The Truth about LNP and Vonage!

Posts: 127 · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:32 pm Post subject: The Truth about LNP and Vonage!

It seems most people think we are just slacking off over here. I believe people have this picture of a big room with some old guy in it and the paperwork for their number port sitting on a dusty old desk. Understandable, because people order our service and expect us to have the power to move things along.

However this is not the reality. The reality is that we get the request to the phone provider AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. When it gets to them do you think they say "Hrrmmm Lets put our current customers issues on hold and take care of the customer thats switching to VONAGE". NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!

So, If you are looking for fault, look at your old provider. They arent in a rush to lose you. And if they can hold every port request that they recieve for even one more month . Well... BIG BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!. And if they get you to cancel VONAGE because of the wait. EVEN BIGGER BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: May 07, 2005 Posts: 5

I believe all that you are saying about them not wanting to lose our business. I have been waiting over 5 months to be told a couple of weeks ago that Vonage no longer has my LOA and copy of phone bill. Then I was asked to send another LOA and phone bill. This means I am starting all over again. Just like it's day one waiting for my phone number to port. Who should I blame for this? My account says received LOA on January 17, 2005. Even though I called to make sure the second LOA and phone bill was received how do I really know it has...or that this one won't evaporate. Your company reps have been very helpful to me, but I still am at square one and wondering what happened to my 1st LOA and phone bill. How could that be SBC's fault? It's these kind of things that make people wonder who is really at fault.

Posts: 69 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2005 Posts: 69

Vonage should never advertise that they can do LNP transfer in 20 days. If you are blaming the Bells then Vonage should advertise that differently about LNP transfers.

My transfer took 5 months and 7 days. That's just ridiculous. I called atleast 20 times and sent emails 10 times and everytime I get routine reply. Later Vonage employee (user here) helped my LNP transfer. But no one told me why the delay happened. If it's Bell problem, then say so.

Things to make it better:

Everytime a customer calls about their LNP, it should reflect on their dashboard. (on Existing Phone Number Transfer Status page)
It should also mention the day the customer called/mailed about the LNP. As customer we are entitled to know what's happening behind the scenes. If it's problem with 3rd party carrier or Bells then mention there. The more you hide the facts, the more customers become suspicious. My 2 cents.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 21, 2005 Posts: 18

I don't see Vonage doing anything to improve the situation. If it is really the telcos fault, why isn't Vonage lobbying to change the porting rules. Vonage doesn't seem to communicate this problem to the outside world, so maybe Vonage doesn't want to go there because they know they are at least part of the problem.

The fact that CS can't seem to follow up on e-mails or get back to people, leads most reasonable people to conclude that Vonage doesn't have their act together.

I don't see Vonage ACTING on behalf of their customers. Vonage just seems to be in the blame game. It's someones fault other then theirs, but I don't see Voange doing anything about it.

And that email about not talking to anyone else about the situation. That's just plain bizarre.

Posts: 127 · Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 11:56 pm Post subject:

First

wyder,

That is VONAGE's fault. I agree 100% . There will always be some extenuating circumstances. We are human and mistakes are made and that is unfortunate. The majority of LNP problems, however, are as I stated in my earlier post. Even though I am not the cause I feel bad that you have to deal with this and If there is anything I can do for you please feel free to PM me.

sbmlat
Vonage does not advertise "in 20 days" but states that it will take "a MINIMUM OF 20 BUSINESS DAYS".As stated here http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=lnp

Also, That is an awesome idea but they kinda already do show status of a port. But I know what you mean, maybe something a little more specific, Right? But when we don't know when we will receive the number, how can we tell you??

Outlier
"The fact that CS can't seem to follow up on e-mails or get back to people, leads most reasonable people to conclude that Vonage doesn't have their act together."

I think our CS is pretty good. There of course are the few who are not too bright as in any organization. We also have a good system for e-mails and I speak for myself and many others at Vonage that we do get back to people in a timely manner. If you had a bad experience I am sorry to hear that. Alot of us in our free time come here to help out and believe me IT REALLY IS OUR FREE TIME Smile

I enjoy helping people and would do whatever I could for a person cause I understand what its like being on the receiving end.

Anyway, what I have said in my first post is true. One thing to remember, people that have had a bad experience will post more then people with good experiences will post.

With that said, HAVE A GOOD HOLIDAY WEEKEND EVERYONE !! Very Happy

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 17, 2005 Posts: 5

I can't seem to aggree with you at all on this, I started this adventure exactly 2 months ago today trying to get my number transferred from Bell South to Vonage.
I have called and spoke with numerous people and have sent about a dozen e-mail messages.
All of the people I have sent mail to or spoken with all have the same canned responce as to why the transfer hasn't taken place.

I spoke with Bell South and was told that it should take from 24 to 48 hours to transfer my account to Vonage. However there was no request from Vonage at their location.
I e-mailes Vonage and gave them the phone number and name of the persion that I spoke with and got the same lame excuse that I got before.

I have since found out that Vonage dosent even request the transfers from the phone company but have hired outside contractors to do that for them. (This is the hold up) If I hire a contractor to do a job and it dosen't get done to the Customer's satisfaction I would replace them with someone that will try to accomidate the Customer.

So to put it short, The request dosen't just lay around on someones desk at Vonage, It just lays around on the desk of a Contractor that Vonage has hired and Vonage has no control over what the Contractor does ar dosen't do.

FIRE THEM AND HIRE SOMEONE THAT WANTS THE BUSINESS.

Posts: 26 · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 2:40 pm Post subject:

I agree with Billsal for the most part.

I don't think it is the carriers fault or Vonage's fault most of the time. I think it is the middle man. In my case it was X/O Communications. They handle the transfer for Vonage here.

I have a feeling it is X/O that needs to get their act together more then Vonage itself or carriers.

My phone got ported earlier in the week, but it was a bit late. I checked with Qwest 2 times and both times they said the number was released to X/O.

Maybe Vonage needs to consider taking over the LPN from third parties or find a new, more reliable, 3rd party.

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 07, 2005 Posts: 8

A friend of mine was told by cs that there was new way to port.
He canceled the old and they walked him thru the new way.
He gave the information over the phone I believe to the third party.
He was ported in less than 2 weeks.

Posts: 26 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Feb 05, 2005 Posts: 26

I was also told by Bellsouth that their part had been done *immediately* after they received the request. The Bellsouth rep even rattled off the entries on my account about the matter. Vonage kept claiming the problem was with Bellsouth, that I had a pending order (false).

Face it -- Vonage deserves as much blame as the carrier and middleman. To sit there and claim, "It's not our fault!" when all signs point to it being your fault (yes, the company you contract to do transfers for you falls under the header of "your fault") is an irresponsible way to do business.

I cancelled my 5 month long LNP process on June 11th and re-submitted electronically. It's been 3 weeks now with no status change, so I guess I'm in for another long haul with Vonage playing the blame game yet again.

I just can't recommend VOnage to anyone who wants to keep their old number. New number, I would 100% recommend the service.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 03, 2005 Posts: 9

My truth is I sent my letter of authorization on April 18. On June 28, I received an email that my number transfer would be complete by June 29. Sure enough, at 7:00 p.m. on June 29, my original carrier disconnected my number. Was Vonage there to take over? No. Today is July 3, and I still have no incoming calls, only outgoing. When someone calls my line they receive a recording that my phone is not in service, which sounds like I haven't paid my bill. I contacted Customer Service in India many times, only to be passed around so much that I finally hung up, more than once. I did receive an email that said my number had not been "ported", whatever that means. I have emailed the CEO of Vonage, but of course I have had no reply. Apparently he, nor anyone else, works on the July 4 weekend. Well neither does my Vonage phone system. I am so disgusted.