Review by reelbigfish 
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 6.5 years, 1629 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Meriden,New Haven,CT
 $18 per month
 about 7 days
 "Low price, good call quality, easy install"
 "cancelation fee of $40 if service terminated in less than 1 year, dependent on your internet connection"
 "It's a good service if you have a good internet connection"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Original Review~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I ordered Vonage online and the order process was very easy. I selected my plan and the equipment and it was shipped to my door in about 6 days. It was over thanksgiving week, so it may have arrived earlier if not for that. After following the instructions I let the adaptor stay connected for 5 mins as it stated before trying to make any calls. I then picked up the phone and I had a dial tone. The calls were clear, though occasionally there is something funny about the call. Most of the time the calls are clear. So far I have not had to deal with tech support so I can't comment yet. So far I like the service and am a happy customer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Update 12/13/2005~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vonage is definitly worth the price, though I have yet to pay for a full month of service. I have been placing calls locally, toll instate and out of state calls. All seem good, and even when downloading something, my voice isn't afftected. This is probably due to my WRT54G QoS being enabled for the Vonage adapter. The voice mail is good, though I don't like not being abled to dial my own number to voice mail. If you are calling from a line that isn't your Vonage line, you have to dial a special number for voice mail. Though this was the case with my old SBC voice mail, so it's nothing new. I have only had a couple times where the voice got choppy, but that was it. I talked for over an hour on the line while calling into a conference call and everything was great. I can't the service a 5 for value for the money until they roll out E911. I will keep updating as I have the service longer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Update 3/27/2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So far things have been great with Vonage. I was not using nearly enough minutes to justfy having the unlimited plan, so I paid the $9.99 change fee and switched to the 500min/month plan. I have yet to go over 500 and even if you do, you need to talk for over 700 total mins before it is more expensive than the unlimited plan. The only issue I have really had wtih the service was the voicemail. For a while there, it was garbling the message when people called. When I answered or when I called someone there was no garbling or echoing. Finally they resolved that and it has been working well since. Defnitly worth it for the money. I did have to use 911 and we don't have E911 so I had to tell the dispatcher where I was located. They connected me to the fire department and they were here iwithin minutes. I hope they get E911 working in my area soon. I am using it over a cable modem, so as long as you have a stable internet connetion you will get good voice quality. When dealing with tech support with the voice mail it was pretty bad. I couldn't e-mail them the problem as the website said it would be better to call and wouldn't list an e-mail. After waiting for 30min on the phone someone who couldn't speak english told me there is nothign he can do they are working on it. All I wanted to do was see if there was a problem and that could have been handled better over e-mail. Anyway, overall I recommend the service.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~08/01/2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So far things have been smooth with Vonage. I pay $18 give or take 50 cents per month for the service. I have yet to go over 500min and even if I did I would have to go over by more than 200 min for it to cost more than the unlimited plan. Since I had Voicemail issues in the beginning I haven't had any since. I would have to say that you VoIP connection will depend highly on your internet connection reliablility and ping and varies by a great margin depening on your provider. Cox has provided stable pings and 2Mbps up which means not worrying about saturating the line. Over all the service is great and worth the price. Definitly consider it if you don't want a landline but want a central place to get all your calls and to make calls during the week when you can't use your cellphone without using mins. Do be aware that there really is a 1 year term on Vonage. If you don't cancel in the first 30 days there is a $40 termination fee. Otherwise I highly recommend it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~08/27/2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, Vonage has turned out to be quite the deal since I started the service last year. If you have a reliable internet connection it is well worth it. Verizon FiOS, Cox cable customers and others with good connections will enjoy the service. Though, people who have Cablevision Optimum Voice, Time Warner VoIP, Comcast VoIP or the like have some serious competion as these companies not only give you VoIP, but give you the QoS guarantee that Vonage and other companies in the VoIP game cannot. Though they are more expensive, they are easier to keep working in a power outage. Certain times with the triple play it is less expensive to get the Cable co VoIP product. Vonage has many challenges ahead. Until something happens in the VoIP industry or I get a less stable connection I will definitly stay with Vonage. The web interface is ok, though some cable co's now offer the kind of interface Vonage does. For me the 500min $14.99 plan has done me well. It comes to $17.99 including taxes and fees. For a couple months there is was more, up to $18.50, but has been steady at the lower price for 3 months. This is a great alternative as incoming calls are free so you have a single place for utilities and others to call you and a phone to use during the weeknights to save your cell minutes before it is 9pm. 800 calls are free as well, so I don't have to waste my cell minutes on those either. My one gripe is I still don't have E911. Overall if you have a good connection, this is a good service.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~8/30/2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I got a new Linksys WRTP54G as my old router died and wanted to consolidate some hardware. Everything is working well. Had some problems as evidently this router has problems with Realtek network cards. Some problems are fixed in firmware, but with a new Realtek chip in my MSI motherboard it wouldn't connect unless forced to 10Mbps Full duplex. Then, you need to disable your wireless when you first get it, or the firmware upgrades from Vonage will time out. After learning this from tech support, I was upgraded to latest firmware. I am still waiting to hear back on a fix so I can run at 100Mbps on my desktop, but at least they had a work around so I can keep it working for now. The tech's in india were ok, but once I got to level 2 and 3 they were great. I'm happily awaiting a firmware update to fix this problem. Overall a great service.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~9/13/2006~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, things just didn't work out with Cox and Vonage. The erratic pings continue until today so I am cancelling my service. It's good if you want just internet with out a phone, but I got a much better deal through AT&T for phone and DSL. Overall the service is good, though they continue to have issues with thier network and so does Cox.
Followup comments:  
Trinijoy
Premium
join:2005-09-12
Brick, NJ | Cell.. It's better then the $200 term fees from the Cell phone companies. | |
| 
No vonage
@adelphia.net
| Vonage--Don't use it Vonage is one of the worst companies I have dealt with. The calls often have static or feedback. Incoming voice message is choppy. There is no customer service. You wait on hold for 30-40 minutes, get someone in India who does not understand your problem and transfers you to someone else who hangs up on you. | |
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