anyone use vonage?

[MKCP5]

I am trying to find a way to decrease my phone and internet bill. I currently pay a little less than $100 for phone and DSL combined through verizon. I was wondering about vonage and any experiences anyone has had witht them. Do you have to switch your phone number? TIA!

 

[Maggie0507]

I am trying to find a way to decrease my phone and internet bill. I currently pay a little less than $100 for phone and DSL combined through verizon. I was wondering about vonage and any experiences anyone has had witht them. Do you have to switch your phone number? TIA!

LOVE Vonage. I kept my phone number and have had NO problem whatsoever.

M

 

[Stitches12]

Another LOVE Vonage vote here

We have used it for a year or two now and absolutely have had no problems with it. The price cannot be beat. We did originally have some issues with it working with our old portable phones (they were pretty old) but we bought a new portable phone and it works fine. Probably just old technology. Works perfectly on the hard-wired phones.

It's nice to be able to manage your phone on-line for us. There are WAY more features that you can get with a "name brand" telephone service.

Go for it !!

 

[RAD]

I've had Vonage for over a year a like it. But somethings to keep in mind:

- If you have DSL from Verizon you might have to keep your phone line anyway. Most telco's require that you have POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) from them in order to get DSL service. You can always downgrade the POTS service to just the basic service but figure that into the costs. Or see what internet service is available from your local cable company
- You might have a problem if you have to keep your POTS line since you won't be able to port your number over to Vonage, Verizon will think you want a disconnect.
- If your DSL connection is on the slow side, like a 768Kbps/128KBps you might notice call quality issues if you're using your computer for surf the net while you're on the phone. Faster internet connections are better.
- Your 911 service MIGHT not work the same as your POTS line. Vonage is working on making it work the same but your 911 calls might go to a regional dispatcher that won't see the calling location on your screen and will have to transfer you to the correct local fire/police department.
- Your Vonage phone service will be only as reliable as your internet connection.
- If you loose power in your house you loose your Vonage service unless you hook everything up to a UPS. Vonage does have a feature that will forward all calls to another number, like a cell phone, if it senses that your connection is down.

So IMHO if you are a bit technical and understand the limitations of the service you'll be OK. But if you're expecting the same relability as your current POTS service you might not be happy.

 

[MKCP5]

does anyone use it for internet as well? how is the connection?

 

[RAD]

does anyone use it for internet as well? how is the connection?

Vonage does not provide any internet service, they require that you have a broadband connection in order to use their service from somewhere else.

 

[gabbysmom04]

we use vonage and love love love it! The price cannot be beat! We make so many out of town calls we would never go back to regular phone service. Go for it!

 

[phorsenuf]

I've been looking into this and I have a few questions, if you wouldn't mind helping.

Once I connect the "box" into the internet can I then use any of the wall jacks or does only that one phone work?

Since it takes a while to switch over the same number I would be issued a temp one. Say my local exchange is 555 and they give me 492. Is that still going to be a local call to other people in my exchange area or would it be a toll call for them.

Right now I have 2 different phone lines coming in to the house. One for us and one for the kids. Would I still be able to do that? Would I just double my cost?

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[RAD]

I've been looking into this and I have a few questions, if you wouldn't mind helping.

Once I connect the "box" into the internet can I then use any of the wall jacks or does only that one phone work?

Since it takes a while to switch over the same number I would be issued a temp one. Say my local exchange is 555 and they give me 492. Is that still going to be a local call to other people in my exchange area or would it be a toll call for them.

Right now I have 2 different phone lines coming in to the house. One for us and one for the kids. Would I still be able to do that? Would I just double my cost?

Thanks for any help you can give!

For your first question, yes you can share all the jacks, but it's going to depend on how you're wired up now, this is only if you are using cable for your broadband connection, if it's DSL it's too long for me to type now. On the outside of your house there's a box called the Network Interface Device where the line from the phone company connects to your house. There is a side labled customer access, you open that side and disconnect the phone line from the jack, that disconnects your internal wiring from the house. The in your home take the line 1 jack on the Vonage box and connect it to any jack in your home which will then run the signal to all the other jacks. Just make sure that you have disconnected the correct line since if you have the Vonage box connected to your inhouse wiring while also connected to the phone company the first time you get an incoming call it will fry your Vonage hardware.

Yes, Vonage will assign you a temporay number that you can use while your number is being ported. As for the local calling issue it all depends on if the new exchange is in the same billing office as your existing. But if Vonage web site says they can port your number then you should be OK.

Not sure about your question about the second line for the kids. The regular Vonage service will allow for a second line for FAXing but you get only 250 minutes of service before they start charging you a per minute rate. You might want to call Vonage and see how they can do this.

Hope that helps.

 

[phorsenuf]

Thank you very much!!!

 

[drakethib]

I've had Vonage for over a year a like it. But somethings to keep in mind:

- If you have DSL from Verizon you might have to keep your phone line anyway. Most telco's require that you have POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) from them in order to get DSL service. You can always downgrade the POTS service to just the basic service but figure that into the costs. Or see what internet service is available from your local cable company
- You might have a problem if you have to keep your POTS line since you won't be able to port your number over to Vonage, Verizon will think you want a disconnect.
- If your DSL connection is on the slow side, like a 768Kbps/128KBps you might notice call quality issues if you're using your computer for surf the net while you're on the phone. Faster internet connections are better.
- Your 911 service MIGHT not work the same as your POTS line. Vonage is working on making it work the same but your 911 calls might go to a regional dispatcher that won't see the calling location on your screen and will have to transfer you to the correct local fire/police department.
- Your Vonage phone service will be only as reliable as your internet connection.
- If you loose power in your house you loose your Vonage service unless you hook everything up to a UPS. Vonage does have a feature that will forward all calls to another number, like a cell phone, if it senses that your connection is down.

So IMHO if you are a bit technical and understand the limitations of the service you'll be OK. But if you're expecting the same relability as your current POTS service you might not be happy.

SBC requires this.

I have cable and love Vonage.

 

[ericamanda01]

DH and I got in started in January. They sent us all the stuff and it was all ready to go. Well Verizon kept screwing up the transfer of our number. It was finally transfered yesterday. So for 9 months we had two phones. And you know what Vonage did, they never charged us once for those 9 months. They gave us a credit every month because of the delay. They are the BEST! Their customer service is in Disney standards! We love it!

 

[MKCP5]

great puppy ericamanda!! I will call them this week and see what they deal is in our area. I also saw an ad last night from comcast that they will give you broadband internet and digital phone service packaged together for $69.95 a month for 1 year! Now I know the price will go up after that but a full year is a good amount of time. Something else may be out there after that.