Use of Vonage outside the USA

Guest

Hi, I'm considering ordering Vonage primarily for use outside the USA. I have a US address and credit card.

A number of people have said this works fine, but Vonage's customer agreement now specifically forbids this and threatens to cancel service and charge a disconnection fee immediately if they discover use outside the US.

Does anyone know if they're really going after this, or the clause is just there to keep regulators etc happy?

Posts: 106 · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003 7:51 pm Post subject:

wow thats new. seeing how i know a few members of this use vonage and live outside the US. id' say take a chance but could cost you some cash

Guest

I've used the vonage phone outside the USA. You still have all the standard problems like having a compatable router, but otherwise it works GREAT!!!

Guest

Take a look at this as I inquired about using Vonage in other countries and here is the response sent to me on 07/23/03 :

Dear Customer:

Currently we do not sell our service internationally and therefore do
not ship internationally or accept international credit cards. However,
our service will probably work in other countries. We advise you to
check the local VoIP law of the country that you are using it in
because some countries regulate the use of VoIP. Unfortunately, we
cannot guarantee the quality of service due to the long latency between
your local ISP provider and our service in the United States. If you use our service in another country, you will have to accept a US
telephone number and pay our international rates to call within your
country. Our current international rates may be viewed at:
http://www.vonage.com/rate_plans_international.php?

Please get back to us if you have any questions.
Customer Care
Jim S.
Vonage Digital Voice

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 20, 2003 Posts: 16

Can somebody tell me where to find the agreement?

Has it chagned?

Guest

jaymenna78734 wrote:

Can somebody tell me where to find the agreement?

Has it chagned?

Go to www.vonage.com, click "sign up", choose to be assigned a new number and an area code, and the next page lists the terms and conditions.

"While we encourage use of the Service for calls from the United States to other countries, Vonage does not presently offer the Service to customers located in other countries. If you remove the Device to a country other than the United States and use the Service from there, you do so at your own risk, including the risk that such activity violates local laws in the country where you do so. Vonage reserves the right to terminate your service immediately and without advance notice if Vonage, in its sole discretion, believes that you have violated the above restrictions or if you use or attempt to use the Service from any country other than the United States, leaving you responsible for the full month's charges to the end of the current term, including without limitation unbilled charges, plus a disconnect fee, all of which immediately become due and payable."

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 25, 2003 Posts: 5

Granted, taking an ATA to bypass the local telcos can be illegal in some countries (e.g. India), but that only gets the user in trouble, not Vonage. That's no excuse to cancel a user's account.

I've taken my fair share of "illegal" items into various countries, and I've been caught with them several times, they just confiscate it the item and never return it, they don't go after the manufacturer or publisher.

IMO, if their primary concern is quality, they've got themselves covered. IP is IP wherever I go world wide. How I (mis-)use it is my concern (in terms of abiding or violating the law), not theirs. I should not have my account cancelled because of it.

In another context, in some countries, the people would pay me to ship them an ATA and service because it would allow them to call their relatives in the US/Canada for cheap.

Just my two cents for all it's worth.

Guest

You are allowed to use VOIP phones in India, provided you don't connect them to the regular telephone lines. I use VOIP phones on regular basis in India. Services are provided by Indian ISP like VSNL or Bharathi using similar Cisco ATA boxes that Vonage provides. Sometimes it works great other times it bad.

I am looking into using Vonage in India to make calls to the US. Has anybody tried that?

Guest

Raja,

I'm currently trying to setup the Motorola ATA in Banglore. My cousin has broadband yet has been unable in getting a dial tone. I emailed him telling him how to access the config page so he can set an static IP address. I tested the device in the US before sending it to him.

So far I haven't heard anything new.

Do you have any ideas?

Guest

I don't think vonage forbids use. Packet 8 and Net2phone offer the same service to the world. The only problem is if you have a VT1000 then you will need a step up transformer for your power cord. Depends on were you go. If Europe they use 220-240v and VT1000 support 110-120v. Very bad