I have had Packet 8 twice, SunRocket, voip.com, iconnecthere, phone power, Comcast, Optimum
online, and Cox. Vonage is clearly the easiest to set up. The cable companies sound quality
is superior to any other service, including ATT regular phone lines. But, for most
features and really good quality service, Vonage is the best by far I have used. The
V-Portal was truly plug and play. Not true with anyone else.
very bad connection, phone drops quite often, international calling has extremely bad quality,
usually only one side can hear, and most of the times there is crackling to the point you
cannot hear anything, you almost will always have to go online to request a credit from them.
Terrible terrible quality. Very unreliable, what if there was an emergency? Also note that you
will probably need to reboot the vonage box quite often, I have to do it almost once every two
days.
I work with VOIP/ROIP technologies so
I know what to expect with VOIP and I feel for those
having problems and not knowing all the knicks and knacks. I was paying $150 per 18 months
with Sunrocket (compared to $600/yr with landline subscription) till they suddenly
disappeared and Vonage had a discount for Sunrocket subscribers who were tossed. you pay
for what you get, quality, reliability, easiness of use doesn't come for low prices. unless
you have a tech background, you will be dealing with outsourced call centers who
aren't
always easy to understand, and you will eventually have to figure out how it all works and
make it reliable yourself.
I like the SIP phones you can choose with Vonage. They are a little more, but I can go to
starbucks or any place with wireless access (hotels) and connect to their WAPs and use my
SIP phone like a cell phone.
Okay, I should have taken the written comments of others seriously before going to Vonage. I
made the mistake of switching my mother over. Big mistake!!!! Before switching my mother
over I called Customer Service (terrible dept.) to ensure that two Vonage devices would work
on one computer. My mother and I share a house with separate phone lines. Well, it didn't
work. Both phones would go out and my Internet service, sometimes 2-3 times a day!! I would
have to call the Tech department and ask for assistance in getting my phones to work.
Sometimes I could understand them and other times I just hung up and called back. There
were some times I would not even get through. Nevertheless, they (Techs) tried everything,
finally I spoke to someone in the Tech dept who told me I needed to buy a router. Why? I
wasn't told I needed a router when I asked if two devices would work on one computer. Well, I
wasn't going to spend any more money, so I decided to switch my mother back to AT&T. I
have spent hours on the phone with Vonage Techs to try to resolve the problem, no such luck.
When I finally switched my mother back to Vonage, due to the device not working properly, I
was billed $111.00!! Mind you, half of the time the phone did not work. I called the Customer
Service Department and sent emails. I was told they would not reverse the charging, because
it had been after 30 days and they had to recoup the rebate money. Did I mention half of the
time the phones did not work? I still have one Vonage devices hooked to my computer. Guess
what? It still doesn't work. I'm on the phone with a tech at least two days out of the week. I
never know my phone doesn't work until I try to log on the Internet. I was told it wasn't my
DSL but, the Vonage device!! Imagine that!! Now, of course I'm scared to cancel my service
because I cannot afford to pay another $111.00. PLEASE WARN OTHERS NOT TO SWITCH
TO VONAGE!!! THEY PREFER PROFIT OVER INTEGRITY!!!!
They charge if you want to quit
It rarely works with faxing and never works with TIVO
The phone drops calls about 15% of the time
If you try to quit they will constantly "accidentally" drop the call.
AWFUL!
I'm a tech guy, so tried to use their customer service once when night before their
web-server went down - I had all my calls forwarded to my work # and then was working from
home next day and couldn't disable call forwarding :( event through their customer service
- they told me you can do that only through your online account, okay - one day mess worked
out. That's the only experience with customer service - never called them after.
Advertising $14.99/mo for 500 minutes - LOL - there is so many additional taxes/fees that
run my bill up to $25/mo, not bad huh?! That's what I want to know ahead with other VoIP
companies. Lack of features you would want to have and others do - like int'l call
forwarding, blocked #'s list. The main fuss comes when you call international - hard to
reach (even though I can reach them through other vendors over my cell), bad quality when
you have int'l call, all of a sudden the other side can't here you, breaks, interrupts.
Unless you don't use this service for int'l - it is still okay for US & Canada (can't say
for PR - didn't use yet). The main point for me was to use this service for int'l calls
placed from home - even though I have cell phone and can use those prepaid cards and it is
a worse service for int'l. Indeed I even don't need a home phone #, just for int'l and it
fails there. Thinking to switch or cancel at all.
I usually do a lot of research before purchasing anything. I did my homework on Vonage and
despite all the bad press I read, signed up for a 'Free Trial' period of 30 days figuring I had
nothing to lose. Well, despite all the information the rep spouted at me, he failed to mention
that during the 'free trial' period there are limitations to the minutes and if exceeded you do
not actually get your money back. When I called to cancel the service, the supervisor told
me they cannot tell customers everything and I should have expected this. I would think
limitations to a free trial would be stated upfront given all the other info spouted at you.
This 'detail' is buried in the Terms of Service where it does not print out when they are printed
from Vonage's website. The supervisor was trying to convince me that Vonage is upfront and
honest and they really did not want to take people's money. I spoke to a rep prior to signing
up, asked specific questions such as will my other phones work. Was told yes. They don't.
So I called customer service and was told I 'needed wires to be cut outside my home in the
box' and/or I needed to buy wireless phones. Spoke to three reps in first two weeks. All
were struggling reading the script and did not know what they were talking about without it. I
actually had to explain Vonage features to one of the reps. Even the rep I got when calling to
cancel started to say she had not done this before and had to put me on hold twice. That's
why I finally asked to speak to supervisor. Vonage marketing and sales is questionable and
they certainly do not resolve customer complaints. I'll be sure to pay attention to bad press in
the future and also tell anyone who is considering VoIP to avoid Vonage.
If you can get it to work and never need to contact anyone at vonage this might be an option
for you. The call quality is poor to mediocre. The customer service and support is terrible. I
have spent hours on hold, had my credit card billed for things they said would not, the list
goes on and on. Run away now.
Before signing up for Vonage please check out any website with comments about the trials of
cancelling.
Case in point: Vonage had its membership to the Better Business Bureau revoked!
I'm a reasonable person, and it's been so-far-so-good.
After giving me someone else's phone number (which I could call out from, but when friends
called me, they'd get the other person) which I didn't figure out for about a week, I called my
own number from my own phone and talked to the other person. Turns out they were a
Vonage customer once and would never go back. I called customer service and they gave me
another phone number... for another person again. Another phone call later that was sorted
out. Customer service always friendly, but you never get the same person, so if you have a
recurrent problem you have to spend some time bringing the new techie up to speed. I could
understand everyone I've talked to so far.
The phone line has been full a couple times, "sorry, all lines are busy, hang up and try again
later", and the odd call there may be a big echo, and the odd call there may be fuzz. Lucky I
wasn't trying to get 911 or something. Hospital and neighbours are close, so I don't have to
rely on it. Fax line is ok (not as good as the land fax we had).
We're saving about $30/month with all the faxing, long distance and regular calls we do. We
go over our 500 minutes with the basic plan, but the extra fees never get us over the unlimited
price point. We don't mind the minor inconveniences, for us, it's worth the savings. I don't
think VOIP lines will ever be as good as land lines, and we knew that going into this. Better
than those buggers at Telus, so glad to have another option.
Loving all the features. You can hijack your friends cell phone by routing your number to their
phone number, so when you're hanging out with your buddies, and their cell rings, it might be
for you routed from your home number. Brilliant. Anyhow, hoping all is good until we pass the
year mark.
this is the best company. l have vonage for more 3 years never a problem. sound quality is the
best. l have use vonage in dsl 768 down 128up never problems but is better it use in 3000
down 512 up for went they use the computer at the same time and downloading music. thanks.
I am a former Sunrocket customer, and loved the service and the quality. I have been
fighting with Vonage since I installed it. First, although I can hear clearly, people I
call have difficulty hearing me. Vonage has tried everything to fix this and with only
moderate success. This is so bad with international calls, that sometimes I have to hang up
and call a second or third time, and then we just give up. They cannot understand or hear
me. This has been referred to a really nice chap in Vonage higher up, who failed to fix it
and said that it had to do with their switching in Los Angeles, and then shot it up to the
higher level, who have never called me. Occasionally, I cannot even connect to an
international line, for hours. Reaching customer service is somewhere in inner India, and
the language skills of these people are not that terrific - they have difficulty in
understanding MY English. Then, typical for foreign service centers, they must first go
down a long, long list of procedures that they have been trained in before they can get to
listening to your problem and fixing it. I wish that we had Sunrocket back. I am now trying
to get out of the prepaid Vonage service.
Just tried to cancel my vonage service because 1 the sound quality was not good at all, lots
of static and hissing, and 2 I moved. The first person I talked to kept telling me they couldn't
cancel my service because the billing address on record didn't match the one I was giving.
after 15 min. and two transfers turns out the billing addresses did match. after trying to sell
me on staying with them and keeping me on the phone for 15 more min. I can't cancel my
account without paying a $79.99 early termination fee. to avoid this fee I have to call them
back on my 1 year anniversary. dec 1. don't waste your time or money