# Vonage



## Presbyrino (Feb 25, 2006)

Is anyone using Vonage?
If so, what has been your experience with it so far? How do you like the service?


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## fredtgreco (Feb 25, 2006)

I have been using it for 3 years. I think it is the best value for the money. The service works pretty good - occasional problems, but then again I had some with landlines as well. The feature set and price simply cannot be beaten. I doubt that I would ever go back to a landline.


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## ReformedWretch (Feb 25, 2006)

> _Originally posted by fredtgreco_
> I have been using it for 3 years. I think it is the best value for the money. The service works pretty good - occasional problems, but then again I had some with landlines as well. The feature set and price simply cannot be beaten. I doubt that I would ever go back to a landline.



Yep! You can't beat it in my opinion.


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## ChristianTrader (Feb 28, 2006)

www.sunrocket.com is cheaper and works quite well. It is backed by Nokia


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## Semper Fidelis (Feb 28, 2006)

I use Vonage in Okinawa, Japan. My phone literally connects through my Vonage router and back in the states. I have a U.S. area code that allows my friends and family to have a local call when dialing me in Japan. The quality is superb. You cannot tell that my voice is travelling thousands of miles over an IP network before it hits the States' phone network. I pay $25/month to call my friends and family as often as I want.

The only drawback for me are the knuckleheads who forget that our (951) area code number is not in Pacific Standard time. I've had more than a few phone calls at 0300 in the morning. 

Another benefit for my friend here is that he has set up his Vonage phone to his mothers' home address. Vonage doesn't really "know" where the router is. It finds the device by MAC address and associates it to the address you sign up with and gives you any area code you want. Well my friend Mark has E911 set up on it. His mother is 82 years old. If he finds out something is wrong with her, he can immediately dial 911 on the Vonage phone he has in Japan and 911 will dispatch folks to his mom's home. How's that for cool?

Finally, I just saw a pretty cool phone that one of my Marines just got from Vonage. It looks like a cell phone but it's a WiFi phone. It will connect to any open WiFi network anywhere in the world connected to the Internet and let you make Internet phone calls through the WiFi network.

Anyway, you can tell I'm a fan of this stuff. There are some cheaper variants out there now. Vonage is about $300/year. My brother has VOIP through another company and pays about $175/year prepaid. I don't remember the name of it but an Internet search of VOIP service should give you some options.


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## Semper Fidelis (Feb 28, 2006)

That's funny Hermonta. You just posted the same time I did. I think Sunrocket is what my brother has. It's $199/year and comes with 2 free phones.


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## fredtgreco (Feb 28, 2006)

> _Originally posted by ChristianTrader_
> www.sunrocket.com is cheaper and works quite well. It is backed by Nokia



slightly cheaper ($17 vs. $24 a month), but you have to prepay. I have also found that the quality is not as consistent as Vonage.


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## CalsFarmer (Mar 1, 2006)

Vonage...coupled with a wireless home network as well as broadband AND an alarm system was a nightmare.....

voip.....never again .... cell phones rule.


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 1, 2006)

> _Originally posted by CalsFarmer_
> Vonage...coupled with a wireless home network as well as broadband AND an alarm system was a nightmare.....
> 
> voip.....never again .... cell phones rule.


1. What was so nightmarish?
2. Not in Japan they don't.


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## Presbyrino (Mar 1, 2006)

Thank you for the feedback. I'm still doing reseach, but so far I am leaning towards vonage.


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## CalsFarmer (Mar 2, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SemperFideles_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by CalsFarmer_
> ...



Honey thats because IN Japan TECHNOLOGY WORKS!!!!!!! 

Our problem was that somewhere between Brinks & Comcast....something was strange and Vonage tech support nor Comcast Nor Brinks could help us meld all the stuff we have going on...my husband has to have the broadband as he trades and is parked in front of a computer 14 hours a day....the vonage also interfered with the wireless network...go figure. 

After a while Vonage tech support just got nastier and nastier...it was not worth it...

I am fairly tech savvy but not in those areas....


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 2, 2006)

Grace,

I meant to imply that cell phones wouldn't be a very practical solution for me to call home from here. Interestingly, Japan has really expensive cell phone charges. We pay about $.50/minute to use our cell phone locally! Broadband is much cheaper however - I pay only $50/month for a 100Mbps fiber connection in my apartment. Go figure.

I understand your concern now. Sometimes some of those things can get a bit complicated. I have a Linksys Vonage wireless router that was really buggy when I got it. IT, however, is my expertise so I'm able to work through issues that the average consumer should not have to.

I just realized you live near my family. I'm from Southwest Fort Worth. I have a really good friend that lives in Bedford. Maybe next time Sonya and I visit Fort Worth we'll worship there at the OPC Church you attend. How many OPC's are there in the Fort Worth area? If only one then we did worship there in Dec 2000 when we were visiting family for Christmas.

Blessings.


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## bened (Mar 20, 2006)

It's a small world. 

I was born, raised and lived in the town of the cow from '63-'97, and am a proud "Fightin' Highlander" from FW Eastern Hills HS, I must say. (I'll throw in a gratuitous, "Hook'em Horns" as well.)

Lord called me to SC in '97.

On topic...I've always thought how groovy it'd be to have Vonage. LD to parents and friends 1250-3K mi away does add up. However, Latta, SC (pop 1450) isn't exactly the epicenter of technological advance. Vonage and others don't have service here. All I've tried told me I'd have to change my phone number, so I backed off. 

Peradventure we do get service where I wouldn't have to change anything, I'd definitely consider doing it. 

The posts about having trouble w/wireless setups in the states doth give me pause though.

Very helpful thread.





[Edited on 3-20-2006 by bened]


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## tcalbrecht (Apr 6, 2006)

I just switched to vonage in the last few weeks. Our old POTS line was just ported over to vonage in the last few days. So far I like it. I got the linksys WRTP54G wireless router to replace my old d-link router. 

Quality is good. Bandwidth checks out OK (I'm running over comcast cable service). 

I got the basic service to start. I figure we would need to make 750 minutes of outgoing calls per month to break even with the premium service. That's alot for us. 

There is one disturbing (albeit temporary) bug in the vonage system. When you sign up and request your old number to be ported to vonage, until the port is complete any existing vonage customers will not be able to get through to you. Apparently vonage matches customers internally before going outside the system. Your old number is registered with vonage but not active, but the system doesn't know this. There's an option in vonage to forward calls when your broadband service is down. You should immediately change this option and set up vonage to forward your calls to another number, like a cell phone, so other vonage customers can get through to you.


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## srhoades (Apr 7, 2006)

Be advised if you call 911 it goes through a Vonage operator to route to your local agency. And if for some reason you get cut off they only address they give out is your billing address, not your physical address. 

My advice is to locate the 7 digit emergency number for your agency and progam that into a speed dial.

I'm a 911 dispatcher, I know what I speek.


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## ReadBavinck (Apr 7, 2006)

What is required to set up Vonage and how much does that cost?


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## wsw201 (Apr 7, 2006)

> I just realized you live near my family. I'm from Southwest Fort Worth. I have a really good friend that lives in Bedford. Maybe next time Sonya and I visit Fort Worth we'll worship there at the OPC Church you attend. How many OPC's are there in the Fort Worth area? If only one then we did worship there in Dec 2000 when we were visiting family for Christmas.



There are 2. There is Covenant Pres. in west Fort Worth and Mid Cities Pres in Bedford. Come on by anytime!


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## tcalbrecht (Apr 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by srhoades_
> Be advised if you call 911 it goes through a Vonage operator to route to your local agency. And if for some reason you get cut off they only address they give out is your billing address, not your physical address.
> 
> My advice is to locate the 7 digit emergency number for your agency and progam that into a speed dial.
> ...



Vonage supports Enhanced 911, and there is a configuration option with address information different from your billing information. This should be properly handled in most cases.


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## tcalbrecht (Apr 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by CJ_Chelpka_
> What is required to set up Vonage and how much does that cost?



A broadband connection (cable, DSL) and a phone adapter. Vonage has a number of low-cost adapters when you sign up for service. Depending on your needs you can get an adapter alone, an adapter with router (wireless or wired).

The service is $24.99 for unlimited calling, and $14.99 for 500 minutes per month of calling. Incoming minutes are unlimited. Additional minutes are 3.9 cents. Lots of free features like coicemail, 3-way calling, call waiting, and call forwarding.


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