Vonage Technical Glitches - Caller ID and No Incoming Calls

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 21, 2005 Posts: 5

I ust switched my main phone line over to vonage and said goodbye to Bell Completely..... however I've had some problems.

Caller ID only shows the number of who's calling in, not the Name and Number like it's supposed to. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a guy who didn't seem to grasp the isue, before telling me that his boss told him in a meeting that they were working hard to try and give customers what they had been promised... i was stunned. I understand that Outgoing Caller ID only shows my number, but I don't care about that - it's INCOMING CID that I require as promised.

Then around noon today, all of my Vonage lines went unavailable! My wife can call out from the line with no problems, but when I try to call in to an of the vonage lines I get

"We're sorry. This number cannot be completed as dialed." I called tech support and he seemed quite worried - he went off to look into it.

I'm sorry but I am starting to worry - have I made the right decision in ditching Bell? In 15 years I have called bell tech support once because a shovel cut a phone line. Since moving to Vonage I've called quite a bit, and I'm not a non-techie, I do networking as a living.

Anyway sorry to vent.
Dan

Posts: 80 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Oct 24, 2007 Posts: 80

Sounds like you have been through a lot. I can explain the "no phone" yesterday. Vonage did have a service outage that covered serveral areas. Your phone should be up now. If it is not then you are dealing with a different issue and should call them.

The second one is a little bit trickier. If you are getting the number, but not the name, then you know that you are receiving the caller id information...so....There are a couple of things you can try. If you still have your phone manual get it, or look it up online. Make sure there isn't a setting on your phone to change the display from both of them to 1 of them. Second, on the back of your vonage device right near where the power plugs in you should see a tiny hole labled reset. Press that button in with a paperclip for at least 30 seconds. Let your equipment reboot and then test it again. Also, test from several different numbers that you used to receive name and number from. (not just one carrier like Bell - test from a few).

If you are still experiencing issues, you should call vonage again. The feature is "Caller ID with Name", so if it doesn't work and they can't get it to work, they can put in a ticket for their engineers to look into. There is probalby a glitch somewhere.

If you are having problems faxing with you VoIP internet phone -
www.voipfrustration.com

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 21, 2005 Posts: 5

Actually it doesn't register on the website either - where it shows name/number in voicemail it only shows the number... and all the phones are just normal phones - "caller id with name" worked ok on Bell...

Posts: 80 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Oct 24, 2007 Posts: 80

Definately an issue to call vonage about. They can put in a ticket and will get that fixed for you.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 21, 2007 Posts: 9

VoipFrus wrote:

Definately an issue to call vonage about. They can put in a ticket and will get that fixed for you.

I wish i could be as positive as you. Most likely the OP is in the '905' area code and therefor won't even get the name when someone calls. I've opened two different tickets and its been like that for months. Only time i've ever gotten it to work is when people use v-access number to call me.... complete BS if you ask me.. i told the guy on the phone the other day i think i deserve a $5/month credit

most recently i've had the pleasure of having the 'i'm sorry, this number isn't assigned' when trying to call my vonage number...

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

That is why I wish Vonage had the feature that GrandCentral has....call announce. When I answer it tells me who is calling, but I figure if Vonage can't supply name and number then this definitely won't come anytime soon.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 21, 2007 Posts: 9

Quote from Vonage Support - "its a known issue, and its not the highest thing in the priority list at the moment -- the Toll Free is now resolved, I can't just open a ticket for the engineers and have it fixed, it will take them a while to fix"

So depending where you live, you either get it, or don't. They also said Caller ID w/ Name _WHERE AVAILABLE_. What a crock!

[quote="VoipFrus"]Sounds like you have been through a lot. I can If you are still experiencing issues, you should call vonage again. The feature is "Caller ID with Name", so if it doesn't work and they can't get it to work, they can put in a ticket for their engineers to look into. There is probalby a glitch somewhere.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: May 09, 2007 Posts: 5

Had this issue for almost a year now. Here is the reply from vonage the last time I called:

"In reference to your recent caller ID issue, our records indicate that the name of the callers were not made available for Vonage. At this time, the Caller ID with name feature is not guaranteed in your area. It will only work when this information is available for display. "

Which makes no sense to me and maybe someone can explain. Name of the callers were not made available....what does that have to do with the area I am in? And no info on not one caller in 11 months?

At first I thought...I could live without this, but since I like to screen calls...I end up letting the voicemail pick up calls I would have preferred to have taken because I don't know if it is telemarketing or someone I know.

I have written to the Canadian Advertizing board to review their advertiziing hoping that maybe they will force them to advertize "Not Guaranteed" or "Not available in the following areas". If they had to advertize that I think they would lose a lot of potential customers and hence put more emphasis on fixing this..

Really is the only complaint I have. Works fine as long as I am not doing any big downloads (I run those over night).