Review by markhph 
Posted: 5.3 years ago
member for 8.2 years, 318 visits, last login: 71 days ago
 Jamison,Bucks,PA
 $37 per month (3 month contract)
 about 12 days
 "Automated web-site account interface"
 "Horrible customer service - problems on Vonage end won't get fixed"
 "I wasted $200 over 3 months - if you have problems, drop them immediately"
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Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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I got Vonage service on 12/1/03. Initial ordering, insallation and 1st 30 days service were flawless. Very excited about excellent product. Before ordering, I'd studied BroadBandReports VOIP forums for two months to have an good understanding of different VOIP providers, equipment and issues.
Then 1/2/04 hit and suddenly, all Outbound Local Calls had such bad audio quality, the call was unusable. Never dropped, just very bad audio quality. Just Outbound Local Calls had this trouble. Incoming Local Calls, Outbound Regional Calls and Outbound Long Disance Calls were flawless.
Reported to Vonage Customer Service 1/4/04. Long story short, it went like this...
During the first 2 weeks, Vonage tried to update my Motorala TA V1005 remotely, but their system continually reported it didn't take. Then I went through the Ping-Plotter process. Then nothing. No response from Vonage for 5 weeks.
60 day later, I got past the 1st tier Tech Support. Finally got Vickie who seemed to be able to execute firmware updates on the Motorola TA, but it didn't fix problem with Outbound Local Calls.
DOES anyone else have my problem? All incoming calls OK, All outbound Regional and Tolls Calls OK. But outbound Local Calls unusable 100% of the time.
Provided Vonage several dozen called telephone numbers which fail on Local Calls, several dozen that always work for Regional/Long Distance Calls.
"Abiy" from Vonage Tier 3 Vonage Tech Support has Vickie call me next night to tell me they can't fix problem. Tier 3 says it has to do with Global Crossing's handoff from Vonage and they won't go any further with it. They state it has nothing to do with my end. But Vonage Tier 3 Tech Support won't even try running Debug on a couple of live calls. Note: Debug is a routine diagnostic used in the telecom industry to watch a call being set up, it's CODECs the equipment on each end agrees to, the servers involved and the final hand-off to the far end being dialed. Running DeBug would allow Vonage to diagnose where these calls were failing.
Oddly, Vickie suggested I might try calling Global Crossing. When asking Vikie, just what would I be calling them for, she really didn't have any suggestion other than maybe "they" can figure it out. Well maybe they can, but not without Vonage's engineering people involved. Regardless, passing the buck on a Vonage network engineering problem is shameful.
Obviously, since my service was flawless for 32 days, then suddently Outgoing Local Calls had unusable call audio quality - something changed in the Vonage/Carrier network.
So, after 60 days on a Vonage Service Ticket, Vonage Tier 3 tells Vickie to call me to say Vonage won't persue it any further. Obviously, if I can't make Outbound Local Calls, the service is useless.
What is so surprising to me is that while Vonage acknowledge my service problem was completely on Vonage's end, and is 100% repeatable, "Abiy" from Vonage Tier 3 Vonage Tech Support decides to instruct Vickie to call me and tell me to take a hike. She was nice about it and said it was "over her head", but apparently Vonage is not interested in retaining a customer who has pointed out valuable information to them on a network problem on their end.
I cancelled my service.
MY RECOMMENDATION: DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH VONAGE! I LOST $200 TO VONAGE FOR A PROBLEM ON THEIR END THEY WON'T EVEN INVESTIGATE FURTHER. IF YOU MUST TRY THEM BE SURE TO CANCEL RIGHT AWAY IF THEY DON'T FIX YOUR PROBLEM WITHIN A FEW DAYS.
I read they went from 80,000 customers in November '03 to 120,000 in January '04. Their Tier 3 Tech Support apparently would rather loose existing customers than perform the most route DeBug to sniff out their own problem.
That's poor business. I think their deplorable Customer Service decisions will come back to bite them in the marketplace.
Update 2/29/04: Vonage web site provides insructions for cancellation. Apparently Vonage doesn't abide by their own published instructions. I emailed my cancellation request on 2/27/04 to "Billing@Vonage.Com" requesting immediate termination, per the Vonage web site instructions. But an email from them came back saying "for security reasons" they won't do it and to call them Monday. Hey, I had a Ticket # for 60 days they ultimately said they wouldn't persue, cancelled as per Vonage requirements published on their web site, and they refuse to cancel. Instead they play this "for security reasons" game to string out their billing even further. In my case, there was absolutelly no possibility of someone trying to spoof a cancellation request. They had my email address from sign-up registration, my home phone number (non-Vonage) to call, which I included in my cancellation request by email and a Ticket # with the Vonage outcome of no repair. But they refuse to cancel or make effort to contact their customer easily. Instead they prefer to cause more bad will.
I gave them lawful notice to cancel 5 days before a new billing cycle. We'll see if they bill for another month anyway. Having read other BroadbandReports postings, I've seen a lot of people be treated the same, so this part I'm not surprised about. But NEW SURBSCRIBERS BEWARE: I still recommend to cut your losses early and drop Vonage if they don't fix your problem quickly. Their business practices are designed to bill you to the last drop, even when you stop doing business with them.
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