Switching from Verizon to Vonage any helpful info?????

Posts: 533 · Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:40 pm Post subject:

I really don't care who you were talking to, an obnoxious attitude isn't going to get you too far when you're asking for help.

Posts: 253 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 23, 2006 Posts: 253

che wrote:

kevin just check this site
www.vonage.com

huh?!!!

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 29, 2005 Posts: 25

Hi Kevin:

I moved over to Vonage from my Verizon service, and my only advice would apply no matter who you are moving from:

Take the Vonage service, get a new number from them to get started, and keep your Verizon number active with Verizon until you are absolutely sure you want to finally drop Verizon and keep Vonage full time.

Only then should you port your Verizon number over to Vonage. If you port your Verizon number to Vonage at the start, and then you're not happy with Vonage or have too many technical issues to make it reliable enough for you, it may be very difficult if not impossible to convince Vonage to release your number back to Verizon.

Good luck with Vonage, I had it running in parallel with my Verizon land line for about five months before I took the plunge and disconnected Verizon. My reason for switching was mostly because Verizon had lousy wet underground wiring in my neighborhood and could not give me a timetable for fixing it. My Verizon phone service was constantly noisy or full of static or hum. They kept switching me to free pairs in the main trunk cable, and finally they ran out of free pairs to let me use and said, "it's as good as it gets". At one point they came out and actually tied my phone to my neighbor's pair and took their line out of service in the process.

Knock on wood I haven't had any bad experiences with Vonage aside from the outages that affects pretty much a whole swath of Vonage customers at the same time. There was also that weekend about a year ago when Vonage moved their servers from one place to another in NJ and I had forwarded my Vonage number to the location I travelled to out of state that weekend, and when I returned on Sunday night, I couldn't cancel the forward because their website was still down. According to the overseas customer service rep I spoke to, he couldn't unforward my number either because he said they use an internal version of the same web interface we use to get at our accounts too! Unbelievable.

If Verizon could have given me a good clean landline pair, I think I would still be with them, though. The customer service horror stories I read here give me the willies; thank goodness I haven't had any serious issues yet.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 22, 2007 Posts: 7

thank you very much scoosdad for the helpful information
In my area i am not able to keep my same phone number.

Posts: 241 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 17, 2006 Posts: 241

Kevin27WV wrote:

In my area i am not able to keep my same phone number.

In that case I'd be concerned that you may not be able to obtain a Vonage number that's a local call from your home. Would it bother you if your friends and businesses that can now call your Verizon number with a local call would have to dial long distance to reach your Vonage number?

BTW: Just being in the same area code does not make it a local call. This may/should seem obvious but a lot of folks around here don't firgure that out until it's a bit late.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 22, 2007 Posts: 7

pdhenry thanks for the helpful information
The number for the city available is a local number that isnt long distance or anything for the people that call me now.

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 24, 2007 Posts: 20

Kevin27WV wrote:

pdhenry thanks for the helpful information
The number for the city available is a local number that isnt long distance or anything for the people that call me now.

Be VERY careful and test the new phone number/exchange BEFORE you transfer. I was in the same situation as you -- Vonage could not port my number, so I selected a new Vonage phone number in an exchange that would still be a local call.

The local landline carrier in my area IS UNABLE TO COMPLETE CALLS to my new Vonage number. Read more here: http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic18461.html

This is not exactly a Vonage problem in my case, however, Vonage has been less then helpful in resolving the problem.

Other than this issue, I have had no problems with Vonage.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 01, 2004 Posts: 4

I have had the Vonage line for about 18 months; first 6 months it was fine (I am in Vermont), next six months I had the modem in China and it was a hoot to make local calls to our friends back home, even if the quality was sometimes subpar (I attributed that to the funky ISP in China). BUT, since returning to the US in July, 06 this Vonage has been a complete disaster. Our usual scenario is that we can hear others,but they report very choppy sound on their end.

Calls to Vonage get me to reboot the modem, it works OK for a few days and then things go bad again. The technical support is a joke. With Verizon, it was dear, but they actually respond, they send people out.

I am only here in the US for another six months, I think I will deep 6 the Vonage and rely on a new cell phone plan that gives me unlimited incoming and pair it with a Skype phone for my outgoing.

Comments?