Is Vonage really cheaper than other alternatives

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 13, 2007 Posts: 3

Hi all,

I am in the process of deciding what carrier to use for my phone line - and hence looking for some advice. I also have some specific questions -
1) What are key reasons people join Vonage? Heavy long distance user? Heavy CAN/EU caller? Other features?
2) Is Vonage better than comcast?
3) If my cable company provides me a bundle 3 for 99.99, does it make sense to break the bundle and buy Voip from Vonage?

Any advice is really appreciated

Thanks

Posts: 34 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Oct 27, 2005 Posts: 34

I'm a light outgoing user, about 300-400 minutes per month. So I signed up for the 500 plan. However, I'm a huge incoming user (over 1000 minutes per week) but that doesn't count at all. I get all the phone I need for $17 and change including all the taxes and fees. I still get the voice mail, three way calling, caller ID, and the rest

If I was a heavy outgoing user (teenagers, etc), for about $10-11 I could upgrade to the unlimited plan. Much better than the $60/month I was paying Verizon for the POTS line with the extras PLUS the long distance!

Time Warner wants $44 to add phone to my bundle, no way!

Posts: 28 · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 10:31 pm Post subject: Vonage has the best rates

I'm a strict person, as for the price and Qulaity of Voip (voice) if your internet (DSL) company has a good rate of speed or if you have the high speed, then take Vonage. You may want to know that their Cx service is the worst i have ever did business with.
If you know what you are doing then you can do it, but if your technical background is limited then DO NOT take it.

personally, the ID does not show and the 1800 numbers don't dial half the time. sometimes you get the hold of a cx service agent and sometimes it takes you around 1 hour to speak to one and then they verify you with those same questions over and over again, telling you we have to trasnfer you to a 2nd level tech, COLD tranfer, i mean i work in the same business and NEVER EVER COLD trasnfer the cx, always WARM transfer, so the new agent knows what is the issue and he/she doesn't need to ask you all over and and you have to exlpain. RIGHT?

This is GOOD 5/5 cx service!!!

Vonage is GOOD if you don't have problems, BUT THEY do ! Smile

Posts: 881 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 881

My primary purpose for switching to Vonage from Bell South was the cost savings. Not only I'm I saving more than 50% of the cost of Bell South, but I also have more features with Vonage. I've had a few minor hiccups with the service, but overall I'm extremely satisfied and only wished that I switched to Vonage sooner.

Your second question, "Is Vonage better than Comcast?" I've never used Comcast's Digital Voice service so I can't really compare the two as far as call quality. But I can definitely say that I'm extremely satisfied with the quality of my calls; they are landline like and no one would know I was using Voip if I did not tell them. One issue with the quality of your calls will be dependent upon the quality of your ISP. If your internet service is A1, 99.9% of the time you can expect the call quality of Vonage to also be A1...that's my personal experience. If you have issues with your internet service provider, you will definitely have serious issues with call quality from any Voip provider, including Vonage. I think Vonage has more features than Comcast and one very distinguishable attribute Vonage has over Comcast is that you can take your Vonage device with you. Plug the device into virtually any broadband connection anywhere in the world, and your Vonage line is ready to go...You can't do that with Comcast's Digital Voice.

The $33 you would be paying for digital phone service with Comast is only good for the first year. After that I believe it goes up to $39 and thats before taxes. Call your local Comcast agent and they can break down the cost to you after the inital first year of service.

To sum it all up, I feel that Vonage offers more for less and that's a winning combination for me. Very Happy

Posts: 28 · Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 11:15 pm Post subject:

i agree with Darrell_G, 100% right, but if you read all my postings, maybe then you can decide if you really wanna go with Vonage.

SERVICE is 0 Quality of product, if you have a router, buy the Dlink V or you can buy a built in router from them, which ofcorse you will be needing the cx service more.

So when it comes to Cx service, it's 0 even when i told them that i am paying for something that i am not getting the agent told me i will give you 5 $ that's the MAX i can do, I mean i am calling international, my monthly bill with Vonage is min 120$ with the 39.99/ month unlimited plan, i am not a greedy cx i use a lot and they told me 5$, i give my KID 3 years old 5 $ to buy gum with it, ALL the time the CALLER id is not working, it's been 2 month now and the 1800 numbers, is that what SHE / the agent must have replied, my request was 10 $ of the monthly plan untill they find a solution, i've posted only on this site as promised 5 / day to make people think 3 X if they want Vonage or not, even on some other sites i am posting a NEGATIVE feed back with the cx service, lets see how much it's gona last. I have my ways too you know, Being a 3rd Level TECH for the BIGGEST compnay in CANADA BROADBAND and doing cx service, is MY JOB.

I know how the system works. When they tell you we will mail the manager THEY DON't it's a regular tech that takes care of those issues, and my problem is been more than 2 month now the called MANAGER, will still contact me. IS this good cx service? is this KUDOS to Vonage? NEVER.

Cheers

Posts: 94 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Sep 15, 2006 Posts: 94

Although I am a very satisfied Vonage user, the potential for problems is likely much less with digital phone service through a cableco if for no other reason that a single entity is responsible for your phone service. With Vonage, or any other "third party"voip provider, you have both the Voip provider and the Internet provider to worry about. The cable cos also provide priority routing of your telephone data from your house to their central station, whereas the Vonage traffic goes on your standard Internet connection.

That said, I think that Vonage offers many benefits over a standard digital phone service from the cable co. We are not heavy long distance people (average $30 a month or so at 6 cents a minute), and for us, the cost savings were very much secondary. I like all the features. Voicemail over email. Setting up virtual phone numbers. Having our cell phones being rung simultaneously with our Vonage numbers when someone calls our Vonage numbers. The ability to take our phone adapter with us and "set up shop" in a vacation home that we rented. Etc. This kind of stuff I do not believe is available with the digital phone services offered from the cable co.

Posts: 28 · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 1:10 am Post subject: Wifi Phone UTstarcom F1000

Do not, i repeat DO not buy the F1000 as the device has a very low earpiece which it's really annoying, you can't hear the person that you are talking too, and the WIfi drops calls and misses calls even in your house if you have a router, this is if the Device is really not working @ all then you have to send it to Vonage and they charge you for an additional 202$ because they don't bother checking if they have received it. That's what happened to me and after a 1 week fight and proof of tracking, they returned my money.

No matter what try not to buy the Wifi phone unless you really know TECH and need it like me! I am not using that device as my primary one, i switch between the Wifi phone and the Balck Dlink Box.

If you really want to go with Vonage after you read all the BLogs and comments on the net, not only in here, on this Forum then buy anything except the Wifi phone. THE ACTUAL phone is DEFECTED, i spoke with the UTstartcom company.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 13, 2007 Posts: 3

From what I understood from the users -
1) If you have a great Internet connection, your Vonage connection will be great
2) Vonage offers more features than others - specifically a) take your phone with you b) simultaneous ringing etc

What I am still unclear on is pricing - If Comcast / RCN offers a $100 bundle, is there any benefit in taking Vonage: As soon as you break the bundle, your costs shoots north of $100...because cable would be ~$60....

Are there people on this forum who have the option of taking the bundle from comcast, but still chose not to....

Thanks

Posts: 208 · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:46 am Post subject:

I actually took the bundle with Comcast recently.

There are some fundamental differences with the service. First off, I was paying ~110 for my digital cable & internet package with them. It's $99 for the triple play, so for the next year I've gone over to Comcast.

"1) What are key reasons people join Vonage? Heavy long distance user? Heavy CAN/EU caller? Other features?"

It's a great deal for people that call the certain countries in Europe included with the plan. Note: "premium" and "mobile" numbers are still charged if they're in the "free" country - be sure to check your international rates for the numbers you dial.

2) Is Vonage better than comcast?

It's mixed. In terms of call quality? Vonage has a noticably clearer voice. Think of it as CD quality and cassette tape quality. Think of the difference between your existing landline and your cell phone now.

HOWEVER, certain features I like - such as outbound NAME on caller ID, Vonage does not offer. Comcast does. In addition, the Modem is the first device in the network. Comcast's phone adapter is built into the modem, and therefore there's nothing that can possibly interfere with the unit. I've had friends and family on Comcast for over a year now and they've never had to reboot or anything.

With Vonage, I occasionally ran into some issues about every few months, I'd have to reboot. I'm pretty sure this was tied into my modem leasing a new IP address from Comcast, and therefore, it threw off the IP addressing of the Vonage device connected to it.

"3) If my cable company provides me a bundle 3 for 99.99, does it make sense to break the bundle and buy Voip from vonage?"

Depends. Although it's 99.99, how much are you paying in taxes and overages? With Verizon, I was paying about 45 for the service, but about 25 in taxes and surcharges. That's a big difference between 45 and 70.

If you break the service commitment with them you'll probably have to pay for the price difference over the last couple months you've had them maybe? I don't know. Might want to check that out.

Posts: 2251 · Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 12:18 pm Post subject:

This topic (and I could have predicted it from the title) has become a Voip comparison topic, which is not allowed: Rules