Vonage
 

There was a thread on here in June about phone choices but after reading through it I'm still confused.

We currently have Charter Cable for TV and high-speed internet, AT&T for a basic telephone service and use a company called AIT for long-distance/abroad.

We have bought 2 lots of budget telephones since arriving which have been awful. First set batteries kept coming loose, 2nd set poor sound quality.

SO...does anyone use Vonage and what is it like?

What is a good model of telephone?

Re: Vonage
 

We use Vonage and I am really pleased with them. $24.99 per month for all calls, including UK, Spain and France. I think we can call a couple of other European countries but we don't need to.
The total cost is between $35 and $45 depending on how many 0845 numbers we call. Recently with all the green card stuff we seemed to be calling a lot of those.

Our phone is a Panasonic with a built in answering machine and up to 4 handsets. It's OK, it does the job and nothing has gone wrong with it and we've had it 2 years.

Re: Vonage
 

pretty much the same response here. Similar costs per month. Phone is a Cheapy Vtech with built in answer phone and a remote station so we can have one upstairs and one down.

I wouldn't be without it:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Vonage
 

Vonage rocks!! Crystal clear calls and my vast web usage doesn't effect the quality.

There are other companies out there like Lingo, so shop around and find what suits you best.

Re: Vonage
 

Thanks for the clear answers folks :thumbsup:

Re: Vonage
 

They just laid fibre optic to our house
awaiting a salesman any day now to give me his bullshit
before I call road runner for their bullshit

then play one against the other ...

Re: Vonage
 

I have used it, and I have found it to be quite good on the whole. The service is highly reliable (although it does have its moments), the call quality is generally very good, and the bundle of free services (voicemail, call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, ability to receive voicemail updates via email, etc.) is useful. It's not the cheapest of VoiP carriers, but if reliability is important to you(I use it for my business, so I need a reliable product), it is worth the modest premium.

However, the customer service is mediocre at best. At those times that you require their personal assistance, your enthusiasm for the service may wane for a while thereafter. But fortunately, you probably won't need them all that often.

You can use a regular phone with Vonage and other VoiP carriers such as Lingo. One suggestion: If you are buying a cordless phone and you have wireless internet, don't get a phone that operates at 2.4 Ghz, as it will operate on the same frequency as does the wireless network, and they will interfere with one another. To avoid this problem get a 5.8 Ghz phone, instead.

And a warning -- don't subscribe to VoiP service unless you also have a land line or a mobile. If your internet connection is lost or if you have a power outage, your VoiP phone won't work at all. Be sure that you have a land line or mobile to serve as a substitute in the event that the connection is lost or the power goes out. If your internet service is unstable, relying on VoiP is probably not a great idea, and of course, it won't work at all if you only have a dial-up connection.

Re: Vonage
 

You Lucky Lucky Bugger!

And you still have Road Runner? I thought all Florida RR was now Comcrap?

Re: Vonage
 

I'd probably hold off for a while, till the law suit is over with, don't want them going under on you all of a sudden like that rocket company did.

Re: Vonage
 

Tampabay is mostly Road Runner

Re: Vonage
 

My sister is going over to Vonage from the UK 7.99 a month and free calls to USA

Re: Vonage
 

We get the same Verizon bullshit as you no doubt do through the post at least once a week Ray. The long and short of it is the new verizon stuff is about the same price, quite a bit faster, but you are locked into a contract for 2 years.

Re: Vonage
 

We have Lingo; had it for over 2 years and have been very happy with it. As well as being slightly cheaper than Vonage, you can call substantially more countries for nowt (more Euro countries, Aus/NZ) than you can with the equivalent Vonage plan.

Re: Vonage
 

I will have to look into lingo.

Re: Vonage
 

the standard Verizon setup is faster uploads but slower down ..
RR will deduct $50 of your monthly bill if you stick with them on the whole package Not advertised though....

Negoiation to be done yet ...

Re: Vonage
 

I might have a look at Lingo. I keep wondering how vonage will come out of the law suit.

Re: Vonage
 

I should probably jump ship then as me sister is in NZ and currently its cheaper for me to use Skype to call over Vonage's rates

Re: Vonage
 

thats the only thing thats had us looking at other options

Re: Vonage
 

Here's Lingo's list of countries included free with the $21.95 a month plan:

US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, Norway, Vatican City, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, & South Korea

Re: Vonage
 

I'm a supporter of Lingo - quite a few friends have moved to it - I recommend them online and after 90 days we get a $25 credit each!

Re: Vonage
 

Vonage lost their appeal against the Verizon decision and their stock price is down to less than a dollar. I'd avoid giving them any money at the moment if you are thinking about signing up & for those with Vonage, make sure you have an alternative in place - doesn't look as if they will be around much longer.

:(

Re: Vonage
 

Wow, I am moving. Just got my phone bill and its $165.00, are all calls free and included in the $21.99, to the UK I mean?

Re: Vonage
 

:eek::eek:Lingo here we come.

Re: Vonage
 

I am curious about Vonage (or Lingo). A couple of questions..

1) I have DSL through Verizon. I know I have to have a phone line for DSL, do I need one for Vonage? What's the point of Vonage if I have to pay for a phone line? Can you just rent the actual phone line with no call ability? Would that work if I have DSL?

2) Does using DSL affect Vonage?

3) I have wireless DSL in my house. Will Vonage interfere with that?

Thanks for your help!

Simon

Re: Vonage
 

it isn't a phone line, it's through the internet, so dsl should be alright, just as long as you aren't downloading anything whilst talking on the phone.

Re: Vonage
 

I'm with Lingo (Special offer for joining at the moment) and I download, listen to streaming music and video whilst on the phone and never had one issue in the 3 years I've been using the service.

Re: Vonage
 

Generally I do the same. The only thing I've found that can make it a bit laggy is downloading multiple torrents at once - I believe the lag is caused due to the whole upload bandwidth being hogged by Utorrent.

Aside from the above, no problem at all even if downloading big files (conventionally, not torrent).

Re: Vonage
 

All calls to landlines in UK, yes. Calls to mobiles not so good - 31c a minute - but thats probably better than your regular phone.

Re: Vonage
 

And for that you can get a phone card. Or for $5 a month you can get a UK number then those on UK mobiles can call your for no charge depending on their plan. The majority of people I know in the UK have free local calls and they just love that I have a local number. Sure some people think that maybe I don't really live in the US since I have a number with the dialing code of my hometown!

Re: Vonage
 

Vonage is great, never been a problem, keep your old number takes a week or two, just plug it in within minutes it's on so it's all over the house. Free calls to uk, no brainer.:D Had it about three years? Even have a vitual number in uk so folks can call here, for the price of a local call
Comcast was down 1 day so no phone then:frown:

Dustydog.

Re: Vonage
 

We've now got Vonage. We had to up our broadband connection from 768Kb because the outgoing call quality was terrible, but it works fine now we're on 3Mb. Also for some reason we couldn't keep our phone number (this is unusual apparently). You still pay to call 0800 and 0845 numbers in the UK. We've gone for a UK virtual number so my granny can now call us and she is delighted!

Re: Vonage
 

echo that. vonage is awesome, love 'em to bits. the missus can yak to her mum all she likes!

Re: Vonage
 

Hey! Wake up... Skype calls are free computer to ciomputer, and you can video phone as wellf or free. I use it all the time to call me bruvvers in UK and me cousins in Orstralia. Skype also provides very cheap overseas calls, and for $30 a year, unlimited calls inside USA and Canada.

Check it out at skype.com

Re: Vonage
 

Long live Lingo!