I wanted to approach this post more from a marketing and customer service perspective. I have had some great tech help from this site in the past. Still, I needed to put this trend I'm seeing in focus from the customer's, not technician's, eyes.
Quick background ... I have been a Vonage customer since October 22, 2005. My Comcast modem is connected to a Belkin wireless router and that's connected to my Vonage device. In the past year, I have replaced my cordless phones, wireless router and Comcast cable modem because of normal wear and tear issues (all were 2-3 years old). For awhile after that, life in phone-land was good.
I have had a strong hunch over the past couple of months that something was wrong with my service and Comcast might be to blame. After checking this forum, now I know why my Vonage service has been terrible (i.e., Comcast limiting Vonage's participation on their bandwidth). Comcast, of course, never admitted this to me. I had to do my homework on here and the Internet.
The long and short is that I have reached the end of my road with Vonage. I have had 3.5 years of up and down service, not all of which was Vonage's fault. I love the concept, but it's simply too reliant on another company's service to serve me well.
As a small business owner, I need a RELIABLE AND CONSISTENT phone service with unlimited long distance calling to conduct BUSINESS. It's not in my best company or client's best interest to call Comcast, Belkin and Vonage throughout my workday to trouble shoot what should be a working service.
Again, we know that all of this is not Vonage's fault. But, when I have choppy outgoing calls the person on the other end isn't thinking ... "There is packet loss on his Comcast network.." or "His upload speed is really slow today.." They are telling me, "Sir, I can't hear you .. you're breaking up." Or, they just hang up on me in the middle of a conversation. I don't conduct business like that. It makes me and my business look unprofessional, which is quite the opposite.
I have been Vonage's cheerleader, supporter and critic over the past 3.5 years! I stuck by Vonage as others left. The one Refer-A-Friend I had left two months ago in anger (another Comcast/Vonage victim). She now has no problems with her Comcast Digital Voice service. We know why, though..
I would encourage the powers that be at Vonage to step up to the plate for their CUSTOMERS. I know they have 2.5 million of them and growing. But, I'm a faithful ONE that they're losing. 41 months of consistent revenue on two lines (phone and fax) will now cease, and this affects their ARPU (average revenue per user) numbers they track. And it's really NOT Vonage's fault, but unfortunately they have to pay the price.
At the end of the day, I just want to talk on the phone. For 41 months, I've often wondered, "Is that too much to ask??" Thankfully, I can keep my same number with the new service. Maybe one day I'll come back to Vonage and the kinks (i.e., ISP dependency issues) will be resolved in support of the CUSTOMER.
Consumer Advocates Embrace FCC's Latest Comcast Inquiry Yes, They have located the trouble and It's because your not using (comcast) Voip service--So they are stepping on you (making) you dissatisfied and looking to change to their Better service, That they allow not to step on and there by increasing revenue
Comcast tells us they're still digesting the letter... 05:44PM Tuesday Jan 20 2009 by Karl Bode tags: business · bandwidth · cable · Voip · Comcast · Vonage · ViaTalk
Yesterday we reported that the FCC was suddenly concerned about how Comcast's new network management system treats independent Voip operators. As previously discussed, the new system temporarily de-prioritizes the traffic for customers who meet two criteria: they're on a congested node, and they have been using 70% or more of their assigned upstream or downstream throughput for more than fifteen minutes. However the FCC only just realized that these restrictions will only impact competing Voip services -- not Comcast's own Digital Voice service.
One other thing to consider here is all tax, fees, ect we pay on the Vonage service on the 24.99$ plan the bill is roughly 32.00$ and that sounds like a normal telephone co tax and fees.
Here the catch telephone co fix the problem of there customers. Some of us here have spent many hours and even minuets$ trying to resolve connectivity issues - My point here is the Vonage service requires a decent internet connection (40.00$ avg) IMO and then 32.00$ on top of that leaves the telephone co looking pretty competitive.
I think with all the tax and fees put on us here in the U.S there needs to be more accountability especially if the co in question is considered a telephone , communication co.
Soulfan -very well said "matter of fact" - I am now facing the same decision even though I have changed ISP and my Vonage service seems solid the lack of resolution when I was having serious service issues, when using Comcast left me unsettled with Vonage.
My point here is the Vonage service requires a decent internet connection (40.00$ avg) IMO and then 32.00$ on top of that leaves the telephone co looking pretty competitive.
Good point, but I use my internet a heck of a lot more than my telephone and rely on it for my business. If I had Internet just for Vonage, I would use Ma Bell, or just my cell.
_________________ Time Warner Road Runner / Motorola SB5101 Cable Modem / Lniksys E2000 / Vonage VDV21
I bid farewell to Vonage on April 29, 2009. I now have Comcast Digital Phone for my home phone service. it's bundled with my cable and Internet. I got a great deal from Comcast for it.
So far, the phone service has been GREAT! No issues with call quality, choppy audio or outages. And I'm still able to talk all across the country like I need to.
I do miss knowing that I can make international calls, but I never made them anyway with Vonage.
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