New International Rates!

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 03, 2004 Posts: 1

Happy News!
Vonage announced today that they reduced international rates.
I am very happy to see that. Here is an example of their new “exiting” international rates:
Russia – now 14c, before 10c;
Moscow – now 9c, before 5c.
Way to go, Vonage. Thank you for taking care of it.

My question is: next time Vonage reduces international rates, is it going to be 20, 30 or 40c to call to Russia? Hmm?

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 02, 2003 Posts: 37

I just found out about this today looking at their website and I am surprised that more people did not complain about this.

I can see there is significant reduction to places like Western Europe, Japan and Hong Kong (0.05 to 0.02). However, in addition to Russia, I think the rate to China (excl. Beijing, 0.05 to 0.13 for Shanghai) and Thailand (0.08 to 0.12) has also significantly gone up. All percentage-wise but still the money adds up.

I don't think it is right for them to do the rate change without notification WHEN IT GOES UP.

Steven

Posts: 13 · Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:35 pm Post subject: Not Happy!

Now I need to disable my international calling function. What if I did not notice the rate change by myself, and called? It is a really bad business practice without notice. Mad

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 17, 2004 Posts: 4

I am loving the 50% rate reduction to Melbourne, Australia. I work for a one of the big three long distance carriers, and as an employee, the best rate I could get was $0.12/min, now I'm paying $0.03/min. It's great because my sister in-law lives there, and my wife calls her frequently. My total phone bill last month was under $20.00...I was paying over $60.00/mo on phone service before with my so called employee discounts. Voip isn't as reliable as POTS, but who cares...It works well enough. Thanks Vonage!

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 24, 2004 Posts: 11

People please! Stop complaining about the rates going up a few cents to some countries. They went down in MOST countries and have you seen the international rates with ATT's Voip service? MUCH more expensive than Vonage across the board. Not to mention the monthly 40$ charge, early termination fee.
Vonage is great!

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 02, 2003 Posts: 37

Eze,

Well, I think it is the way they did it. Had they notified people in advance about the rate increaes, then it is OK. They did not and that is not good.

A few cents? Well, if you make 60 minutes of call every day for 30 days, a 1 cent difference per miniute addes up to $18/month. So, for China (excluding Beijing), the extra $0.08/min would be an ADDITIONAL $144/month. I am sure this calling pattern is not uncommon for those who came over to Vonage for the low international rates. How would you like to have a $144 suprise at the end of the month?

This is exactly the kind of actions companies do to invite regulation. Granted, probably won't happen as long as the Republicans are in power.

Posts: 28 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 16, 2003 Posts: 28

kyderby wrote:

I am loving the 50% rate reduction to Melbourne, Australia. I work for a one of the big three long distance carriers, and as an employee, the best rate I could get was $0.12/min, now I'm paying $0.03/min. It's great because my sister in-law lives there, and my wife calls her frequently. My total phone bill last month was under $20.00...I was paying over $60.00/mo on phone service before with my so called employee discounts. Voip isn't as reliable as POTS, but who cares...It works well enough. Thanks Vonage!

I didn't even realize this - thanks for alerting me kyderby. I am from Melbourne and living in LA so this is great news indeed.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 31, 2004 Posts: 1

The China rate increase was not a Vonage increase.

It was because the Chinese Govt has created the rates they charge for connections to their phone system.

The same thing happen back in Oct 2002..After a few months they lowered them back down. We can only hope they do the same again.

Thank you Govt controlled rates... Mad

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 17, 2004 Posts: 2

I feel like I am being suckered, Vonage has now increased rates on the sly to Bombay, India - a whopping 83%, from 12C to 22C sometime over the last few days.

I think, just posting a disclaimer that rates are subject to change without notice is fine, but is against customer interests. How much does it take to send an email alert saying that rates are being changed- be warned!

Your next call may cost you your fortune! What stops them from changing rates, I feel cheated and am disappointed. Do you really want Vonage? My Ma Bell is far better, atleast I know what to expect.

Posts: 35

What most people don't realize is that most of the rest of the world is billed quite differently for their telephone service.

When you call Russia, for example, you have to pay your long distance company for their part in it, and your long distance company has to pay the Russian telephone company too. And, be careful if you ever need to call a foreign cellphone. I worked in England last year and carried around one of those pre-paid cellphones with an England phone number. At home here in Michigan, I had a great plan from AT&T that charged like five cents a minute to call England... so I gave my wife my cell phone number. Big mistake.

You see, in England (and presumably the rest of Europe, at least), if you call a cell phone, you are charged for the cellphone's airtime. The owner of the cellphone is not charged at all for receiving a call. Cell phones over there have different area codes. And my wife was hit for about 75 cents per minute from AT&T when she dialed my British cell phone, because AT&T had to pay the British phone company to complete the cellphone call, including my airtime. My pre-paid phone wasn't getting hit at all. In England, "Free Incoming Minutes" is the norm. The caller pays.

I can't blame Vonage for increasing the rates because they are getting f**ked by the foreign companies. I can fault Vonage for not making a better effort of notifying their customers about the change.