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Review by NetFixer See Profile

  • Location: Murfreesboro, Rutherford, TN, USA
  • Cost: $26 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
The service works well, and it is not AT&T.
Actually, at this time, I can't think of any bad points.
The service works well, and it is not AT&T.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I have edited this review thread to remove ancient entries that are currently irrelevant. I will now only maintain relatively current information in this thread.

Ancient history summary:
I have been an on and off Vonage customer since 2004. I migrated to AT&T CallVantage for a while, but returned to Vonage when AT&T shutdown their CallVantage service.

Update: 01/01/2012:

Nothing much new to report, but the DSLR update bot is bugging me for a new review:

I currently only have my business line with Vonage (which now gets very light usage because I am retired), and it is on their $9.95 (plus bogus fees) plan. Most of the calls on that line are incoming, and the $9.95 plan still has unlimited inbound calls, so all is good.

I did recently drop my Vonage fax line because of problems that developed after changing my ISP from AT&T to Comcast (I previously reported this on my Comcast review). A recent Comcast SMC router firmware upgrade seems to have fixed that problem, but I don't trust it enough yet to cancel my RingCentral fax service and replace it with a Vonage fax line (which would be more expensive anyway with Vonage's added bogus fees).

Update: 08/11/2012:

The DSLR update bot is bugging me for a new review, so here it is:

Not really much new to report. The service still works well, and I still use it. I did have to recently replace my ancient Motorola VT2442 with my even more ancient Cisco/Linksys RTP300 because the VT2442 had started to intermittently lock up. I really hated to do that because the VT2442 had remote reboot capability and functioned quite well as a backup DNS forwarder; the RTP300 does not have remote reboot and it is a miserable DNS forwarder (timeouts are more common than successful DNS query responses).

I am toying with the idea of perhaps activating a dedicated Vonage fax line again; but I will probably wait until after Comcast releases their IPv6 firmware for my SMCD3G-CCR gateway so that I can verify that Vonage faxing will still work with that new firmware.

Update: 09/06/2012:

Well, once again I am no longer a Vonage customer. I ported my last Vonage line to AT&T yesterday, and today (after I gently reminded Vonage with an email because the line still showed as active and I could still make outgoing calls), Vonage deactivated the line and closed my account. I wasn't having any problems, but it seemed to be more efficient to just have that line as another phone number in my AT&T family plan. I can still use it as a desk phone via a bluetooth link to my GE DECT phone system, and I can also use it as a bluetooth tethered backup Internet connection when needed.

Update: 10/15/2012:

My ping-pong relationship with Vonage is alive and well.

After experiencing frequent compatibility problems between my dual band zBoost repeater and the AT&T Samsung Solstice II phone to which I had ported my old business number, I ported that number back to Vonage (their $9.99 per month "Basic Talk" plan). The only "problem", I had with porting it back to Vonage was that the expedited number port only took two business days (instead of the 1-2 weeks that I was expecting), and the number port process completed before I received the new VDV23 adapter that Vonage insisted on shipping. Fortunately I still had my old Linksys RTP300, and I re-activated it so that I could use the line. If these two business day ports are now the normal time frame, Vonage needs to start shipping their adapters using an overnight method instead of their current default of 2-7 business days.

Update: 12/18/2012:

Today I cancelled my RingCentral fax service and setup a fax line with Vonage (again). The combination of swapping my old Comcast SMCD3G gateway for a Motorola SB6121 cable modem, and installing a ZyXEL switch with advanced priority based QoS has made faxing with Vonage doable again.* The only downside so far is that I initially had to use the VDV23 ATA in order to setup the fax line (I don't like the VDV23 for multiple reasons), but I may try using my old reliable RTP300 again in a few days now that the fax service is operational (I think that the Vonage server was just having a provisioning problem that coincidentally was resolved by the time I moved both of the lines to the VDV23). I will however probably keep using the »[Equipment] !#$%&! VDV23 for long enough to see if it still has the problem of dropping the connection every time the WAN DHCP lease renews, or if the new firmware that it seemed to download has fixed that problem.

The triggers for dumping RingCentral and activating a Vonage fax line were:
1. My RingCentral bill was getting ready to increase to make it the same price as the Vonage fax line (previously it was $5 per month cheaper).
2. RingCentral had started using PDF files for received faxes, and their conversion process produced horrible results (low resolution, smudging, drop out, etc).
3. The Vonage faxes are (at least currently) sharp and detailed (the way that the RingCentral faxes used to be when they used the native TIFF file format).

* Details on how my Comcast connection is configured to allow successful faxing using Vonage can be seen at: »Update on solution for using Vonage for VoIP faxing

DSLR nag bot update 08/23/2013:

The DSLR nag bot is bugging me for a review update, so here it is:

I currently have two $9.95 Vonage Basic Talk accounts running on a Comcast connection (one for voice, and the other for dual mode voice/fax). I use D-Link VTA-VR ATAs for the service because the VDV-23 boxes that Vonage currently ships are only good for landfill (if the EPA is reading this review, I am only kidding about the landfill...they are safely stored in their original shipping boxes on a shelf in a closet). Anyone who is interested in seeing how I have everything connected can view my current network diagram at: »www.dcs-net.net/image/DC ··· gram.gif

DSLR nag bot update 09/14/2014:

The DSLR nag bot is once again asking for a review update, so here it is:

Nothing new to report -- I still have the same two $9.95 Vonage Basic Talk accounts and I have no problems with the service. Note that my Vonage Basic Talk accounts (which are no longer available to new purchasers) are full featured "unlimited" US/Canada accounts, and not the stripped down BasicTalk branded service that Vonage sells through Walmart.

DSLR nag bot update 11/01/2015:

The DSLR nag bot is once again asking for a review update, so here it is:

Nothing much new to report at all -- the service still works with no problems.

DSLR nag bot update 03/05/2017:

Same as above -- no problems, no complaints.

member for 19.7 years, 7695 visits, last login: 3.5 years ago
updated 7 years ago

Brigrat
join:2003-09-01
Waxhaw, NC

Brigrat

Member

I Hate Vonage!

you shuld adjust your ratings to reflect their service...

JimmyC
@verizon.net

JimmyC

Anon

Disconnect service impossible

I've been with them for 5 years or so, but VOIPO is 1/4 the price for the same service. So I flipped to VOIPO and ported my number from Vonage to VOIPO with a week remaining in my 1 year deal with Vonage, with the accompanying emails and calls to Vonage directing them to discontinue billing. But they won't stop with the emails telling me my account is past due and this morning, they've threatened me with collection action even though I haven't had a contract or placed a call with them in over a month and a half. They're doing the same reprehensible crap they used to complain other carriers did to THEM when they started. It's revenge on a customer that leaves the store. Creepy. The hoops they make you jump through to stop the billing on their website also leads to dead web pages at the account portal. Their harassment is deliberate and infuriating. The endgame with these people should give anyone sufficient pause not to sign up in the first place. They ruined a 5 year relationship over the same thing that brought me to them in the first place, a cheaper rate than my last carrier. Now, it's war. BBB, FCC, FTC, here I come.

anaon
@rogers.com

anaon

Anon

Re: Disconnect service impossible

dumped them five yrs ago for voip.ms and have not looked back