Vonage Review

Voice Over IP appears to be ready for prime time in the home market

Voice Over IP (VoIP) is a emerging technology for most large businesses today and may even have a good ROI for smaller businesses in a very competitive market. However I thought voice over IP at home meant running some software from your computer while wearing some geeky headphones that would make you look like something out of a B movie about cyborgs.

Vonage is not like that at all. Vonage actually allows you to connect a Cisco ATA analog to digital phone converter to your existing phone(s). Your phone functions exactly the same as if you are using a regular POTS line(Standard Analog Line Provided by Local Carrier). You do have to dial the full 11 digit number for all calls but all features work the same such as caller-ID, call-waiting, etc.

The question is how well does it work? There will be different answers based upon your bandwidth and overall connection quality. I have a 2 Mb/s downstream and 386k upstream connection via cable modem provided by Time-Warner. I can be downloading at full strength and have no lag, hesitation, or dropped calls at peak usage times while I have another computer connected to the internet via WAP.

What is the cost?

Vonage has two plans:

25.99 plan is for unlimited local and regional long distance with 500 minutes of free long distance to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.

39.99 Unlimited long distance anywhere in the U.S. and Canada and unlimited local and regional calling.

Keep in mind that most calls to Europe are generally 5 or 6 cents a minute so it is a bargain for many oversees calls also.

There are positives and negatives to the service and a great deal of it dependents on whether you already have a good broadband connection which is reliable.

POSITIVES:

Low Prices - 40 bucks for unlimited long distance within the U.S. and Canada is an amazing rate. The lower plan with 500 minutes is also quite good depending on your calling habits. Please read the bottom of the page on how referrals can save you money also.

Reduction of other services - This example only pertains to me but is applicable to many other individuals. I was paying close to 50 dollars a month to my phone carrier, another 13 - 25 a month to a long distance carrier for a long distance plan and long distance fees. I also have two cell phones in my family where the majority of long distance calls are made. I now am able to get rid of the local phone carrier, the long distance provider, and use a shared minutes plan on the cell phones instead of having two separate plans which have been reduced. This will save me approximately 800 or more in one year. That is a nice ROI in my opinion.

Features - This is where Vonage excels. It is loaded with free features such as:

Voicemail - This is nice because you can check voicemail through your phone or from the internet via windows media player, etc. The voicemail can be configured from the web to pick up after so many calls or after being forwarded to another number with no answer. Vonage does not limit the number of messages that you can keep in your mailbox and they can all be managed online. Vonage will also optionally email you when you have a new voicemail. You can customize the greetings and configure so that if you don't like call waiting, a person calling in gets a message stating you are on the phone so please leave a message and you will get back to them.

Call forwarding - This can be configured from the webpage and is better than most because you have the option of forwarding immediately or after so many seconds. The fact that there is no long distance charges means you can forward it to any phone number in the United States or Canada for free. You are still able to have the Vonage voicemail be the default voicemail if the forwarded number does not pick up in case you want to keep all your voicemails in the same system.

Call Transfer - I have to admit that I love this feature. You can transfer your current call to anywhere or anyone within the U.S. and Canada. Lets say you are on the phone with someone and you need to hit the road. Just transfer the number to your cell phone and keep on going. Don't stop there. Think of the possibilities. Lets say you live in Boston and your brother lives in Seattle and your mom lives in Dallas. Call your brother and talk to him for a few minutes and then say "Why don't you talk to mom". All you need to do is transfer him to your mom in Dallas and hang up. Those two will be talking absolutely free of charge for everyone.

Caller-ID - Vonage currently supports caller-ID assuming your phone has it built-in. This works fine but does not support caller-ID with call waiting at this point.

Caller-ID Blocking-Vonage allows you to use the *67 in order for your phone number not to show up on other persons caller-ID display.

Repeat Dialing - This is sometimes known as "demon dialing". You dial 5 when you get a busy signal and then you it keeps trying to contact the person and rings the phone when the line is no longer busy.

Call Return - You can dial *69 and a computer voice will tell you the last person that called and ask if you would like to return the call. This is voice activated so you just need to say YES or NO into the phone.

911 Service - This is a new feature at the time of the writing. You have to register this with Vonage by entering in your exact address and then Vonage will have any 911 calls go directly to your local emergency team for your area.

Bandwidth Saver - This allows to sacrifice sound quality for the phone using less bandwidth. If you have a good broadband connection, you might as well leave this at full which is 90kbs.

Network Unavailability Forwarding -- This is the feature that allows me to get rid me of my local phone carrier. If your cable modem is not on or there is a network failure then Vonage will forward the calls any number of your choosing. I have it set where it forwards to my cell phone. This way if there is a power, I can still receive the calls to my cell phone.

Virtual Phone Numbers - You can have multiple virtual phone numbers in different cities. If you live in Boston and want to make it local for your family member to call you in Atlanta then you can get a phone number that is local to Atlanta. It does cost 4.99 a month extra for each phone number outside of the first one you choose.

Instant Online Records - In case you want to see who called and didn't leave a voicemail or who you or a family member has called in a month, it is all accessible in real-time from the web page. They have a dashboard view that shows all activity of incoming and outgoing calls. You can do advanced searches in case you want to find out who called on a certain date or how many phone calls were made to a certain phone number.

Take Vonage Anywhere in the world - You can travel anywhere that has broadband connectivity and hook up your phone and still call the U.S. and Canada for free. The internet connection still goes to the Vonage server so as far as Vonage is concerned, you are calling from the U.S.

NEGATIVES:

Dependent on Broadband/Power - You are completely dependent on having power at your house and no broadband outage. The Network Unavailability forwarding works greats if you have a cell phone or landline but it is probably not a good idea to have this service without at least a cell phone in case of emergencies.

No 411 - There is no directory assistance available currently with this service. I personally never use 411 since the internet is the best way to look up phone numbers but this could be problematic for people who use directory assistance frequently.

Does not have numbers for all cities - Although Vonage is constantly adding local numbers to new cities, they may not have one for your city. You can still get the service if you don't mind having a phone number outside of your local calling area.

Caller-ID Issues - The caller-ID does not always show the name of the person calling even if it shows the number. It also does not support caller-ID with call waiting. I am hoping that Vonage corrects this soon.

Internet Latency - Internet latency could affect the quality of your phone calls and it is possible to get the "tin can" or echo effect on phone calls especially if you are downloading a great deal via on your computer. I have not run into this issue at the time of this writing but I expect it will occur at least sporadically just due to the nature of the internet in general.

Only one phone Connector - The Cisco ATA only comes with one functional phone connector. This means you will have to find a way to hook all your phones up to one jack. This was no issue for me because I have a Vtech cordless phone system which just requires one analog connection while the other phones just plug into individuals cradles only for power. The one base transmits to all phones on the system. Most systems like this support at least 4 phones per one base. Another way to avoid this is by going to your telephone Network Interface Box outside your house and make sure you disconnect the two (or four) wires and then plugging the Cisco ATA directly into one of your analog outlets so that they are all live in your house. Cisco does not recommend me this however many people are doing it and the principle is sound. My best advice would be to call a electrician and seek their advice. I have never tried this myself so I cannot vouch for it.

Conclusion:

Vonage is not for everyone. However, if you already have a broadband connection and have a fair amount of long distance phone calls then it may be a cost effective solution and give you peace of mind knowing you will not have to pay for long distance phone calls anymore.

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Added: April 9th 2003
Reviewer: Dean2900
Score:
Hits: 45709
Language: english