Agent 86
| Too expensive for what you get
Now that traditional phone companies are offering 'unlimited' plans, it's hard to see why anyone would want Vonage. |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
| That maybe so if you get a package deal with your phone company with dsl and an unlimited plan. Vonage also allows you to take your phone with you anywhere in the world, all you have to do is find an internet connection. Most probably wont need this service, but there will probably be enough people that need it to keep vonage profitable.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 17:47:03] |
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Mrq5
The Fab Four
join:1999-08-21
Warren, MI
| said by insomniac84  :
That maybe so if you get a package deal with your phone company with dsl and an unlimited plan. Vonage also allows you to take your phone with you anywhere in the world, all you have to do is find an internet connection. Most probably wont need this service, but there will probably be enough people that need it to keep vonage profitable.
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 17:47:03]
This is an excellent point:) For some reason this is often over looked. For those that travel or visit relatives alot this could be a huge benefit of vonage! If your relative or Hotel has Internet access then you can plug in your Vonage Router>Phone and recieve calls no matter where you are while your callers enter in your home phone number. If Vonage is a second line your family at home can call you on the road and it will be a LOCAL call for them, even if you are in Brazil.
Bottom line - Vonage is an ideal solution for a 2nd phone line. Personally I cant ditch SBC/Ameritech since I have DSL, BTW - I 100% love my 6Mbps/384 DSL line. This DSL is smoking with super high downloads and low pings/tracerts. In fact I cant trust Comcast in my area to run Vonage, too many outages and pings are to high during evening hours.
Actually I would just get the bare-bones phone package with no extras at all from the phone company, local calls ONLY(only about $20ish, while still letting me keep my DSL line active) - which is perfect for my kids - I primarily use Vonage with all the bells and whistles:) Gotta love listening to Vonage voice-mails over the Web when at work!
[text was edited by author 2003-05-25 18:53:06] |
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rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
| reply to Agent 86
I'll agree when the local phone company offers me dial tone for $26/month and for that fee I get unlimited local calls, 500 minutes of long distance, call waiting, caller id, caller id call waiting, call waiting block, call return, busy number redial, voice mail, call transfer, call forwarding, web-based account management and web-based retrieval of voice mails.
Don't forget that the $39/month packages are on top of basic telephone service, taxes, fees and all the rest. That means the total cost of the phone is what? $39 + $30-$35? That's pretty damn expensive compared to Vonage and more than pays for the cost of my broadband connection on which Vonage rides. (I get a bundle deal from my cable company for buying digital + premium + broadband. I pay $35/month for my broadband connection.)
Perhaps when the phone company offers video, things will get interesting. At this point, they will continue to serve the blue hairs until they die. Most other modern-thinking individuals will begin to consider alternatives. |
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2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| reply to Agent 86
The biggest savings are on with the $25.99 plan which comes with 500 min of LD. That is more than 99.9% of the population uses. The key is there are NO FEE and taxes. Taxes and fees make up about 30% of a basic phone line bill. SBC or Verizon may have an unlimited plan that costs the same as Vonage, but their taxes make it 30% more. The problem is that Vonage really can't advertise that, but the benefit fo no taxes and fees(ESPECIALLY THE FEES WHICH GO DIRECTLY ONTO THE RBOCs TOP LINE) is the best thing about Vonage. Until SBC or Verizon has an unlimited plan with all the features for under $28, there will be no compariso. |
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