trparky
Bite My Shiny Metal Ass
Premium,MVM
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
clubs:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| Counting down the days...
Counting down the days until the death of Vonage.
I mean, come on... anybody who thought that after the cable companies realized that doing phone as well was a lucrative thing Vonage would survive was a fool.
I saw it coming.
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Tom |
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otty
join:2008-10-24
Toronto, ON | why pay monthly?
I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. |
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bye bye vonage
@sbcglobal.net | Cancellation fees making money
Their substantial cancellation fees must be a great source of revenue for Vonage. |
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
·Skype
 ·Cox HSI
 ·AT&T Southeast
·magicjack.com
| reply to trparky
Re: Counting down the days...
said by trparky  :Counting down the days until the death of Vonage. I mean, come on... anybody who thought that after the cable companies realized that doing phone as well was a lucrative thing Vonage would survive was a fool. I saw it coming. The Cable outfits do it better. No set-up, no hassles. Really, most just line a POTS line. Internet-based VOIP's days are over. Mostly. Even the Telcos are going VOIP. With caps, non-techies are going to say, "No thank you, I don't want to pay extra to use you."
I know I see a lot less Vonage commercials today. And, their rep of being harder to cancel than AOL, is also hurting new converts.
Simply put, Indie VOIP is for the tech-minded crowd not the mainstream. A lot of them are cell only anyway.
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl |
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Jeffrey
too dark too early
Premium
join:2002-12-24
Dix Hills,NY
clubs:
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FIOS
·Vonage
·magicjack.com
| said by supergirl :said by trparky :Counting down the days until the death of Vonage. I mean, come on... anybody who thought that after the cable companies realized that doing phone as well was a lucrative thing Vonage would survive was a fool. I saw it coming. The Cable outfits do it better. No set-up, no hassles. I don't think that statement is a fair one to make. I purchased Vonage in 2004, then 2 more lines in early 2005. Ten minutes to setup, very little hassle. (What hassle I did experience was my own fault.)
Cablevision required (still requires?) a home visit to setup Optimum Voice.
I've been a tremendously happy Vonage customer for over 4 years, and I hope they continue to remain in business. The value I have received from their product has been excellent.
Many of the people who cancel don't realize that if your Internet connection is crappy, then your call quality will suffer. A friend of mine had this problem, but didn't want to hear it.
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"Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy." - George Carlin
[my ramblings] |
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jchambers28
join:2007-05-12
Alma, AR | reply to bye bye vonage
Re: Cancellation fees making money
I know I will be happy to dich them after the 1st of the year. I will be going to a cricket cell phone |
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knightmb
Everybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to Jeffrey
Re: Counting down the days...
said by Jeffrey :I don't think that statement is a fair one to make. I purchased Vonage in 2004, then 2 more lines in early 2005. Ten minutes to setup, very little hassle. (What hassle I did experience was my own fault.) Cablevision required (still requires?) a home visit to setup Optimum Voice. I've been a tremendously happy Vonage customer for over 4 years, and I hope they continue to remain in business. The value I have received from their product has been excellent. Many of the people who cancel don't realize that if your Internet connection is crappy, then your call quality will suffer. A friend of mine had this problem, but didn't want to hear it. I have to agree, Vonage has been rock solid for half a decade for me. I have 6 lines with Vonage, half of which are fax lines. I've converted all of my friends and family (who have broadband) to Vonage as well. None of them have any issues because you need a stable ISP first, then someone who knows the difference between QoS and Traffic Shaping to get a proper setup so that normal PC Internet activity doesn't mess with the calls. I do all of it for them and they are amazed at how cheap it is. They get every service possible that the phone company offers and unlimited calling to this part of the planet plus a few foreign countries just for the heck of it. The phone company just can't compare at $24.99 a month. The cable company phone service just can't compare for price or stability either.
If you have a descent ISP and some understanding of how the technology really works, you won't have any problems with the service. Can probably be said for many other VoIP companies as well.
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Fight NebuAD and the like:
Click Here to pollute their data |
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JeffreyD
join:2000-09-27
Brooklyn, NY | Just left
I just left yesterday, went with tmobile@home for $10 a month. I mainly use my cell, this line is just a place holder for my old land line number that some people still have. |
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CO_Chris
Premium
join:2001-08-28
Broomfield, CO | reply to Jeffrey
Re: Counting down the days...
I had Vonjunk when i had earthstinks cable in TX and man they are byfar the worst . All I can say is Thanks to TWC in Houston and Comcast here in Colorado for the great service they have.. |
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knightmb
Everybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to otty
Re: why pay monthly?
said by otty :I just quit Vonage. I dont see why people would use pay-monthly VOIP when you can get it neary free through Skype or even cheaper-voipbuster. People still want phones. I like talking on a phone that doesn't depend on my PC to work. Skype / MagicJack / etc is cool and all, but they are only one solution to the many that exist and what people want from a phone service.
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Fight NebuAD and the like:
Click Here to pollute their data |
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SinNombre
join:2004-09-16
Charlotte, NC
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | love mine
Love my Vonage.
It's been rock steady for me for years and it's affordable. I also love having an alternative to either a cable company or a telco... I pay them for everything else, so I love not having to depend on them for at least part of my communication needs.
I've talked to ATT about getting some DSL service or even a DISH package through them ... and it's $22 (discounted) just for dial tone! No extras or anything! Phone service thru my cable company is $40 a month! Same service, or with fewer features, and it costs the same or more! I hope Vonage can hang in there!
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nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to supergirl
Re: Counting down the days...
I'm wondering how much of the problems that people must be having (I assume people leave because of some issue) are related to their internet connection and NOT to the vonage service itself.
if you have a crappy connection, you will have crappy vonage service.
btw, I have a pretty good connection and I rarely have problems with vonage. |
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bgreen965
join:2005-04-26
Savannah, GA
| Not having truck rolls IS THE PROBLEM
Vonage will never be able to get the average user unless they can roll a truck out to the house to set it up, QoS their router, and setup the account. As easy as it may be for us, regular users are used to "the guy" coming out to take care of that kind of stuff and are afraid of doing it themselves or just don't want to.
I have used Cable Voice as well Vonage and the cable works a lot more reliably and a lot more like a POTS line. However, I'm cell phone only at this point and this is the problem Vonage and others are going to run into with the younger customer base who would have the technical knowledge to use their service: they don't want/need a landline. |
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st7860
join:2004-05-13
San Francisco, CA | reply to trparky
Re: Counting down the days...
if vonage charged decent prices to BEGIN with instead of offering their best plans (such as $15/mo for unlimited north american calls) only to people who cancel, then they wouldn't be in such bad shape. |
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benjamin
All propositions are of equal value
Premium
join:2000-12-20
New York, NY
clubs:
·BroadVoice
·RCN CABLE
| Losses exaggerated? Or perhaps a typo...
quote:
...the company's "churn" or turnover rate remains unchanged at 3%. At that rate, Vonage is forced to replace a third of their customer base every year.
Perhaps I am missing something but how does a 3% churn rate force Vonage to replace 1/3 (i.e. 33%) of its customers every year? |
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
·Comcast
·Patriot Media
1 edit | Its the contract stupid..
Okay
Verizon -No contract
ATT -----No contract
Cable ---No contract
Other VOIP- No contract
Vonage, Contract and fees, plus a charge to change service. Plus you get 3 days to cancel to avoid the contract. Gee sounds like a demotivater me..
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“Say no to fear. Don’t let anxiety crush your life. Live life free and unfettered.”
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beerbum
Premium
join:2000-05-06
Reading, PA
clubs:
| ISP caps
I wonder how much of this is an impact of the traffic caps..
I would think people with an ISP that has low caps (frontier.net) or is threatening to impliment a low cap would be hesitant to go with a 3rd party VOIP provider..
Just how much voice traffic would be needed to use up 4-5 GB?
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a mind is a terrible thing...
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey | reply to benjamin
Re: Losses exaggerated? Or perhaps a typo...
Maybe 3% per month ? |
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atl_dsl_user
@bellsouth.com
| reply to benjamin
3% per month for each of the 12 months per year = 36% = more than 1/3 of their customer base. Of course, this is reduced somewhat by any customers that dump service and come back in the same year. I can't imagine there are too many of those considering all the change fees and associated headaches. |
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benjamin
All propositions are of equal value
Premium
join:2000-12-20
New York, NY
clubs:
·BroadVoice
·RCN CABLE
| reply to DaveNJ
said by DaveNJ :Maybe 3% per month ? That must be it.  I read it as either the yearly or quarterly loss... but you must be right. Makes much more sense. |
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