RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to RockyBB
Re: Is Vonage Toast?
looks like Vonage got their financing problems taken care of. Just google VONAGE and select the News option at the top for several press citations. here's one: »www.businessweek.com/ap/financia···MKO0.htm
Vonage signs definitive deal on debt refinancing
HOLMDEL, N.J.
Internet telephone service Vonage Holdings Corp. on Monday said it had signed a definitive deal with hedge fund Silver Point Finance LLC and other lenders to refinance its convertible debt with new credit facilities and debt worth $220.3 million.
The need for refinancing has loomed over Vonage all year, as it struggles with stagnant subscriber numbers and competition from cable company phone offerings. It signed a letter of intent for refinancing in April, but the terms have been renegotiated since then.
The Holmdel, N.J.-based company plans to use the borrowings, plus cash on hand, to buy back up to $253.5 million of its convertible notes in a tender offer that began on July 30.
The new package consists of a $130.3 million senior secured first lien credit facility, a $72 million senior secured second lien credit facility and $18 million in senior secured third lien convertible notes.
Vonage needs shareholder approval for the deal, but said has obtained binding agreements for enough votes to get it approved at a special shareholder meeting on Nov. 3.
"Today's agreement represents a significant milestone in positioning Vonage for the future," said John Rego, Vonage's chief financial officer, in a statement.
Silver Point, based in Greenwich, Conn., has a history of lending to companies in distress. It lent money to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. in 2005. Earlier this year, it lent to casino owner Tropicana Entertainment LLC.
Vonage ended June with 2.6 million subscribers.
end |
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ImBatman
join:2004-04-21
Lancaster, CA
| reply to Johkal
said by Johkal  :said by kewlkeed :Good riddens as far as I'm concerned. Horrible company, horrible customer treatment, horrible all around. I bailed off them a year ago and will never EVER look back. Best choice I ever made to dump them. Worst cash ever spent when I was with them. If you bailed a year ago, why are you still lurking here?  My guess? The same reason I'm here. To warn people just how bad Vonage is. |
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ImBatman
join:2004-04-21
Lancaster, CA
| reply to RockyBB
I hope they are.
Ok, here's the deal. My service sucked. Big deal. That could have been an isolated case, where I live, whatever.
Vonage made me some promises that while I might agree, they should not have made, they did. However, when it came time to deliver, they renigged. Even after listening to the recordings, a rep from the corporate office admitted that I was indeed made those promises, and despite promising me, "If that was what was offered, we will honor it, because it was promised to you", even after that, she came back and said, "We cannot do that, because its against our policy".
You make an agreement, you keep it. You don't ALL bets are off.
Therefore, Vonage can go belly up and I won't care one bit. They deserve anything bad that happens to them. |
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Johkal
Cool Cat
Premium,MVM
join:2002-11-13
Happy Valley
clubs:
 ·Comcast Digital Vo..
 ·Comcast
·Vonage
| reply to kewlkeed
said by kewlkeed :Good riddens as far as I'm concerned. Horrible company, horrible customer treatment, horrible all around. I bailed off them a year ago and will never EVER look back. Best choice I ever made to dump them. Worst cash ever spent when I was with them. If you bailed a year ago, why are you still lurking here?
--
Write me up a 125.......I Can't Drive 55 »redrocker.com/ »cabowabo.com/ |
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strange_69
join:2001-08-07
Ridgecrest, CA
·Vonage
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to kewlkeed
I've been with Vonage for 4 years now and will never go back to a POTS. Vovage has been very stable and reliable. I hope that it can pull through these hard times. POTS can just suck it as far as I am concerned.
--
Vonage user since Mar 2004. |
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kewlkeed
Grouch
Premium
join:2005-02-05
Knowlton, QC
| reply to RockyBB
Good riddens as far as I'm concerned. Horrible company, horrible customer treatment, horrible all around.
I bailed off them a year ago and will never EVER look back.
Best choice I ever made to dump them. Worst cash ever spent when I was with them. |
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bellhater
Premium
join:2003-10-08
canada
| reply to PX Eliezer
Vonage is not going anywhere anytime soon!!!!!! They may have some financial bumps, they will get through. Too many opportunities for investors. Vonage needs to pull out of the hole from the crap verizon pulled on them. I personally would love to see verizon go belly up!!!!! That company played the wrong game and well I am sure they will get theres!!! Vonage is too rock solid to fold. They will make it through tough times!!! |
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PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey
·Callcentric
·Optimum Voice
·callwithus
·voip.ms
| reply to La Luna
Exactly as RockyBB said in the above post!
Just wanted to add this from the Rocky Mountain News, from April:
".....Trying to use your cell phone inside your house can be hit and miss.
Reception is patchy. Calls get dropped. You may not get coverage at all unless you walk out to your backyard.
New technologies offer possible remedies, although both require high-speed Internet lines at home.
One, called a femtocell, acts like a miniature cell tower, boosting reception inside a building. But it comes at a price.
Sprint was the first to offer femtocells late last year in Denver and a few other select markets through a service called Airave. Verizon Wireless said recently it plans to roll out a similar service later this year. AT&T Wireless is conducting tests.
T-Mobile, meanwhile, is focusing instead on a 9-month-old service called HotSpot@Home, which uses Wi-Fi to carry cellular phone calls inside a house. The service is cheaper but requires customers to buy a HotSpot Wi-Fi-enabled phone such as a BlackBerry Pearl or Curve....."
Could be another good option. |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to La Luna
said by La Luna :That's great. Unfortunately for a lot of people, myself included, I get NO cell service in my house from any carrier (one person with AT & T gets minimal service off and on, but it's totally undependable). Wake up people! If you have no cell service in your house, then you are the EXACT target market for the Sprint Airave. It is DESIGNED for Sprint customers that can't use their Sprint phones in the house. The Airave is essentially a home-based Sprint repeater ... it's like they're putting their antenna in your house ... because YOU are putting their antenna in your house. Calls made by registered Sprint phones through the Airave device do not count against your minute allowance. |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to Mediocrates
if phonenumberbank.com cannot port in your number, then try other providers such as the recommended call centric (be aware of their port-in fee). they might even have a voice mail box as part of their service, or you could point the calls to a voice mail box at a free provider such as »www.k7.net.
if you can't find a provider to port in your number, REPLY to this message with the area code and exchange of your legacy phone number. someone here will find you a home. |
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PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey
·Callcentric
·Optimum Voice
·callwithus
·voip.ms
| reply to Mediocrates
said by Mediocrates :I just checked phone bank and whatever reason it's not available in my 'area' (area code 919). Are there any other such providers? No pure "bank" as such.
But many VoIP providers that can do the same thing.
I'd look at CallCentric for example.
Good quality and reliability. Some VoIP providers are a little cheaper, but none are better.
Note that you do need to select an incoming plan (which can be flat-rate or per-minute) and select an outgoing plan (which also can be flat-rate or per-minute).
Their "call treatments" make forwarding easy, and they have free voice mail too if desired.
They do service Raleigh, NC (such as 919-890-xxxx). |
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La Luna
Surviving Ashraful
Premium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
clubs:
·Optimum Online
·Vonage
| reply to RockyBB
said by RockyBB :said by Mediocrates :I would probably get Sprint Airave, sooner than I would like since I don't believe it's entirely ready for retail, yet. But the down side to that is my S.O. would never stop complaining about the loss of the original phone number. And I mean never. I mean bitterly grumbling every minute of every day till the end of time. So on second thought, screw it, it looks like T-W is going to get to rape me. Lucky Me!!!! Dude, save all your problems for me. I've had an Airave since they were introduced in the Denver test market more than a year ago. It's more than ready. To save your legacy number, you can port it in to any of several providers, and have the incoming calls forwarded to one of your cell numbers. There are others, but here's a provider where you can park your legacy number and have the calls forwarded to one of your cell numbers: » www.phonenumberbank.com That's great. Unfortunately for a lot of people, myself included, I get NO cell service in my house from any carrier (one person with AT & T gets minimal service off and on, but it's totally undependable).
People who say "just use your cell phone" assume that *everyone* gets great cell service everywhere when that just isn't true.
--
12,075 DEADLY TERROR ATTACKS SINCE 9/11~~SARAH BRIGHTMAN SYMPHONY WORLD TOUR |
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Mediocrates
join:2008-05-27
Raleigh, NC | reply to RockyBB
I just checked phone bank and whatever reason it's not available in my 'area' (area code 919). Are there any other such providers? |
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Mediocrates
join:2008-05-27
Raleigh, NC
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Vonage
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to RockyBB
On the Sprintusers forum there are lots of complaints about Airave. Could be it's hit or miss. If it truly works as advertised in the home and it's reliable, rock solid reliable then it's a possible alternative.
Would you happen to know if there's a way to route the calls to your 'parked' number to your cell phones voice mail or would you have to turn your phone OFF to do that? |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to Mediocrates
said by Mediocrates :I would probably get Sprint Airave, sooner than I would like since I don't believe it's entirely ready for retail, yet. But the down side to that is my S.O. would never stop complaining about the loss of the original phone number. And I mean never. I mean bitterly grumbling every minute of every day till the end of time. So on second thought, screw it, it looks like T-W is going to get to rape me. Lucky Me!!!! Dude, save all your problems for me. I've had an Airave since they were introduced in the Denver test market more than a year ago. It's more than ready. To save your legacy number, you can port it in to any of several providers, and have the incoming calls forwarded to one of your cell numbers. There are others, but here's a provider where you can park your legacy number and have the calls forwarded to one of your cell numbers: »www.phonenumberbank.com |
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Mediocrates
join:2008-05-27
Raleigh, NC
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Vonage
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to RockyBB
Well that would entirely suck. I love Vonage. I hate CallVantage and am compelled to use it for work. Happily though AT&T isn't selling Callvantage retail anymore.
So what will happen is that AT&T will want to jam DSL down our throats, or, Time Warner will jam their overpriced service down our throats. And T-W will of course see that as an opportunity to raise their prices even more.
I would probably get Sprint Airave, sooner than I would like since I don't believe it's entirely ready for retail, yet. But the down side to that is my S.O. would never stop complaining about the loss of the original phone number. And I mean never. I mean bitterly grumbling every minute of every day till the end of time. So on second thought, screw it, it looks like T-W is going to get to rape me. Lucky Me!!!! |
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onlyrh40
join:2008-01-29
North York, ON | reply to onlyrh40
Service to/from Germany ok now
False alarm. |
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onlyrh40
join:2008-01-29
North York, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to Matthewb
US copyright and patent law are contributing to the destruction of US businesses.
Vonage today has an all lines busy intercept on all calls to Germany, incoming calls ring but answer dead. Makes one wonder it someone forgot to pay the Deutsche Telekom bill. |
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Matthewb
join:2000-02-09
Crofton, MD
2 edits | reply to no_one
Ever get the feeling you can't win? If Vonage goes under, I'd have a hard time considering Verizon.
Vonage fuming
Source: »www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.···ormation
Verizon Communications lost its patent infringement suit against Cox Communications after a jury said Cox had not infringed on six patents related to Internet telephony. Vonage had settled a similar suit with Verizon for $120 million, plus 5.5% in royalties on revenues, after a jury found Vonage at fault.
--
Matt |
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no_one
@QWEST.NET
| reply to RockyBB
Back then, in order to win a loan commitment to re-finance that debt, the carrier had to swallow terms that include issuing senior secured debt, paying a variable-interest rate that looks like it will start in the neighborhood of 15 percent with no upward limit, and spending between $21 million and $24 million in fees and expenses.
I thought my credit was bad.
Whats sad is that the higher ups will somehow manage to pay themselves huge bonuses on the way out. |
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