Why staying with Vonage?

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 03, 2007 Posts: 2

Reading about quite a few problems some folks are experiencing with Vonage, why are you still with the service? Why not going back to Bell or Telus, why not cable companies, why not other VoIP companies?

Posts: 64 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jun 24, 2006 Posts: 64

A few years ago, I lived in north Texas and had Southwestern Bell (SBC).

During the 1.5 years I had their landline, I was plagued by outages of two kinds:
- No dial tone (occasional)
- Someone's MoDem on my line so I couldn't use it (annoyingly frequent)

I submitted multiple "service" requests to SBC "customer service" on this issue. I even called them on my cell phone and let them listen to the hiss of someone else's MoDem on my landline.

After MONTHS they changed my house's connection to another wire pair and this problem was solved.

I switched to Vonage.

I've had Vonage for almost 4 years since then in 3 US states (TX, OK, FL) as well as using it travelling in several locations in the US and overseas.

Most of the Vonage outages have been due to ISP internet outages or degraded service. Some have been due to Vonage outages.

But less outage time on Vonage in ~4 years than on SBC in 1.5 years.

And a whole lot cheaper.

And I kept my number when I moved.

Vonage has ~2.5M customers. People with problems will be over-represented on such a website as this.

I wish I had a site to express my "satisfaction" with SBC back then....

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 06, 2007 Posts: 2

I, for one, did get rid of them. A trial with Unitz showed Unitz's service to be significantly better but Unitz proved unable to transfer my phone number, so I switched back to Bell. Trying to cancel my Vonage account was an interesting experience. The operator assured me that he would cancel the service immediately but he neither did so nor even made a record of the call. I learned this when I was charged for another month's service.

Posts: 81 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 81

Why keep Vonage?

1) Because it works, at least when my ISP works. Other than an occasional voice mail issue, all my Vonage problems are due to my ISP. It was flawless before I moved to my current location and was forced to have Comcast for an ISP.

2) I pay $64 a month (with taxes) for 2 lines while I was paying over $130 for 2 lines with fewer features to the local telco.

3) I kept my phone numbers when I moved.

Why I MIGHT switch?

Concern about the ability of the company to remain in business. They are getting better but the are still loosing A LOT of money. With the high cost of new customer acquisition, I don't thing that will change. Those costs, on top of all the litigation costs say to me that it's not if, but when they will go under. It will probably be a couple years, but I will probably bail before they "do a Sunrocket" and leave us all with no service.

My employer has already had me drop my third line and paid for a POTS line for my home office.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 9

Because Vonage works, and it works good. I know exactly what my bill is every month, and I am saving lots of money.

My mother recently called Telus four different times trying to get her long distance rate lowered from 7 cents a minute. Telus said each time there was no possible way they could lower it. I switched her long distance to another company for 3.5 cents a minute with no service charge. Five days later Telus calls my mother up offering her 3.5 cents but still would charge her the $7 service charge for the privilege of being their long distance customer.

Why would I want to do business with a company like that?

Posts: 1149 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1149

I am with staying with Vonage because of several reasons:

1. The Price, $39.99 a month plus taxes with all the features.
2. Can choose an area code anywhere in the country where Vonage has service.
3. I can call home for free anywhere in North America (where Vonage has v-access numbers)
4. My number isn't listed in a phone book nor is it online, and I don't have to pay extra for an unlisted phone number.
5. When I move I don't have to change my number, and I don't have to pay the $55.00 to hook up my phone again!
6. The call quality is great for me.

I also switched my long distance carrier and Bell called me an asked me to come back to them for a lower rate. I asked them then why wasn't I offered a better rate when I was a customer. Before I switched to Vonage I called Bell to see if they could give me a better price and they couldn't, and no way in hell am I going back to them!

Posts: 8 · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject:

Great lists.

Why I stay:
1) voice Messages received by email. This is a godsend for me. As a consultant I am rarely home, getting my messages by email at my clients workplace let me offer great service. I usually call using the clients phone, my cell, or my "home" (unlimited) phone, so 500 Min is plenty for me.

2) Two lines for 68.35$ (tax included).

3) The 'office' and 'home' phones are in 2 different area codes, but rings in the same home. Everyone assumes my office is downtown.

4) I moved recently. Soon as the Internet was on, I connected the Vonage box and had a phone. No additional fee (other than a 50$ fee by my ISP grrrrr).

Why I would leave:
1) I think the 20$ in the US should be matched. Or at least 25$ Can. This one is major for me since the US and CAN $ are now equal. My feelings are only curbed by how much money Vonage is loosing every month (Ouch!).

[edit to add:]
2) 800-# NOT WORKING. Many government employees leaves me messages with "My name is John doe, Please call me at 800-123-1234 regarding X". Every single time I cannot call back. This is a big problem when X regards any tax or perceived due monies (minimum penalties and interests). Same goes for my banks, and numerous other services, but at least they have non-800 equivalent on their Web site and are well listed. Try to hunt down a gov employee based on a name and an 800 number. I get laugh at often. Took me 3 days once, and a minimum or 2 hours each time (when I just don't give up).

3) Call quality is still "iffy", but a lot better than 18 months ago. About 5% of calls now are not too good. Worst calls originate from Cell phones or other VOIP (not Vonage).

4) Tech support not so great, even a supervisor never called back as promised. I actually analyzed and found the problem for them and gave a solution (they agreed). I ended up re-purchasing another equipment. Never had another problem (other than call quality), so I guess they can afford bad tech support if they don't need them.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 02, 2007 Posts: 2

No better solution for Canadian snowbirds who spent their winters in the sunny south.

We have our main number in Florida, a virtual number in Ontario, plus a toll free number where anyone can reach us for free.. As they say; Home is where your VTA is.

Must admit that I wouldn't be as pleased if I had opened a Canadian based account; what with the overpricing, (in comparison), and problems with many 1-800 numbers not working. Of course these issues may be the result of our government meddling in the fee structures rather than anything vonage can control?

Just hope Vonage survives as the alternatives are somewhat bleak.

Posts: 120 · Member of the Week Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 120

14 months and counting for me that Vonage has been my only phone line at home. First few months were difficult, partly due to my home network and partly due to vonage growing pains. But it's been awesome for the last few months and call quality has been great.

I'm staying because it's much less money (especially when you get a nice fellow giving you a couple of months free for your 1 year anniversary... it's not a regular thing, I'm just a good salesman Smile

and because of the unbeatable features included. I can't live without 'do not disturb', advanced voicemail features, call forwarding, unlimited long distance, anonymous call block, etc, etc, etc.

If your ISP is solid, so will your vonage calls. If not, well, not much vonage can do about that unfortunately.