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kherr
Premium Member
join:2000-09-04
Collinsville, IL

kherr

Premium Member

[HSI] Looking to move to Vonage from ATT

I'm wondering about how much 'taxes and fees' are tacked on to a Vonage bill. If the total cost isn't much different from ATT there's no reason to switch. If it makes a difference I'd be getting residential 400 minute and live in IL 62234. I asked the fucking moron that I 'chatted' with on the Vonage site but referred me to a page that had the 'package' pricing. I couldn't get back into the chat session after diverting to the link he gave to tell him that I'm not total stupid and found that figure about 4 microseconds after I got to their web site.

geek
Mad Scientist at Work
Premium Member
join:2002-01-07
Southbury, CT

1 edit

geek

Premium Member

Topic moved...disregard this post.
kherr
Premium Member
join:2000-09-04
Collinsville, IL

kherr

Premium Member

You need internet to have VOIP don't you ??????? Thus the chance that someone already has Vonage and can tell me about what the below the line costs are .......

KoRnGtL15
Premium Member
join:2007-01-04
Grants Pass, OR

KoRnGtL15

Premium Member

Ooma by far is the better deal. Have you considered them over Vonage? I considered Vonage once until I discovered Ooma. Have had them now for a little over a year and very pleased. You only pay local taxes. For me its $3.81 a month. They also have premium service for $9.99 still way cheaper then Vonage. You can also find the Ooma box online for $99 new. Their forums host promo codes as well for that price.

geek
Mad Scientist at Work
Premium Member
join:2002-01-07
Southbury, CT
TP-Link Archer C7

2 edits

2 recommendations

geek to kherr

Premium Member

to kherr
Get service from a VOIP provider like VoIP.ms, Callcentric, FutureNine, Anveo way better than Ooma or Vonage IMO.

Example for you (based on the 400 minutes)
$1.00/mo - DID Charge
$1.50/mo - E911 (optional)
$0.01/min - Yup a penny a minute for incoming/outgoing

so you'd be at $6.50/month for 400 US minutes.

No taxes. No other fees.
kherr
Premium Member
join:2000-09-04
Collinsville, IL

kherr to KoRnGtL15

Premium Member

to KoRnGtL15
Thanks for some other leads.

worldco
@67.165.253.x

worldco to KoRnGtL15

Anon

to KoRnGtL15
Vonage has less issues than Ooma. Also you can use basictalk which is owned by vonage and get unlimited calling for approx $12 inc taxes and the box is basically free as it includes you first month of service.
drivel
join:2013-07-12
Santa Clara, CA

1 recommendation

drivel to kherr

Member

to kherr
Regardless of cost, voip is better than POTS in many ways.
Stewart
join:2005-07-13

1 recommendation

Stewart to kherr

Member

to kherr
Click for full size
The Vonage site has under "tools to help you decide" a startup cost calculator; the above shot shows taxes and fees for 62234.

I agree with most others in this thread that Vonage is not a good value. In addition to the fine companies already mentioned, also look at VOIPo, Phonepower, and ViaTalk. All offer a Vonage-like experience in that they provide preconfigured hardware and help you get it working.

If you are willing to buy an adapter or IP phone and configure it yourself, in addition to the BYOD companies mentioned, you might consider Circlenet.us ($2.50/mo. + about 1/4 cent per minute). It's very spartan (doesn't even include voicemail) but may compare favorably to what you have now (has caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling).
daveinpoway
Premium Member
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA

daveinpoway to worldco

Premium Member

to worldco
I have been using Ooma since December, 2009 and I am curious what "issues" you are referring to, since I have experienced hardly any problems.

FureverFurry
RIP Daphne: 3/12/05 - 6/19/12
Premium Member
join:2012-02-20
49xxx
Zoom 5341J
ARRIS WBM760
Vonage VDV-21

FureverFurry to kherr

Premium Member

to kherr
Click for full size
I absolutely LOVE Vonage. That said, they do have a fair amount of fees (see pic). Bear in mind however, that I have TWO lines plus a virtual number.

One of the best features Vonage has is the network availability number: if your internet goes out, your calls automatically ring to the number you enter (landline, cell, etc) and when the internet service is restored, the calls ring back normally.
Stewart
join:2005-07-13

Stewart

Member

said by FureverFurry:

I absolutely LOVE Vonage.

There is no doubt that Vonage has excellent quality, reliability and support, as well as a pretty good feature set.

Most Lexus and Mercedes owners LOVE their cars. But given that the OP mentioned only cost issues, I don't believe that's what he's shopping for.
said by FureverFurry:

One of the best features Vonage has is the network availability number ...

That's important, but it is also pretty standard. All the providers mentioned in this thread include it, except for CircleNet.us and the non-premier offering from Ooma.
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1 to FureverFurry

Premium Member

to FureverFurry
said by FureverFurry:

One of the best features Vonage has is the network availability number: if your internet goes out, your calls automatically ring to the number you enter (landline, cell, etc) and when the internet service is restored, the calls ring back normally.

As was said, many providers have this, it is often called "failover".
PX Eliezer1

PX Eliezer1 to kherr

Premium Member

to kherr
said by kherr:

I'm wondering about how much 'taxes and fees' are tacked on to a Vonage bill....

If it makes a difference I'd be getting residential 400 minute....

Full-service providers such as Voipo (2-year prepayment of 185 including taxes and including hardware), and BasicTalk (owned by Vonage but lower fees and taxes, although no international calling) are worth looking at.

Also for a low-volume user such as yourself BYOD PAYG plans such as CallCentric, Voip.MS, FutureNine, are worth looking at.
said by kherr:

I'm wondering about how much 'taxes and fees' are tacked on to a Vonage bill....

Vonage fees are ridiculous. They even add on an intellectual property fee. You can do better.
mike8675309
join:2009-01-05
Farmington, MN

mike8675309 to kherr

Member

to kherr
I have an Obi 202 and an Obi 100 I have service through Anveo and Callcentric. I have 2 accounts with Anveo, one for my home and one for my mom's home. My mom uses Anveo for incoming and outgoing. I use Anveo for incoming and Callcentric for outgoing.

Once my balance with Callcentric is used up I will probably switch to Anveo for all outgoing as well as I can save on the extra 911 cost.

Currently my average service costs are $10.74 per month. More than half of that is the 2 personal unlimited numbers from Anveo. Then half of the remaining is E911, and the other half is outbound calls. Costs are made up of only: Calls, Cname Lookup (anveo), E911, and phone numbers. No taxes or other hidden charges.

This cost is providing dial tone phone service for two homes. If it was just one my average would be under $10 and if I was alone and went only with one provider I'd be under $9 per month. Our average outbound minutes is 145. We are not heavy callers though inbound is higher than outbound.

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey to kherr

Premium Member

to kherr


With 1 line plus 1 "virtual" toll-free number. I do 2nd the Basictalk suggestion though, plus the ATA's are available at Walmart for about $10.

/M
drivel
join:2013-07-12
Santa Clara, CA

drivel to kherr

Member

to kherr
How much does the state actually charge for e911 service? Different service provides charge different amounts for this "tax". Vonage appears to only charged $0.77, Anveo charges $0.80, voip.ms charges $1.50.
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1

Premium Member

There are 2 rather separate issues:

1) Taxes/fees imposed for 911 by localities and/or states. These vary widely. In many/most cases this is not separately itemized on customer bills. In other cases (eg Vonage, Ooma, CircleNet) the local taxes/fees (including 911 and others) are locality-adjusted so that (for example) people in Baltimore might pay more.

2) Fees that the VoIP providers pay to 911 management service companies such as Intrado and Dash. (Intrado is the biggest and oldest, Dash is now owned by Bandwidth.com) Pretty much every independent VoIP company uses this type of service, the original 911 system was designed, implemented, and for the benefit of, the POTS companies.

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 edit

1 recommendation

sammoats to Stewart

Premium Member

to Stewart
Great Idea and a piece of cake for us to do technically. Network availability number concept maybe with a different name coming soon to circlenet.us .
Sam
CircleNet