Bought 2 WRTP54G's: Both have "Invalid" MAC's

Posts: 277 · Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

VonageTPA wrote:

As much as I disagree with Vonage's policy, I do want to remind everyone that the situation isn't any different with most cellular providers, especially Sprint & Verizon.

To amplify mharvey's statement, I'm afraid you're wrong there. The cell companies provide you with devices that are locked to their network. So far, this mirrors the Vonage situation. I can't buy a used Cingular phone and expect to activate it on the Verizon network. BUT, I absolutely CAN buy a used Verizon phone from someone on eBay or anywhere else and activate it with no hassles whatsoever, ON THE VERIZON NETWORK. THAT is dramatically different from Vonage. All the adapters people are obtaining used ARE Vonage-locked devices. As such, there's no issues whatsoever with whether or not they're compatible, or whether or not Vonage will be able to properly manage and control them when put on their network. If Vonage was doing exactly what Verizon, Sprint et al are doing, all of these adapters would be able to be activated instantly, or at worst case with one short call to customer service to provide them with the ESN (MAC address equivalent here) to activate them.

I don't think you can find a true analogy anywhere for what Vonage is doing here. And, I'm not a lawyer, but I wonder if there's a potential class-action cause here - Vonage makes you pay for the adapter, says in their TOS that you own it, and then locks it to their network, refuses to unlock it for use elsewhere, and refuses to activate it for anyone else on THEIR network, therefore assuring that the hardware that they've required you to pay for is utterly useless, should you leave their service. I'm not sure if it IS illegal, but it SURE should be, and I'd love to see Vonage get slapped with a class action suit on this.

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 11

From 2.2 of their TOS

Code:

You shall not resell or transfer the Service or the Device to another party without our prior written consent.

Ok, can they state that without defining where to get this written consent?

Posts: 277 · Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 4:05 pm Post subject:

camattin wrote:

From 2.2 of their TOS

Code:

You shall not resell or transfer the Service or the Device to another party without our prior written consent.

Ok, can they state that without defining where to get this written consent?

Irrelevent, I think, because its in direct contradiction to THIS within the SAME TOS:

2.13 Ownership and Risk of Loss. You will own the Device and bear all risk of loss of, theft of, casualty to or damage to the Device

I'm not a lawyer, but I have to believe they'd get laughed out of court if they ever tried to enforce that statement from 2.2, while at the same time clearly stating in 2.13 that YOU own the device!

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 11

LOL! I totally missed that part.

So... do we have any lawyers around these parts?

But, I guess the real question isn't whether you can resell it or not... it's the matter of getting a "used" adapter activated with Vonage again.

If they cared about trying to enforce 2.2, they'd be screaming at eBay to get these auctions shut down. Instead, they're letting people buy them, just to have to go through the frustration of trying to activate them?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject:

Well, keep in mind that in their ToS, the only penalty they really can enforce involves losing service on the device and perhaps paying a cancelation fee.

So, why would Vonage care if their devices were being sold on eBay? They are legitimate routers, owned by the person who is selling them, who is no longer a Vonage customer and is therefore not covered under the ToS anyway

Vonage could start going after the sellers who say that the device can be activated, since those folks are lying their asses off to make a fast buck, but there are more eBay sellers than Vonage reps to follow up, and what good would it do them?

Posts: 46 · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:24 pm Post subject:

actor90 wrote:

DallasFlier wrote:

If I was one of their authorized retailers and this kept happening, I'd be screaming bloody murder to Vonage also. Inconveniences and pisses off customers, forces much additional cost and loss of good will for the retailers, and for what purpose? Grrrrr............

The manager of my local Radio Shack was screaming bloody murder, lol. Unfortunately the person he was talking to at Vonage could barely speak english and refused to connect him to a supervisor.

NO SUPERVISOR FOR YOU! LOL. Now, go eat your soup.