 Review by tcp1 
UPDATED: 1.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 412 visits, last login: 82 days ago
 Herndon,Fairfax,VA
 $28 per month
 about 1 days
 "The service is very reliable for me, cost is great."
 "Customer service is BAD. No ACR, even though promised.."
 "THREE YEARS WITH VONAGE. From loving it to hating it. Great value, great service - AWFUL customer service."
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Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
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(ratings match consensus)
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UPDATE 4/17/07
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Just wanted to update.. I finally got around to cancelling. BOY did they try hard to save me. Hold time was short, and the person was polite, but they would not take NO for an answer.
They wanted to give me 2 free months, a free softphone, a free second line for 6 months, even down to just "suspending" the account temporarily until I found a friend to transfer it to.
I finally had to get a little aggressive (and my policy is to never do this with CS reps) and say "Listen, I want you to cancel this, today. I understand you have to try and save me, but it will not work. Please cancel, or I will need to speak to a manager."
That did it. They cancelled, so far haven't charged me a disconnect fee (was with them for 3 years, so they shouldn't), and the number transferred fine.
It's sad - I was a huge proponent of Vonage from the start, and recommended them to several people. I'd be defending them to this day due to the Verizon issue - because I really don't think that's their fault; however, their crappy CS is going to bite them in the ass with this whole thing, even if Sprint buys them out.
The lesson: Bad customer service might not affect you when you're the number one game in town and riding high - but once the going gets tough, lousy service will test customer loyalty.
I know it tested me, and I left.
UPDATE 3/26/07
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After three years, I'm done with Vonage. Call quality is fine, prices are fine, but their customer service is horrendous.
I had recommended vonage to my parents a year or so ago, and they signed up. Things were fine until this Christmas, when I called them from the road from my cell phone.
The phone at my folks' house (vonage line) started ringing. And ringing. And ringing. I never connected, but the phone kept ringing continuously (one long non-stop ring) for hours non-stop. They had to disconnect their ATA; resetting it and plugging it in again would start the ringing again.
Weird problem, sure, and maybe understandable - maybe the ATA died, maybe it was a Vonage network problem. That wasn't the real problem, however.
The nightmare came when we tried to call and get some answers. We got none. We got the same scripts, over and over again, about resetting and power cycling. We were told to return the ATA, but that would give my folks no phone service for at least several days - and it looked like it was a network problem, as the call would stop for 10 minutes or so after resetting the router, and would then start again (with my cell phone's caller ID). The same would happen when you "answered" the call.
Nobody would listen to suggestions. Nobody would offer anything but the power cycling script. We went to sleep with the phones unplugged. TWO days later, the problem finally fixed itself.
Vonage's service is great - when it works, and when you don't have to deal with Vonage. However, when you do have to call them, watch out. Vonage doesn't understand the importance of customer service - or they don't care.
One of my new year's resolutions was to not put up with companies that give lousy customer service. Vonage, sorry, I've been loyal and patient, but you had your chance. I'm done.
OH.. And they STILL don't have Anonymous Call Rejection, something they promised me a year and a half ago.
UPDATE 9/17/06
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Vonage's tech support has gotten much, much worse.
I called in last week with a problem with my router.. It was slowing down my internet connection. I asked if it was possible to get a firmware upgrade (which Vonage pushes themselves) or possibly a new router if that was the problem. Boy, was I in for a ride.
The thickly-accented support rep kept restarting his "script" over and over again. "Please look at the lights on the router. Are they on?"
This is after I told him repeatedly that my phone service is working fine, the router is connected and active, it's just that while the router is connected, my internet traffic slows tremendously.
"Yes. I'm sorry. Pardon me. Ok. So can you please look at the lights.."
Arrrgh!
Next, I tried to humor him. But I lost it when he started taking his script a little too literally:
"The cable to your computer. The yellow cable."
Yellow? "Sir, yes, the network cable to my computer is connected."
"So the yellow.." I had to interject.. "Sir, it's not yellow, nor does it matter if it's yellow. It's a standard Cat 5 patch cable."
"Ah. I see. So. That is connected. Now, please look at the blue cable that should be connected to your modem." Blue?!?
This went on for half an hour, after WAITING AN INITIAL HALF AN HOUR TO GET A LIVE PERSON.
I got nowhere. I hung up. This didn't happen ALL the time in the past, but it does now.
Granted, I rarely have a problem with Vonage when my internet is working well. That's good, because if I did, I'd be in deep trouble.
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I don't use my home phone that much.. But when I am home, I definitely prefer the sound and feel of a regular phone to a cell. Vonage pleasantly surprised me with their call quality, reliability, and ease of use.
They've saved me tons on international calls, and I've taken the router with me places and saved money on hotel calling, etc..
Dealing with their customer service people can be annoying; seems they always have plenty of new trainees - some of whom don't speak great english.
A great place for help is here, of course, and vonage-forum.com
One thing that's bugged me is how they're dragging their feet on implementing Anonymous Call Rejection. I seem to get a lot of hangups lately on my number (it's a very easy one, and easy to mix up, I guess) and there's no way for me to block, like I could with Verizon.
Vonage says the Linksys routers support it, but they can't enable it, due to some issues with the network availability number rollover and forwarding.. (ACR calls still go to the NA number, and get forwarded)
I really, really hope they get this feature very soon..
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