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.

said by supergirl :

The Cable outfits do it better. No set-up, no hassles.

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.

said by knightmb :

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.

said by NwkEWR :

Cheese, tell me that you are being facetious, please do tell me that, otherwise I may need to mention the name of a technological wonder that no one has ever heard of before, it goes by the acronym of UPS, and no, it has nothing to do with United Parcel Service.

said by nitzan :

While we're comparing apples to oranges, how long would your PC last on your cable box's battery?

We're not talking about a PC here so it is irrelevant. We're talking about how long would your Analog Telephone Adapter, router, and cable/DSL modem run on a typical UPS. Answer: long enough for the power to come back. If you need your cable co to supply the battery for you that's up to you, but you can most definitely easily do-it-yourself.

said by nitzan :

If you need your cable co to supply the battery for you that's up to you, but you can most definitely easily do-it-yourself.

said by Cheese :

And tell me how long that UPS is going to run if any type of PC is plugged in? Not 10 hours!

said by s13 :

That's why you run it off a dedicated UPS. You can pick up a small UPS for under $40 that will run a cable modem for hours... cheap security.

said by Cheese :

Again, the AVERAGE user is not going to purchase a UPS strictly for using it to power a phone adapter.

said by s13 :

Anyone with a semblance of a clue will. UPS technology has been around for long enough and is commonplace enough that all but the most clueless users know of them and their benefits. Couple that with fears of losing phone service in a power outage and most will make the simple connection that VoIP + UPS = success.

said by Cheese :

Again, and READ carefully, THE AVERAGE USER IS NOT GOING TO POWER JUST A CABLE MODEM/PHONE ADAPTER, THEY ARE GOING TO PLUG A PC INTO IT, which in turn is going to drain the UPS quicker, and in turn, the phone service will not last as LONG as say a CDV modem

said by s13 :

Uh huh, and if you didn't have the memory of a goldfish, you'd realize I have been talking about a DEDICATED UPS the whole time. As in DEDICATED to the MODEM and/or NETWORK HARDWARE. As in NOT USED WITH A PC. My 81 year-old grandmother, a longtime Optimum Voice subscriber, was smart enough to figure this out and she's one of the least computer-savvy people I know. If she could do it then the average Vonage customer (who one can assume to be a bit more savvy by default) probably can too.

said by Cheese :

My CDV is 24.95 a month, and ROCK solid, I am pretty sure that if the power goes out, your Vonage box is out too, or if your internet is out, same. CDV has a battery for up to 8 hours, does Vonage do that?

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.

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.

said by knightmb :

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.

said by elios :

you can get skype wi-fi based phones that are about the size of a cell phone that work just fine with no PC

said by elray :

A $150 proprietary WiFi phone (or the $80 cheep Belkin desk phone) may do the trick, in terms of turning off the PC, but why can't Skype produce an ATA, so we can use our existing phones?

said by elios :

they have them too if you want one

have you look at the skype store on the site?

edit or at lest they USED to sell one
guess no one even wanted to buy it

mind you if you did use ATA you would lose most of things that make skype nice like PC to PC calls and what not
which is why i guess they dont sell it any more

said by elray :

but why can't Skype produce an ATA, so we can use our existing phones?

said by elios :

you can get skype wi-fi based phones that are about the size of a cell phone that work just fine with no PC

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.

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.

said by DaveNJ :

Maybe 3% per month ?

said by Sammer :

Verizon VoiceWing has a one year contract and $40 ETF and AT&T CallVantage is no longer accepting new customers.

said by beerbum :

Just how much voice traffic would be needed to use up 4-5 GB?

said by anonymous1 :

If you were to call in to Vonage and tell them your having an issue they will almost immediately tell you sorry it is your isp we cant help you.

said by rradina :

In the end, however, reliability finally trumped feature and prices. Call setup time on the cable VOIP is lightning fast compared to Vonage. (Vonage was taking almost 10 seconds to start ringing the other number.

said by rradina :

That said, the features on CABLE VOIP (Charter) just aren't the same. We miss "simulring" (ring two numbers at once, pick up on either) and the ability to make account changes on-line. If you want to shut off voice mail or change the number of rings before voice mail takes the call, Vonage had a near real-time web interface. I can make similar changes with my cable company but I have to call, they take 72 hours to apply the change and they charge me $5/change!