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 Review by mb 
UPDATED: 111 days ago
member for 8.2 years, 4199 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Washington,Warren,NJ
 $31 per month (24 month contract)
 "One of the largest and oldest VoIP providers"
 "More costly than others"
 "So far, so good!"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Update 06/17/2008 I received a "phishing" type of call and contacted customer service in an attempt to identify the origination as the caller id info was obviously spoofed. The customer service number was quickly answered by an native agent in Holdmel NJ and after some brief research on his part, he quickly transfered me to an advanced tech support agent also in Holmdel. The Advanced Tech Support agent checked a variety of tools that he had available but was only able to determine that the call originated in Costa Rica. What a turn around in Customer Service quality. I'm impressed.
Update 01/16/2008 I needed to contact tech support several times this past week for issues involving voicemail waiting indicator light reliability, a subsequent audio issue, and then to have my device returned to default settings after a variety of changes by overseas support. A very long and arduos process. The tech support still stinks, with the Advanced Services Group being difficult to contact but effective.
Update 10/7/2007 Vonage continues to be rock a solid performer with high sound quality. I am aware of the legal issues they are facing, but I will stick with them until the end if it comes.
Update 5/30/2007 I have ported my number back to Vonage from Viatalk. In my opinion, although pricey, Vonage meets my needs best.
Update 5/18/2007 I have decided that for me, Vonage in fact supplies the highest quality service. I have decided to return as a customer and opened a new account. I have been pleasantly surprised in that the 4 telephone contacts that I have had have all been with support personnel here in New Jersey.
Update 5/2/2007 The port to ViaTalk was completed today and the Vonage account was canceled. The cancellation was handled by an efficient and pleasant customer service representative in Holmdel NJ. The $42 disconnect fee was charged as expected. My only issue with Vonage was uncertainty about their future and concern over retaining my long time telephone number.
Update 04/21/2007 I have been very satisfied with Vonage. Unfortunately, with all of the negative publicity and uncertainty surrounding their future, I have decided to port my number and use ViaTalk as my VOIP provider. I wish Vonage well in their battle with Verizon and may be back someday if things stabilize
Update 02/27/07 Voice quality went down the tubes yesterday. A call to a heavily accented and hard to understand tech support agent resulted in changes to my provisioning which did not help. Later in the evening, I noticed a thread here involving the issue suggesting it was widespread. I was able to make contact with a tech here in good old NJ later in the evening who returned my settings to their defaults and sound quality returned at once.
Initial review: I just moved my Verizon DSL service to a "dry loop" and decided to give VoIP phone service a try.
Comparing information about the various providers from the forums here at BroadbandReports.com did not provide me with a clear preference. I went to the local Circuit City and picked up a Linksys/Vonage PAPv2 telephone adapter. It came with 2 rebates that totalled $100. I returned home and signed up for service that included one free month, and then installed the device.
For the next 5 hours the power light on the adapter was blinking 3 times a second, an indication that it was obtaining it's configuration from Vonage. My first 3 calls to customer support over that period of time ended up overseas and proved fruitless. After the usual scripted exchanges, I was told that an outage in the Northeast US caused my issue and was told to power cycle the device. This didn't work. My last call ended up in the good old US of A and the tech explained that he could see the device and walked me through a hardware reset. Within 5 seconds I had service.
Service has been rock solid since with good sound quality. The web based features are quite impressive to someone who grew up using a rotary dial phone mounted to the kitchen wall.
Updates to follow
Followup comments:  
Trinijoy
Premium
join:2005-09-12
Brick, NJ | Yeah sad I think we can agree that non-overseas support is trained better. | |
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Hackster3
join:2002-05-07
Richmond Hill, NY
| Vonage clarity. I like this here Vonage! I am an old Verizon subscriber for phone service. Even with unlimited local calling, my bills were still $130-$140 per month. Too much for me! So I switched over to Vonage. The only time I have trouble is on the weekends when everyone and their mother are using their computers or phones! I am breaking up, on the weekends that is. Everyone in the house has a cell plan with weekends free, so it works out just great! | |
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