Review of Vonage V-Phone Device

Recently, I took a job working from home answering telephone calls for various companies. My new job required me to have a second phone line installed, so naturally I called Verizon (my current local phone company) and asked them to come out and add a line to my home. Of course they were more than happy to do this...for a $96 installation fee and $24.99 a month for the phone line. The prices seemed a little unreasonable to me, so I decided to shop around.

It quickly became apparent that one of the many "internet phone companies," that utilize VoIP technology, would be much cheaper than going with Verizon. I did some reading online and finally settled on Vonage as my provider...now the only thing left to do was to pick the device that I would use to access the Vonage service.

Traditionally, Vonage customers get a "phone adapter" that plugs into their high-speed modem and has a jack which you plug a traditional phone into. I also saw on their website that they offered a newer, more portable device that allows you to talk using Vonage, called the "V-Phone." The current retail price for the Vonage V-Phone is $39.99.

Basically, the V-Phone is a simple USB dongle, much like the USB hard drives that everyone seems to have on their key chains these days. The V-Phone comes pre-loaded with the Vonage Talk software, has a 2.5 mm headphone jack, and also has 250MB worth of storage space that you can use however you wish.

After activating your Vonage service (which I did at the store when I bought the V-Phone, but can also be done over the phone or online), your V-Phone is assigned a phone number. To use the Vonage service, just pop the V-Phone device into any available USB port on your high-speed internet connected computer. After a few moments, your computer will recognize the device and the Vonage software will load, afterwhich a familiar telephone keypad will appear on your computer screen.

Now, just plug any standard microphone headset (the V-Phone comes with a microphone headset, but I use the same headset that I use for hands-free operation on my cell phone) into the V-Phone device and you are ready to start talking. To make a phone call, just dial a number using the keypad on the computer screen and click the "call" button. The Vonage V-Phone also has a "Contacts" feature that allows you to store and dial your frequently called phone numbers.

Receiving a call is just as easy. Anyone in the world can dial your Vonage number, and assuming your V-Phone device is plugged in, your computer will alert you to the incoming call with both sounds and an on-screen message. If you're computer is off or your V-Phone is unplugged, you can set the calls to go straight to voicemail, or ring any other number you wish.

The sound quality with the V-Phone is amazing. As I mentioned earlier, I take customer service calls for some big companies, and I have never had a problem with audio quality with this device. Most of my friends and family are shocked when I tell them we're talking on an internet connection, because it is just as clear, if not clearer, than traditional phone lines.

The V-Phone device also offers a few other advantages. First off, the V-Phone doesn't actually install any software on the "host" computer, so you don't have to worry about littering computers that other people own with software they don't want or need. With the V-Phone, I can use my Vonage phone line from pretty much any computer with high-speed internet access. If I take my laptop to a hotel or Starbucks, I can just plug in my USB device and talk on the phone. With the traditional Vonage phone adapter, I can't use my service unless I have an actual modem to plug my phone adapter into and a phone to plug into the adapter. It seems much easier to travel with this device. I also find that I use the generous 250MB of storage space quite often to transfer my audio and picture files from computer to computer, something other Vonage devices just can't do.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with my Vonage V-Phone, or the Vonage service. My activation fee with Vonage was waived because of a promotion, and I pay just $14.99 a month for my phone line, which is at least ten dollars cheaper than Verizon. If concerns about VoIP being difficult to use or having poor-quality audio have prevented you from jumping on the "internet phone bandwagon," the Vonage V-Phone might be the perfect starter device for you.