Does Vonage Define "Excessive Use"?

Posts: 429

A competitor defines "excessive use" on a residential line as more than 5,000 minutes per month.

That is only 2.77 hours per day, which is NOTHING if you have a couple of teenagers who like to stay up late talking to boyfriends/girlfriends, or have a chatty spouse.

I'm looking at Vonage's ToS now and cannot find any mention of what they consider "excessive". Has Vonage put it in writing anywhere, what they consider to be too much use of a phone line?

Posts: 2135

rebus wrote:

A competitor defines "excessive use" on a residential line as more than 5,000 minutes per month.

That is only 2.77 hours per day, which is NOTHING if you have a couple of teenagers who like to stay up late talking to boyfriends/girlfriends, or have a chatty spouse.

I'm looking at Vonage's ToS now and cannot find any mention of what they consider "excessive". Has Vonage put it in writing anywhere, what they consider to be too much use of a phone line?

In the 4 1/2 years of running this site, I have only heard of two times that Vonage has enforced this rule:

1) A man who was using the line 24/7 to fax blast.
2) A woman who was using the line as a baby monitor.

Dan

Posts: 102 · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:09 pm Post subject:

so vonage can be used then if you'd like to have a call center business?

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

nicegurl wrote:

so vonage can be used then if you'd like to have a call center business?

Incoming or outgoing? I use it for incoming calls, about 40-50 per day no problems for a year now.

Posts: 4751 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4751

nicegurl wrote:

so vonage can be used then if you'd like to have a call center business?

Technically, using a residential Vonage line for any business is a violation of the ToS. Whether they would notice is another matter.

Posts: 414 · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:39 am Post subject:

Residential accounts get flagged after 5000 minutes of use. After more than one month of this you will be sent an e-mail from the fraud team stating that there has been excessive use on your account and they would like to talk to you within the next 48 hours or action will be taken. If you speak with them and prove you are actually using the phone and not doing something against the TOS, they will most likely give you a second chance to stay below 5000 minutes. If you exceed that again, or just don't respond to them you will be move to the hidden call center plan at $99 dollars per month which gives you a large bundle of minutes(not unlimited) with the standard overage charges. This is not in writing anywhere but you can trust me that what I have said is Vonage's current practice. Just call and ask anyone in the NJ office and they should be able to verify this for you if needed. This happens a lot more than you would think, but 9 times out of 10 it is someone using it for a purpose that is actually against the TOS.

Posts: 429 · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:04 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the info, xcrunxc.

I find it despicable companies are allowed to call a service "Unlimited" when it's absolutely NOT unlimited. It's a "5000 minute plan", and they should be required to call it such.

When I was a teen, I would talk to my girlfriend every night for at least 1-2 hours. Sometimes we'd talk several times a day. If I wasn't on the phone, then my sister was, and we were always fighting for it. I'm sure we burned more than 2.77 hours a day during our high school years. Probably the only difference between then and now is we didn't have cell phones, email, and IM to distribute our communication across several mediums.

Posts: 1320 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1320

I think having 5000 minutes a month is resonable. I remember a few years back here in Canada that we had a long distance company that offered "unlimited long distance" people took this literally and talked all day on the phone, while watching tv and movies. Well it later came down to a certain number of minutes per month, and the amount they decided was a fair amount.

This 5000 minutes is out going minutes only and for residential. If you want more time then get the business package, especially if you are a business. Anyone who talks more than 5000 minutes on the phone a month needs a hobby!

Posts: 4751 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4751

I don't think the actual number of minutes is the point here. If Vonage advertises the time as being unlimited, then it should be unlimited.

Posts: 429 · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:31 pm Post subject:

roscopco wrote:

This 5000 minutes is out going minutes only

I know this applies to the 500 minute plan, but I also know that's a metered plan and is advertised as such.

I wasn't convinced Vonage would include truly "unlimited" inbound, and still am not convinced. But for the sake of anyone who cares, I did a test inbound and outbound, and only the outbound incremented the minute counter forward.

Now whether their hidden 5000 minute soft cap applies one direction or both is only something the V* insiders can confirm.

roscopco wrote:

Anyone who talks more than 5000 minutes on the phone a month needs a hobby!

Sounds like you don't have teenagers at home-- especially not ones who have boyfriends/girlfriends.