Why the increase in 500 minute plan only?

Posts: 83 · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:39 pm Post subject:

[quote="VonTechMgr"]Did you write a letter to your Congressman, Governor, Senator, and the President of Exxon when the price of gas shot up to 4 dollars a gallon? Do you write letters to the corporations that own the food stores you shop in about the rise in food costs? Do you write letters to your cable company when they raise the price or slip in some new tax? If not, why are these acceptable practices that someone who speaks out such as yourself did not take action on?
quote]

Yes I have done all that....Just phoned my cable provider last week...And as for gas being 4 dollars a gallon...how much is it now?Do you think they lowered the prices because they felt sorry for what they did...No...Because the consumer said enough...I started way before it got to 4 bucks a gallon..

Like the rest of corporate america...they look for the threshold of pain that the customer is willing to withstand and still use their product...
Now maybe you are 1 of those people that pull into a carlot and ask...whats your best offer...they tell you and you say OK...and buy it...im not that easily persuaded...or suckered...
and when i cancel ill make sure i tell them that "vontechmgr" told me to take my business elsewhere...Im not an employee,,,Im a customer..

not real sure why you started talking about ATT...

Now back to the subject of my post
Unlimited....no matter how you try to twist it....is Unlimited.... Infinity...Never Ending
Doesnt matter if im going to use many minutes or not...But...if there definition is somehow 5000 or less minutes a month...THAT IS WHAT THEY SHOULD ADVERTISE...simple as that...no problems with that...
but...it wouldnt look so enticing to new subscribers now would it...throw enough smoke and mirrors around it and noone will know the difference

PS...when i decided to go to the 500 min plan...i sent Vonage an email asking them if they could waive the 10.00 fee for downgrading...they said NO...its not possible....I emailed back and said...ok thanks...just thought i would ask before i cancelled...my next email i got from them was...SURE we can waive the 10.00 fee...when you change your package it will be credited...I logged in...changed my package...and there it was...what couldnt be done ...had been done...a 10.00 credit...

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

Not saying 5000 is typical but can happen. I use typically 400-600 minutes, some months a little over 1000.

Three cell phones use about 1500 minutes per month (incuding my daughter).

My POTS line is used even less unless a lot of conference calls, some like this coming tuesday will be about 4 hours.

BUT, when I am told I have unlimited usage, I understand that to be unlimited.

Dictionary says:

Unlimited: Adjective

1. Having no limits in range or scope; "to start with a theory of unlimited freedom is to end up with unlimited despotism"- Philip Rahv; "the limitless reaches of outer space".

2. Without reservation or exception.

3. That cannot be entirely consumed or used up; "an inexhaustible supply of coal".

Posts: 433 · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:04 am Post subject:

riddler wrote:

PS...when i decided to go to the 500 min plan...i sent Vonage an email asking them if they could waive the 10.00 fee for downgrading...they said NO...its not possible....I emailed back and said...ok thanks...just thought i would ask before i cancelled...my next email i got from them was...SURE we can waive the 10.00 fee...when you change your package it will be credited...I logged in...changed my package...and there it was...what couldnt be done ...had been done...a 10.00 credit...

That's the magic word with Vonage. Say CANCEL, and you can get just about anything you want from them. Although I can't really complain about prices too much. Living in a foreign country, Vonage has been a lifeline for me. I can stay in touch with family and friends for next to nothing. It's worth it even more living in a country like Mexico, where you get raped for every kind of communication service.

P.S. I think you caught the TechMgr on a bad day. Usually his posts are full of incredibly great information and extremely helpful. We're all entitled to those days once in a while. Very Happy

Posts: 656 · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:13 pm Post subject:

Actually I was not caught on a bad day. I am just sick and tired of people who think they need to milk Vonage for every cent or feel they are being cheated in some way. Regardless of $14.99 or $17.99, it's still cheaper then a local phone company especially when you add in all the free features. And my point is, just move on if you think it will be better elsewhere.

As for unlimited, well that's a play on words. If a Residential customer was to go over 5000 minutes one time, it would not be held against them. However, when Vonage has the volume of fraud it does with businesses and telemarketers using Residential accounts, there has to be checks and balances in order for Vonage to protect itself. Look into any other company that offers anything Unlimited and you will see that even they have stipulations. Unlimited usage within practical standards is fine.

I do not think Vonage users would like it if it were truly Unlimited and thousands of people would just leave calls connected all the time to keep the channel active. This would result in reduced or no capacity to be able to place phone calls and then the ones complaining about Unlimited now would then be complaining about All Circuit Busy messages when trying to make phone calls. And just an FYI, this would happen with any phone company that did not place restrictions on minutes used at some point due to there is no such thing as UNLIMITED capacity.

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

We had a long distance company here in Canada that had unlimited long distance on weekends, well that came to an end really soon. People abused it and left the phone call open all day.

I don't think you would be bumped up to business right away, but only if it kept happening month after month.

My cable provider has a limit of 60 gigs combined per month. I have gone over the limit a couple of times and never been charged, but if I continued month after month I deserve to be charged, although I knew in advance what my limit was.

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

VonTechMgr wrote:

As for unlimited, well that's a play on words. If a Residential customer was to go over 5000 minutes one time, it would not be held against them. However, when Vonage has the volume of fraud it does with businesses and telemarketers using Residential accounts, there has to be checks and balances in order for Vonage to protect itself. Look into any other company that offers anything Unlimited and you will see that even they have stipulations. Unlimited usage within practical standards is fine.

So if this is a stipulation similar to the No Alcohol in Parks law, i.e. there as a tool to regulate if necessary, I am perfectly fine with that.

Posts: 433 · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:12 pm Post subject:

VonTechMgr wrote:

As for unlimited, well that's a play on words. If a Residential customer was to go over 5000 minutes one time, it would not be held against them. However, when Vonage has the volume of fraud it does with businesses and telemarketers using Residential accounts, there has to be checks and balances in order for Vonage to protect itself. Look into any other company that offers anything Unlimited and you will see that even they have stipulations. Unlimited usage within practical standards is fine.

I don't think anyone here is necisarrily picking on Vonage. I don't agree that it's a play on words either. Misleading marketing is what it is. Ed pointed out the definition of unlimited and I think that most people consider that to be the definition. Vonage didn't start this game of using unlimited as a catchy marketing word, rather they are only following the norm. However, I think most consumers are tired of hearing this word from all companies that use it when in fact the truth is hidden in the fine print somewhere. I say hidden because I think that anywhere a company wants to use the word unlimited, they should have a clearly visible asterisk next to the word and list the actual terms on the same page in a font size that is legible. It's simple really. Stop using the word or make it very obvious that a company has a different definition for their use of the word unlimited.

VonTechMgr wrote:

And just an FYI, this would happen with any phone company that did not place restrictions on minutes used at some point due to there is no such thing as UNLIMITED capacity.

Exactly! And there is no such thing as unlimited use either. So since Vonage makes it perfectly clear that the Basic 500 plan includes 500 minutes of use, they should be just as honest when describing the "Unlimited" Plan.

Introducing Vonage's new Residential 5000 Plan!

I think most people on this site would agree that it would be more honest. However, I suspect that the marketing dept. at Vonage wouldn't go for it. It's just not as catchy as that Unlimited word.

Posts: 60 · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:38 pm Post subject:

I have to agree with the Unlimited Buzz Word thing. It's an overused marketing term that is meaningless anymore. If you're going to use the word "Unlimited", then that's exactly what you should mean...no limits.

If they want to advertise the business lines as unlimited and have fixed minutes on residential plans, then advertise that. I have no problems with a 5000 minute limit as I never come even remotely close to that but lets call a spade a spade. It's either truly unlimited or it's not.

It's almost like these companies are trying to rewrite the dictionary to suit their needs. I'm sure somewhere down the line the government will form a committee, spend millions of tax payer dollars and after many months finally decide what the true definition of Unlimited means pertaining to advertising something as unlimited. Rip

Posts: 830 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 830

Talk4Cheap wrote:

spend millions of tax payer dollars and after many months finally decide what the true definition of Unlimited means pertaining to advertising something as unlimited. Rip

Yep, yours and my tax dollars, to state the obvious!