Call Forwarding & 'Unlimited Call Asia', work together..

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 28, 2008 Posts: 1

hello all, i have what is hopefully a straightforward question, but so far i cannot determine the answer myself by perusing the Vonage FAQ's... here is the situation.

i am a longtime Vonage user, dating back to their initial beta in NA, but am currently residing in Thailand fulltime for a while now... i have two Vonage numbers, both NA area codes and one of which is set up on a softPhone plan. what i am wanting to do is add the 'Call Asia Unlimited' plan to my account, and set up Call Forwarding on my standard Vonage line to direct towards my thai mobile number (which is all free incoming i should mention).

so, if someone calls my regular Vonage # from the states, my thai mobile will ring and i will incur no additional charge for these incoming calls that will all be routed directly to the thai number (supposedly covered by the Unlimited Asia plan, is this correct or am i missing something obvious here? any clarification would be great as this would be quite a convenient and affordable solution for me if so. thx in advance friends..!

Posts: 1124 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1124

I would agree that theoretically this should work.

Posts: 414 · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:30 pm Post subject:

I may be wrong, but I think someone once posted, that forwarded calls do not qualify under the Unlimited Rate. You will be billed per minute.

You might be wise to contact CS and ask... Get a name....

If I am wrong, someone will correct me.

Posts: 1124 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1124

Quote:

I may be wrong, but I think someone once posted, that forwarded calls do not qualify under the Unlimited Rate. You will be billed per minute.

So you mean even if someone has the unlimited calling plan, they'd be charged for every minute they forward a call? That sounds ludicrous to me. It would defeat the purpose of having unlimited calling.

Posts: 545 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 545

houuser wrote:

I may be wrong, but I think someone once posted, that forwarded calls do not qualify under the Unlimited Rate. You will be billed per minute.

You might be wise to contact CS and ask... Get a name....

If I am wrong, someone will correct me.

In country forwarded minutes are free, at least have been for me . . . Vonage Talk and Contact Book are essentially forwarded and when I use either one in the US, I am not charged. International forwarded calls, from what I have heard, are NOT free. I would follow Houuser's advice and call CS to verify.

Posts: 1124 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1124

Quote:

I use either one in the US, I am not charged. International forwarded calls, from what I have heard, are NOT free.

I can understand the logic to this type of billing in years past. But with these unlimited calling plans to various continents, I do not believe this would be the case.

Currently with the unlimited plan, one can call 6 or 7 international countries for free. If you forward to one of these countries, I do not see how they could charge this unless they are explicit in their ToS or in their billing plan ToS.

Again, I am not trying to be picky but with their new calling plans to various international countries and continents, it makes little sense if they say its unlimited but you cannot forward it.

Posts: 545 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 545

My reference for forwarding to International nmbers was the following thread http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic22216.html , wherein kiersten posted:

kiersten wrote:

I am now confused. Smile

Just got off the phone with a very nice Vonage rep. Explained to
her what I wanted to do and she said my forwarded calls to
Hong Kong will be bille at the per minute rate. She said she did
see that I have the Basic World Plan which included unlimited calls
to Hong Kong. But she said that's only for calls that I dial from my
home phone line(of Softphone), not for forwarded calls... !!!???

I plan to call again later and see if another Vonage rep will say the
same thing... Sad

In a later post, she wrote:

kiersten wrote:

Well... I spoke with two more Vonage reps today. Both said the
same thing as the one that I talked to yesterday.

Even if you have Basic World Unlimited Plan, you will be charged
the per minute rate if you set your home number to forward
incoming calls to Hong Kong...
Oh well.........

Posts: 545 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 545

This may NOT work in your instance (depending on when and where you will be when the call comes in and if you have a HS internet provider), but you can bring your adapter with you overseas or sign up for Vonage Talk (free) and answer on your laptop via a bluethooth or wired headset.

Posts: 1124 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1124

Ed, that is a good suggestion about using vonage talk instead.

Here is what little I found here:

http://www.vonage.com/help.php?keyword=CallForwardingAdvanced

Quote:

Can I forward my calls to an International phone number?
Yes. You can forward your calls to any phone number you choose. Rates for International Call Forwarding will be the same as making a call to that location.

Please ensure International Calling is enabled to use this feature.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the help screen, but it sure looks like they are saying that the billing is the same as if you made the call from your phone. If you have unlimited calling to certain countries, how would that be charged differently? At least, the help files are not very helpful here.

Unless they expressly disallow call forwarding when you are in a Call Asia plan or they explicitly say it in the ToS, they are bound to give you your call plan which permits unlimited calls to mobile #s in Thailand. That is my $0.02 worth.

I understand what the csr rep told kiersten. But csr reps have been known to give faulty and downright stupid answers in the past.

Posts: 545 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 545

One other thought, as sukatoro wrote:

sukatoro wrote:

if someone calls my regular Vonage # from the states, my thai mobile will ring and i will incur no additional charge for these incoming calls that will all be routed directly to the thai number (supposedly covered by the Unlimited Asia plan, is this correct or am i missing something obvious here?

A footnote regarding these plans, regarding calling cell phones, states:
"Please note: International Calling Plans do not apply to certain call types, such as cell phones and other non-geographic and special numbers."