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Vonage As one who has been trying really hard for over 8 months to get my Vonage service
As one who has been trying really hard for over 8 months to get my Vonage service going I have now switched to Shaw digital phone and I thought I would give a final update. I had really hoped I would not need to have to switch to SDP as Shaw was definitely not my first choice for several reasons!
I was a bit put off by the fact that long distance calling (besides Canada and the US) was limited to 1000 minutes while Vonage had unlimited minutes for the country I called the most: France. However, after analyzing my traffic over the past 8 months I realized that I never exceeded 350 minutes a month, so that should not really be a limiting factor.
Another point which was not in favour of Shaw was the price. Basically it's $15 more per month. However, I had to get super high speed cable to get Vonage to work somewhat, while I really only need regular high speed for my Internet use. So I dropped back to regular high speed and saved $10 / month over super high speed Internet. Shaw also provides a free distinctive ring. I was paying $4.95 / month on my Telus other line to have my fax machine on it. I cancelled that and now use the Shaw free distinctive ring for my fax, so another $5 saving. By doing that my final cost is exactly the same as Vonage as I was able to save $15 a month. So the cost is even, as long as I don't exceed 1000 minutes a month (Canada and US are unlimited). I can also call Taiwan, where my son lives part of the year, within the 1000 free minutes while I had to pay extra with Vonage.
Altogether Shaw digital phone did not turn out such a bad deal after all. I must say that since I have switched, my phone is back to crystal clear clarity and my friends are once again accepting to call me (they were really put off by the very poor call quality I had before)! I have similar features to the Vonage contract I had before and I also get enhanced 911 and 4 hours battery back-up in case of power outage.
I still wish I could have stayed with Vonage as I could take the box with me when I am travelling and I also liked the free call feature for other people calling a Vonage number. And I liked the idea of not being with a Shaw monopoly. Unfortunately, Vonage did not work for me and I am at least glad that I can get good quality with Shaw digital phone for a similar cost.
I know Vonage works well for many people (I personally know several of them), it just was not the case for me despite a huge amount of time spent trying to get the system working. So, the ONLY two things I am still upset about my Vonage experience are:
1/ the $49.99 charged by Vonage to terminate the service while the reason of me leaving them was not my choice but the simple fact that they could not deliver a good service in MY case. I do think that this a very unfair policy and it is almost unethical. I think such a big company should look at cases on an individual basis and apply its discretion about the disconnection charge, instead of saying "we apply the disconnection fee no matter what".
2/ the way Vonage deals with emails and letters. Over the last month I have sent 2 snail mails and 6 emails, not getting a single reply to either of them! Something is really missing in the customer support department...
Based on my experience, my advice to new Vonage customers is as follows:
- make sure your system works perfectly fine before the end of the 30 day free trial .
- Don't believe technical support when they recommend that you continue trying beyond the free trial period. If you do so, like I did, you will have to pay the $49.99 disconnection fee, no matter what!
I really wish none of those reading this will have to go through the frustration I experienced with the Vonage quality of service. Unfortunately, it is statistically probable that at least some will! Good luck to all!
Read The Full Thread: After 8 months trying to get Vonage to work I''m quitting.
• Take care, too bad you couldn't get it to work properly.
Are you using Cable
• I had real hopes when I switched to Vonage 8 months ago. I was not expecting perfection
• I tried both high speed Telus ADSL and Shaw cable. Surprisingly, I actually got
• I have only tried Vonage with cable, I use Cogeco Cable. I had DSL before Primus
• Our service has been so unreliable (with a very fast Cogeco connection) that we
• If you want to cancel your Vonage service you need to call them.
• Unfortunately, this is correct. You need to call them, contrary to their own Terms
• My 1 year anniversary is coming up in October, I am happy with Vonage, but maybe
pdubois posted "As one who has been trying really hard for over 8 months to get my Vonage service" on 07/02/2007 |
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