Overall Opinion of Vonage

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 21, 2006 Posts: 1

I did a thorough evaluation of going from Bellsouth to Vonage, and I easily found that staying with Bellsouth was the best way for me.

My Cable provider is really bad -- constant outages and unacceptable customer service. Also, I need 2 lines -- one for business and one for personal.

Based on the recent price reduction of my DSL service, package discounts for 2 lines and combined DSL service and a $10/month credit on my DirecTV bill -- the price for local and unlimited long distance service with all of the same bell and whistles was a virtual wash, especially that the Cable service is really unreliable here

Also, keep in mind that the ability to take my Vonage unit anywhere and email voice messages was not an advantage for me.

Posts: 19 · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:25 pm Post subject: Overall Opinion in Salt Lake

I have only had Vonage for just over 1 month, but I am extremely happy with it. After I got it I found this forum and was really concerned about it because I wanted the phones to be seamless for my wife and I was worried that wouldn't happen.

I ported my number from Qwest and it was ported over and done in 7 days, I was amazed, I was prepared for 20 or more!

I do alot of Remote access to my comptuer at work which hogs my bandwidth (all 8mbps of Comcast) so I got a Linksys WRT54GS router and have been using QoS and have had perfect results.

I use the PAP2 phone adaptor behind a router, which I think is a great adaptor becasue it is cheap, so if is dies I can replace it cheaply.

I have yet to have any down time due to Vonage problems. THe only problems I have had is with voicemail, I cannot get my voicemail as a file on the web interface, but that isn't a big deal for me becasue I just listen to it over the phone anyway. I always get an e-mail sent and I think as I use it more it WOULD be nice to be able to check it over the web from work, but it hasn't been a problem yet.

Posts: 533 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:48 am Post subject:

You get what you pay for. For me, $14.99 per month is very much worth an occasional glitch or annoyance. I'm sure my wife would be more than happy to switch back to Verizon for $45 more per month just so she doesn't hear a DTMF tone during every 10th call she makes, but it doesn't bother me. But, I pay the bills, so it doesn't matter much what she thinks. Very Happy

Posts: 249 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:31 pm Post subject: Vonage

Hey Cold Gin, I'm one of those doddering old retiree's your talking about!

I remember when everyone that had a telephone was on a party line that was down more then it was up. There was no such a thing as long distance. It was a great idea.

Now that Vonage has picked up my area code I'll be dropping the copper as soon as I can figure out how to port the number.

The 500 minute plan with a Toll-free number is the only way to go for me. I'll keep the cell phone cuz I like having it when I'm out.

I would not recommend Vonage to anyone that:
1. Is impatient and can't forgive a few glitches now and then.

2. Who does not have enough savvy to set up his own computer.

3. Is a heart surgeon on call.

For the money Vonage is great!

Posts: 476 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:

EzCo wrote:

You get what you pay for. For me, $14.99 per month is very much worth an occasional glitch or annoyance. I'm sure my wife would be more than happy to switch back to Verizon for $45 more per month just so she doesn't hear a DTMF tone during every 10th call she makes, but it doesn't bother me. But, I pay the bills, so it doesn't matter much what she thinks. Very Happy

Is it possible those tones are the call waiting notification? We never had call waiting with our old land line so the first couple times I heard the call waiting tones I had no idea what they were.

Posts: 533 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:27 pm Post subject:

blakadher wrote:

EzCo wrote:

You get what you pay for. For me, $14.99 per month is very much worth an occasional glitch or annoyance. I'm sure my wife would be more than happy to switch back to Verizon for $45 more per month just so she doesn't hear a DTMF tone during every 10th call she makes, but it doesn't bother me. But, I pay the bills, so it doesn't matter much what she thinks. Very Happy

Is it possible those tones are the call waiting notification? We never had call waiting with our old land line so the first couple times I heard the call waiting tones I had no idea what they were.

I wish they were call waiting tones, but they are most definitely DTMF tones.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:48 pm Post subject: Re: Vonage

OldSnipe wrote:

Hey Cold Gin, I'm one of those doddering old retiree's your talking about!
[...]

I would not recommend Vonage to anyone that:
[...]
3. Is a heart surgeon on call.

Especially not YOUR heart surgeon on call, eh? Wink

Posts: 423 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Oct 03, 2005 Posts: 423

By doddering old retiree, I mean someone that is going to fracture a bone by bending down to move an ethernet cable, or has never used a computer until their 78th birthday, it might not be a good idea for you try Vonage. just ride it on out with your landline Lol

it's not so much age that's the factor here as it is ability to learn a new technology and tinker with it, and not suffer a conniption fit when the Message Waiting light blinks erroneously.

Doctors on call, get a cellphone or beeper,flare gun, carrier pigeon, or something as a backup.

Posts: 423 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Oct 03, 2005 Posts: 423

By doddering old retiree, I mean someone that is going to fracture a bone by bending down to move an ethernet cable, or has never used a computer until their 78th birthday, it might not be a good idea for you try Vonage. just ride it on out with your landline Lol

it's not so much age that's the factor here as it is ability to learn a new technology and tinker with it, and not suffer a conniption fit when the Message Waiting light blinks erroneously.

Doctors on call, get a cellphone or beeper,flare gun, carrier pigeon, or something as a backup.

If nate (AKA Methuselah's Dad) can make it work, any reasonably spry person (with a good internet connection) can!