Pros. Cons. Please discuss.

By Amecmom on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 07:29 pm:

Lots of my friends have it. The three big turn-offs for me are - 1. When the power goes out, your phone is out. 2. I think you need to use a calling card to make international calls (you do for Verizon DSL and Cable, so I'm guessing Vonage is the same. 3. If your phone is out of order, the phome company puts you way down on the list for repair if you do not have service through them. They will repair their own customer's lines first.

Other than those, it sounds great.

Ame

By Crystal915 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 08:28 pm:

LOVE it LOVE it LOVE!!!!! I pay under 30 bucks a month for unlimited everything, they send me an email letting me know I have a voicemail before I even check the phone. I've only had one brief As far as repair, it has nothing to do with a phone line peroid. If it goes down, you call your cable company, I believe you do not need a phone card to call internationally, although I am pretty sure there is a per minute fee. Honestly, I HATED landlines, but this is SO much cheaper if you have family out of state and make a lot of long distance phone calls. IF your cable goes down, or the power goes out, you can set it up so callers get a voicemail, or forward calls to your cell. The COOLEST thing I've learned about it so far? I can program all calls to my Vonage line to also ring on my cell, so if I'm out of the house, the call is forwarded to my cell. All free!! Did I mention I love it??

By Crystal915 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 08:30 pm:

International rates

By Annie2 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 08:55 pm:

We had ATT when Ivan struck. Bellsouth fixed all the lines THEN ours. We were out for two weeks more than our neighbors. I now have local Bellsouth. I pay about $45. for local and long distance. I call my sister long distance about four times per week, too.

Sorry, no news on Vonage, just my opinion to keep the land line local.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 09:31 pm:

I'm still confused as to wy the local landline company has anything to do with fixing your lines. If something goes wrong with ours, I call Charter (my cable internet company), they own their own underground lines, and they fix them. As long as your cable line and your power are on you have no problems, it's not like a telephone pole where a transformer bursts or something.

By Conni on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 09:37 pm:

We have had it since August and have absolutely no complaints. There has been *one* time the internet was down and it was not an issue, as I just picked up my cell phone and made the call I needed to make. Our pkg is $24.oo a month I think and we get everything with that. All the extras that we refused to pay extra for with our previous phone service (caller id, 3-way, call waiting, long distance, and so on..)...

If you sign up make sure you give them someones name that you know as a referral because they will get one month free I think. So if someone you work with suggested it to you, then give their name.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 11:05 pm:

Referrals get the customer 2 months free, and the new customer 1 extra month free.

By Amecmom on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 09:20 am:

Thanks Crystal for the info. I have to see what I'm paying with Verizon for international rates and then compare. I see what you are saying about the phone. It's the cable that has to be working, the local phone lines have nothing to do with it right?
Ame

By Debbie on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 10:14 am:

Crystal, what Annie is talking about as far as delays in repair has to do with the fact that some companies that provide phone service, "rent" the network/lines from the local phone companies. Therefore, they have to count on them to have them fixed. You would actually call your company if there is a problem, but they have to work with the local phone company to fix it.

By Conni on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 10:46 am:

When my dh went out of country on business last Fall he added some box to his laptop and could call home free. Pretty nice!

hm, I guess I am really slow. lol I still dont get what the landline phone comp has to do with my internet phone (VOIP)? Dh will have to explain it to me this evening. I thought we had internet phone thru Vonage and if internet goes down then that is problem Vonage and ISP fix. Nothing to do with landline Phone company right? LOL argh

By Eve on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 01:01 pm:

We have Vonage for a 2nd phone line. We chose a # for the state that my Mom lives in, so she could call us the same as a local call. I make most of my long distance calling on it. We do have issues--sometimes I go to make a call and I get a fast busy, or else sometimes the person on the other end can hear me, but I can't hear them. I think there are times when the cable is busier and we don't get the best reception. I don't think I would ever get it for my only line. It's about 95% reliable for us.

By Crystal915 on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 09:23 pm:

Debbie, there is nothing for them to "rent" from the phone companies. It's all underground cable, the same kind that gets your TV and internet. The company that owns it (Time Warner, Cox, Charter, etc) is responsible for it, and the phone company has NOTHING to do with it.
Eve, we use it as our only line, except cells, and chose my grandmom's FL area code. We haven't ever had problems with speed or static, although if you dial too quickly you can get that fast busy signal. With so many cool features for a REALLY low price, I'm a customer for life now!!

By Pamt on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 10:39 pm:

Thanks for all the input...I think *scratches her head in confusion*

By Conni on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 11:16 pm:

LOL @ my last post. Nevermind about the box deal... It's just another Vonage feature. You do pay something extra per month for it. However, dh got it thru his work for that trip somehow...

Look at it this way Pam, if your ISP is crappy and you get Vonage internet phone then your phone will be down when your internet is down. We have Cox internet and have no trouble.

By Debbie on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 08:49 am:

Crystal, in some situations the company that is providing service does not own the lines/network. Yes, some companies do, but some don't. The ones that don't, "rent" them from the local company. I used to work for one of the phone companies and dh still does. I know what I am talking about.

By Annie2 on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 08:22 pm:

We don't have any underground wires here. Ours are still on poles. Which is why damage from the hurricane effected our service.

By Crystal915 on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 10:40 pm:

I'm going to bow out here, since I only know what my husband learned working for Time Warner and Longhorn Broadband. I know some rural areas can't even get cable, so I trust your word, Debbie.

Pam, since you are in a major area, I think it might be a very good choice for you, I'm a die-hard fan!!

By Conni on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 08:35 am:

OK Crystal, this is how dh explained it to me. It is his understanding that if I have Vonage VOIP (voice over internet protocal) and I call my sister in Tulsa who is not on Vonage then my call rides the internet to Tulsa and then dumps off into a local Tulsa phone service/exchange that Vonage has an agreement with. He said if that phone company is down then, no, my call would not go thru. However, the odds of that arent great. (atleast it hasnt been a prob for us so far)

I think if I call you and you have Vonage too then our call is just riding the internet.

So if I understand this right Vonage customers can be affected if the internet is down, if Vonage equipment is messed up somewhere and if phone lines are messed up somewhere... Even with this info I still wouldnt go back to my old service. I am enjoying the Vonage. My cell phone is fine for back up if needed. We have no reason to pay for 3 phone services (cell, landline, and Vonage line)

OK, that makes much more sense to me. Thank you dh!

Of course, he went into greater detail than that and used a bunch of technical terms but thats the jist of what I got out of the conversation. lol !

HTH

By Debbie on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 08:48 am:

Crystal, the companies your dh worked for could have owned their own cable/network and had nothing to do with the local phone company.

However, when they decided to allow competition into local service. They knew that with the Baby Bells having a monopoly, that a lot of companies wouldn't be able to compete. So, they allowed them the option to lease their network and lines(by this I mean underground cable, overhead lines, etc) Some companies do this. A lot of them do use the local companies network(which is a large room of computers that actual directs the calls to the proper cable, so it can get where it needs to go) The reason I know a lot about it is because I was actually working for one of the Baby Bells when competition first started. I was a manager in a call center that actual took calls to set up service, etc. That was several years ago, so some companies now have installed their own lines, cable, etc and don't use the local phone companies at all, some still do.

I have never used anything but the local company since dh works for them. So, I can't comment on any other company. However, like any other company, I have heard good and bad about them. I just don't have any personal experience.

By Kym on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 02:59 pm:

OK I know HATE Qwest Vonage is not available in my area yet, I can get Packet8, but have to secure my own broadband service first. Anyone know anything about packet8? or any other service besides Vonage I can look into?
TIA

By Crystal915 on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 03:15 pm:

I was considering Packet8, but they were not available in my area. Have you checked into ATT VoIP? I WOULD have gone with them, but they were INCREDIBLY rude to us. I personally would never use them after that, but my neighbor has them and LOVES them. I believe Verizon might also have some VoIP, but they are another company on my defecation list. (I have quite a long list, because customer service is my pet peeve!!!) Good luck, hon! One other thing, is Vonage AVAILABLE, but your area code is not? We have a FL area code, because my grandmom livess therre, and our local area code was not available. If you CAN get them, and just choose an outside area code, pick one that would be helpful for someone you talk to out of state.

By Kym on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 03:53 pm:

HMMM, I thought all calls were included? No? I'm very confused by this whole thing, I need to be able to transfer my business phone number, so I need "portability" which would require the same number. I have not checked into ATT, Verizon is not available and the cell service her is not great with them, and I'd like to roll all into one if possible, maybe I'm asking for too much.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 05:13 pm:

All calls are included. However, your family member can call YOU for free if you use their area code. For example, my grandmom is in the 561 area code. So to call me, she only has to dial the exchange and last 4, no area code, and it's a local call for her. ALL calls that I make are free, in the us, and there is a small fee on international depending on the country, but since we only call in the US and have family in different states, it's a great choice for us. What is your area code? If you don't want to publically tell me, email me at cjaping at gmail dot com, and I'll see what I can find for ya!!!!

By Kym on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 06:14 pm:

DUH! OK now I understand. my area code is 502, I think the packet8 is a good solution, however my local broadband co is over $50 a month for line and ISP, and that's the beef with qwest, all the charges are adding up to an insane amount each month. Do you have a wireless (cell)phone with Vonage as well?
Thanks Crystal,

By Crystal915 on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 06:28 pm:

No, I believe Vonage doesn't offer wireless service. Do you have other options for your broadband? I pay about 50 bucks for it, plus 25 plus tax for Vonage, so for me it's a LOT cheaper than paying for broadand AND a phone line with even basic features.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 06:38 pm:

I just checked, and there are 5 AZ area codes available for you, or you can just pick another state. You can also set up for your Vonage line to ring a certain amount of times then go to your cell, or for both to ring simulatniously, and a million other cool things.