A Review of Vonage Internet Phone Service
Is Cheaper VoIP Service Really Better?
The process of being set up with an internet phone service is to purchase a router that is compatible with your service. On Vonage's website they offer two routers that are free after rebate. Which router you need depends on your home network set up. Any phone can be connected to the router, but in order to use the caller ID feature, the phone will need to have caller ID capabilities.
For the most part, Vonage offers clear, crisp calls. However, periodically the calls have a slight echo that is only heard on the Vonage customer's end. In the beginning of their service there were times when the service did not connect. The Vonage customer could hear the caller on the other end, but the caller could not hear them, but this problem appears to have been handled.
Vonage customer service is certainly where they are lacking. As a Vonage customer, I have needed support from the Vonage customer service department on two occasions. I found that both times I called customer service I waited around thirty minutes before I was able to talk to a customer service representative. When I did talk to them, they were less than helpful. They simply walked me through the process of resetting the system, which I explained I had already tried. At that point they said there was nothing they could do. Others have expressed similar experiences on sites such as reviews.cnet.com. One customer was on the phone with tech support for 5 ½ hours before the call was dropped. E-mail support is no better. I sent an e-mail to Vonage with a support question and did not hear back from them for six weeks for a non-automated response.
In Vonage's Terms of Service, they state that in the first year of service, there is a $39.99 disconnect charge. This information is not easy to find, and many customers feel cheated when they try to disconnect their service. Other than this disconnect charge, Vonage does not hit their customers with hidden charges and fees.
One of the benefits of Vonage internet phone service is the ability to call to any place in the United States, Canada, and many European countries at a very low cost. If you can put up with the poor customer service, this can be a great benefit. Another positive feature of Vonage is its relative ease of installation. The instructions included with the router are easy to understand, and the phone service can be established within minutes. As with most VoIP services, 911 dialing is a little bit tricky to set up, but certainly not impossible.
So here is a summary of the benefits and drawbacks of Vonage internet phone service.
Benefits:
· Inexpensive international and local calling
· Many services included in the package
· Ease of installation
Drawbacks:
· Poor customer service
· Sporadic echo on line
· Periodically dropped calls
Vonage offers VoIP service at a low cost. However, their customer service department is lacking. Customers who suffer from few technical difficulties will find this a good product. However, when a customer needs to contact customer support, they may not get the type of support they want. By keeping these things in mind, you will be able to make an informed decision about the Vonage internet phone service.
Published by Writing4you
I am a former math teacher who also loves to write! I am a mom to two beautiful girls. All of my spare time is spent writing. I am addicted to research, and I love to write about almost anything, but particu... View profile
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14 Comments
Post a Commentdoes anyone else have satellite internet with their vonage?
i cant even make local calls...why didnt someone warn me????????..lol
wow!!..i thought i was the only one having so much trouble with my service..they tell me its because of my satellite internet
vonage is a waste service
they dont allow you to cancel on the same day
they will say its a one year contract..eventhough they say its no contract
they will ask you to call on the biling day to cancel it.
debit card they also like to charge you for equipment fees and whatever else they can slap you with even tho the service they offered didnt work at all most of the time they have to get every last dime from you the people there are dumb they dont know anything yet theyre trained professionals yea sure they are. vonage is not worth the trouble or the 35 dollars i was paying a month for it.
vonage sucks nothing but trouble had it for 6 months and every month i had to call them and you never get anyone you can understand when you call them its always someone from a different country you have to ask 2 or 3 times what they said whats up with that no americans work in these places? the service was crap from day 1 if i called someone they would cut out and you could barely hear them if they called me vice versa and sometimes i didnt get my calls at all the website where you can check your account didnt even work everytime i wanted to check my account online i had to go thru this whole rigamaroll about changing my password and all that. finally by the grace of god we moved somewhere were we could get something other then vonage i cancelled the service and they continued to charge my card when i called them they wanted all my new information like number and address when i refused to give it to them they hung up on me so in order to get rid of them once and for all i had to get a
I cannot believe how bad my service has been. It drops audio so badly each party may hear one word out of every third sentence. I signed up because of the ability to call Europe, however, since getting vonage I've had to use my cell for almost every call. Customer service?? What customer service? The reps I spoke with numerous times were all in the Phillipines, could barely speak English, and had no clue what to do to correct my problem. The crowning glory was when after about 5 months of this I made arrangements to change to comcast - Vonage immediately disconnected my service all together, yet have hijacked my phone number for 30 days. I've had the same number for 25 years, I want to keep it, so I'm waiting out the 30 days with no phone. Anyone is nuts to sign up for vonage. It won't work, and no one will help you. But - they will happily take your payments.
Great and honest review.
Service is horrible!!!!!!! Customer Sevice is REALLY bad!!!!!!! Stay away!!!! It is started from the phone service, I was getting very bad reception, people could not hear me at all. I tried to reach technical support to fix my problem, representative put me on hold for 48 min and never came back. I tried to contact them again, stood another 20 min, had no luck. Later that months I decided to switch to Optimum Voice and transfer my phone number. 3 months later I am getting phone call from Vonage telling me that I have unpaid bill for 3 months (the time when I already switch to Optimum Voice). I told them that I called to cancel service but they said they have no record of it. I filled dispute later and sent my proof that I have Optimum Voice but they denied it. However, I send my complain to FCC.
I would suggest people stay away from Vonage because it is very bad phone service, customer service and technical support.
interesting that it hasn't gotten better. We had this a year ago when I wrote this article and I couldn't take the bad customer service anymore. With competition in the field now, you would think Vonage would make their customer service better!