Would Vonage Be a mistake? in Vonage

Would Vonage Be a mistake? in Vonage http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r18844761 en Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:56:26 EDT Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:56:26 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19130041 anon : I've used Vonage for my home office line for years, no problems whatsoever, have had no reason to call customer service on that line.

I ported over my main home # to vonage this week and it took 3 days and was no problem. I was getting a recording not in service for about an hour during the switch over, so I called Vonage CS, no hold time, had a decent rep, she put me on hold and checked the number and it was working, no problems so far.

I would suggest not getting the adapter from them. Just go buy it at walmart, target, best buy, circuit city, etc. I think it's $39. Take it home and hook it up, and sign up without talking to anybody. As far as termination fee, I did have an extra line for a while and I just didn't use it, so I canceled and I believe it was only $35, no big deal. I don't think I even had to talk to anybody. You save tons of money over POTS, so it's a very small price to pay. If you can't afford that, use a can and string.

I had an extra line with voicewing, and had no problems except it wouldn't work with Fax, so I had to move it back to Verizon POTS for rock solid fax. If you have to use fax, Voip is not a good choice as there is mixed success, not worth the hassel.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19130041 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:23:05 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19117010 jsb825 : I use a cell phone from a company out of Canada (ALIANT) with a north american package. ITs cheaper!!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19117010 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:45:31 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19115980 RockyBB :

said by jsb825

:

Verizon, Sprint... You'll never get me as a customer. Your as cheap as corporate greed will get.

So your cell phone service is with AT&T, that mom and pop company? :D
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"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19115980 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:59:59 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19115279 jsb825 : I would never go with a company that uses its method of making money by suing companies that are doing better then them. Verizon, Sprint... You'll never get me as a customer. Your as cheap as corporate greed will get. How much more money do you want anyways?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19115279 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:05:21 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19109469 RockyBB :

said by winsnomore

:

Vonage would never have done these thing 2 years ago but now they don't care.

I've had Vonage for over 4 years (since Feb 2003, I looked it up), and they've always been full months. I'll agree that they have done nothing with their customer support organization to try to persuade customers that they "care."
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"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19109469 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:52:01 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19109345 winsnomore : I don't care about what someone else's experience is .. I am telling you mine and I am saying what I think is wrong, it's an opinion and let's leave it at that. I don't like getting shafted .. like having to pay for something I didn't use and I will make noise about it.

Regarding Vonage surviving .. I will take bets .. it won't.
Cable will, but independent VOIP providers will be crushed from top with the transport people and from bottom by skype and gtalk/yahoo etc. etc. etc.

As I said in my other post, the party is over that's why these drastic tactics and practices are being used.

Vonage would never have done these thing 2 years ago but now they don't care.

So enjoy your amortization over longer period and keep looking for alternatives .. lol.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19109345 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:37:49 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19109195 garys_2k : I agree, with my Vonage account since 4/04 I really don't give a hoot about startup costs, and if I ever do cancel I'll do it a day or two before the billing date, so yeah, I'll "lose" a day or so's worth of service. BFD.

It's a free market, if you don't like a particular provider, move on. All I can say about the service is that it's saved me a LOT of money over the past few years compared to the hosing I was getting from Ameritech/SBC/ATT.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19109195 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:17:47 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19108759 RockyBB :

said by winsnomore

:

What's this thing about VOIP that's so special .. if everything is equal including tack on charges and regulatory fees, why not the refunds ?

I'll agree that it would be nice if VOIP providers gave pro-rated refunds. But they don't. The end. It's not just Vonage, though most companies built their policies are Vonage's and relaxed some terms so as to attract more customers -- they just haven't relaxed the full month rule.

If you don't like the full month rule, and you're willing to give up VOIP's advantages (or don't recognize them), then so be it. Bye!

But for many, the full month billing is not that big of a deal, it only impacts our last month of service, and the features and flexibilities of the carriers far outweigh that restriction. It's good for me, so I stay. You don't see it, so back to POTS for you.

What isn't fair is for you to interpret your personal experience and your personal needs ... and extrapolate them to the marketplace. Your scientific sample size of one is valuable only in context of several thousand more.

The market is speaking, BTW. Bell carrier residential land line counts are flat quarter to quarter, while the Goliaths like cell providers, Comcast DV, and Vonage continue to pile on the subs. Your conclusions might need some adjustment sometime soon...
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"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19108759 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:19:39 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19108338 winsnomore : Oh so here are two admissions ..

#1 This is your interpretation/defence and has nothing to with T&C .. that's just fig leaf -- Vonage did the same thing when I pointed out that it doesn't say anything about charging for full month without providing service.

#2 Even Viatalk would, callvantage did, verizon (land line) and DSL did, Verizon wireless did, T-MO did, cablevision does -- they all do VONAGE doesn't.

What's this thing about VOIP that's so special .. if everything is equal including tack on charges and regulatory fees, why not the refunds ?

Vonage was a good company at one time, now they have become bunch of clueless buffoons, their attitude is you are going and we seriously doubt "we" will be around if you ever want to come back .. so let's screw with you. This is a surefire way of going out of business and Vonage will go out of business, the 2.5M sub's not withstanding, though there are other powerful reasons for that to happen other than poor refund policies alone !!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19108338 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:16:56 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19107562 RockyBB :

said by winsnomore

:

So though you want to put a defense for Vonage, please let the document speak for itself, not your "own" --but that's what it means .. defense.

I've read lots of T&Cs with many VOIP providers. I'm not aware of a single one that will pro-rate the final month of service. I suspect (don't know for sure) that AT&T CallVantage and Verizon Voicewing will pro-rate, due to the parent companies' telco heritage ... but I've not seen any other VOIP provider pro-rate the final month. I'm willing to learn from you. Which other VOIP providers pro-rate the final month?
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"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19107562 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:55:13 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19106131 winsnomore : @RockyBB

I have (had) read the T&C, what you are saying is NOT in the document, you are "adding" your interpretation to it.

Term of Service is the term for which the service is contracted, it used to be 1 year with Vonage, now it's 2 years.

This applies to the term used for cancellation chargers for Terminating the service before the TERM of SERVICE expires

The monthly billing is a charge for providing you service for a month, irrespective.

Almost all service providers in Telecom space pro-rate the charges for the monthly use, cell-phones, landlines, voip carriers .. everyone Except Vonage, but vonage doesn't state that anywhere, they just do it, hoping no one will put up a big fuss for $20-$30.

So though you want to put a defense for Vonage, please let the document speak for itself, not your "own" --but that's what it means .. defense.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19106131 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:26:57 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19104714 RockyBB :

said by winsnomore

:

It's a policy and not in T&C ..

If it was in T&C they will have to spell it out, so they keep T&C clean, however try getting them to give you partial refund on the service not used .. they won't do it.

Someone ought to sue them for this .. make it class action and put them out of their misery.

Let's try to put you out of your misery. Here's the section of the Vonage T&C where it is spelled out that service is for full and not partial months.

6.1 Service Term.
We provide our service for terms of a set length that depend on the term that you have signed up for (for example, 30 days, one year, and two years). Your term begins on the subscription date, which is the date you first ordered service or the date we successfully process your payment, whichever is later. It is not the day you receive the equipment you ordered or the first time you use the service. You are purchasing our service for the full service term.

Full service term = full month. Unlike Bell services, there is no mention of pro-rate. This is typically how it's done in the consumer VOIP business...perhaps AT&T and Verizon will do a daily pro-rate due to their heritage, but I've not seen it from any independent providers. When I cancelled my SunRocket service long ago, I persuaded them to give me two weeks of credit since I was canceling only 3 days into the next month ... but even SR's TOS had no provision for pro-rate. In the telecom industry there is a jargon term for service that is paid for but never used: "breakage."
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"Teleblend has an agreement with the Assignee to solicit and support former SunRocket customers."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19104714 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:02:50 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19104319 winsnomore : Agree with rebus9.

Vonage is horrible when it comes to cancellation .. the cancellation fee is outrageous.

The second is the hidden thing, they will not refund your billed amount. I know of of NO service provider that has this policy.

It's a policy and not in T&C ..

If it was in T&C they will have to spell it out, so they keep T&C clean, however try getting them to give you partial refund on the service not used .. they won't do it.

Someone ought to sue them for this .. make it class action and put them out of their misery.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19104319 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:59:34 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18987483 Maarvin : Your best idea would be to read some of the reviews written up about Vonage.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18987483 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:53:43 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18986322 ptrowski : I used Vonage for 1.5 years and had great quality and only one outage during that time. I had one line for home use and another for home office use.

Very rarely had quality issues, for the price they were spot on.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18986322 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:29:41 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18985926 rakstr : I'd avoid them. The poster mentioning the stall tactics is spot on. I've been trying to get my $100 rebate from them for 6 months. Today I waited 15+ minutes 4 times only to be answered, put on hold, and dropped. They've promised to call me back numerous times and usually they deny the rebate offer ever existed.

On top of that, the quality of the service is not prime time, at least for business calls. Too much delay, and when there are multiple people on a conference call with VOIP, everyone is stepping all over everyone else.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18985926 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:24:41 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18962795 rrengineer : I was a Vonage customer for two years and switched to SunRocket last year for the $199 annual plan. After being orphaned with the masses, I first attempted to port my number to ViaTalk. After a month of waiting for service, I received nothing from ViaTalk, so I canceled my order. Three days after canceling VT, they billed me for $268, but that's another issue.

I called Vonage to see if they would welcome me back. I still had my Vonage device, so I thought the process would be smooth. The main customer service group for Vonage is in India and they are horrible, but they had some good techs in New Jersey that had me up and running quickly. Wait times for technical support averaged about five minutes and sometimes were instant, unlike the two hour waits I experienced at ViaTalk. The level two techs are very good and I would recommend Vonage. They have some nice features that other VOIP providers don't have. With the smart call forwarding to my cell phone, I never miss a call.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18962795 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:00:50 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18956313 La Luna : Love my Vonage (3+ years). At one point, I was calling the UK and talking for an average of 6-8 hours a day (sometimes more), every day. Never had one issue with being considered "an abuser".

The call quality is excellent, only a couple of short outages attributed to Vonage in the time I've had it. I would stay away from anything Verizon (horrible POTS service, wouldn't trust them with their VoIP), or anything that is so *cheap* that it sounds to good to be true....it probably is.

Any with any VoIP service, the quality of Vonage is directly related to the quality of your ISP service (which is often the problem when people have issues).
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JIHAD WATCH~~9329 DEADLY TERROR ATTACKS SINCE 9/11]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18956313 Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:11:58 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18947451 Michael1 : Personally had Vonage for a month or so .. former SunRocket survivor here .. no issues. Looked at ATT but they couldn't port my #. My biggest reason for signing with Vonage, they are publicly traded and much tougher for them to just shut down, much less without warning.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18947451 Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:14:02 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18946587 jeremyv : Well my trusty Onesuite and its VoIP service works very well for me. I'm on a tight budget and its $2.95 VoIP monthly maintenance fee (incoming calls are free) is perfect for my needs. Outgoing is pay as you go.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18946587 Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:56:55 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18851314 dm33 : Folks talk so highly about Verizon and ATT support and call quality.

If you want great support, great call quality, don't care about the price or how they gouge you on inane fees, then stay with ATT or Verizon POTS.

ATT & Verizon are huge companies out to take advantage of consumers. If and when they put Vonage out of business, VOIP with them will be just as expensive as their POTS and we'll be back to where we started.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18851314 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:57:20 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18850886 rebus9 : I'll chime in as a 3-year Vonage customer currently with 5 lines (previously 6 lines).

Avoid them.

Originally they were this great little maverick company bringing this cool new product for mass consumption. Then they got "too corporate" for their own good. Most of their support is outsourced to foreign call centers that barely speak English and do nothing more than read from canned scripts. If the answer isn't in the script, they basically turf the call. It's a rarety to actually get an English speaking American on the phone.

Don't try to cancel your account with them. They'll repeatedly put you on hold, many report for as much as 10-20 minutes at a time. My guess (and that of others) is they hope you will just give up. IT DOES NOT-- repeat NOT-- take an hour and several times on hold to click a few buttons to close an account. It is just a stall tactic.

I had 6 lines and needed to cancel 1-- just 1-- of them because it was no longer needed. Holy crap, it was like I was closing a million-dollar account or something. The guy WOULD NOT do it, instead giving me excuse, afer excuse, after excuse, why I shouldn't be doing it. I had to get nasty and threaten to cancel all 6 lines, before he gave up and did what I wanted.

You are locked in for TWO YEARS, or they hit you with an early termination fee. The reputable players, including AT&T, don't have any such fees as long as you return the adapter.

A couple weeks ago I opened an AT&T CV account, and so far both the phone service and the people have been excellent (and they all speak English as a first language). My plan is to use it for a couple months to make sure there aren't any major issues, and if so, port my home number and 3 of the 5 business lines to AT&T CV. The remaining 2 biz lines will remain with Vonage, so we'll still have at least partial phone service in case AT&T has an outage.

Call quality-- I give Vonage a B+ or maybe an A-. Calls are reasonably clear even using their lowest quality setting to save bandwidth.

Reliability-- they've had several outages so far this year, but not dramatic enough that I would cancel just because of that. (2007 has been a rough year, 2006 had fewer outages) If you're going to use VoIP, expect it will happen once in a while-- price you pay for all the other benefits.

Pricing-- If you're going to spend money, you might as well go with a company that's financially solid. Vonage, AT&T CV, and Verizon VoiceWing are all priced at $24.95 for the "unlimited" plan. (unlimited meaning "5000 minutes per month" before they consider you an abuser) So why be a Vonage subscriber and wonder if they're going to be around tomorrow, when you can go with Verizon or AT&T who will be around forever.

My $0.02.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18850886 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 21:43:54 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18849891 mahermusic : Vonage here for over 4+ years. Best voice quality, and a TON in savings over POTS in that 4-year span. All my friends and family are on it... I couldn't say anything about the "onesuite" voip company mentioned above, or their reliability... I've never even heard of them until the above post. I'm good with my trusty Vonage.
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Don't blame me... I voted for KERRY.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18849891 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:13:53 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18847172 Insane2U : Well at least Vonage aint run outta someones Garage with terrible customer service and terrible service. I dont see Vonage pulling a Sunrocket. The others I think are all gonna steal you money once they get enough customers. And pull a sunrocket. I doubt with Vonage in the stock market and millions of customer, they would pull the plug.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18847172 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:26:24 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18847121 garys_2k : I haven't had a whit of trouble with Vonage for years and have had excellent call quality at a cost savings of $40+/month over my previous POTS line. Mistake? Not that I can see.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18847121 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:19:20 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18847080 sbk212 :

said by guppy_fish

:

For that money, ATT Call Vantage or Verizon Voice Wing is a better choice. Same cost, no issues of company not being around in a year or two

I looked into both companies and they could not port my number for some reason.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18847080 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:14:09 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18846008 canontech : I'll put in my 2 cents worth on this:

I signed up with Vonage 2 days after my phones went dead from Sunrocket. They were offering Free Activation, Free Equipment, Free Overnight Shipping,& 2 Mo. Free Service. Wow, what a deal!! After placing my order, I logged into my new account and soon noticed that shipping was indicated as 2nd Day DHL???? I called them back & they assured my it was just a system glitch. Well, 2 days later, no device and I called them several times with the assurance that it was coming. Out of irritation, I canceled my account (which was only open for 2 days). They then slapped me with a disconnection fee of $39.99, which mind you I never even used the service & the box never shipped!!! I asked them to cancel the shipment, but they said it couldn't be stopped (and it never even left Vonage yet). Finally the device shipped, so I called & asked if I could refuse it when DHL delivered. The CSR from Vonage told me NO, I must accept it, call to get an RA# & ship it back -- They will provide a label via email. So, the device arrives -- 1 week later than promised. Guess what??, the CSR rep gives me the RA# & tells me I have to pay to ship it back, it's in their TOS. By this time I am all fired up!!! :mad: I then call again & demand to talk to a supervisor. I explain everything to him & convey how irritated I am about this whole thing, and that I am now out $7 shipping for service I never used!! He proceeded to tell me that I could have just refused the shipment --- My head hit the roof!!!! I then told him what one of his CSR's told me, with a bit of coaxing, he said he would refund my $7 for shipping. Well, as of today, I have gotten my $39.99 Disconnect fee refunded, but still no $7 for shipping -- they told me that their accounting dept. refused it because of the TOS!! Now, just out of principal, I am going to harass them every day till they give me a refund. :D

So to sum up, I wouldn't believe much of what their CSR's tell you, seems they can make up about anything. I am glad I decided to go elsewhere!!! Good Luck if you do take the plunge. :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18846008 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:27:47 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18845875 mb : I was with them and came back. From my experience they provide top notch service, their customer support can be terrible. I'm not terribly concerned with the lawsuit. Callvantage is highly rated, but retains alot of the old wireline way of thinking with some of their extra charges.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18845875 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:55:12 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18845275 toffeegrc : I dunno but the lawsuit prevented me from going with Vonage, ended up trying onesuite.com suiteadvantage and so far i am satisfied.

Check them out, they are offering 1 month free trial till 08/20 so in case you didn't like it won't cost you a thing.

»www.onesuite.com/sunrocket.asp]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18845275 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:20:00 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18845172 Gork : I wouldn't have any qualms with Vonage - I was a customer of theirs for a year back when they were new. I ended up chosing someone else I trusted just as much who didn't charge quite as much though.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18845172 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 02:42:17 EDT Re: Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18844949 guppy_fish : For that money, ATT Call Vantage or Verizon Voice Wing is a better choice. Same cost, no issues of company not being around in a year or two]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18844949 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:21:18 EDT Would Vonage Be a mistake? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18844761 sbk212 : I still have not chosen a new VOIP provider - would it be a bad idea just to go with Vonage?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18844761 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:38:43 EDT