Why I Started Vonage Fan

Welcome To Vonage Fan!

I've been a fan, and user, of Vonage (the service, not necessarily the company) for years. I use it for my writing business, and in general I've been very happy with my Vonage service and overall experience.

In my opinion, if I have to have a phone, Vonage does it almost all right:

1. Vonage is Internet Telephony (Voice Over Internet Protocol - VOIP); more accurately it's Telephony Over Internet Protocol (TOIP), but I never anyone else use that term. I just plug it in anywhere I have an Internet connection and it just works. Likely I'll have the same "telephone" (Vonage) number for a very long time even though I'm going to change Internet connectivity and locations several times.

2. Vonage is Flat Rate. I pay the same fee every month no matter how many calls I make, what time of the day I make them, or what the "distance" is between who I'm calling and where my phone is connected. (There is the potential for my bill to be higher - if I call outside of the US and Canada, but I almost never do.)

3. Vonage includes all the features that you'd expect for a phone for the same flat rate - Caller ID, voicemail, call waiting, etc.

4. Vonage offers some extra "phone" features that are really useful. One that I tried, but got too confusing, but was still very useful, was to have Vonage ring both my Vonage phone and my mobile phone when I received a call on my Vonage line.

5. Vonage includes a number of Internet features that are easy (enough) to use. I can completely configure my Vonage service via a Web page; I don't have to call someone and play "Mother, May I?" with them to make changes to my phone service like I have to do with Verizon (home phone service). Another is that Vonage sends me audio files of my voice mail messages via email. I can also listen to my voice mail messages the same Web page, and I can delete them from there! I don't have to wade through the inanity of dealing with voice mail on a phone, trying to remember touch tone keypad command strings.

6. Vonage offers some good additional features at additional cost. One that come immediately to mind is the Vonage "Soft Phone" - software that you can run on your computer (intended for your laptop) that give you full access to your Vonage phone line (answering, and initiating phone calls) from a computer. I tried it, and liked it when I was regularly working away from my home office and had a prepaid mobile phone. Unfortunately the "Soft Phone" software really sucked. If I didn't want to miss any calls to my Vonage line, instead of the "Soft Phone", I would now just have Vonage ring my mobile phone on an incoming call. Another additional feature that's waiting for me if I should need it is a second line jack built into the Vonage router box. It's just a matter of configuring it on the web page and being billed for it (at not much of a discount from a single line).

The few times I've called Customer Service, they've been pleasant and I didn't have to wait very long. I haven't called them for a couple of years now since I got into the habit of when my Vonage service "glitches", I go into the basement and power-cycle the Vonage router. That's cured every glitch I've had with Vonage for the last couple of years.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

Comments

[Jim Sutton]

My experience with Vonage was consistently bad over 11 months using it in the past. Honestly, probably not week went by without call problems. Almost every single call would substantially degrade or drop about 3-4 minutes each call.

I absolutely could not participate in a conference bridge call due to ECHO problems using Vonage. Two person calls usually did not encounter echo but 100% of the conference calls did.

Here's a hidden issue: Did you know you cannot PORT numbers away from VONAGE?

They'll PORT your Verizon (etc) numbers TO Vonage to get your service. But they won't port them back when you finally get fed up with their poor service and decide "cheap is really, truly expensive."

My Vonage service used a broadband connection provided through a local WISP. Vonage, to their credit, was the only VOIP company (I found) that would allow me to register for their service using a WISP. Maybe it was the polled nature of the underlying TRANGO wireless gear causing problems but my WISP assured me I was in the VOIP priority profile where latency was minimized.

I suspect it's the polled mechanism in the TRANGO gear that degrades online gaming experience, too, but that's just a guess. But I digress ......

[Chris]

I'm with you, Steve. Can't say enough positive things about Vonage. I've used it in tents in Iraq and Afghanistan under less than optimal connectivity, through use of the SoftPhone and V-Phone options. My number has been the same forever. People get a hold of me just about anywhere, anytime. Customer service is always courteous and responsive. And who can beat the pre-paid annual subscription price? Customer for life here.

~Chris
Naples, Italy