Comments on: Vonage is still my choice

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:51:44 +0000

Why is Vonage charging extra for Soft Phone? I’m already paying them $25/mo for the line, why do I have to pay them even more to access the same equipment from my computer? Only one phone can use the line at a time anyway, so it’s not like I’m using their equipment or services more during a phone call. I would just like the convenience of being able to call from my computer when I’m not at home.

By: Pierre Cayatte

Pierre Cayatte — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:52:11 +0000

Terry,

If I do switch from Comcast Digital Voice to Vonage and want to keep the same phone number, will I stay pay a monthly fee to Comcast to port my number?

By: terrywhite

terrywhite — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:57:06 +0000

I’m guessing you would have to get Vonage to re-configure your account to the spare router while you’re gone.

By: Joel Turrell

Joel Turrell — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:47:53 +0000

Terry,
Must I take my existing Vonage router with me on vacation, or can I take along a spare/second one which I somehow picked up along the way in the last couple years? It would be nice not to unhook everything at home, and since I’ll be renting my sister’s Florida house, I could simply leave the spare unit there when I return home.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:19:21 +0000

Are there any monthly taxes or other fees that have to be paid to any government or local taxing authority or is it just the one time fee for the hardware?

Paul

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:14:36 +0000

Terry, you really should try an Ooma device. One time charge of $199 (your nearest Costco should have one) and no monthly fees afterwards. You can pay $99.00 a year for “premier” services afterwards if you want to, but it’s not required.

I’ve had my Ooma for nearly a year now and have had zero issues with it. Voice quality is as good as my AT&T landline ever was. I can listen to voicemail on the web, forward my calls wherever I want, get voicemail notifications on my cell, and more.

By: terrywhite

terrywhite — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:52:48 +0000

Mike, you are correct. Vonage for whatever reason hasn’t updated theirs in years. So I went to the source and bought a current version:
http://www.counterpath.com/eyebeam.html

Sad, but I couldn’t take the buggy version that Vonage distributes.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:10:58 +0000

Terry, the screenshot you show for the Vonage SoftPhone, is it the Windows version or the Mac version. I’ve been using the Mac version for years. It doesn’t look like yours and it hasn’t changed since I downloaded it. In other words, the current Mac version you can download from the Vonage site is “2.0 release 1106q build stamp 18414″. I’ve found it to be buggy (it crashes whenever you hang up) and counter-intuitive.

Just wondering if you’ve uncovered a more current version . . .

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:39:51 +0000

I did you use Vonage for many many years and its a good service. But taxes were killing me. I was paying almost 50% in taxes.

This is also the problem with having the need to have separate phone numbers for their wi-fi and soft phone, each number will require you to pay the same set of taxes. Why can’t Vonage design those phones to work with our existing phone number and charge you whatever they need to charge you to get the service, but where I don’t have to repeatedly pay the same taxes over and over again. They seem to have no interest in doing this.

Secondly I already have mobile phone service and yes making international calls is an issue, but there are a variety of really good services to overcome this, like relianceglobal and others. One doesn’t need Vonage anymore.

Lastly they offer a much lower plan for 9.99 but only offer it to you when you cancel and I don’t understand this. Its like cheating, if you have a variety of services make them known.

Vonage is good and I can recommend them, but they need to do a better job of keeping costs lower for their customers and in my book they have failed to do that.

By: Don

Don — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:31:12 +0000

I’ve been on Vonage for over 3 years. The price is right.

HOWEVER….

When it comes to porting numbers, be prepared to spend hours on the phone with them and weeks getting them to follow federal laws.

It took me over 5 weeks to get my phone number ported to them three years ago. I had two numbers with them and decided to change one to a cell phone. It took me three weeks to get them to allow the number to be ported.

By: dix99

dix99 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:49:26 +0000

I read a couple of days ago, that Skype is in trouble

http://chattahbox.com/technology/2009/07/31/lawsuit-could-be-death-knell-to-skype/

By: Bill Hamilton

Bill Hamilton — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:53:37 +0000

Have used Vonage for 2+ years and love it. We have two homes, and I just pack up the Vonage router and plug it in. Seamless.

Terry, what is the current financial status of Vonage? That is my one big concern as they almost bit the dust a couple of years ago.

By: terrywhite

terrywhite — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:10:21 +0000

No outrageous roaming charges overseas. Not using your minutes. Cheaper calls to other countries just to name a few.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:07:42 +0000

Terry,
I am trying to understand what advantage there is to using an iphone to run Weephone or Skype instead of just using the iphone to make the call. What am I missing?
Thanks,
Kevin