watch TV with his friends , we have plenty of minutes for calls. And if you call Cingular to Cingular, the calls are free, no matter when you call.

 

[PaulaReb]

I have SunRocketWe use Sun Rocket which is similar to Vonage but cheaper. We have the same problems....calls dropped in mid sentence, no phone service for a couple of hours (like today), garbled connection and echoing...I can't stand the echoing...yet...the person on the other end sounds fine to me but they can barely hear me. I'm not sure how much I like having this phone service, especially since starting PC. If it keeps up, I might have to change companies. The only upside is it's a great deal and we don't have a phone bill every month and we can call anywhere in the USA plus we have a credit every month for International calls. I just wish the service was better. Oh well....you get what you pay for.

 

[PamperedPenny]

We just switched to Verizon Voicewing, which is great because I was afraid since I had DSL and not Cable that I couldn't do the VOIP thing. But Verizon Online set us up with a dry loop for our DSL. We pay 24.95 (actually about $30) a month for the Voicewing Internet phone for unlimited calls and even with the glitches love it. Since we live between DC & Baltimore , most of the places we call normally were long distance, so we were forced to get the unlimited plan through the phone company that is like $75 a month. I think we are doing much better now.

I would do your research into the different companies before you switch, and make sure that they can hook you up with 911 service. We also got to keep our old number which was extremely helpful.

Good Luck!

 

[chef.katie]

What is Verizon Voicewing?

 

[PCINVA]

I have Vonage and have now for about a year. When we first got it, we constantly were having problems with it because of dropped calls mostly. It was so annoying when you were in the middle of a conversation and you could hear them, but they couldnt hear you. We noticed it would be out for awhile too so there would be no dial tone at all.

We then had our cable modem box replaced and ever since its been awesome. I havent had one dropped call since, when Im talking to someone. I love the price and I love all the features you get. Especially the Simu-Ring option. Thats cool when Im expecting a host to call me back...it will ring at my house and my cell phone at the same time so no matter where I am I can talk to them without missing the call.

I was so ready to switch back, but was too cheap to pay the cancellation fee to Vonage and then the reactivation fees to Verizon so I stuck it out, but after the new box we have been happy with them!

 

[sammie]

Vonagewe actually use Lingo and we have for over a year. We are very satisfied with the service. the cost is 24.15 with tax for unlimited calling in the US and Western Europe. They have a lot of local numbers. the cost is very reasonable. I love the price and the quality. We occasionally have trouble but not very often. Definitely worth the money. I think they also have 800 numbers.

Sammie

 

[dannyzmom]

My FIL was just talking about Skype recently - anyone have it?

 

[Sk8Mom209]

I just switched my phone and internet service to Clearwire and I get phone and internet for 1/3 of the price I was paying.

The deal with Clearwire's e911 was if their system could not locate my address, I was unable to purchase their phone service. This was to prevent problems locating my address in the event of an emergency.

Getting set up was challenging, for the first week I had a problem every night when I got home from work, but now it's great.

 

[tiffanypc05]

I ussed my cell phone for everything until Dec. and we got a landline through the local telephone company here in the county. If you will look around for cell plans, you may be able to find deals sometimes for instance, i pay $50 a month for unlimited minutes everywhere. My husband said last night that we should find a plan that only has like 1000 minutes a month and when i checked that out last night, it was 49.99 for 1000 minutes...now why would i want to pay the same amount to have less minutes....If you are in n.c. , s.c, georgia, and Tenn. check out suncom. that's the cell provider that we use and just to let everyone know my phone was messed up for a few days and i couldn't make pc calls and my hubby called suncom and told them that i could make calls and they gave us a $30 credit for the month...how cool is that?

just thought i'd put my 2cents in!!1