Softphone or Vphone

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 16, 2007 Posts: 3

Hello

I got Vonage yesterday and was hoping that I can make and receive phone calls from my computer (I believe that is called softphone).

I was surprised to see that Vonage wants to charge $9.99 per month for that feature, though they will give me another number.

But I don't want another number. I want to use the existing phone number from the computer.

I was thinking softphone and vphone are the same, but looks like you have to buy vphone also separately (not sure of the price).

Can somebody tell me if I can make calls from my computer from my existing phone number without spending additional money?

Thanks

Posts: 327 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Dec 13, 2005 Posts: 327

Technically -- v-phone and softphone are pretty much the same. Marketing is different. Softphone accounts are ONLY sold as add-ons. As such, you get the information that you need to use "any" SIP compatible device, including the Vonage version of PC soft phone or any other PC soft phone client that you choose (plus a wide variety of desk phones, wifi phones, and terminal adapters).

On the other hand, with V-Phone, Vonage sends that information to the "stick" directly and you can just use it, you can't find the details. If you want to use a V-Phone on your current account, you can buy one in a store and add it to your account. From the dashboard, you can then MOVE your existing account between the V-Phone and the adapter that you currently have. You cannot have both active at the same time (which means that you can't call home - if that is something that you might want to do).

If one at a time, with a log on to the web site is OK for you, then V-Phone would work. If you want to be able to have both active at once, then you can go with the softphone or - if you are just looking for very light usage - you can pick one of the free/semi-free (charge per minute) services and use that on a "generic" soft phone.

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

I would go with the V-phone since you want to use the same number and just switch device online.

I have a "free" soft phone from counterpath.com and a free incoming number from freedigits.com also has some free out going minutes, but not sure how many. I just forward my vonage number to grandcentral and then grand central to my free soft phone number.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 16, 2007 Posts: 3

I ended up buying magicjack (http://www.magicjack.com) for softphone purpose. Been pretty satisfied so far.

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

Magic jack looks good, but I don't want to haul a phone around with me.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 25, 2007 Posts: 3

Is there any serious advantages of having Vonage Softphone vs. a CounterPath Solution... $9.99 a month vs at most $60 one time?

A few questions for roscopco:

(1) How does one get a "free" soft phone from counterpath.com?
(2) Does counterpath charge additionally for an incoming number or not provide one & that's the reason why you went with a free incoming number from freedigits.com?
(3) Am I assuming correctly that there's not way to transfer an existing number to a sofphone?

Thanks in advance.

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

They have the X-lite version as a free download.

I chose free incoming number for my computer because I travel all the time to Europe. I use Vonage Talk for my outgoing calls.

You might be able to transfer an existing number to the softphone, but you need a Vonage regular number to get a soft phone account.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 25, 2007 Posts: 3

Thanks roscopco for your reply!

I do have an existing Vonage account/phone number & am looking for a way to have voicemail & make/receive calls to landlines from my laptop for free (for domestic calls, at least) Very Happy

with the goal of cancelling my cell phone service.

What would you recommend?

Would downloading the CounterPath X-Lite solution be all I need? Does the software come with a local phone number?

Thanks again in advance!

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

You can make calls already for free, just download the Vonage Talk application, you just can't receive calls with this. For incoming calls I got a free number from freedigits.com, not sure if you can get a number for your area though.

http://alpha.vonage.com/

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 25, 2007 Posts: 3

Thanks again roscopco!

I understand your recommendation:

Vonage Talk [Outgoing Calls] + (X-Lite + freedigits.com) [Incoming Calls] = Free Two-Way Calling with a New Phone Number.

Vonage SoftPhone = $9.99 Per Month Two-Way Calling with the Possibility of using My Current Cellular Number.

Do you use a wireless headset with your setup? If so -- or if not -- is there one you could recommend?

Regards