Review by robharrisva 
UPDATED: 54 days ago
member for 1.5 years, 21 visits, last login: 35 days ago
 Portsmouth,Portsmouth City,VA
 Contract price not specified.
 "Rather consistently good call quality"
 "Caller-ID does not function as advertised"
 "Good value despite shortcomings"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've been a Vonage customer for about 6 weeks. The call quality and functionality is quite close to what I previously experienced with traditional wireline carriers such as Verizon and AT&T. Number portability went without a hitch. When you combine the many standard features, it represents one heck of a value.
However, while Vonage consistently advertises that the only difference between the way its Caller-ID functions is found during OUTBOUND calls whereby the caller's name is not given out, this has not been the case at my home here in southeastern Virginia. Frequently, during IN-BOUND calls, a generic identifier in place of the caller's name is sent to my caller-id displays. A call placed from the same caller's phone to my AT&T wireline displays the caller's name, when available, while Vonage typically displays only a generic name such as "Sprint PCS Caller" or "Wireless Caller" or even "Norfolk" when the call comes from a traditional wireline phone in the city of Norfolk, VA.
I first spoke with both tech support and corporate about the problem two weeks ago. How difficult can it be to pull the ANI data from a database?
Update: 7-2008
Still waiting for industry standard consistent inbound and optional outbound caller-id service. What's it gonna take? A buck or two more per month? I'd gladly pay it.
Followup comments:  
Trinijoy
Premium
join:2005-09-12
Brick, NJ
 ·Vonage
| Yes but... Considering people take too much into "what is advertised." Caller ID is a free feature among the 14 others you get with Vonage. Unfortunately whatever the inbound carrier sends to the caller ID, in my experience is what you see. Vonage has no control over that. Complain to the local carrier if your caller ID is not what you want. I doubt they will listen. | |
|  | CromeDome05
join:2004-04-18
Laurel, MD
·magicjack.com
·Vonage
| Re: Yes but... Inbound calls usually displayed the same way for me, even with Verizon POTS. Incoming out-of-state calls would display as "Oregon", or "California". I haven't seen any generic identifiers from out-of-state calls yet, but I have been getting seldom "Line Errors" displayed on my caller ID. More frequently than when I had POTS. No biggie though. | |
| robharrisva
join:2007-02-05
Portsmouth, VA
 ·Cox HSI
·Vonage
 ·Qwest.net
| These ARE Vonage issues These are Vonage issues. 1) Vonage provides NO outbound name service to go with the number 2) Comparing call for call, my ATT POTS always displays the name information for inbound calls, if available. Vonage IS inconsistent in this regard. While the ANI info is provided by each service provider, it is Vonage's responsibility to pay for each database name query and possibly cache the name info for future short term use. | |
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