 Review by lordpuffer 
member for 8.7 years, 2511 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1.7 years ago
 West Hollywood,Los Angeles,CA
 $24 per month about 8 days "Works Well....Great price over AT&T....Easy To Install....Good Tech Support" "Sales Dept Misleads You....Hard To Connect To More Than One Phone.....They Disconnect Your Old Line Before You Receive Harwdware" "Good Service For the Price......Don't Trust Sales Dept"
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I ordered Vonage on May 27th of 2008 and gave them permission to disconnect my old service. However, they disconnected my old service on June 2nd and I did not receive their hardware to connect Vonage until June 4th, so I had 2 days without home phone service. When I called the Sales Dept to order Vonage, I told them that I had 3 phones in 3 different rooms and asked them if it would work with all 3 phones. They said that if it didn't, they would send out a technician free of charge to correct any problem so that all 3 phones would work. I received the hardware late in the day on June 4th and immediately hooked it up using their easy to follow setup guide. My Internet stopped working and the phone that I hard-wired to the Vonage hardware did not work either.
I called Tech support and told a Rep my problem. I have a Linksys WRT54GL Router, and the Rep told me that they have a problem hooking up Vonage with this type router, for it was not a usual router (that's strange, for this is a pretty common router). The Rep told me that I had to hook it up different from the instructions, and when I did, it worked. My Internet worked, however, only one of the phones worked, the one that was hard-wired to the router. When I complained about this to the Rep, he told me how to hook it up by bypassing that phone, and that would make the other 2 phones work. I did that, and my other 2 phones did work. However, the phone that was hard-wired to the Vonage hardware did not work, for I had to by-pass it. The Rep told me that I would have to have another wall jack to plug that phone in to for it to work. I then told him what the Sales Dept told me, that if all 3 phones did not work, they would send out a Technician free of charge to correct the problem. He said that the problem could not be corrected. When I pressed him, he talked to his Supervisor and came back and told me that it would work if I had a phone line splitter to hook it up to. I told him that I did not have one, and told him what the Sales Dept had promised me. He told me that I was misinformed (I believe that it was a deceptive sales technique to get you to sign up), and that there was not a technician who would come out and either install another phone jack or bring a splitter. We went back-and-forth with this issue for a while and I decided to make things easier by just going out and purchasing a splitter and 2 more phone lines so that the phone would work. That was yesterday, and I have not been able to purchase one yet. The concept is correct, so it should work when I get one.
I would just warn everyone that when talking with their sales department, you should press them very hard as to your existing phone equipment and how many phone jacks you have. If you feel it necessary, try to get something in writing from them to make sure that you do not have to go through what I did. If you have just one phone, or have more than one and have many phone jacks, you should be fine. The 2 phones that are working currently seem to work fine. I'll update this review once I purchase the splitter and additional phone lines.
One more thing....Vonage had my previous phone provider turn off my service 2 1/2 days before I received the Vonage hardware, so I had 2 1/2 days of no phone service. I just got off the phone with billing and complained of this. The first Rep hung up on me (nice of her), but I called again and the 2nd Rep was nice and reimbursed me my $9.95 for the shipping charge for the hardware. I am not racist at all, and love all people, but I feel that US companies should have all of their customer support located in the US. We have a different culture here, and it makes things a lot easier.
UPDATE--7/11/08 Vonage has been working so well that I got rid of AT&Trash altogether and put Vonage on my second line. This only took one phone call and a matter of minutes. It works great!
UPDATE--10/01/08 My Vonage device went bad, and Vonage Tech Support tried their best to blame my problems I was having with my voicemail not working on either my phone or my line. He also complained to me that he was working overtime troubleshooting my problem and he wanted to go home (like I cared....he chose to work there, so why is complaining about his job to me?). Finally, he succumbed, and reluctantly agreed to send me a new Vonage device. He did say that I would have to pay for shipping back my old device. I didn't think that I should have to pay for this, since it was still under warranty, so I called back Customer Service and the person I spoke with was very nice and he told me he would mail me out a prepaid label to send the bad device back with. However, I never received it. So I finally called back and spoke with a rep who hung up on me when I told her the problem since it seemed that she was not too bright and didn't know what to do. I called back again and spoke with a Supervisor and told him what happened. He told me he would email me a prepaid label. I never got that one either. Finally, I called back and spoke with another Supervisor and she was very helpful and told me not to bother sending back the bad device and that when I was charged for it she would credit my account for the charge. With all that I have been going through to get a prepaid label, I have little confidence that she will follow through and give me a credit. I hope she does, otherwise I have to call back again and and explain the whole thing over again. My analysis of Vonage Customer Service and Support is that you can get lucky and get someone who will help you or be unlucky and get someone who will not.
UPDATE--11/19/08 My Vonage voicemail has been working fine since I put in the new Vonage device. I am very happy with Vonage at this time. I hope they stay in business.
UPDATE--05/29/10 Vonage has been working pretty well. I have the occasional call that breaks up or drops, but that's the price you pay to have the less expensive VOIP. Vonage Customer Service and Tech Support, in my opinion, is excellent. They have helped me many times.
UPDATE--9/30/11 I have not had Vonage since 8/10, for I disconnected my service and moved out-of-state. I might have gotten it again, however, they charged me a cancellation fee on a non-existing contract. I finally did get my money back. They keep contacting me and saying that they want me back, however, I doubt it after what they did.
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