Anyone of ya'll use Vonage?

[IflyaBoeing737]

Does anyone have an opinion on VOIP like Vonage? I'm considering it to save some money.

 

[lowecur]

Yup, just got mine up and running. Only disadvantage is you need your phone base right by the computer. I have 3 other headsets that go with the base that I keep at various locations in the house. Clarity is great, plus you get caller ID, call forwarding, and conference calling. I like it so far.

 

[barbarian4]

I got it when I started doing int'l long haul and it's great, it's hard to beat 3 cents a minute calling Hong Kong form your home phone. I know a lot of people who use skype and like it alot also.

 

[ExpWayVis31]

I'm going on my second month with Vonage, so far I'm liking it very much. I have a Panasonic answering machine w/3 wireless hand sets, but you can also wire it in to your existing home wires.

Potential problems:It doesn't work in a power failure, but a battery back up for your cable modem and router will fix that. Also your home alarm system will not be able to dial out so you would have to keep your land line.

One of the best features is that it will simultaneously ring both your home phone AND a second number of your choice, which in my case is my cell phone.

 

[SeaSlam]

Another thing to consider especially if you've got young kids is when you dial 911 in an emergency, your home address WILL NOT appear on the operators screen. I've been told this is because it's an "internet address" and not a physical location.

 

[chazman]

I use it also and love it so far going on my second month.

The 911 thing is not an issue becasue you register your address with Vonage and they submit where you want the rescue crew to go when you dial 911. It is not automatic, you have to register a specific address and verify it about 5 times before it becomes active.

Lowcur needs to look into wiring it to his house. I have my base station setup at the other end of my house. If you plug the VOIP router into an existing phone jack the rest of the house is powered by Vonage (As long as you disconnect your land line from the outside of your house first). Works great.

LOTS of features for the flat rate of 24.99 a month. You pick your area code where you want, doesn't matter to a VOIP router.

You can get your voicemails via email if you want.

Dual ring feature is way cool, as mentioned earlier.

The power outage/internet outage thing is the only drawback. They have a very reliable solution in place called network unavailability number. If your router is offline for any reason you give them a number (mine is my cell number) to ring instead. So essentially if your internet is out, or your router is unpowered, your calls will be automatically forwarded to the number of your choice.

If anyone has any questions PM me and I will be glad to help you out.

Chaz

 

[lowecur]

Thanks Chaz, I'll have to try it.

 

[Tina Fey's Scar]

How's the audio quality? Is there any lag? Does it sound exactly like a landline phone or is there a digtal garbled quality to it?

 

[patq1]

Potential problems:It doesn't work in a power failure, but a battery back up for your cable modem and router will fix that. Also your home alarm system will not be able to dial out so you would have to keep your land line.

I was going to sign up when I move into my new place but I didn't think about the alarm. Oh well... thanks for the heads up!

Pat

 

[Darby Crash]

I have had Vonage since October 2004. Overall the service is good. All the features do not always work as advertised. When your cable goes out, which is rare, you can have your calls forwarded to another phone. I have them forwarded to my cell phone. This has happened to me three times in six months. My calls did not forward one of these three times. Caller ID is also a problem. When you call some people they see "Vonage Holdings" and your phone number. Some people have ignored my calls because of this. Sound quality is usually great, but sometimes it hesitates about 20-30 seconds to place the call. Sometimes it can get annoying and I'm a pretty patient guy. On the other hand, customer service is the absolute worst I have ever experienced. I have called numerous times and sent numerous emails (which is how they do most of their customer service) regarding these incidents. The first email was sent Jan. 29. I have followed up 5 times since and have received an automated reply saying they have my request to speak to a technical support person and will get back to me shortly. I have not received a single call or any further help. Basically you get what you pay for. Overall service is good, but be prepared to pull your hair out if you have technical problems.

 

[Jetsi]

Wish I had read this first

I am fighting with a problem with my Vonage phone now. Service has been really good until last week. Now all of my incoming calls are dropped after 20 seconds or so, then I have to call them back.

Strangely enough, if I make a call and someone calls me, I can switch to them and the call doesn't get dropped.

While I was rebooting the modem and my router, someone called and the call was forwarded to my cell. And IT dropped in 20 seconds as well. So I know the problem isn't with my firewall.

Numerous calls, and spending many hours on hold, and no response. I wonder how quick they will try to fix it when cancel my account with them and go to traditional phone lines.

BTW, your operating system shouldn't make a difference. You will have to get a switch or router, so you can divide your broadband between your computer and your phone. So the signal doesn't go to your computer (unless you had 2 ethernet ports on your computer, then you could make the phone come out of that . . . . hmmmmmm).

So, to make a long story short, if you don't have any need for customer service, the phone works fine.

Jetsi

 

[chili]

packet 8

I have VOIP through Packet 8, or 8x8 and like it. The coolest feature is virtual phone numbers which is a second number that you get to pick from any area code. So mom and dad can call the kids from city A and it is a local call for them.

 

[goaliemn]

I've had it for over a year. I absolutely love it Great sound quality, and I have multiple numbers in multiple cities so friends can call me for free.

If you haven't signed up yet, PM me your email address and I'll have vonage send you a link where you get a month for free and I get 2 for the referral

 

[Captain Overs]

I thought Vonage was that feminine itch product?

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

We've sort of had Vonage for over a year, and our customer service is excellent!

Our high speed physical cable is Time-Warner, but we use Earthlink as our high-speed INet provider.

Earthlink started carrying Vonage, which is how we signed up. Our customer service is great because all of our customer service needs are done by Earthlink.

We don't use it much, except to call Canada, and a few other long distance places that our cell phones are still expensive for.

We used to pay $40/month for our landline, and about another $100/month for long distance. Now we pay $25/month total, saving us about $115/month, which almost covers our 3 cell phones.

You can pick any area code number for your phone, including Canada (if not now, at least soon). Additionally, you can add any phone number for $5/month.

Here's how that could help you:
You live in N. Dakota (I know you wouldn't really be THAT insane, but this is just an example-Who needs -100 degree wind chill!), and your mom lives in NY. You get a ND number so all of your friends (you have to pretend here that other people actually would live in ND also) can call your phone as if it was a local number. Then, you pay $5/month extra with a NY number attached to your service. That way your mom can dial the NY number and it is a local call for her also! Your girlfriend just moved to DEN? Smart! Get her a DEN number and she gets a local call to you also (it won't last long, though-who would want to date a guy who was crazy enough to live in ND?).

The 911 thing is being upgraded, and it will soon work exactly like any other 911 call. For now, you do have to verify some stuff to get it set up and working properly.

Also, we paid the extra $40? to have another piece of hardware, so that we can use our high-speed connection AND call on the VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone at the same time.

All of the people we've called have said they don't notice any difference in quality, except maybe it's better.

It's neet getting to listen to your voice mail anywhere in the US via your computer! You can save the messages on your hard drive if you wish!

Cliff
YIP

 

[chazman]

Also, we paid the extra $40? to have another piece of hardware, so that we can use our high-speed connection AND call on the VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone at the same time.

I think this is a misleading statement. I can call anytime I want and use my cable internet connection without any special extra piece of hardware. You don't need to pay extra to use your internet and the VOIP at the same time.

Maybe you need to expain your situation here further.

Chaz

 

[goaliemn]

I think this is a misleading statement. I can call anytime I want and use my cable internet connection without any special extra piece of hardware. You don't need to pay extra to use your internet and the VOIP at the same time.

Maybe its an earthlink thing.. they may have gave him an extra IP for his VOIP equipment.

I know my vonage box is also a router/firewall so I put my equipment after it.

 

[Cpt. Over]

Hey ya'll! Also take a look at lingo, at lingo.com. The beauty of lingo is it does the same as vonage, but it is $19.95 a month (1st month free) and you call WESTERN EUROPE UNLIMITED in addition to the U.S. and Canada. I've had it for a while and have been very happy. The customer service is very courteous and responsive (it's in Canada) and the company is in Virginia. It is packed with features. The one I like is, three way calling. I call my parents in Pennsyvania and flash them on hold, then call my sister in England. We all talk for awhile (unlimited), then I'll hang up, but my parents and sister are still connected through my lingo service and at no cost to them. The call to England is like talking to her in the next room (very clear). I also have the service routed through my computer fax and no problem for sending and receiving faxes. The lingo service comes with a little box. This box, if you like, can be taken on overnights to hotels that have high speed internet access. Plug the high speed eternet RJ-145 jack into the box and the hotel room phone into the box and you're making calls to Western Europe, the U.S., Canada. The telephone number you have will follow that little box. So if someone were to call that number, the hotel phone would ring. Pretty cool. Let me know if you have any questions. The reason I went with Lngo instead of Vonage is Vonage advertises all over and passes that cost along to the customer. And I like the Western Europe calling and the price is cheaper. Also I like to support the quiet underdog. They do a referral program of $25.00 credit for you and me. Hope this helps.

https://www.lingo.com/
https://www.lingo.com/resources/popups/popup.gif

 

[Plug]

I've had Vonage for about 2 months now with no problems. I have Comcast cable for internet and TV along with Xbox live and everything works great. In fact scheduling just called while I was on this thread, no problem.

The only problems I have had is when Comcast has issues and they are usually pretty quick to respond, no more than a few hours.

 

[Singlecoil]

Back to the alarm system question. I'm moving and planning on installing an alarm system and vonage.
Why can't the alarm system dial out over vonage?
Or is the issue that if your power is lost, vonage won't work?
I don't know that much about it, but it seems to me that if you have some sort of battery back-up for your internet and vonage systems, your phone should still function, no?

Thanks.

 

[chazman]

As long as your VOIP router is powered and your HighSpeed internet connection is active Vonage will work!

End of story.

Chaz

 

[IflyaBoeing737]

I understand there is an echo and a short delay frequently is this correct?

 

[chazman]

I wouldn't call it frequently, but I have heard the echo you speak of. It is the only occasional difference that I can tell from a normal phone line. My experience is that the frequency that it happens is far worth the cost savings.

Chaz

 

[semperfido]

i can't find website for earthlink vonage.

 

[AA717driver]

With Vonage and lingo, what is the deal for making calls from outside the U.S. to home? Excluding W. Eur. how much is it?

I just got hooked up with Skype and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. We also converted from SBC to Comcast VOIP.

This stuff sounds like a much better deal than I have.

Oh yeah, T-mobile can kiss my a$$!TC

 

[chazman]

Incoming calls are transparent with Vonage. Works just like a regular phone, with one exception. All phone calls within the Vonage network are free from any where in the world (Anywhere on the internet). So if you are using Vonage in China you can call Iceland for free if your buddy is on Vonage in Iceland.


Chaz

 

[hawkerjet]

A Little Help Here Please...... I have a cell phone and high speed cable at home (comcast) but no land line. Can I still take advantage of vonage or a similar service?

 

[Singlecoil]

A Little Help Here Please...... I have a cell phone and high speed cable at home (comcast) but no land line. Can I still take advantage of vonage or a similar service?

You are exactly the kind of person they are looking for.