Local Incoming Calls are "Long Distance" to my nei

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 11, 2004 Posts: 11

Have been using the service for several days. Lots of outgoing calls, but VERY few incoming. Outgoing calls are exceptionally good quality, and the system seems to be very reliable.

PROBLEM: Today I discovered that anyone calling in from my local exchange, even my next-door neighbor, must dial a "1" or a "0" first, making it a TOLL CALL. THIS IS A DEAL KILLER if it can't be fixed.

As it turns out, I selected the AREA CODE (336) which I currently have with Sprint, my local phone company. The 336 area is quite large, and Vonage assigned me a 336-329-XXXX number. Unfortunately the 329 exchange is 150 miles from here, and incoming calls from the local exchanges, 667, 838, and 903, are seen by Sprint as long distance calls.
They require the caller to dial a "1" or a "0" first. Needless to say, none of the folks in my home town want to call me. Sad

Anyone else have this problem? Solutions? Is this a deal killer which will force me to abandon Vonage?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Luke

Posts: 220 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 19, 2003 Posts: 220

I've had Vonage for over a year but we were given a choice of exchanges. our town wasn't an option, but nashville, franklin and many other tennessee towns were available. I went with Nashville because its calling area is almost identical to ours. call customer service and see if you can work it out.

good luck.

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 11, 2004 Posts: 11

Laureltn -

Thanks for your suggestions. I have already discussed this by phone with Vonage Customer Service. They were unable to help.

As it turns out, my area code, 336, is a huge area; but local calls from any part of the area code are limited to a geographic radius of about 20 miles. This means that any call within the 336 area code must be within about 20 miles of the origin of the call to be considered a local call. All others are handled as "long distance" calls. Vonage placed me within my requested area code, 336, but the exchange they gave me, 329, is in Burlington, NC which is about 150 miles away. In fact, none of the exchanges available from Vonage in North Carolina are less than 20 miles from my home in Western North Carolina. My tough luck ! ! !

When I signed up I found that I could not transfer my land-line number as my Vonage number, but I figured that was because the local phone company, Sprint, was not willing to cooperate. Now I know that Vonage does not offer any numbers in this exchange area.

Luke

Posts: 220 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 19, 2003 Posts: 220

Luke:

man, that's really too bad. when I found Vonage, I did the "can you keep your number' thing and I could, so I figured all would be well and in our case it was. We save something along the lines of $30 to $50 a month, so I was defintely looking for an alternative to Bell South.

maybe keeping your regular number with basic service with sprint and using vonge for outgoing will still be a savings for you until you get more exchanges in your area code?

L

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 11, 2004 Posts: 11

Hi Laureltn -

Actually I did the math and found that keeping Sprint for local phone service and using Vonage for outgoing long-distance is about a break-even deal for me. I had been using AT&T as my long distance carrier, so I averaged my AT&T payments for the past year, and it turned out to be about the same as my current Vonage payment.

I am paying about $35.00/mo to Sprint for local service. High priced, I think; and I had hoped to drop Sprint altogether.

Anyway, Vonage seems to be adding new areas, so maybe they will get to our area some time in the not-too-distant future.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards,
Luke

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 26, 2004 Posts: 2

I tried to do my homework before going with Vonage. I HAD to keep my old number, otherwise I wasn't switching, so no surprises with long distance charges for the neighbors. Even when they assigned me a fax number, They asked me what town I lived in and provided me with a local number. So I guess you are unfortunate to live in an area without many Vonage exchanges. I have two lines, one for voice and one for fax. This costs me $35 a month. I was paying $64 plus overages and long distance. Plus I inquired about voice mail from my service and it would have cost $14. So I am happy so far. Since my husband is in business for himself and wants to keep his number, this really works, if we move.

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 11, 2004 Posts: 11

ibcnu -

Thanks for your comments; I am encouraged. Smile

As I said earlier I love the service; but my friends, neighbors, and local businesses are not too fond of it. Mad

I am hopeful that Vonage will eventually get an exchange in my "local" area so that the service will be complete and practical here.

Regards,
Luke