The UK service (see www.vonage.co.uk) is up and running

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 28, 2004 Posts: 8

The UK service (see www.vonage.co.uk) is up and running and the personal rate plan is very competitively priced at UKP9.99 for unlimited National calls.

I was comparing the International call charges and noticed some discrepancies compared to the USA charges e.g. to call Dubai (United Arab Emirates ) is only 0.02 on the UK call plan, a lot cheaper than the US call plan.

No mention about referrals by US users to UK potential customers, I rang the US help line and they said it might appear in the future.

Posts: 29 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 29

Sent this to Vonage. While the British spelling and vocabulary are appreciated, there are
fundamental problems with the site.

Some (constructive) criticisms:

Quote:

1. On the order form, you require UK residents to select a time zone in
North America.

2. Call Return (1471) in the UK is and always has been free to call, unlike (as far as I know) *69 in the US and Canada.

3. Vonage has failed to differentiate between North American area codes and
country codes/area codes.
(I have complained about this before!) For example '649' is listed as being
the code for both the Turks and Caicos (which use the code 1 649) and
Auckland, New Zealand. '670' is now used for East Timor, not the Northern
Marianas, which now use '1 670', while American Samoa recently changed from
'684' to '1 684'. (The whole point of that was so that callers in the US no
longer needed to dial '011') I should, however, commend Vonage for including
East Timor as a destination, and for charging it at such a reasonable rate.

The US doesn't have a code listed at all, while Canada just has a list of
area codes.
http://www.vonage.co.uk/intrates.php

4. As regards the benefits of virtual numbers, it is unlikely that many
people in the UK will have a 'mom' (or even a 'mum') who lives in Florida
with dialling code 561. They might have friends or family in Florida with
dialling code 00 1 561.

5. The fact that only London 020 numbers are available is disappointing,
especially now that UK Voip services now offer a choice of countless UK area
codes. Even other US-based services like iConnectHere offers more UK area
codes, while Libretel already offers numbers in several UK cities for use as
'virtual' numbers with Vonage. Unlike the US and Canada, the UK has a single
national telecom regulator and phone companies like BT operating nationwide,
so this should have made the sub-allocation of numbers easier.

6. More countries could have been included in your unlimited calling
package, like Western Europe, North America, East Asia and Australasia.
Again, another US-based service, Packet8, offers this, even though it does
not offer non-US numbers. The inclusion of Ireland is, nonetheless, welcome.

7. The fact that you do offer 999/112 access is highly commendable, as no UK
service is offering such a service.

If Vonage had offered this eight months ago, I might have been more impressed, as there was nothing comparable in the UK. However, the gap between the UK and US has narrowed, and its product offering is no longer as attractive.

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 28, 2004 Posts: 8

I called the UK helpline number 011 44 800 652 5099 (as posted on the vonage.co.uk website) from my USA Vonage phone, it cost me 0.27c/min !!

Ran into a problem when filing out my Vonage UK application: in the Credit Card billing address it forced the Country to be United Kingdom, which is a bit of a problem because my credit card company has the country down as Scotland!! (which for those who don't know IS a country and IS within the United Kindgom like Wales and Northern Ireland)

Got round it by phoning the credit card company and got them to change the credit card address to match and then change it back afterwards !

Posts: 29 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 29

stevecp wrote:

Scotland!! (which for those who don't know IS a country and IS within the United Kindgom like Wales and Northern Ireland)

Ah thought it was a state of England..... Gee, y'all learn somethin' new every day, huh?

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 28, 2005 Posts: 2

Both sorta right and wrong, Scotland is offically " a political division of The United Kingdom and Great Britain and Northen Ireland." and has been since 1701. Wink

So I think Vonage are right to keep "UK" on their list, not Scotland, England etc as it would confuse and complicate it for most UK residents. Wink

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 31, 2004 Posts: 8

telcoman wrote:

Sent this to Vonage. While the British spelling and vocabulary are appreciated, there are
fundamental problems with the site.

Some (constructive) criticisms:

Quote:

7. The fact that you do offer 999/112 access is highly commendable, as no UK
service is offering such a service.

Advertising a 999/112 service is one thing - proving such a service a something quite different.

THE Vonage 999/112 SERVICE DOES NOT WORK!

All attempts to place calls to 999 or 112 from my Vonage UK phone have resulted is (US) number unobtainable tone.

Shoddy work - particularly when the 999 service is clearly advertised on the website!

Posts: 64 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 64

[quote="stevecp"]I called the UK helpline number 011 44 800 652 5099 (as posted on the vonage.co.uk website) from my USA Vonage phone, it cost me 0.27c/min !!

the number you called is a freephone(ie toll free in the US) in the UK however if you called from the US phone you would be charged at the rate for a call to the US. that works the same way if we in the UK call a toll free number in the US--we are charged the rate for a call to the US and this is from any phone on any network.
toll free numbers only work domestically whether they are in the UK, US or Canada.

Your bank must be the Royal Bank of Scotland Very Happy

Posts: 64 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 64

i just ordered an edinburgh number and it's really cool despite the fact i live in cardiff. i simply didnt want a cardiff number which was also available.

being a true scotsman i'm not sure i could justify signing up for a welsh number since i had a choice

Posts: 64 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 64

THE Vonage 999/112 SERVICE DOES NOT WORK!

All attempts to place calls to 999 or 112 from my Vonage UK phone have resulted is (US) number unobtainable tone.

Shoddy work - particularly when the 999 service is clearly advertised on the website![/quote]

I had to use the 999 service the other day and it worked perfectly so not sure what your problem was.

Posts: 29 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Aug 12, 2003 Posts: 29

arollinson wrote:

Both sorta right and wrong, Scotland is offically " a political division of The United Kingdom and Great Britain and Northen Ireland." and has been since 1701. Wink

1707, actually.

Anyway, glad to see the availability of UK area codes has increased. 028 91 (for Bangor, outside Belfast) is a bit odd, but as 028 covers the whole of Northern Ireland, it's less of a problem than the rest of the UK, and if you phone from the Republic (using either 048 or 004428) it's billed as a domestic call.