V-Phone: Can it use existing account or require new account?

Posts: 152

The product information and links on the Vonage web site is not specific on this question (or I just missed the answer). It appears to require you to create a new account, but it would be nice if it worked with an existing account. That would make traveling much easier than carrying the adapter.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:02 pm Post subject:

it requires another line, similar to the softphone.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 07, 2006 Posts: 10

NO.... it does not require a new line or new phone number! And this performs just like a regular phone connected to a RJ-11 jack...... you just can't compare a SOFTPHONE with V-Phone. Two different things. Softphone sucked really bad not the case with V-Phone.

I converted mine to the V-Phone not to long ago!

It took me 7 hours and talking to 6 individuals and a lot of hold time (thankfully I had the speaker phone). So what they did for me was, cancel my existing account, created a new account for the V-Phone, placed the order for the V-Phone to be shipped, and then created a ticket for the Vonage technicians to move (or swap or transfer - what ever you call it) my existing # to the V-Phone.

So, I spoke to techs in India, Philippines and then finally here in New Jersey........ by the end I was exhausted and tired of hearing some incompetent Morons that Vonage has hired, atleast train them enough on your own products for God-Sake! This ain't rocket science.

I absolutely love the V-Phone........ great functions and features all from the Laptop, plus I can use the Laptop's built in speakers and mic to have conversations...... the only thing that I have not yet figured out is sending a Fax using the V-Phone. I use WinFax Pro and with the conventional phone it was easy to just take that RJ-11 and plug into my Laptop and send or receive Faxes. I have not yet figured how to have a USB enabled Voip connect to my Modem and do the Faxing thing.

So, to conclude...... I love the V-Phone, love the Vonage Service, but "ABSOLUTELY HATE THE Vonage SUPPORT". The company has grown to big to soon and the F'ing people running this company are just interested in launching it as an IPO and making some cash and then let it to be acquired by a bigger company to F'up US the customers....... I hope that doesn't happen and if it does.... then LONG LIVE "Lingo"..... lingo.com Very Happy

Have fun!

Posts: 1715

COne wrote:

NO.... it does not require a new line or new phone number! And this performs just like a regular phone connected to a RJ-11 jack...... you just can't compare a SOFTPHONE with V-Phone. Two different things. Softphone sucked really bad not the case with V-Phone.

If you're using this with your own personal laptop, what difference do you see between this & the softphone? I'll use the softphone sometimes if I'm not at a place where I want to get out the ATA and telephone. I just use my cell's bluetooth headset with my laptop and it's just as flexible and useful as my cell phone.

If you're using multiple computers, especially computers which aren't yours, then it starts to make more sense, but all I see it as so far is a glorified softphone.

FWIW, Lingo's reputation isn't exactly stellar. Actually, it's pretty poor, coming in dead-last on BBR's Good, Bad & the Ugly list: http://www.broadbandreports.com/gbu For the price, Vonage actually does rather well, especially considering how many more people use Vonage than the other providers.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 07, 2006 Posts: 10

Well, I travel for work (mostly in Central and South America). Chances are I have access to High Speed.... and my employer picks the tab on the high speed connection, not the case with my Cellular. Hence V-Phone is ideal for someone like me.

If I am not traveling, I work out of my basement...... again the cellular connection is poor in when I get in my basement, but I have access to high speed and do not want to take work related calls on my personal home line, so V-Phone.

What I like the most are the following.

[1]. No extra power cord to deal with
[2]. No router to deal with
[3]. No extra phone unit to deal with

A good example where a Softphone would Suck (and I am writing this out of my experience for like 6 months of having one)

[1]. If you Laptop or Desktop hard drive + processor is busy doing other computation, the softphone's response is very chopy atleast till the time your machine frees some resources.
[2]. Most of the stuff that I do on my Laptop and Desktop demands performance based computing and Soft phone ****.
[3]. However, the V-Phone is almost like a "Hardware" Device than a "Soft" Device.

Okay, forget high end computing...... on a Laptop, read data from a CD and at the same time use your Softphone.... Softphone will Suck under that scenario as well..... I have not see that the case with V-Phone (yet).

Just sharing me experiences so far....... no hard feeling. PEACE!

Posts: 152

COne wrote:

NO.... it does not require a new line or new phone number! And this performs just like a regular phone connected to a RJ-11 jack...... you just can't compare a SOFTPHONE with V-Phone. Two different things.

I think I understand. However, it looks like getting a V-Phone is not an add-on to your regular Vonage service like the Softphone. It seems like the choice is "either/or" because if you opt for "and" it will cost full price for a second account.

Too bad. I like the way my system works for me at home, but would like something in addition like the V-Phone when traveling (I don't think I would be too impressed with the Softphone).

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 3:22 pm Post subject:

COne wrote:

If I am not traveling, I work out of my basement...... again the cellular connection is poor in when I get in my basement, but I have access to high speed and do not want to take work related calls on my personal home line, so V-Phone.

What I like the most are the following.

[1]. No extra power cord to deal with
[2]. No router to deal with
[3]. No extra phone unit to deal with

A good example where a Softphone would Suck (and I am writing this out of my experience for like 6 months of having one)

[1]. If you Laptop or Desktop hard drive + processor is busy doing other computation, the softphone's response is very chopy atleast till the time your machine frees some resources.
[2]. Most of the stuff that I do on my Laptop and Desktop demands performance based computing and Soft phone ****.
[3]. However, the V-Phone is almost like a "Hardware" Device than a "Soft" Device.

Okay, forget high end computing...... on a Laptop, read data from a CD and at the same time use your Softphone.... Softphone will Suck under that scenario as well..... I have not see that the case with V-Phone (yet).

Just sharing me experiences so far....... no hard feeling. PEACE!

Hmm.. I've not experienced those problems with my laptop yet, but my laptop was designed for video editing, so there's a substantial I/O pipeline. Granted, I only use the soft-phone in situations where I'm only there for a short time (airport, remote office, etc) or don't have the room to carry/set up the PAP2 & phone.

As far as using my cell phone's bluetooth headset, I'm not sure if you understood what I meant by that. My laptop has bluetooth in it, so if I want, I can use the headset (really just a Motorola HS850 earpiece) with the laptop & Vonage without needing my cell phone. The range on it's quite good -- I've forgotten I was on it with a few phone calls and started to walk out of the hotel thinking I was still on my cell.

So this device is hardware-based? Certainly makes things more interesting that way. If that's the case, then it shouldn't be too difficult to write a few apps for it to control it...but it also means using it as a faxmodem might be very difficult since the PC isn't actually handling the phone call at that point.

I agree with xnewuser in that this should have been allowed to be an add-on. I think a lot of people would be interested in something like this for traveling. Given Vonage's target market (people who aren't techies), a plug & play USB phone would be a great product.

Posts: 19 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 03, 2006 Posts: 19

Vonage allows ONE type device to be used, and not any more.

So if you want to use a regular phone with the ATA (analog telephone adapter) then that is one account with it's own phone number.

If you want the V-phone then you get a new account (or move your ATA # to it)

What seems to be not clear in this thread is that NO you cannot do both.

Some other carriers are the same way. Just an ATA, or JUST a softphone.

This is a way to limit the unlimited plan, and have you buy two plans IF you want both!

Vonage has ALWAYS done this, the prior program was softphone with 500 min, different phone number and $10 a month, BYT you had to also be an ATA customer.

The guys that Vonage copied are [ADMIN EDIT PER FORUM RULES]

The also have the USB drive (with a softphone) AND you can use it with an ATA they sell, and they have a bridge so that if you dn't have broadband you can still use the service (Even with the cell phone!)

Vonage needs to take a close look at these guys if they are going to get a big jump in business.