Vonage Telephone Service ?

[bigdog]

Do any Forum memebers use 'Vonage' telephone service ?

I believe this service uses ISP connection. If that is trues, do you notice any
Internet service bandwith issues?

Metrocast phone service seems very high, and was thinking about Vonage as an alternative.

Would like to hear some feedback, both pros and cons about Vonage service.

Thanks,
BD

[webmaster]

Last year in a similar thread I recommended OOMA. It's completely free after you buy the box. We've been using it now for over 2 years and haven't had a problem or a phone bill. See this post for more info:

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...&postcount=177

[Just Sold]

I have had Vonage for 4+ years now and really like it. My only issues (occur rarely) if I am on a long (over 30 min) call to Fl especially. I can loose the signal strength and people cannot hear me but I can hear them. That could be band width related but I am also in a lousy area for Comcast who provides my internet. They have not even upgrade the system so I could have Comcast's phone or Infinity service if I wanted that.
Cost is a little over $30/month with taxes.

BTW Vonage's latest plus is an e-mail of a new VM in text format so you do not have to call in for your VM's.

[Bob M]

I have used Vonage for two plus years and except for the occasional internet outage there have been no problems. I first changed our Florida number to Vonage because that is where we were at the time. When we returned to NH I opened a second Vonage account for our NH number. Within the past couple of weeks, for cost savings purposes, the two accounts were merged into a single account. Our Florida number then was changed to a virtual number. All of our outgoing calls are made on our NH number while we still receive calls on both the virtual and real phone numbers. This allows our Florida neighbors to call us year round on the virtual Florida number as a local call as before. Our NH neighbors use our NH number and it too is a local call year round no matter where we happen to be.

I pay the NH number on a yearly basis and receive a 20% discount on the service portion of the bill. You are still required to pay a full year of taxes. The virtual number doesn't yet have a yearly plan so the $6 service charge plus taxes will be charged monthly to my credit card.

While traveling, or if we are away from the house and are expecting an important call, we transfer our Vonage number to our cell phone so no calls will be missed.

Vonage in the long run will cost more than Don's solution but if it suits your needs I would highly recommend it. My nephew in Florida has used Vonage for 5 - 6 years and also highly recommends it.

[upthesaukee]

When we went to Metrocast VIP from just the VI (no phone), we cut our phone cable internet cost by about $15 (we had Union Tel, a small local company now owned by TDS). No problems with Metrocast Phone.

[Meredith Resident]

There are better companies than Vonage that provide VOIP. Vonage is known for lousy sound quality. Here is a recent review on services. http://www.voip-service-review.toptenreviews.com/ I use Phone Power, and it works great. PM me if you would like a discount coupon from Phone Power.

[kchace]

We have been using Vonage for 6 years and we couldn't be happier. We have Charter cable for our internet and as long as the internet is up our phone service has been - dare I say - perfect. I have NEVER noticed a call quality issue. The sound quality has been as good as the best land line. That said, it *does* depend on the quality of your internet service. If you have a slow connection to the internet, the sound quality can suffer.

Ken

[no-engine]

Friends in Brookline, NH just gave up Charter due to too many problems!
Takes all kinds!

[Winnisquamguy]

Originally Posted by webmaster

Last year in a similar thread I recommended OOMA. It's completely free after you buy the box. We've been using it now for over 2 years and haven't had a problem or a phone bill. See this post for more info:

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...&postcount=177

Don, I have had my Ooma for a few months now but I am being charged $13.46 a month any ideas why or how did you get yours totally free?
Thanks

[Mirror Lake's BB]

Winnisquamguy,

We think we had the same issue with Omma as you are experiencing. Omma automatically gave us a 60 day free trial of their 'Premier' package. If after 60 days you don't 'opt out' you are automatically enrolled in the program and will get billed an additional $9.99 per month. The only way to discontinue the program is by calling them directly @1-888-711-6662. When we called, they claim they sent us emails warning that the 60 day trial was about to end. In our case, we had just changed internet providers and email so we didn't get the email. Also, they tried to offer us a deal for the Premier package which we turned down. We didn't feel like we needed the bells and whistles of Premier. All we care about is the ingoing/outgoing phone log. We only pay $3.47/month which I believe goes for taxes.

A week or so ago the whole Omma system crashed (not sure if that's the correct term) and the phone system was down for about 6 hours in the US and some international locations. Apparently, this problem was extremely rare for Omma.

Let us know how you make out.

[Belmont Resident]

We had it for years mainly for a fax line. Never had a problem with it.

[kauriel]

We have Vonage and use it with a router and 2 wireless handsets. The unlimited nationwide calling is great but our phones tend to skip and have periods of poor quality but I am guessing that might be due to distance between phones & router. I am planning to try hooking up our vonage router to repeater on 2nd floor where phones are predominantly used. One plus is that we have our service setup to forward to my cell phone if VOIP fails.

We also tried Magic Jack but had similar issues with poor quality. Too bad because it was much cheaper than Vonage!

[jazzman]

I use a VOIP service called phone power www.phonepower.com, that works out at around $10/month. It's reliable and I use it several hours per day for business. VOIP works fine over cable/broadband. It's a little trickier if you have DSL. The main problem is there is more of a delay between when you talk and the person on the other end hears you, but it's really no worse than a cell phone.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by Winnisquamguy

Don, I have had my Ooma for a few months now but I am being charged $13.46 a month any ideas why or how did you get yours totally free?
Thanks

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I bought my Ooma about 3 years ago so I'm not up to date on their latest plans but it looks like you may be on their enhanced plan that gives you some additional features. If I remember correctly you had to be careful when you signed up to stay on the free plan since they keep directing you into the enhanced plan unless you followed the correct links. They still advertise Ooma as a free service and at the top of their website it says "Free Home Phone Service" so I think you can still get what I have.

I get charged nothing for the use of my Ooma. No fees, taxes or other charges. That may be grandfathered in because I've heard that you do now have to pay the taxes and government fees. I could be wrong.

After 3 years I love our Ooma. The service works perfectly for me and I haven't paid a cent for the service since I bought it.

[P-3 Guy]

Originally Posted by webmaster

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I bought my Ooma about 3 years ago so I'm not up to date on their latest plans but it looks like you may be on their enhanced plan that gives you some additional features. If I remember correctly you had to be careful when you signed up to stay on the free plan since they keep directing you into the enhanced plan unless you followed the correct links. They still advertise Ooma as a free service and at the top of their website it says "Free Home Phone Service" so I think you can still get what I have.

I get charged nothing for the use of my Ooma. No fees, taxes or other charges. That may be grandfathered in because I've heard that you do now have to pay the taxes and government fees. I could be wrong.

After 3 years I love our Ooma. The service works perfectly for me and I haven't paid a cent for the service since I bought it.

I really like my Ooma system that I've had since April last year, but...

I must have bought one of the last boxes on the shelf that came with the $11 and change annual charge for taxes, billed after the first year. Ooma was in the process of changing to a monthly charge of $3 and change for taxes, which is what any new purchaser gets now, and I thought that I had lucked out. I was very disappointed to get an email from Ooma two months ago informing me that my good deal of $11 per year would change to a not-so-good deal of $3 per month starting next May. Like many consumer "contracts," Ooma has reserved the right to change the terms whenever they want, for any reason they want.

I'm not saying that it's impossible, but I would be very surprised if you're paying nothing for taxes on your Ooma calls. Domestic calling is free (to a point, there is a use limit), but as far as I know Ooma has always charged something for taxes, at least after the first year of use. It's billed automatically to a credit card that they keep on file, so for some people it may get overlooked.

Ooma's advertising of the service as "free" after initial purchase is highly misleading, since most users will be paying approximately $40 per year in taxes, and also because, as I already mentioned, there is a ceiling on the number of free domestic minutes that you get on what they call "unlimited" calling. That being said, even after buying the hardware for $200, I'm very happy to be free of Verizon/FairPoint and a long distance carrier to whom I had been paying a combined $40 to $50 a month.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by TMI Guy

I'm not saying that it's impossible, but I would be very surprised if you're paying nothing for taxes on your Ooma calls.

It's true. I've never received a bill or a credit card charge. Shhh, don't tell them.

Even if I had to pay $3/month it would still be a bargain. The thing that really sold be on Ooma (besides the price) is that you can just plug it in to a wall jack and all your phones (wired and cordless), dial-up computers and faxes in your house just work.

[tis]

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to ask a question of those in the know. can you hook up a freeze alarm to one of these or do you need the old fashioned cable landline? Of course I realize if the internet goes out, the freeze alarm won't be able to call.

[swnoel]

I don't see why you couldn't... as long as you have a phone connection it should call.

[TheProfessor]

This one uses cell signals.
No internet needed,
Do not have to sign up for entire year.

LINK

MARCELL Brand

For internet phone.
Have had Nettalk Duo for over 8 years.
Annual cost is/for me $99.00.
Connects directly to router. Can use with any phones.

LINK