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story category Vonage (Sort Of) Posts a Profit
Who are you and what have you done with Vonage?
(old news - 11:11AM Thursday May 07 2009)
tags: competition · business · VoIP · Vonage
Tipped by Rick See Profile
Vonage has unveiled their first quarter earnings which indicate the independent VoIP operator technically posted a profit for the first time ever. Vonage posted a net income of $5 million, up from a loss of $4 million one year ago. However, Vonage notes their earnings were boosted by a one time "$13 million mark-to-market adjustment relating to the derivative liability in the Company's convertible debt," without which the operator would have posted a net loss of $8 million. The Company lost 6,000 net subscriber lines, ending Q1 with 2.6 million lines in service. The killer for Vonage has always been customer defections or "churn," which jumped to 3.1% despite churn reduction being a company priority.

Related:
  1. Vonage To Resell Covad DSL
  2. Comcast Says They'll Play Nice With Vonage
  3. Vonage Picks Ex-AT&T Exec As New CEO
  4. Vonage Still Struggling With Defecting Customers
  5. Comcast Tops In VoIP Audio Quality
  6. FCC Doesn't Like Comcast's New Treatment of VoIP
  7. Comcast Denies Unfair VoIP Discrimination
  8. Comcast Now Third Largest Phone Company
Forums » Vonage (Sort Of) Posts a Profit
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DrModem
Premium
join:2006-10-19
USA
·EarthLink
·1and1
·PeoplePC

It's a lie.

quote:
"$13 million mark-to-market adjustment relating to the derivative liability in the Company's convertible debt,"

That's the same way failing banks are amazingly posting profits.
--
The experiment of building a world without countries or religion was called the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Between 30 and 60 million people died as a result of it.
nasadude

join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast

Re: It's a lie.

said by DrModem See Profile :



That's the same way failing banks are amazingly posting profits.
That's OK, I use vonage and want them to survive. Unfortunately, I don't like the banks and want the govt to stop giving them our money.

bigunk
Gort, Klattu Birada Nikto

join:2001-02-10
Santa Clarita, CA

Re: It's a lie.

Here here!

knightmb
Everybody Lies

join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN
·AT&T DSL Service

said by nasadude See Profile :

said by DrModem See Profile :

That's the same way failing banks are amazingly posting profits.
That's OK, I use vonage and want them to survive. Unfortunately, I don't like the banks and want the govt to stop giving them our money.
I've been using them since 2005, they are still alive and well as far as I can tell. All my friends and family use Vonage now, we all save a ton of money on phone calls. Partly their new equipment helps, takes a lot of the guess work out a traffic shaping to get a proper phone call for the non-technical users or those that don't really understand how traffic shaping works.

Their tech support has a lot to be left desired, but if you have a tech buddy then it helps to eliminate those calls short of some kind of account error with billing.
--
Fight NebuAD and the like:
Click Here to pollute their data
nasadude

join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

Re: It's a lie.

I've had vonage for 3 years (I think) and I've never needed tech support because I've never had any problem.
chemaupr

join:2005-06-06
Alexandria, VA

Re: It's a lie.

same here,,,,

as far as i'm concern a good product for me is one i have no need to call for support. if i find myself calling for support is time to move to some other service or provider...
nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
·ViaTalk
·Comcast

said by DrModem See Profile :

quote:
"$13 million mark-to-market adjustment relating to the derivative liability in the Company's convertible debt,"

That's the same way failing banks are amazingly posting profits.
No kidding. I was a little surprised they made a profit until I read that. What profit? they lost $8mil. I don't know how they can legally call that profit and get away with it - traded company and all.

I have no trust in our stock market anymore. It's seriously full of crooks who call themselves executives. Disgusting.
--
Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation
--
Compare VoIP Provider Rates
Rob2647

join:2008-08-12
Rochester, MI

Almost surprised me

Then again it does not. They raised the price of the 500 minute plan to 17.99 a month.
bgraham

join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY

Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

With ATT and Verizon pulling the plug on plain VOIP, plus a few independent providers going bust, is VOIP a survivable product?

I hope so because I have it.

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

said by bgraham See Profile :

With ATT and Verizon pulling the plug on plain VOIP, plus a few independent providers going bust, is VOIP a survivable product?

I hope so because I have it.
I'm wondering that too. A lot of people who do voip are doing it bundled with cable internet service. They're even willing to pay the cable company more money than what it would cost with a voip provider.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

a lot of people are dumb.

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

said by morbo See Profile :

a lot of people are dumb.
I would say a lot of people simply don't know.

When they call the cable company to install cable, the cable company then has the opportunity to market phone service to them. Vonage doesn't have that.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
·Charter Pipeline
·AT&T Southwest


1 edit

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

a lot of people only remember the horror of dealing with telco. the cableco price, while more expensive than most voip options, is less expensive than comparable telco unlimited plans. so people hate telco and want to save. they do'nt realize or are scared of other options. so i change my response: part ignorance, part dumb.

SolarPup
IT Geek-Dawg
Premium
join:2002-03-07
The Pound
clubs:
·Comcast
·AT&T CallVantage
·Osiris Communicati..

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

Here's the issue with that though.. I would go through my cable provider for phone service but they would not port my number because it's from another city (about 10 mins away). I'm using Vonage because they are the only ones that would port my number in. Comcast will only port numbers in their "rate center".

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

i have a question: why would you prefer to go through your cable provider for phone service if they could port your number? considering it's not price, why would you prefer them?

SolarPup
IT Geek-Dawg
Premium
join:2002-03-07
The Pound
clubs:

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

It's all in one bill.. that's the BIGGEST reason.. then I dont have a bill for voice here, data there, video there..

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

just to confirm: to you, a combined bill is worth $5-$10 extra a month?

Mike992

@comcast.net

The cable company has to follow the same guidelines as a telco. If you tried to take that number from Vonage and say go back to ATT you wouldn't be able to do it. With Vonage you can take your hookup to any broadband connection and use that number.

ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Bridgeport, WV
clubs:

2 edits
Cable telephone is not the same as VoIP. It uses a different technology and does not use the same ports nor does it use the same channels on the cable.

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage


1 edit

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

said by ropeguru See Profile :

Cable telephone is not the same as VoIP. It uses a different technology and does not use the same ports nor does it use the same channels on the cable.
Cable phone is VoIP, just over a separate network, not the public internet and 100% managed by them end to end.

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace

join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Verizon FIOS
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

said by Eat Me See Profile :

said by ropeguru See Profile :

Cable telephone is not the same as VoIP. It uses a different technology and does not use the same ports nor does it use the same channels on the cable.
Cable phone is VoIP, just over a separate network, not the public internet and 100% managed by them end to end.
Yes and no. It functions as VoIP does, however it never leaves the provisioning cable providers network (as you mention). As such I dont think it can be called VoIP, as its more like voice over LAN in that regard.
--
When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
-Ronald Reagan-

shashinka

join:2000-09-16
West Boylston, MA

Re: Is Voip a Going Concern at Present Prices

Funny, its still over IP! I like Callcentric. Especially since I only pay $2 a month to connect my whole house for 911 in case the kids need it. We use it for telemarketers and calling Japan (2.5 cents a min, vonage is 6 cents). That's about it. Otherwise I have 1000 min with AT&T wireless on our family plan.

»www.callcentric.com/?aid=82473
dentman42

join:2001-10-02
Columbus, OH
·AT&T Midwest

said by Eat Me See Profile :

said by bgraham See Profile :

With ATT and Verizon pulling the plug on plain VOIP, plus a few independent providers going bust, is VOIP a survivable product?

I hope so because I have it.
I'm wondering that too. A lot of people who do voip are doing it bundled with cable internet service. They're even willing to pay the cable company more money than what it would cost with a voip provider.
In my area, Insight is a utility phone provider - they have full backup for the network in a power outage and they don't use combo phone/Internet modems - the phone device is a separate box on the back of the house (found that out when my dad got sick of the billing monster and switched his phone and net to the cableco).

In that case, paying a little extra means you're not reliant on your utility power and your Internet connection to have phone service with VOIP.
kaila

join:2000-10-11
Lincolnshire, IL
clubs:

Voip is booming, and not just cable voip. Asterisk and it's derivatives are growing fast in the SMB space at the expense of Nortel, Cisco, Avaya, with many SIP friendly voip companies providing originstion and termination services.
--
Jeff Howe
Jeff's Blog - »www.jeffhowe.net/Jeffhowe.net/Blog/Blog.html
nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
·ViaTalk
·Comcast

said by bgraham See Profile :

With ATT and Verizon pulling the plug on plain VOIP, plus a few independent providers going bust, is VOIP a survivable product?
Small VoIP providers are doing very well these days. It's the I-want-to-be-a-phone-company guys that are failing. The key is expectations - if you need millions of users to be profitable then you stand no chance in hell. If however you need a few thousand users to be profitable - that's not too hard to do on a budget.

TomClancy
Freedom isn't free

join:2003-04-23
...

AOL?

I think Vonage is going the same direction as AOL.

Trying to cancel it is like hell and then on top of that they try to charge you a disconnection fee for a non-contract deal. Sweet hidden contracts...
--
Freedom isn't free!

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage

Re: AOL?

Easy way to cancel vonage.

Tell them you're moving the middle of Africa on a 10 year research project and will have NO contact with the outside world.

Or simply tell them you will have no broadband anymore.

That's how I did it and it was painless.

TomClancy
Freedom isn't free

join:2003-04-23
...

Re: AOL?

*Writes down the first suggestion. HeHeHe...*
--
Freedom isn't free!

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

Re: AOL?

That's nothing. Someone told me to say I'm canceling "because my dog died."

They have nothing in their script for that so they'll let you cancel.

trparky
Bite My Shiny Metal Ass
Premium,MVM
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
clubs:

Re: AOL?

So you are telling me basically that if they don't have anything in their script they don't have a comeback? Damn, what do they have working there? A bunch of training monkeys?
--
Tom

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage

Re: AOL?

said by trparky See Profile :

So you are telling me basically that if they don't have anything in their script they don't have a comeback? Damn, what do they have working there? A bunch of training monkeys?
When I told them "I'm moving where I won't have broadband" they only asked if someone else would take over the contract, then when I said no they canceled.

I was a customer for almost 6 years (since 2003). I had some good times with them but it was just too much money for something I hardly use.

SolarPup
IT Geek-Dawg
Premium
join:2002-03-07
The Pound
clubs:

Re: AOL?

What about cancelling to save a few bones? They aren't going to give it to you for free, and thats $25/month you're saving... there's ways around that "script"... LOL
amartinas

join:2007-11-19
USA

said by Eat Me See Profile :

Someone told me to say I'm canceling "because my dog died."
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAH lmmfao

CUBS_FAN
Next Year Again..

join:2005-04-28
Chicago, IL

Thats good to hear

I have Vonage for 2 and a half years now and never had any problems. The $24.99 Premium unlimited plan has never increased.

See 7 replies to this post
jpboss

join:2003-09-13
Conyers, GA

Vonage needs to offer more advanced features

If Vonage would offer more advanced call features like Call Filtering they would make much more profit. What they don't seem to realize is the large percentage of their customers are your more techie types that choose to not only save money but also like the advanced features. VoicePulse and other small providers offer these advanced services to stay competitive with the 800 lb. Vonage gorilla. Now that CallVantage is going away it would be to Vonage's great advantage to offer at least the same advanced call features of CallVantage. I recently moved from CallVantage over to Vonage but it's lacking Call Filtering. Wake up Vonage!!!

CUBS_FAN
Next Year Again..

join:2005-04-28
Chicago, IL
·Comcast
·Vonage

Re: Vonage needs to offer more advanced features

You use the words "advanced features", but the only advance feature you seem to mention is "call filtering". Vonage is awake and is doing pretty good competing with the features of other telephone Co.'s like AT&T and maybe the Cable Co.'s own version of VOIP.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:

Re: Vonage needs to offer more advanced features

how about NAME caller id? number is fine, but not transferring name is ridiculous.

CUBS_FAN
Next Year Again..

join:2005-04-28
Chicago, IL
·Comcast
·Vonage

Re: Vonage needs to offer more advanced features

said by morbo See Profile :

how about NAME caller id? number is fine, but not transferring name is ridiculous.
I asked about that years ago. Still not done. I kind of like it because I might accidentally dial the wrong number and the stranger wont know what my name is.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction

join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:

Re: Vonage needs to offer more advanced features

that and the increasing price may lead to me leaving in july. haven't decided quite yet. t-mobile's at home system costs 1/3 of vonage unlimited.

Eat Me

join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage

said by CUBS_FAN See Profile :

You use the words "advanced features", but the only advance feature you seem to mention is "call filtering". Vonage is awake and is doing pretty good competing with the features of other telephone Co.'s like AT&T and maybe the Cable Co.'s own version of VOIP.
The cable companies are really taking away lots of Vonage's business.

Sorta like TiVo and the cable company DVRs.

Waldothe3rd
Premium
join:2009-02-16
Sun N Sand
·ViaTalk

Vonage "Profit"

As a long-time satisfied Vonage customer, I don't see how they can survive much longer. As today's earnings show, they only made a profit by a one-time adjustment, but in reality they continue to hemorrhage money. This truly concerns me and their future is definitely in question.
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20

Re: Vonage "Profit"

.. take this argument, multiply it going back for many months/quarters, and here we are again.

I really doubt Vonage is going anywhere anytime soon.

Chasmn84

@comcast.net

Look around

Everyone here needs to realize that there are other voip providers then just vonage.... besides the cable and telcos even, i use ooma. Cost me $250 to buy the voip modem and get free service. Thats right no monthly fee and features like vm, call waiting, caller id. If you want extra features like an instant second line feature and vm call screening than you can pay for that but not required. Between the discounts of cable companies and other voip options like ooma there is no where for vonage but down
patcat88

join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

bankruptcy

quote:
However, Vonage notes their earnings were boosted by a one time "$13 million mark-to-market adjustment relating to the derivative liability in the Company's convertible debt," without which the operator would have posted a net loss of $8 million.
Wait, does this mean someone was forced contractually to forgive Vonage's debt and thats how they made a profit? Sounds like the bankruptcy has already begun outside of court.

CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

They need to start pricing it....

to make a profit - problem is the arena is so crowded - they can't do that.

footballdude
Premium
join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO

Re: They need to start pricing it....

said by CylonRed See Profile :

to make a profit - problem is the arena is so crowded - they can't do that.
The ONLY thing voip offers over POTS is price. If they raise that there's no reason for them to exist. If they can't make a profit at low prices, it's time for them to ride off into the sunset.
--
It's a trick. Get an axe. - Ash
watts3000

join:2002-01-21
Birmingham, AL

Ok let me speak on this first off cable companies voip is over priced. For example charter charges 30.00 for and that's not counting all the ma bell telco charges. I have a good friend who uses Charter for phone service by the time they finish taxing him his bill is 50.00 or more. So my point is cable companies cost more than 3rd part voip providers. Now on to the tmobile subject right now I'm currently doing an evaluation of tmobiles @home yes it's 12.60 after taxes for unlimited. However, you have zero features faxing does not work and from what I hear from the csr's and tmobile tech support they have no plans of adding real features with that said they do plan on adding fax support. This makes me think tmobile is not really dedicated to the product to them it's just a quick way to get some fast revenue. Also there is a 2 year contract right now if you call into tmobile and order @home they give you a 135.00 credit and 3 months of service however you must port your existing number in order to receive this deal. This of course eats up the 35.00 activation fee and equipment charge.

Xenomorph

join:2000-06-10
Fenton, MO
·Charter Pipeline

I want Vonage to succeed!

I'm a little upset that they increased my bill by $3. $3 isn't a lot of money, but that is still a 20% price increase!

They are still cheaper than any other company around me, and give me TONS of features.
All my voice mail gets sent in an attachment to me and my wife's email! How cool is that?

It was easy to set up, easy to sign up, the price is right, and in the past 7 months I've been with them, I've had ZERO problems. The service has always worked perfectly. No problems, no downtime. I've never been without my phone (as long as my Internet connection was up). I've never had to reboot the Vonage router or tweak with any settings.

It just works. Someone is doing something right.
--
»xenomorph.net/
qworster

join:2001-11-25
Los Angeles, CA

I've had Vonage since 2002.

I've had Vonage continuously since 2002 and am still satisfied with them. I've tried other VOIP companies, but kept and ultimately stayed with them.
TONY7388
Premium
join:2009-03-27
Nashua, NH

X-VONAGE CUSTOMER WENT TO OOMA!

After almost 5 years as a Vonage customer, I found OOMA. No monthly fees and if you want two lines pay $99/year. No $10/month extra charge for FAX with Vonage but it is FREE with OOMA.
Closed my monthly charge account on Vonage Yesterday. Best part customer service is in good old USA! Have a nice OOMA day!

I DO HAVE ONE PROBLEM WITH "DSL REPORTS"
CAN NOT GET MY "START" TO SHOW IN BOX WHEN USING JAVA. ANY HELP WITH THIS PROBLEM. EVEN AFTER LOADING THE LATEST JAVA, I STILL CAN NOT START A TEST.
Forums » Vonage (Sort Of) Posts a Profit


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