Review by Cubytus 
Posted: 238 days ago
member for 2.2 years, 122 visits, last login: 126 days ago
 Montreal,QC
 $23 per month
 about 14 days
 "Excellent sound quality, affordable international rates"
 "Minor but unexplained downtimes, not the best rates possible. Won't unlock router once service is ended"
 "Perfect replacement as a full-featured replacement for any POTS service, at a much more economical rate."
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Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
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Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Basically, it's hard to get a better deal as a no-brainer replacement for POTS with 911 support. I had 500 minutes in all North America, which is plenty for my needs. Don't listen to people who never heard VoIP and just rely on 10 year-old facts. Basically, you CAN'T tell the difference between a Vonage call and a POTS call; actually, Vonage sound better at their highest quality setting.
Their web portal when you change settings and can download voice messages is AWESOME ! Beautiful, easy to read and understand; that must remain the same.
I got a RT31P2 Linksys router with my service, which was due to be returned when I signed in, but that changed, and I could keep it ending the service in 2008 due to cell phone filling my needs. Too bad they wouldn't unlock the router when dumping the service, because it's SIP-pased. Basically, I now have a Vonage-branded brick ready to be sold or re-activated.
Customer service is friendly, although tech support is not so helpful at troubleshooting issues on their side. Alhough they don't list it on their web page, they're actually bilingual, which is a plus. At a moment I had an issue with the router, and the tech support told me I may change the router to a more recent model for $200. That's extremely expensive, especially for an existing customer. I just kept it and rebooted each time it overheat (in summer).
An important note if you're a heavy uploader: don't skimp on QoS settings! They are the most important setting in your router to keep call quality optimal.
Sure, you can get better prices on SIP providers, but at the expense of more configuration, additional devices to buy by yourself, etc. The other S provider is still a geek toy, non-standard (meaning expensive devices), and highly insecure, as backdoors are placed in their software.
Plus, let's not forget the ultimate privacy advantage: your number is not listed in any directory, so you won't get any telemarketing or otherwise undesirable calls. POTS typically CHARGE for this 5$/month!!!
If they could do something better, it would be additional privacy by encrypting calls end-to-end using standard methods, and providing yet better deals like other SIP providers do (free softphone but without additional minutes, 2 free countries, etc.)
The second thing they could do better is have a better respect of SIP standards: unlocking a router won't lose them any customer or money, as they still would get paid for service; publish SIP settings in a way that customers can configure any SIP-compatible softphone they like.
An additional service could also be set up: one access number that cell users could call to get attractive rates.
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