 Review by defiant 
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 8.2 years, 3527 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Whitmore Lake,Washtenaw,MI
 $19 per month (12 month contract)
 "Sound quality better than expected. Easy setup. Price compared to POTS"
 "Battery back-up is a must to help ensure continuous service. Tech support and Account Management."
 "Decent service for the time I had it. Going cell-only."
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(ratings match consensus)
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After deciding that paying SBC ~$40 for a phone line (including call-waiting, caller ID, and call forwarding as well as required taxes and fees) that I barely use was no longer justifable, I went to the local Staples and picked up a Linksys PAP2 Voip adapter. Activating the service online was fast and easy. Installing the hardware was very easy as well. Within minutes, I was making my very first Voip phone call. Upfront costs for the hardware and service were approximately $100, $50 for the phone adapter (not including $100 mail-in rebate) and about $50 for service startup costs, first month, etc.
I've only had service for a couple of days, but so far I've only run into a few hiccups when making or receiving calls. Momentary audio dropouts seem to occur at the very beginning of calls. Also, while attempting to call my sister on her Verizon cell phone, I received an invalid number error message on the first call. The second call resulted in a "all lines busy" message. The third attempt was successful.
All in all, Vonage's service seems promising, though I'm concerned about the technology's growing pains. The service is not guaranteed; the terms of service is full of service disclaimers (regarding outages and so forth), and another variable is power and internet service outages and other related problems. (E)911 service is also a work in progress.
(Update: 12.24.06) Now that I've been with Vonage for nearly a year, I'm happy to report that my service has worked quite well. No major, or minor for that matter, bumps or hiccups have occurred with my Vonage phone service.
(Update: 10.30.07) After long deliberation, I finally canceled my Vonage account yesterday. I was hesitant because I've had the number for years, which I ported from then Ameritech/SBC. But, as time went on, I used this line less and less and finally decided that I was paying for something I really wasn't using (same reason that led me to go to Vonage, oddly enough). With my cell phone service from Verizon Wireless meeting almost all of my communication needs, Vonage had to "take one for the team".
I did have a couple issues with the service that cropped up in early/mid 2007 --- inconsistent ring and caller ID. I had one previous encounter with Vonage tech support, and while the end result was positive, I didn't feel like going through the process again.
Canceling my service was an odd experience. The Account Management rep. I spoke to was difficult to understand, not because her English was poor, but the background noise was almost drowning her voice out every time she spoke. She also spoke at a very rapid pace, making the cancellation process a challenge.
All in all, I think Vonage was, and still may be a fine service for some who are willing to accept a possible trade-off in reliability (depending on your broadband provider) for increased sound quality, features, and low cost. Unfortunately, should you need tech support, be prepared to speak to someone in "far off lands". Also, with all the litigation against Vonage for patent infringement, one has to consider how much of a hit they can take financially and maintain a viable product.
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