Bad News for Vonage Customers!!!

Posts: 51 · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 9:03 am Post subject: Bad News for Vonage Customers!!!

Well, I guess we all knew it was only a matter of time. New York State has officially ruled that Vonage is a telephone company:

http://news.com.com/2100-7352_3-5216639.html

I wonder how long it is going to be before we see a rate increase? I am on the $14.99/month plan so even if they added $10/month in taxes and fees it will still be much cheaper than my Verizon bill was ($55-$60 month). It really **** that The Man Evil or Very Mad

has to stick his nose in everything. Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

I predict Court fights ahead, possibly moving from NY courts to the federal arena. It's far from over and a done deal.

Posts: 2

ahealey74 wrote:

Well, I guess we all knew it was only a matter of time. New York State has officially ruled that Vonage is a telephone company...

I agree with the previous poster. This is not settled by a long shot. A December press release claimed that Vonage had 350,000 "lines" and was adding them at 30,000 per month. A more recent industry news item stated that Voip subscriptions are currently growing at 900% per year. Voip switch equipment shipments have just overtaken traditional telephone switch equipment shipments. The avalanche is now in full swing. Pity the telecom that tries to get in the way of it or wall his network off from competitors' Voip traffic.

I invite any telecom executive or droid who wants to turn his career into a blackened, smoking pit to just try messing with Vonage or any other Voip traffic. It won't matter whether it's technically not unlawful at the moment. Some law will be stretched to cover it, as Powell of the FCC has already suggested. New law will appear as if by magic, and it will carry criminal penalties. The genie has been let out of the bottle and immense public pressure will toast the cookies of any clueless telecom weenies who think they can sink Vonage by interfering with Voip packets.

Meanwhile, why don't you use a relative's address in another state as your Vonage billing address? The third-party Voip equipment doesn't care where on the planet it is located as long as it has "Internet dial tone."

Something else you could consider, just in general, is the wisdom of living in a State such as New York. After spending the first 35 years or so of my life there I packed up and left, and have never regretted it. New York is a great place to be from. I made the decision one day in bumper to bumper traffic on the Brooklyn ramp to the Manhattan Bridge. Newsradio 88 carried a story about the then moron-in-charge of NYC having proposed putting tolls on the East River bridges. That was it. That was the moment I said, "Enough is too much!" I took my skills and creativity and my earnings forever out from under the thumb of New York State and City taxrats. I haven't contributed a dime to their People's Democratic Republic of New York City in well over 20 years.

There isn't anything New York State and City won't tax if allowed to. The only way to deal effectively with that is to remove one's self and one's business from their jurisdiction.

Posts: 227 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 10, 2004 Posts: 227

VoIPAdvocate wrote:

ahealey74 wrote:

Well, I guess we all knew it was only a matter of time. New York State has officially ruled that Vonage is a telephone company...

Meanwhile, why don't you use a relative's address in another state as your Vonage billing address? The third-party Voip equipment doesn't care where on the planet it is located as long as it has "Internet dial tone."

Not a bad idea. Just make sure you NEVER plan on using the 911 feature of Vonage if you do this.

Posts: 20 · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:19 pm Post subject:

Why not? When you activate 911 in your account, you get the opportunity to modify the address associated with the account for emergency calls...

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 15, 2005 Posts: 5

Who ever "plans" to use 911 service? Eek

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject:

a lot more people than you probably think.
and many people have a much higher likelihood of using it (elderly, new mother syndrome, bad neighborhood, etc) which is probably more along the lines of what the poster was referring to.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject:

911 is critical to me. I have two little kids and I would never forgive myself if I was put on hold while my kid turns blue because my phone service couldn't connect me to the proper emergency response operators.

Posts: 30 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Feb 01, 2005 Posts: 30

So is that a reason for not getting Vonage or for setting up 911 from Vonage correctly? Smile

911 is not activated for any Vonage like until you login to your account at the website and tell it the physical address for 911 calls on that phone line. You can change it all you want, but it takes about 24 hours (perhaps 48 ) for them to confirm that they have the 911 routing in place for your Vonage number. So, you can go on a long vacation, take your box with you, change the address and 911 will work.

Remember that Vonage 911 is not (yet?) as good as wired 911, and doesn't transmit your address, etc.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:33 pm Post subject:

I've already setup 911 with Vonage, and I've dialed it to test it. It does not go to regular 911. Instead it goes to a number that's advertised locally on the radio as the number to call "for life's little emergencies" such as "somebody keyed my car while I was in the mall."

Is that alone reason enough not to use Vonage? I'm not sure. My wife and I are debating it. If we can ensure that a cell phone is always charged and available on each floor of our home, maybe it's not a huge deal. But then again, what if Grandma and Grandpa are watching the kids one night at our house...will they understand that they need to find a cell phone because dialing 911 on our phone isn't like dialing 911 on any other phone they've ever used? Probably not. I can explain it to them in advance, but in a moment of panic, it's easy to get flustered.

It may not be a deal-breaker, but it's at least a valid reason for concern.