 Review by CUBS_FAN 
UPDATED: 208 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 295 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Chicago,Cook,IL
 $37 per month (24 month contract)
 about 5 days
 "The Website is so easy to navigate with plenty of help info. Automatic bill pay is convenient too.Incoming/outgoing call logs."
 "If there is a power outage(rarely) your phone don't work. Once in a while I get an echo"
 "As long as your Internet provider is steady, Vonage will be too."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Called on the phone and within a week the 4 port Ethernet Motorola voice gateway router arrived. Within another week I had my existing phone number transferred. I was given a "virtual number" on a temporary basis. You must disconnect the telephone line from utility pole going inside the telephone interface box, so the voltage coming from the Telephone Company does not interfere with the VOIP.
The first thing I noticed was when making a call it takes about 5 seconds for the call to connect and start to ring. I also noticed the call volume much louder.
I have E911 service. When making a call to 911 their operator sees my name and address immediately.
All the features from AT&T, (Caller ID, Call waiting, 3-way call, call forwarding etc.) are available and a few that are available only with Vonage. A nice feature, automatic call forwarding if the Internet is experiencing an outage. When logged into the web site or what they call *Dashboard* you can configure the audio quality of your phone line by adjusting how much upload bandwidth is utilized. Set at maximum quality uses about 90k of your upload. They have a convenient Download/Upload measurement page. Also, while logging in at work or anywhere there is internet access, the incoming and out-going calls are logged complete with caller ID. Good for those parents who have teenagers at home while you are at work. Your phone bill automatically increments when *non-free* calls are made.
*Local and long distance calls to all 50 states and Canada are free just like many cell-phone Companies. Calls to the UK, Spain and Dublin and other European countries are free too.
I have the Premium Unlimited Plan @ $24.99 per month plus about $17 in fee's. If all your calls are free your monthly bill would be under $50 for the unlimited calls.
I can go on and on about my experience with Vonage, but I've been typing for over 30 minutes.
5/12/2007
I've had Vonage for a while now and noticed the same good quality making calls to the U.S. But, making international calls to Asia has poor quality with breaking up. Sometimes I simply call the person back, or, actually have to power on reset. I know the problem is within Vonage because I've used a calling card and I get GREAT sound quality without break-ups..
The phone support from Mumbai India is a bit frustrating. They sound like friggin robots. Once you get to level 2 support from New Jersey it gets a little better.
During the Christmas holiday there was an earthquake in Taiwan. I don't know if it is related, but to place a call to Asia, it would take about 45 seconds of dead silence just for the call to go thru. Sometimes I would get a "Line is busy" message. When I finally got connected, the person I was trying to call said "I wasn't on the phone all day". Once apon receiving the busy line message it was over 1 minute. Vonage would proceed to charge me for a call over the 1 minute mark.
1/25/2008
Since my last update until about 2 weeks ago I had nothing but problems with my internet. Since the problems have been fixed I can now experience "beautiful crisp and clear" phone calls. Ever since I joined Vonage the call quality was noticeably "choppy" at times but not to the point of getting aggravated. I'm guessing the "Choppy" quality was due to my internet getting close to a overload with the amount of subscribers that my Download/Upload channel at the CMTS can handle. Since last May I'm guessing Comcast signed up one too many people and never made the accommodations via their network.
Vonage's rates for international calls are reasonable and you can use a prepaid calling card and simply dial the local access number which is unlimited.
Followup comments:  
kyramilan
join:2006-11-26
Pensacola, FL | I tried Vonage I just didn't like it. Tech support was horrendous. People always complained about an echo. I did like that I could get a number in my home city so my relatives could call me local for free. Caller ID was hit and miss. Voice mail was somewhat okay. | |
| jrchicago
join:2006-12-13
Glenview, IL
 ·Comcast
| It's Almost Imposible to Cancel Vonage!!! For cheap long winded calls for social use, it seems to have it place for "value" if the person you are calling do not mind low volume, some static and some moments of chop outs. But, its a contract for the rest of you human life so it would seem. 
 Vonage has placed "divisive hurdles" in front of people to road block cancellations. Its almost impossible to cancel Vonage. I had tried calling several times sitting on hold what would see for-ever (and then you could not wait any longer and had to abandon the call).  The Vonage web site allows you to do everything but cancel. I even tried calling my credit card company on the automatic billing and they refused to stop Vonage from billing me. Even if I cancelled the credit card, the credit card company said I am still responsible for the ongoing charges after, so that was not a plan. I had to get through to Vonage.
After THREE months of sitting on hold for 20 minutes or so at a crack, I had to sit down on a speaker phone one day carving out two hours of time and call Vonage waiting on hold for about 45 minutes for their first agent and then having to be transferred into another que on hold for a specialist who does the cancellations, who buy the way promises to fix everything - arm twisting you to stay. PLEASE, I had just sat on hold for under  TWO HOURS just to do a simple cancellation call. There was no way I would stay with a company so horrible in customer treatment, the experience was a gold plated example of crappy customer service.
Also, I could never fax reliably no matter how high the band width was set, my home alarm system would not work over Vonage (they don't tell you that) and my customers I called hated the low volume and static. I also don't like the call forward 911 Vonage uses as 911 local from Ma-Bell is far superior and direct. Instead of wasting my time with Vonage, I have just got a larger call pack from my cell carrier (Verizon who has superior customer service buy the way for cell phones - its WOW good) and the sound quality on my cell phone is superior to Vonage. I kept my home phone number all along, so my MaBell line and number were protected. I could only wonder how hard it would be to get back "my" phone number from Vonage being the royal pain they were to deal with on a human level. | |
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