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Review by Chris 313  - Location: Houma,Terrebonne,LA
- Cost: $36 per month
- Install: about 3 days
Good "Ridiculously quick/easy set up, Cheaper then Cable VOIP, 7 Digit Dialing and more!"
Bad "Had a slight issue with payment during set up, hinky ports on the VDV23-VD ATA"
Overall "If you're looking to ditch expensive cable voice, give Vonage a try."
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06/04/13
Well, here I am trying my hand at the VOIP ring again. Back in 2004, I got tired of AT&T after some major install woes and expense. The fact that we had just paid for install of jacks and all aside, my family started looking for an alternative for every day phone use.
Considering my new cable connection, I looked into Vonage, they didn't have the area code I wanted at the time. So that way out, otherwise I'd have Vonage now for almost a decade instead of just getting started. I found my actual VOIP service in AT&T CallVantage, the very company I was itching to leave: »/comment/46873
After a false start and some bad equipment, I got started and was with them from mid 2004 to June 2008 when I switched to Comcast Digital Voice service: »/comment/69517
I've had that service from 2008 to now, but recently the rising price and temporary deals have got me down. So I went looking at Vonage again after almost a decade. They seem to have everything I want.
I got my questions answered and went for it. Signed up without much problem until I got to the payment side of things. It wouldn't take my card. After a bit, I got to the final page and payment issues persisted, they told me to call them and give them a ref number. I did. Talked to a CSR named Mary after a moment on hold. She spoke english and I could understand her. She had a bit of an accent, though. Eh, I got everything she said . She took my card again and it went through after a few minutes and things got set up. My service is active with a temporary number, but since I don't have the box yet, I can't use the service.
She told me that I'll be receiving the hardware either this Friday or next monday. That's fast service if I do say so, especially with no activation, no shipping and free equipment.
It was also mentioned when I signed up that I'll be getting a 30 dollar Best Buy giftcard. I'll be using that to buy my new modem and cut the price down from 100 down to about 50 with the price matching and all. So yay!
When I get the Vonage box in, I'll also check the status of my number port as I requested to have my number transferred from Comcast to Vonage when I signed up.
If it doesn't work out though, I'll see about getting a number from Vonage themselves. I also looked into it when I was mock signing up, just in case. I found one pretty easy to memorize and it sticks in the head, so we'll see. I'm hoping I get my current number and everything goes ok.
More to come later, after I get service actually installed.
Update: 6/7/13
Well, on 6/6 I was told that my number transfer would happen on the 7th, the same day as I would get my Vonage Box in. It worked flawlessly. Number works perfectly too. Set up was mostly a snap. Had to reset my equipment to get everything to play nice, but after that, everything's cooking. Got 7 Digit dialing, so that's a plus. VOIP services have gone a long way since my 4 year encounter with AT&T CallVantage from 2004-2008.
The only 3 things that I've noticed that mar a perfect review across the board is the ATA box they sent for the service. They use a VDV23-VD unit according to the paperwork and the one I got seems to have a bad router port. The Cat 5 cable just slides right in, not even bothering to lock in like the modem port right next to it, so anyone can just come up and yank the cable right out with very little effort. Still, I can work around this and won't be bothered by this too much. If I am, I'll call up Vonage and have them send me a new box and see if that's it or if they're all like that?
And the second thing, the way it's currently hooked up to work is limiting my system to 100 Full Duplex vs 1000 without the Vonage box in the mix. Gonna get some answers to see what I can do to fix this. For an 80 dollar device, I think I expected more, but I'm not too bothered by this either. For every problem there is a solution.
The third thing is potentially dropped calls to some numbers. I called my girl, who was expecting the call beforehand and I tried 2 times and each time it rang, ending with a message about a VM inbox that hadn't been set up yet. When she finally picked up, she talked for 2 seconds and the call dropped. I think this was on her end since she said her signal was bouncing in and out. So we'll try again later and see. Every other call I made went through flawlessly and it may be just me, but I could swear everything's louder and clearer then it was with Comcast voice service.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with the service and look forward to putting Vonage through it's paces and saving 30 bucks a month at least on my bill.
More to come as I test this out and fix the issues I mentioned.
Update: 6/8/13
Well, I've got feelers out about the 30 dollar Best Buy and the hinky Vonage Box. I did manage to solve the hook up problem I was having. I was doing this: »www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl···7rxkKpt0
when I should've been doing this: »www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl···C09IwmMs
Seems I also didn't give everything enough time to shake hands. (Another product of my being tired at the time.)
Vonage has really made setting up their service dirt simple and much improved from my last VOIP experience.
Had a power outage in the afternoon today that killed everything, my UPS gave me enough time to shut everything off before power completely ran out, but I noticed I lost connection to my EMTA that my former Comcast Digital Voice service used to provide me their phone service. The battery didn't keep the connection up this time. It won't matter much longer as I'll be buying my own modem and using my existing UPS as my batteries for things like the Vonage Box, modem and router.
When the connection came back on, I noticed that the telephone related lights, including the battery one were off. Guess they really do only supply power from the battery to power only the phone service. Regardless, Vonage seems to have kept their word that after porting my number from Comcast Digital Voice to Vonage, they would have my Comcast voice service disconnected for me. I'm glad to see them keeping their word.
I love the service so far.
Update: 6/9/13
With the help of a fellow Vonage user and DSLR member, Netfixer I've solved my issue with the jacks on the back of the VDV23-VD that Vonage sent me to use with their service
"About the Ethernet cable not seating:
I seem to recall that with the VDV23 boxes (I no longer use that particular ATA for other reasons) the Ethernet ports require that you push hard (and also jostle the connector a bit) to override a threshold. Once that is done, the cable is very firmly seated (in fact removing it also requires a bit of jostling because it is very tight)."
That was exactly the issue and now I've solved it, I won't be unplugging that thing for anything. It's sad, since it should be just put it in, it clicks, done. And it's not.
Now all that I believe remains is to find out where is my 30 dollar Best Buy gift card? Once I find this out, I'll really be a happy camper...
Update: 8/7/13
Got my 30 dollar Best Buy gift card in the mail from Vonage today. Gonna use it to buy my own modem for my Comcast service. So far, I now have absolutely no complaints about the Vonage service. They did everything they've said they would.
Update: 9/5/13
Well, today, I noticed my 3 month Vonage intro at 17.44 a month has expired and I'm now paying full price at 35.01. Still, it's cheaper then Comcast's solution at 60 or more a month and with the gift card bought modem, I'm saving a total of 31.99 a month over my previous set up. I think I'll look into trying to get that 9.99 a month for life plan I've seen around. But if I don't, 35 bucks is not bad over what I had before.
member for 9.2 years, 5409 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 28 days ago
Comments:
| Review by NetFixer - Location: Murfreesboro,Rutherford,TN
- Cost: $27 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 1 days
Good "The service works well, and it is not AT&T."
Bad "Actually, at this time, I can't think of any bad points."
Overall "The service works well, and it is not AT&T."
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I have edited this review thread to remove ancient entries that are currently irrelevant. I will now only maintain relatively current information in this thread.
Ancient history summary:
I have been an on and off Vonage customer since 2004. I migrated to AT&T CallVantage for a while, but returned to Vonage when AT&T shutdown their CallVantage service.
Update: 01/01/2012:
Nothing much new to report, but the DSLR update bot is bugging me for a new review:
I currently only have my business line with Vonage (which now gets very light usage because I am retired), and it is on their $9.95 (plus bogus fees) plan. Most of the calls on that line are incoming, and the $9.95 plan still has unlimited inbound calls, so all is good.
I did recently drop my Vonage fax line because of problems that developed after changing my ISP from AT&T to Comcast (I previously reported this on my Comcast review). A recent Comcast SMC router firmware upgrade seems to have fixed that problem, but I don't trust it enough yet to cancel my RingCentral fax service and replace it with a Vonage fax line (which would be more expensive anyway with Vonage's added bogus fees).
Update: 08/11/2012:
The DSLR update bot is bugging me for a new review, so here it is:
Not really much new to report. The service still works well, and I still use it. I did have to recently replace my ancient Motorola VT2442 with my even more ancient Cisco/Linksys RTP300 because the VT2442 had started to intermittently lock up. I really hated to do that because the VT2442 had remote reboot capability and functioned quite well as a backup DNS forwarder; the RTP300 does not have remote reboot and it is a miserable DNS forwarder (timeouts are more common than successful DNS query responses).
I am toying with the idea of perhaps activating a dedicated Vonage fax line again; but I will probably wait until after Comcast releases their IPv6 firmware for my SMCD3G-CCR gateway so that I can verify that Vonage faxing will still work with that new firmware.
Update: 09/06/2012:
Well, once again I am no longer a Vonage customer. I ported my last Vonage line to AT&T yesterday, and today (after I gently reminded Vonage with an email because the line still showed as active and I could still make outgoing calls), Vonage deactivated the line and closed my account. I wasn't having any problems, but it seemed to be more efficient to just have that line as another phone number in my AT&T family plan. I can still use it as a desk phone via a bluetooth link to my GE DECT phone system, and I can also use it as a bluetooth tethered backup Internet connection when needed.
Update: 10/15/2012:
My ping-pong relationship with Vonage is alive and well.
After experiencing frequent compatibility problems between my dual band zBoost repeater and the AT&T Samsung Solstice II phone to which I had ported my old business number, I ported that number back to Vonage (their $9.99 per month "Basic Talk" plan). The only "problem", I had with porting it back to Vonage was that the expedited number port only took two business days (instead of the 1-2 weeks that I was expecting), and the number port process completed before I received the new VDV23 adapter that Vonage insisted on shipping. Fortunately I still had my old Linksys RTP300, and I re-activated it so that I could use the line. If these two business day ports are now the normal time frame, Vonage needs to start shipping their adapters using an overnight method instead of their current default of 2-7 business days.
Update: 12/18/2012:
Today I cancelled my RingCentral fax service and setup a fax line with Vonage (again). The combination of swapping my old Comcast SMCD3G gateway for a Motorola SB6121 cable modem, and installing a ZyXEL switch with advanced priority based QoS has made faxing with Vonage doable again.* The only downside so far is that I initially had to use the VDV23 ATA in order to setup the fax line (I don't like the VDV23 for multiple reasons), but I may try using my old reliable RTP300 again in a few days now that the fax service is operational (I think that the Vonage server was just having a provisioning problem that coincidentally was resolved by the time I moved both of the lines to the VDV23). I will however probably keep using the »[Equipment] !#$%&! VDV23 for long enough to see if it still has the problem of dropping the connection every time the WAN DHCP lease renews, or if the new firmware that it seemed to download has fixed that problem.
The triggers for dumping RingCentral and activating a Vonage fax line were:
1. My RingCentral bill was getting ready to increase to make it the same price as the Vonage fax line (previously it was $5 per month cheaper).
2. RingCentral had started using PDF files for received faxes, and their conversion process produced horrible results (low resolution, smudging, drop out, etc).
3. The Vonage faxes are (at least currently) sharp and detailed (the way that the RingCentral faxes used to be when they used the native TIFF file format).
* Details on how my Comcast connection is configured to allow successful faxing using Vonage can be seen at: »Update on solution for using Vonage for VoIP faxing
DSLR nag bot update 08/23/2013:
The DSLR nag bot is bugging me for a review update, so here it is:
I currently have two Vonage $9.95 Basic Talk accounts running on a Comcast connection (one for voice, and the other for dual mode voice/fax). I use D-Link VTA-VR ATAs for the service because the VDV-23 boxes that Vonage currently ships are only good for landfill (if the EPA is reading this review, I am only kidding about the landfill...they are safely stored in their original shipping boxes on a shelf in a closet). Anyone who is interested in seeing how I have everything connected can view my current network diagram at: »www.dcs-net.net/image/DCS-networ···gram.gif
member for 9.2 years, 5243 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 43 days ago
Comments:
 | | Disconnect service impossible I've been with them for 5 years or so, but VOIPO is 1/4 the price for the same service. So I flipped to VOIPO and ported my number from Vonage to VOIPO with a week remaining in my 1 year deal with Vonage, with the accompanying emails and calls to Vonage directing them to discontinue billing. But they won't stop with the emails telling me my account is past due and this morning, they've threatened me with collection action even though I haven't had a contract or placed a call with them in over a month and a half. They're doing the same reprehensible crap they used to complain other carriers did to THEM when they started. It's revenge on a customer that leaves the store. Creepy. The hoops they make you jump through to stop the billing on their website also leads to dead web pages at the account portal. Their harassment is deliberate and infuriating. The endgame with these people should give anyone sufficient pause not to sign up in the first place. They ruined a 5 year relationship over the same thing that brought me to them in the first place, a cheaper rate than my last carrier. Now, it's war. BBB, FCC, FTC, here I come. | |
| | | | Re: Disconnect service impossible dumped them five yrs ago for voip.ms and have not looked back | |
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| Review by sparky007 - Location: Avondale,Maricopa,AZ
- Cost: $10 per month
- Install: about 5 days
Good "It works"
Bad "No phone support. Just online support"
Overall "If you want basic phone for a damn good price.. This is the plan you need."
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It's basic talk. It's a white box version of vonage you can purchase at Walmart or online. It uses vonage's servers.
www.basictalk.com
Basic phone with unlimited long distance with call waiting and caller id. Voice Mail options.
So far so good. It handles a fax machine without any issues.
member for 2.1 years, 38 visits, last login: 22 days ago
updated 68 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Furrever Fur - Location: Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
- Cost: $65 per month
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Tremendous value, good call quality, trained phone personnel and fanatastic features!"
Bad "No selective call screening"
Overall "Would recommend Vonage service in a heartbeat !"
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We've been more than happy with Vonage service for close to 4 years now. The price listed here ($65) is for TWO lines and a virtual number (and the fees/taxes). VonageWorld ($25.99/mo) with no contact is fantastic.
One of the BEST features is the network availability number, so that if one's internet is down, the VOIP will ring to whatever phone (landline, cell) you enter. Also: no telemarketing, no "sharing" of information as some ISP and other VOIP providers do.
Tech support is great, but ...! Like so many other companies, Vonage is outsourcing and the heavy accents (sorry) can be really hard to understand. However, the agents ARE qualified and don't read from a script. Tech support via email gives actual, helpful responses specific to an inquiry -- non of the "canned" stuff. When we had to get a replacement adapter box, the process was easy. Best of all - no pesky monthly "rental" fees !!
Vonage has only raised their fees once; the other nickle/dime increases are from government mandated fees/taxes which is for any phone line. We tried VOIP from an ISP .. never again. Rates too high, not enough features, etc etc.
Vonage - our our opinion - is the best ever. Now if they'd only add selective call screening ...
member for 1.6 years, 60 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 69 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Mannus - Location: Fort Wayne,Allen,IN
- Cost: $11 per month
Good "Good call quality when I actually use it."
Bad "Sub-par support if you nee it."
Overall "Cheap and just right for my needs."
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Feb 2006 Just signed up a week ago. Although my number port is not complete, I am able to make outgoing calls. Call quality is extremely good. Billing would not let me exchange adapters after I realized the one I ordered (Vtech 8100-2) was not what I needed after all. Had to go buy my own VT1005 and activate that on my account.
Aug '06: After a few months of service, I decided that I just wasn't going to use my phone that much as I primarily use my cell phone. Also, my bill went up to almost 18.00 when they added new fees. I switched to the 100 minute plan for 9.99 (11.9X after fees). I average 30 outgoing minutes at the most a month. Would be nice if I could speak to someone other than an Indian phone rep. Service has been
good up to date although I am considering porting my number out to T-Mobile
prepaid.
Dec 2007 - So far so good. I basically use my vonage line for junk calls and as my give out number to people I don't want to talk to. It is also hooked up to my DISH DVR.
Sept 2008 - Still working as it should. As I primarily rely on my cell phone to make calls, my vonage line is used only by my DVR. I called CS and had my account switched to the 4.99/month residential hold account plan. Free incoming minutes and 3.9 cents/minute outgoing. As little as I use it, my bill should be about 8.00/month after fees.
June. 2009 - The 4.99 residential hold plan cost me approximately 9.20/ month after fees are added..
May 2010 - Vonage seems to be pinching every penny out of me they can.
I am on the 4.99 residential hold plan and my bill after taxes and fess is almost 11.00/month. I will be canceling soon and porting my number out to trac-fone or some other pre-paid service.
July 2013 Finally cancelled my service. Paying more in fees than the actual service cost was just very sound. My monthly bill was ~12.00 after taxes and fees. Surprisingly, cancelling was painless and immediate. The whole process took less than 10 minutes. Switched to the Obihai 100 and use my GV number for incoming/outgoing calls now.. I should make back my money spent on the voip adapter in 3 months.
member for 7.9 years, 3597 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 87 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Milkman - Location: Brooksville,Hernando,FL
- Cost: $54 per month
Good "Incredibly, unbelievable, reliable"
Bad "Fax very unreliable"
Overall "EXCELLENT voice service"
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I have had my line installed for approximately 10 years now I think. There has been no downtime that I can think of ever. The call quality is as good as a standard land line. VERY VERY reliable. When I called tech support for my fax issue, their India based tech support was less than useless. Very scripted with no escalation path.
BTW - The price that I listed is for TWO lines.
member for 2.5 years, 187 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 134 days ago
Comments:
| | Bad connection would not give promised refund when cancelled I have been a customer for 5 yrs. Connection would drop from time to time. My internet connection was ok. I work from home online and keep on dropping customers was extremely annoying. I had to use my cell phone which was very expensive.
Now that I am moving, when I called they tired to lure me into keeping the account by charging $9.95/mos when I paid $30/mo for 5 yrs. The teller told me, you'll get a prorated refund if you cancel b4 the term is over. Now that I figured I don't need vonage at my new place (it actually cost me less by bundling with a local company), they tell me I don't get a refund!
Over the yrs, I referred them to a lot of friends. I'm going to all call them back to let them know about this situation. Counting all the dropping issue I had, they shoulda offered to refund my last month. NOW, that woulda been great customer service. Of course, when you call them for technical issues, you end up in India where their accent is very hard to understand. To top it all, when the last teller (he was a manager) said, I'll transfer you to a supervisor, the line rang and rang with no one at the other end. Couln't even get a voicemail or anything. What a nasty but clever way to get red of a customer!!
All I'm saying is doing things LOCALLY IS THE WAY!!!
Sophie | |
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| Review by CUBS_FAN - Location: Chicago,Cook,IL
- Cost Contract price not specified.
- Install: about 5 days
Good "The Website is so easy to navigate with plenty of help info. Automatic bill pay is convenient too.Incoming/outgoing call logs."
Bad "If there is a power outage(rarely) your phone don't work. Once in a while I get an echo"
Overall "As long as your Internet provider is steady, Vonage will be too."
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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.
9/20/2008
Still going smooth since my internet connection was fixed earlier this year. I'm still dialing a local number and using a prepaid telecom to place my international calls. I might stay with Vonage as long as they can stay alive. 
7/10/2010
Almost 2 years later and I'm just happy they are still in business! The cost per month is hovering around $40 per month and no problems..
4/18/2013
Back in November of 2012 I cancelled Vonage. After 2 months I had enough with MJ's blocking calling card access numbers and went back to Vonage. They have a 30 day money back guarantee and I noticed I was finally able to get my number ported after the 30 day period passed.
I found out that they now have free calls to Globe Telecom subscribers in the Philippines. So now I'm enjoying unlimited international calls and monthly phone bill around $36.83.
member for 8.4 years, 904 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 170 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Mr_A1 - Location: Dickson,Dickson,TN
- Cost: $16 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 5 days
Good "BasicTalk price is very good."
Overall "Make sure you do some research to open correct firewall ports so you can receive best quality possible."
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Due to AT&T CallVantage service being discontinued, I decided to try Vonage as a value replacement. The changeover was easy and the equipment came fairly fast, but the call quality and features are not the same as AT&T for the same amount of money being paid per month. I will definitely be changing over the AT&T U-Verse Voice when I order their tv and internet services. Vonage still has a long way to go to provide better services like outgoing caller id along with other features now found on other carriers like a phone book, etc and really need to do something about improving their call quality.
Update: After about 5 years after this review was written, I have returned back to Vonage using their BasicTalk Plan; they have definitely improved. The BasicTalk adapter although easy is not that great, but at least my old VPortal adapter still works and was able to be changed back to it with the correct ports opened in my router. The call quality is a lot better than years ago, and for the price it just works since I need to have some sort of home phone line at my home.
member for 9.4 years, 3334 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 187 days ago
Comments:
| | uverse sucks No comparison to Direct TV! U-VERSE is BAD technology! | |
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| Review by Jeffrey - Location: Huntington Station,Suffolk,NY
- Cost: $35 per month
- Install: about 3 days
Good "Call Quality, Price, Features"
Bad "Tech Support"
Overall "Great Service, Good value for the $"
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3/3/2013 Update:
No complaints about services. Still missing a feature or two and the price is increasing a bit, but still a great value and service I'm happy to pay for.
1/12/2011 Update:
Service continues to be excellent once again. No issues, and features, price and reliability, are one of the best buys in the business. Only wish they would get that app for CDMA smart phones.
3/4/2010 Update:
Vonage service continues to be excellent. No issues or problems to report, the service still works quite well. Currently, two Vonage voice lines and 1 fax line all working with no problems. Family members enjoy the features and calling plans [to other countries] so everyone loves it. A+.
The price above ($33) is for one line.
1/14/2009 Update:
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Still fantastic service and call quality. There are no issues to report, no changes in service or expectations. Price remains at a great point, and Vonage, for me, is an excellent VoIP service that works well for me with no problems. Only thing is that I would like to change my outgoing name for the caller ID from "unknown name" to my name, and I'm sure there is a way to do that, but I just haven't even researched it. That would be my only "complaint", but it's not really a fair one since I haven't even researched how to fix it yet.  Anyway, continued great service from Vonage. Would recommend them highly.
5/11/2008 Update:
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Still fantastic service. No issues, call clarity still fantastic. Features still amazing. No way I'd give up Vonage. I had to call my parents in several cities in Australia in March of 2008, and it cost less than $1 extra to talk to them for 45 minutes. You can't beat that! A+++ Service.
10/15/2007 Update:
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It's been a little over 6 months since my last review, and nothing much to say other than that quality is as good or better as before. In addition, new features were rolled out this summer as well as world-calling plans. Service and price remain outstanding, and I love what Vonage provides. We still have 3 lines (2 voice, 1 fax) here and all working fine.
Vonage and Sprint recently settled, which is good news. Litagtion with Verizon is still on-going, and no one really knows how that will pan out.
The only negative that I can find is that tech support is not the best---I often find an answer to my technical question at third-party websites, and not Vonage's. Little tricks here and there if a hiccup occurs in the service, for example.
I plan on keeping Vonage - the service and is just too good, and the price is too perfect for me to go anywhere else.
--- April 7th, 2007 update ---
Vonage continues to be great for our phone system. We have 3 Vonage lines, 2 regular and 1 fax that work perfectly. Call quality remains excellent, as do the features. Since my last update, they have offered free International calling to select European countries the customer subscribes to their highest unlimited package, which we do.
The recent court trouble with Vonage will hopefully turn out in Vonage's favor in the end, as we'd hate to lose our Vonage access given the unparralleled quality, features, and price.
That being said, BBR has been an invaluable source of help for me on the occasional time Vonage has gone down (3-4 times per year, totalling perhaps 24 hrs per year). Not "five nines" for reliability, but darn good, and well worth the price.
24 hrs / day = 8544 hrs/year.
24 hrs downtime per year (approx)
= 8520 hours uptime per year out of 8544.
=99.719% uptime. 
9/15/06 Update:
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I wanted to do a Q6 month update, but that didn't happen. So here I am. Vonage, aside from a small handful (greater-than-1-less-than-5) of issues that each of which lasted less than 24 hours since my last update, I continue to give Vonage high marks. In terms of a grading scale, I'll give them an A-. Price has gone up slightly (taxes?), and quality has remained constant--generally very, very good. All the perks - voice mail, call forwarding, etc. have been a great addition to our lives here. As mentioned above, we picked up a 2nd voice line and a fax line, and they too have been very good.
The only downside at this point (that I see) is technical support. I'm actually going to lower my rating on them to a 2 (from a 3) because of a recent issue. Apparently, in a recent firmware push to our ATA's (Motorolla V1005), one of them was successfull and one was not. For the life of me, I coudn't figure out why it was happening or how to fix it. Luckily, I wasn't the only person having the problem. In the Vonage forum here on BBR, user's described my exact situation, and collabratively, we were able to fix it. Apparently, one of the people in the discussion called Vonage Tech Support and they were unable to fix the problem. The user in question then came to the Vonage forum and after some experimentation, was able to get his ATA back working after a series of moderately difficult steps. I find it fortunate that I can continuously come to a place like BBR for help, but I find it troubling that Vonage can't help people in some instances. Granted, much of Vonage's complaints from customers are out of their control, but this was in their control, and I had to come to BBR to get it fixed, not Vonage.com.
For this, I'm lowering my rating of their tech support, but I continue to highly recommend Vonage as a low-cost alternative to high-cost POTS lines, where people also have a reliable, low-latency, high bandwith connection.
--12/09/05 Update ---
It's been a while since I made an update to this, so I figured now was a good time to do so. After 1.5 years of Vonage service with one Vonage line, and about a year with the second line, we have had hardly any problems.
The only "Vonage-specific" problems we have had are:
1) Occasionally, our VM indicator light stays on. A reboot of our Motorolla ATA usually solves that problem.
2) "All circuits are busy" happens a few times a month, but upon hanging up and redialing the # that generated that error, the call goes through.
We used to have Cablevision's Optimum Online as our ISP, but we now we have Verizon FiOS and have had Fios since May of 2005. Since Fios, there has been zero (I really mean zero) problems with voice or call quality -- when we had Optimum, occasionally there would be some echoing or stuttering, but again, that was relatively rare.
We just purchased a 3rd line from Vonage (dedicated fax line for $9.99 month), and that too has been great.
Three phone lines in the house now - all Vonage -- 2 voice, 1 fax. Total bill for all 3 comes to less than $70 per month, which was the cost of our old POTS line including all the taxes, fees, and the moderate long distance calls we made. Now, our bill is always the same, quality and features are better, and with Fios, no latency so voice quality is exceptional.
Big thumbs up for Vonage.
Note: Since the parents have become more accustomed to the "perks" with Vonage, they have said to me they don't know how they could live without the "free" features Vonage offers compared to our old POTS; Voicemail, call waiting, and especially, call forwarding.
After deciding that paying MCI $75/month for local and long distance was too much, we checked out Vonage in May of 2004.
Setup was a little confusing, and only because of the limitation of the Motorolla ATA. Apparently, this device can be used either in front of or behind the router. By default, the device is setup to work in front of the router. However, this device is a poor NAT device, and based upon the comments and suggestions found here at BBR, the decision was made to change the settings on my ATA so that it could just be plugged into a switch.
Before I did this, the ATA would lockup a lot. But, after putting the device after the router (and into a switch), the connections have been rock solid.
The advantage of putting the ATA behind the router is stability. The disadvantage is that the ATA's internal QoS is disabled. There is no way to use the QoS with the ATA behind the router. However, with my cable provider (Optimum Online), connection speeds are sufficient that no QoS is needed. (10Mb/1Mb). Additionally, my router has it's own QoS settings that can be used (if needed) to prioritize devices based upon their MAC address. So, the Motorolla's own QoS settings that are now disabled since it's plugged into my switch have no effect on me.
Other than that, call quality and value for the money are fantastic. No complaints at all. One time out of a hundred they'll be a dropped call, as well as the occasional voice mail issue. However, these are minor issues and in no way would they make me change.
We liked it so much, that we just picked up a 2nd ATA for our 2nd Vonage line.
Great value.
member for 10.7 years, 4380 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 216 days ago
Comments:
| Review by jaa - Location: New Canaan,Fairfield,CT
- Cost: $17 per month
- Install: about 5 days
Good "Perfect quality, good value"
Bad "Website reliability a little shakey"
Overall "Excellent value!"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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Ordered my line, got it in a few days. Plug-and-play - absolutely no problems. Took 4 weeks to get my number from at&t assigned - Vonage did everything after I sent in the paperwork, and sent an email with about 12 hours notice when the cutover was to occur.
The quality is excellent - better than my regular phone line. The value is incredible - 500 minutes anywhere in North America loaded with features (voice mail, callerid, etc) for 25% less than the cost of a stripped down POTS line from at&t!
The phone service has been 100% reliable since we got it. The website has had some issues.
We have a second phone line from at&t that we use for outgoing local calls and fax, as well as dialtone when the power is out. Vonage will forward our calls to the POTS line automatically when our internet is out. We also like POTS for 911 service - even though we setup Vonage for 911, I like having the true e911 through POTS.
One line, 500-minute plan. Total monthly bill: $19.50.
Been over 3 years now - working great!! Love the features (and the price!!).
Update: Over 4 years now, still working great!! Better quality and reliability than our POTS service from at&t.
Update May, 2009: 5 years now. Switched from the $20/mo 500 minute plan to the $300/yr unlimited plan. Now worry about minutes. No issues.
Update October, 2010: Over 6 years; service is still great. I REALLY like receiving my voicemail in my email - WITH a transcription of the message so I can read it instead of listening.
Update December, 2011: Another year of excellent service. $365 per year including all taxes and fees.
Update August, 2012: Still going strong. Thinking about dropping my POTS line now.
Update March, 2013: Finally did it - dropped my POTS line. Just cell and internet phones.
member for 13.3 years, 6304 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 216 days ago
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