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UPDATE 6/8: I am canceling my account and transferring to VOIPo. While I think that while Vonage has a good offering, development of new features has stopped, and the price keeps creeping up. I'm paying my cancellation fees and moving on. Followup comments:
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1) I cannot send or receive faxes. Vonage says newer fax machines may or most likely wont work. 2) A call from the security system monitoring company, my system had not dialed out in weeks. 3) A PPV purchase caused my DVR to lock out state until I contacted my TV service provider. 4) Friends complain that my caller name shows unavailable. 5) No speed dial feature means I have to program each phone in the house. 6) The service gets feedback when talking and running water in a sink. With CallVantage all these features and services work. For me Vonage is not ready for primetime. For now I will continue to test / research VoIP providers and stick with CallVantage until I can find a better solution or am forced back to land line. Followup comments:
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 .The website is helpful for reviewing calls and bills, but it would be nice to quickly jump to a certain date or week, and also to search for a specific number from my entire history rather than having to check each page one at a time. Overall, I am happy I made the switch and have also transferred my business line to Vonage as well. Followup comments:
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The cost was higher than many of the other VoIP providers. Especially if you are in Canada. In the US Vonage is currently charging $24.99 for unlimited local and long distance, but in Canada they are charging $39.99 for the same thing. That's almost 62% more costly than what customers in the US are paying. The Canadian exchange rate was hovering around 20% for the longest time, but over the past few years the Canadian dollar has been either better than the US dollar, on par, or slightly under. It seems as though Canadians are being gouged on the Vonage unlimited plan. Granted, it's still cheaper than Bell Canada or any of the Bell affiliated companies across Canada. Vonage does not allow customers to hook up their own device/gateway (BYOD). With fancy IP phones on the market and new ones being introduced all of the time, going with a company that won't support these phones or new features limits you. Many people who would switch to VoIP tend to like electronics and gadgets. So there is an underlying conflict between companies that offer voip, but do not allow BYOD - bring your own device. It's also more of a hassle should you quit service with the company as in many cases you'll need to return the device. They claim due to security and stability they won't offer it. Yet Vonage does offer a softphone that can be configured as BYOD - it will only give you 500 minutes per month outgoing, and it costs an extra $12.99 Canadian plus taxes, and you must also have the ATA service with it. You cannot get their softphone service alone. Why? Who knows. Canceling your service is another reason to watch out for Vonage. After being with them for 4 years, it took me 4 to 5 months to finally cancel my service with them. I was told they could not cancel it by one representative. He told me to call back between 8 AM and 4 PM EST. I did but that person lied and said she was disconnecting my service but my number would stay active in case I wanted to come back to them. 3 months later they charged my credit card and when I called about it they told me that my account was temporarily suspended for 3 months. I asked to have it canceled again and they kept me on the phone trying to convince me to stay. I was on the line for almost an hour arguing with them. I asked for a supervisor and he would not put me through to one. More charges went through to my credit card. Finally, I ended up finding the phone number to Vonage Canada and called their office in Toronto. They were able to cancel my account, but not before I canceled my credit card. My bank recommended that I cancel my credit card to avoid any future charges from Vonage. It was inconvenient, but it worked! This happened in early 2008. Whether they have changed their practices since then, I don't know for certain. Doing a Google search shows me that they still appear to be doing this to people. Just type in, "VONAGE CANCEL" One website even posted an MP3 conversation of his call: »blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating···ties.asp On the plus side, their website was pretty good. Call quality was good (not excellent), they were reliable. I was never down when I was with them during the 4 year period. I traveled with the Motorola gateway and had no problems with it. They offer a toll-free number that will prompt you for the Vonage customer number. You can call from Canada or the US and get through for free to any Vonage phone line, which would save money. The Simulring feature was awesome. Would I go with them again should they offer BYOD? No, due to the cancellation fiasco. It was a nightmare for me and I would not trust them again. All I can say is - Buyer Beware! Followup comments:
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OLD REVIEW: I got Vonage about three weeks ago, because anything that has the potential to let me ditch Bellsouth is worth trying. Quality over my slow cable modem connection was fine inbound, but the outbound quality was difficult for the people I called to understand. When I moved it over to one of my faster DSL circuits it was just great in both directions. While I really love Vonage so far, and have had no problems with it, nothing is ever perfect, so hear are the cons: I can't get local phone numbers in the other two local dialing areas that I would like to have them. I could spend less money by going with Bellsouth's unlimited bundle. Followup comments:
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If other network activity is occurring, communications can be difficult some times and there isn't a 'default' way in my LinkSys Vonage router to improve the Quality of Service for the voice communication. Followup comments:
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Update 5/09: No major issues. Still using OEM Motorola ATA, which is now over five years old. Still no name transmitted with CID on outbound calls. Fax service reliability has improved since last review. Followup comments:
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I >JUST passed my five year anniversary with Vonage and, as a "beginner" VOIP service, it's fine. Quick and easy. But their prices are NOT in line with what you get any more -- other providers for people like me (light users, less than 500 minutes per month) can save a lot of money from many other providers. Vonage has delivered good quality and great reliability, but they're not the only ones that can do both of those things. With a bit more research you can find equally good providers that will cost half of Vonage's rate. Comparing Vonage to POTS' price is one thing -- Vonage wins, hands down. But comparing Vonage to other good VOIP providers' prices will show that Vonage is NOT the way to go. Edit to add -- if you're considering signing up, BEWARE the TOS! Cancellation of your service by even one day past the 30 day trial (which starts when they activate your account, NOT when you get your ATA and start testing) WILL result in your being charged over $100 early termination fees. You ARE signing up for a multi-year agreement -- be fully aware of this commitment before you sign up! There have been enough posts about the AWFUL customer service that I'm happy enough to call them a former provider. It works, but it's no longer worth the price. Followup comments:
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Vonage
(45)
(65)
Atascadero,San Luis Obispo,CA
$34 per month
about 3 days
"Great Service all the way around"
"Needs prefix within area code"
"No Longer use the service"
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