Ten Reasons Why You Should Not Buy Service from Vonage
A Service that May Be Downright Dangerous Without the Proper Precautions
Vonage is not all bad. I actually still use their service, but I am not currently using the service the same way I was using it when I first signed up. Vonage can work really well in certain instances. First, I will give a few instances in which Vonage may work well. Then, I will list the ten reasons why it probably will not work well (and may even be dangerous) for everyone else.
Vonage may work well for you if:
- You have a regular non-VoIP land line as backup for the times when Vonage is not working properly, and you don't want to bother getting all your friends and family signed up on Skype.
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- You hardly ever talk on the phone, and have a cell phone or a neighbor's phone you can rely on in case of an emergency.
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- You have an extremely stable high speed Internet connection that basically never goes down, and that is the connection you will set up your Vonage line on.
This is my current situation. I have a home based business, so I now have a T1 line coming to my house that never goes down (unless it's a short planned outage), even in the stormiest weather.
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If you do not fit in one of these categories, then please pay close attention to the following list of ten reasons you should not buy service from Vonage. Before I got my T1 line, this list would have been very important to me.
1. Using Vonage as your only phone line can actually be dangerous unless you have an extremely stable Internet connection. That is because you cannot call for help (such as 911) in an emergency when your Internet connection is down.
2. Your phone often will not work if your Internet connection is unstable. Each time your Internet connection goes down, your phone goes down with it. This is extremely annoying when the phone cuts off in the middle of a conversation. The quality of the sound can also be very poor if your Internet connection is fluctuating or slow. Sometimes the quality can be so bad that you can't tell what the other person is saying.
3. If your Internet service goes down, your phone still may not work when the connection comes back online. You may have to reset your phone router. Sometimes that doesn't work either, you end up having to reset your Internet device as well, which can be really annoying.
4. Vonage has poor customer service. You won't often need them, but in the rare cases when the Vonage service itself is down, or you are having other problems with the service, it can take a long time to contact Vonage, and they are not always helpful. Some of their customer service reps do not speak English well, and it can be extremely difficult to understand what they are saying, or to even get them to understand what you are trying to say.
5. Some other services don't work with Vonage. For example, the Tivo dial-up service won't work with it, and many fax machines do not work properly with it, even when you hook them up to dedicated Vonage fax lines. This is not something they warn you about before you sign up, so if you are not prepared, you may be in for a great deal of frustration.
When I first signed up for Vonage, my Tivo service was down for several weeks until I was able to get a wireless USB connection, and wireless router. I also had many problems with my standard HP fax machineafter switching to Vonage, and had to be walked through an extremely long and confusing configuration process which seems to reverse itself every few days.
6. They have a horrible website. Sometimes you have to log in on the Vonage website to manage various services or get a question answered. Their descriptions for where to go for certain information is often wrong or confusing, and many of the links or not intuitive. You may find yourself being led in circles.
7. The FAQ on their site is laughable. When you look up a specific problem you are having with a service, you will most likely be presented with a single sentence describing what the service is, rather than how to use the service, or any common problems with the service.
8. You may not be able to keep your old phone number with Vonage. Even if you can, be prepared to have a new phone number for several months. Switching your old phone number to Vonage may take many months.
9. You have to connect all of your phone bases to a single router approved by Vonage. This does not give you much flexibility with the physical layout or configuration of your equipment. This may not matter to most users, but it may matter quite a bit to someone running a home-based business.
10. If you have a regular non-VoIP land line as backup, and you don't mind setting your friends and family up with a Skype connection, then Skype may be a better choice than Vonage. First of all, Skype is free, so it's definitely a better deal.
Secondly, Skype may be better if you have friends or relatives outside countries covered by Vonage. The USA, Canada and Puerto Rico are currently the only areas covered under the basic Vonage flat rate, which means if you dial outside those areas, it can still cost you a great deal of money. With Skype on the other hand, you can call other Skype users in any country in the world for free.
Published by Kristen Dyrr - Featured Contributor in Technology
I was born and raised in Southern California. I have created a small family business with my mother called Advanced Technology Industries, Inc. We have a hair and skin care product line called Pure Fresh Sol... View profile
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34 Comments
Post a CommentTo sum up the Vonage service: Vonage is "VOIP". It is NOT "Fax over ip" or "Credit Card Machine over ip". Works great for voice calls but not anything else. Seriously consider this when making your decision.
Bryan...We have had a Vonage home phone service....The service is great I can speak to family and friends in Canada and England, for as long as I want.....( for my $25 ) I can hear every word clearly, in fact it sounds as if the person is in the next room.
There service staff are excellent, most helpful in every respect.
If I get any voice messages, these are confirmed in my email, another good service! I certainly would not go back to Brighthouse.
These comments seem old.
I switched to Vonage just 3 weeks ago and am perfectly happy with it. I have Verizon Fios 15MBPS/5MBPS package and since i put the vonage adapter there has been nary any problem with either my phone service or my internet service. 25 bucks for free unlimited calling to 60 countries is an unbeatable price.
On a few occasions that i had to call tech services - i faced no problem whatsoever in making them understand what i wanted or following their directions - but then i am a techie myself so i guess i can follow them a lot better than a lay person.
Vonage,
Continuing to have problems. Called Qwest today when I could not get on the internet (but I was able to utilize the telephone)? Qwest checked all was good (modem and circuit)except they found the attenuation to be well beyond where it should be (15.0 well above the preferred 7.0 level) and most likely the cause of the problem(s). Qwest is sending out a Tech on Wednesday.
Vonage's suggestion that I "continue to run the ping test" was BS. The problems continued and the "ping" test remained in the .50 range. Apparently the "ping" test does not know about attenuation and as such calling Vonage Tech Support left me (the customer) without relief. The next problem I have with Vonage means, I switch since their Tech Support is BS.
JIm
PS. I went through 2 different levels of "support" with Vonage for an estimated 2-3 hours of time waste.
Vonage is a huge rip off! I canceled their service -dropped calls-modem problems-message problems-you name it! It was then I learned they had some sort of 1 year deal and charged me $130,00 for canceling! They should be turned into a good lawyer for bait and switch with an inferior product.
I have Vonage. I like it. The only problems I had years ago were due to the fact that my internet provider kept having outages. In that instance, you are able to forward your cell number when your internet goes out to your cell phone or whatever number you need. Thank god I got rid of ATT. They were raping me on "free features" call waiing cost me 4 bucks. Vonage? zero. "people planted on various websites to denfend vonage?" what comapny has that kind of time and money to pay for people to do that?? Paranoid much? I love vonage. Hey, pay 5- 100 bucks for a phone. I will pay my 30, ty, and call international for freeeeeee. Thanks vonage!!!!!
I am one of the "non-technical" people who would rather pay the price, in order to get reliable, high speed internet and phone service, without having to wait an hour to talk to a foreign rep. I also get the strong feeling that there are those who are taking up for Vonage who are actually Vonage employees. I'm glad I did this research before ordering this very inferior service.
I believe there are people planted on various websites to defend Vonage - Vonage employees no doubt, or stockholders! I attempted to try it for the 30 day free trial but had so many problems getting my bundled services separated that I just gave up. Then after 30 days I get a bill for the second month. They never could get my number changed and decided to just give me another phone number. I told them from the beginning that I definitely had no use for Vonage unless I could keep my same phone number of 30 years. I attempted to cancel and they said they could not give me a refund - only a credit for an extra 30 days. It also occurred to me that by running everything through my computer, it might slow it down. The foreign rep admitted that a 3-way call would slow down the computer, and downloading anything. I have been hearing horror stories of all kinds of problems, including much slower speeds. I am contacting my credit card company to dispute the charge.
Vonage is the Devil. It is impossible to cancel service with them. I have been trying for 6 months and they continue to harass me for payment. They don't elude to this when they sign you up. Their customer service was so rude and dismissive that I ended up screaming obscenities at them. I NEVER do that. I wouldn't recommend Vonage to anybody.
I have had vonage for a long time and without Vonage I wouldnt be able to talk to my fiance serving in the Army in Korea, My cousin wouldnt be able to talk to her husband in Iraq and simply most of your reasons are completely UNTRUE. First of All I have never once had a problem using the Vonage, nothing has ever cut in and out while i am talking. Second, I dont know a place that does not have different language people answer the phone, they do it that way so anyone can call just not people who speak english. Third, they are not hard to get ahold of you simply just call. And Last the website is quite easy to work, its not difficult at all.