I was wondering if anyone uses, or has had experience with Vonage. I don't use my phone much for long distance, maybe once every week or two. My present phone company charges almost $50/month. Vonage advertises for $25/mo with unlimited calling.
Marcia from Malden, MA
I have Vonage and like it. After Katrina my husband and I just kept our cell phones. The signal in bad weather doesn't always come through. So I decided to get a house phone, and it works great except if your computer is off your Vonage phone is off, but so far so good for the price. (02/13/2008)
By Barbara
If you only make a few long distance calls a month cancel your long distance service and use a calling card or your cell phone for those calls.
Anita (02/13/2008)
By GraNita from Montclair, NJ
I got Vonage when it first came out and I love it. You're right, you pay only $24.99 a month, no matter where you call. My husband had to go to Paris, France for business, and I used it to call and was not charged anything over my monthly payment. If you already pay $50 a month, you cut your phone bill by half. Also, you can keep your number. I highly recommend it.
(02/13/2008)
We have Vonage and really like it. You do have to have cable to use it, since we have it for our computers and TV it zips right through. However, if there's a power outage, there's no phone service. We live mostly in FL, but have an apartment in MI for the summer, so we have it at both places. Unbeknown to us they have call forwarding, so if anyone calls our MI phone when we were FL, we get the call. You can also have your calls forwarded to your cell phone if you're going to be away for awhile. Very convenient.
(02/13/2008)
By Marylin
I have it and love it, wish I would have gotten it sooner, just the extra features are worth it, like call forwarding and voice mail. All of those are free and all that can be done right on your PC. You don't have to call in to add or delete a feature, just go to your account and it's done. I call my daughter daily long distance, so you know because of that alone I need Vonage. Look up the eVonage site and read about it. (02/13/2008)
By Sally
I have posted this on this group before, but feel strong enough about Vonage I want others to know what happened to us.
Arg! Vonage, no way! We tried them. Good luck getting rid of them. Here is one little tidbit of knowledge. Make sure your internet connection is fast enough. They don't check it.
We have DSL, but are in an area where it is hit or miss. It works fine for us for an internet connection, but not so when Vonage was added. We had nothing but problem, after problem. (We swear it messed up 2 brand new phones too.) After 3 months we finally decided we had had enough of this. We got where we dreaded to hear the phone ring as the reception/quality was awful. Our DSL connection apparently was not strong/fast enough to support Vonage. They didn't/don't check it, and we certainly didn't have a clue.
Trying to cancel Vonage was almost impossible. They were eager to sign me up over the phone. Not thinking I signed up using my husband's name, and they never, ever questioned that. (Any other phone service I have gone through in the past requires the service to be put in the person's name that is ordering it.) This should have been my first clue that there was going to be a problem. When it came time to cancel, I couldn't cancel it even though I was the one who signed up for it. We went around and around with Vonage about this.
The original set up installing Vonage is not all that easy, although Vonage claims it is. (Another thing that throws a monkey wrench in the problem was having cordless phones.) My hubby is very educated in the phone line/electrical, area and he thought it was a bugger.
Vonage directs most contact with them to over the internet. Some of that is fine, some not. When talking to them on the phone, good luck understanding them. Most were not English speaking/understanding customer service agents. You'll spend hours trying to talk to someone or trying to get them to understand. It took us 6 months after canceling their service to be done with finally.
We had to pay a fairly large amount of money to cancel our account. If they would have checked our speed, or at least told us how to check our speed, we wouldn't have had to go through all of this crap. Vonage has got themselves covered for any and all situations. They are going to get their money. You may not get their service though. Buyers beware! (02/13/2008)
By Shirley
If your computer service is out so is your phone! (02/13/2008)
By Joann
I have Vonage and I like it very much. I had it about 2 years ago and stopped because I had gotten a cell phone and didn't need both. I had no problem canceling the service that time.
A few months ago the price of my cell service went sky high so I decided to cancel and go back to Vonage. Since I couldn't find my old adapter I had to order it all again. The initial cost was $69 delivered and with this I get 2 months free service. The setup this time was very easy and straight forward. No problems at all. Simple easy to follow directions and in 5 minutes I was connected with dial tone!
I have the $14.99 limited service which is fine for me. You are not charged minutes for incoming calls or 800 numbers or any other calls that would be free. I like my Vonage. You are told upfront that if you cancel before a year the charges for canceling will be to cover the adapter. They automatically will deduct the monthly charge. My limited service will cost me $20.29 a month and since I speak often long distance to my family members out of state I consider Vonage my one real bargin. My service is very clear with absolutely no problem. On the other hand my daughter who has DSL (I have cable) wanted to sign up for Vonage and because she has a particular kind of DSL she was told it more than likely wouldn't work for her. (02/13/2008)
By lavonneann
After reading the post below mine that had such a terrible time with Vonage I see I should have mentioned I also use a cordless phone with an extension. Neither have any reception problem. (02/13/2008)
By lavonneann
We have had Vonage for well over a year now and have had no issues. Calls are clear, service has only gone down once due to bad weather conditions, and we have not had any billing issues. A much better experience than the local phone company and loads cheaper. (02/14/2008)
By Pamela
Check into www.magicjack.com. It is a phone service through your computer. You can make calls locally and long distance using a regular cordless or corded house phone. For the first year of service, the cost is about $45.00. After that it will be around $20.00 for one year. You do not have to be at your computer to use it.
I don't recommend it for everyone, but I feel it's worth checking out. Like everything else, it may work for some, but not others.
I have used it for about two months and so far, I have been happy with it. Not to say, there weren't any problems, but it wasn't anything I could not work out and I do not consider myself a computer expert. (02/14/2008)
By Mike
We have Vontage. Our cell phone reception is awful here and we don't have much trouble with the computer. If the power is off so is the phone, but then so is your cellphone charger. I love the fact that I can call anyone almost anywhere for as long as I need to talk. (no more tension being put on hold for the Dr.'s office, etc.) My daughter had a long distance boyfriend so we saved a ton of $$$. Now you can pay for the whole year and be done with the bills. I just wish I knew someone in Canada so I could use that part of the service. (02/14/2008)
By Claudia
We used Vonage for a few months before we figured out that Viatalk (same type of service) offered local numbers in our area. It is cheaper, but the reliability is a bit less than with a traditional phone service. Overall, the type of service meets our needs. Although the phone is out when the power or internet goes out (which is rare), people can still leave you voicemail, and you can check it once the power or internet comes back on.
Also, we have cell phones and we are pretty good about keeping them charged. I don't think I would use Viatalk or Vonage alone if we didn't also have cell phones as a back up. We make lots of international calls to my husband's family, and both Vonage and Viatalk are much cheaper than other services. We do all our local, long distance, and international calling for about $50 per month. I know that my parents pay about $85 per month with Embark, a more traditional phone service, and they don't make any international calls. I feel like we are getting a bargain, even though the phone does go out once in a blue moon. Also, I know that if we called 911 with Viatalk, our address is attached to the phone number so help could find us. I'd imagine Vonage would work the same way. (02/14/2008)
By Allison
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