Vonage Phone Service

[bosshogg23]

Vonage (http://www.vonage.com/)

Has anyone tried their service? Supposedly they offer unlimited local & long distance service for $40/month or unlimited local & 500 long distance minutes for $26/month. There are about $100 worth of first month charges though.

Im looking at the unlimited local & 500 long distance minutes. It would cut my phone bill in half and pay for itself in 4 months or so. Looking for some feedback to see if anyone has tried it. Likes? Dislikes?

Btw, its for broadband users only.

[Jets80]

Dont most phone companies give you "unlimited local" anyway?

With my bellsouth plan i get 5 cent/min long distance anywhere any time.

Its the 45 bucks a month for Bellsouth DSL that eats up my bill.

[bosshogg23]

I live in Philly and for unlimited local its like $30/month. For some piss ass amount of local calls its $20/month.

It was the same situation in Southeastern Michigan when I lived there. $15 or so a month for a certain number of local calls, $25ish for unlimited calls that were local.

[jander]

I have not heard of this one yet. I know in Wisconsin, Ameritech (now SBC) had local minutes (or they did anyways, that was a few years ago). In the Qwest areas they are now offering local and unlimited LD along with features (caller ID, call waiting, and voice mail) for like $50, which is a bit high, IMO (since I really don't have any features anyways on my landline phone).

The deal you stated does not sound that bad, I might have to look at this a bit closer.

[bosshogg23]

I heard of this program from USAToday. When traveling I always pick up a copy so I can see what is going on elsewhere....

Anyways, they had several hundred thousand subscribers but had not broken into any market in paticular. The article said that Comcast was going to offer this "service" combined with its cable TV and cable internet within a few years.

According to the article you get 5 "features" free. Including caller ID, call waiting, a message box, etc.

However I am leary until I hear from someone that it is actually a quality service.

My sister pays $50/month for free unlimited local & long distance plus tax. According to the website I will pay like roughly $42 for the same service. $26-@27 for the 500 minutes long distance service I am interested in.

[mckerney]

JUst get a cellie and forget about a standard phone.

[JeeberD]

No kidding. Who bothers with a land line these days?

[mckerney]

T-Mobile Get More® plan
Great for: People who travel and spend up to half an hour per workday on the phone.

Get More® plan

Price: $39.99

Whenever minutes: 600
Weekend minutes: Unlimited
Weeknight minutes: Unlimited

- One flat rate per month
- Calls virtually anywhere
- Calls from anywhere in the country with GSM coverage
- No long distance or digital roaming charges

50 Incoming Text Messages, Enhanced VoiceMail, Built-in Paging, Caller ID, Conference Calling, Call Waiting and Call Hold, Customer Care, Directory Assistance, Emergency Calls, Detailed Billing

[mckerney]

AT&T mLife National Plan
No roaming or long distance charges across most major cities
Nationwide calling
No roaming or national long distance within National Service Area

Monthly charge $29.99
Anytime minutes 300
Night and Weekend Unlimited
Nationwide Long Distance Included

[ShovelMonkey]

Now they are offering unlimited calling in the US and Canada for 24.99 . Anybody have Vonage yet or know anything further about it?


Edit -- I just searched for "Vonage." I han't realized that this was a monster bump, lol. Last post Spetember, '03 .

[ShovelMonkey]

Dola

The only thing I'm a bit leary about so far is this, from their site:

..."Surfing The Web"
And if you'd like to surf the web and use your Vonage service at the same time, the phone adapter can share your Internet connection with your computer. Talk on the phone and surf the net with ease. (Depending on your home network setup, this may require additional equipment.)...

Additional equipment? My home network at the moment only consists of one computer, but I'd like to set up a wireless network in the future from another computer upstairs. Anybody have any idea how this'd impact things?

[cartman]

My parents use Vonage, and they are happy with it. All of the stuff to manage the phone is web-based, like call forwarding, voice mail, 911 location, etc. They've visited a couple of times since they got it. The first time, they brought the Vonage box down, plugged it into my broadband connection, and when people called them, it rang. The next time, they forgot the box, but logged in to the website, forwarded to my number, and the calls came to my house, with the proper Caller ID info.

[johneh]

I've had Vonage since July & I am very happy with it.

The only problem I had was it took forever for my home phone # to get ported to Vonage but after I complained my Vonage service was free till my home # was ported over.

The sound quality is the same or better than my old SBC phone line.

[Castlerock]

I have Vonage and I am very happy. The sound quality is better than my Verizon line it replaced. It includes Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, etc. The 500 minute plan is $15. Unlimited for $24. I replaced my $60 (and up) Verizon bill with a tiny $15 Vonage bill.

[Castlerock]

Dola

The only thing I'm a bit leary about so far is this, from their site:



Additional equipment? My home network at the moment only consists of one computer, but I'd like to set up a wireless network in the future from another computer upstairs. Anybody have any idea how this'd impact things?
It'll work exactly as you have it today. Instead of the cable modem plugged into your broadband connection, you plug it into the Vonage box (which is plugged into your broadband connection). It will not restrict you in any way.

[ShovelMonkey]

It'll work exactly as you have it today. Instead of the cable modem plugged into your broadband connection, you plug it into the Vonage box (which is plugged into your broadband connection). It will not restrict you in any way.

Thanks for that input. The only thing holding me up now is the old lady bitching about us losing our phone number. I typed our number into their site and it said that it wouldn't be able to transfer.

[bosshogg23]

A couple friends have it. There main problem was that it took 2 weeks to transfer their main phone line. Other than that they love it.

Your local cable operator is probably going to offer something similar very soon. Comcast is offering the service to Philly this year.

[lytic]

I have it and I'm in Iceland. I have a Danvers, MA number and it is the coolest thing ever. I can call people and people can call me like I'm still at home. I used to pay way too much money. I can take the router with me where ever I go and I will always have that number (as long as there is broadband).
Also, if you are gonna sign up, sign up through one of us that already have it. You will get a free month, which will pay for the linksys router they send you. We get a free month as well.

[stevew]

I pay 26 even for my service every month, no taxes, none of that junk. And as the other dude said, you can have whatever phone number you want, just as long as you have broadband. It works great for me.

[wishbone]

When you get your bill, how many other charges are there? Our current service has $5-$10 in other charges, should I expect the same with Vonage?