 Review by mob 
member for 12.7 years, 5321 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.3 years ago
 Lenexa,Johnson,KS
 $32 per month "Great calling package, great service quality improvements." "Minor changes on router require reboots," "Great value. My middle finger to the phone companies."
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I was looking at Vonage for a few months but never actually tried the service out since they did not have a KC number. On New Years Eve I was surfing around and I ended up checking the Vonage website and found that they had finally added the 816 area code to the list of area codes for the state of Missouri, but none were available at the time.
I decided to go and get the hardware at Best Buy, and they had several to choose from but I would up getting a Linksys device that has two phone ports, wireless and then 3 RJ-45 jacks. It also functions as a router and DHCP server. The model is a WRT54GP2. I brought it home, unplugged my old Linksys router and put this in its place, swapped the cords around and plugged everything back in, turned on the cable modem first, then the router and then rebooted my computer and finally plugged in a phone. Then I went and signed up for the Residential unlimited package from Vonage. I filled in a few forms, set up the hardware to work with the service and in less than 15 minutes I picked up the phone and got a dial tone and made calls to various states and a 2 hour call to Canada. The only major complaint I have about this hardware is that if you want to make a simple change it requires a reboot. It seems like you log into the router and it wants to reboot.
I also requested notification of when an 816 area code number would become available. So when a number did become available, I paid less than $10.50 to swap the number over. That process took less than 20 minutes also. That will allow me to drop my land line from SBC. I figure I can pay 26 bucks for just a dial tone or I can pay 27 for Vonage and get voicemail, three way calling, call waiting, caller ID, unlimited long distance, calls to Canada are included in the monthly cost.
Call quality is very good, but I have also had complaints of where it sounds like I have hung up on people or that I break up towards the end of words and sentences. Calls to Canada are good quality and no longer cost me a dollar to get an answering machine. That alone will recover the cost of the hardware alone over time.
Update 06.10.2005
In the past few months the call quality has been improving. Price has stayed at a stable level, website seems to be working much better when I try and access it. I still get an echo once and a while, but over the slight problems I was having seemed to be resolved. Overall, I am very happy with the service and I would have no problems telling people to check it out.
Update 01-03-06
Service is still great. Monthly bills have not changed at all since I ordered service just over a year ago. Call quality is excellent, features are all working. Voicemail is a touch slow sometimes, but overall I am still very pleased with my service. A new firmware was sent to my ATA/router, and that has helped reduce the number of reboots needed. Still saving a ton of money compared to my POTS service, and the virtual number option looks very enticing, since I could have a "presence" in Canada, while still being in the states.
Overall, I am still very happy with my service, and I still would not hesitate to tell people to switch if they have a decent internet connection.
Update 04-22-06
I recently added a virtual number to my service, adding $5 a month to my bill. I got the number so family that lives in Canada can call us, without incurring long distance charges. The service has been stable, voicemail to e-mail option is really nice. That has been handy, since I use a gmail account for it, I can access voicemail anywhere I have access to a computer with sound and internet access. All other features have been useful, when needed.
Overall, still very happy with the service and I would happily tell anyone to use Vonage, as long as they have a stable internet connection.
Update 09-20-06
Still works great, as long as my internet connection is stable. Great value for services, works as advertised with no issues other than internet service related problems.
Update 03-22-08
Still no problems, just minor account changes through the years. Still a great value. Would not go back to pots line again.
Update 01-01-09
Been a customer for 5 years solid. Only downtime can be traced to ISP not Vonage. Rock solid service otherwise. Fantastic service.
01/28/2011 - Stopped service due to lack of use. Would go back if needed.
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