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O_O
O_O
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O`O
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>_
This is hilarous.
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We had Vonage a few months back. I don't even think it's worth it if it was free. There was a constant problem of people not being able to hear you on the other end when you called them, as well as some other annoyances.
Wasabe, I have the opposite experience. I have vonage simply to call my parents overseas for free. I've never had a problem in the last 6 months. If there are issues it's probably more likely due to your ISP.
o.0! This is nucking futs! This is almost as good as the guy who managed free AOL service for over 2 years, I believe... Back when you could stock up free hours.
I've had Dreamhost web hosting free for two years, having only paid for my first month of hosting ($9.95). Four friends of mine who were also looking for cheap-but-not-ridiculously-skanky web hosting mentioned me when they signed up, and the credit I've received for that has covered my bill ever since. I still have about $70 credit left, enough to go another 7 months.
$9.95 for two years and 7 months of service is definitely one of the better deals I've had in life. For all that people complain about Dreamhost's reliability, at 32 cents a month I'm perfectly content with what I receive.
Nice report. Any wonder that Vonage has done so poorly as a stock? The are spending all of their money BUYING customers...meanwhile traditional competitiors are quietly raising their prices. Frankly this approach has not gone well for XM or Sirius, and it won't go well for Vonage either
Martin Tibbitts
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I'm curious how Justin avoided cancellation fees. I started a Vonage account a few months back, but soon after the 30-day trail period--when I received the first bill--I realized that it was a scam. I wanted to pay by check only after I had reviewed my bill, just like my previous telephone provider. It seems that Vonage customers may only pay their bills with a credit card, which leads to nearly no ability for a customer to contest any charges. So I looked around and found a better deal with Earthlink.
When I called to cancel my Vonage service, I was told that I would have to pay a $40 \"cancellation fee\" and a $50 \"equipment charge\" for the VoIP hardware. When I said that according to Vonage advertisements, the equipment was fee, I was told that they would actually revoke my instant refund. When I asked if I could return the equipment instead, the customer service rep said, \"No,\" but suggested that if I could convince someone else into taking over my account, I could avoid the charges. (Needless to say, if I was dissatisfied with the service, why would I ask anyone else to get it? It's a really sleazy way of getting former customers to do the company's sales work.)
I then asked if Vonage charges every departing customer an \"equipment charge\", and was told that it is charged only to accounts that are less than 90 days old. It was further explained to me that I could avoid the equipment charge if I kept my account open--and paying--for another two months.
Given that Justin hasn't actually cancelled his service yet, how does he know that he won't have to pay the cancellation fee? Unfortunately, I think he will find out once funds are withdrawn from his credit account.
\"Sweet\" is probably the last thing I think of when I think of Vonage service.
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I use a competitor ViaTalk and have been quite satisfied. I do run into trouble when I'm using a lot of bandwidth, but I think that has more to do with my crappy router. I think internet phone services work best with cable as opposed to DSL. Of course, if you're using DSL you might be able to get a bundled service for less.
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With Vonage keeping offering free months every time you try to cancel, it reminds me of the tactics that AOL does. However, the month you forget to call in is the month they make all their money back.
It's especially tricky that they're switching up 1 free month and 3 free months. Of course, if you mark it in your calendar to call on day X, you'd remember to do it. But after a month or 2, you generally forget when the last time you called in to cancel is.
I'm not saying canceling Vonage is as bad as trying to cancel AOL, but canceling AOL wasn't that bad many man MANY years ago. It's just that they've gone down this slippery road and are unable to come back.
From my blog:
http://www.krunk4ever.com/blog/?p=545
Personally, I use VoiceStick ( http://www.voicestick.com ) and IPKall ( http://www.ipkall.com ) for all my incoming phone needs. IPKall only provides area codes in the greater Seattle area (which I'm living in) and VoiceStick pretty much provides area codes in most places.
In conjuction with my Linksys PAP2, every phone in my house is wired to receive calls.
For outgoing, I generally use my cell phone as I have more than enough minutes and I don't make that many outgoing calls. Before I used SkypeOut which was free, but even at $15/yr, it's still an awesome deal.
To JohnKarak, you should have read the terms and conditions BEFORE you signed up for Vonage. It has stated all that you said in it since at least November of 2004, when I signed up for the service. Just because an ad says \"Free this and that\" doesn't mean there isn't some conditions to that offer. And its always been stated that you HAVE to use a credit card to activate an account...how you even got to the free trial without entering into the EFT agreement with a credit card is beyond me. Before you write a scathing diatribe about a service, make sure you have all your ducks in a row first before you end up looking like a goof wanting a free ride.
Add me to the list of satisfied ViaTalk customers. $8/month (if you catch it right) for what Vonage charges $29/month. Add in excellent customer service and it's a no-brainer. I also like how they allow you use any device you wish with their service. I have it on my PDA, my laptop, and a few PAP2s, so I have access to my home phone line wherever I please.
:O