I'm looking into one of the VoIP phone services as my cell phone was recently turned off. (I can't afford the $65/month fees.) Who has Vonage, Skype or other service. What do you pay per month? Any advantages/disadvantages? I know I can get the 500 minute/month Vonage for $15/month. What does Skype or others charge for something similar? I doubt I'll need any more minutes per month as I use less than an hour per month now (no friends to talk to).

I have been using Vonage for over two years. Highly recommended, but only if you have good quality broadband Internet service. Vonage installation couldn't be simpler: connect your phone(s) to the Vonage adapter box, connect the adapter box to your broadband Internet (cable/DSL modem, router, or switch), apply power, and wait about two minutes for the Vonage adapter to register itself, and start calling.

The service quality has been excellent; at its worst, it's about the same as most digital cellular service. I particularly like it that Vonage allows you to choose a directory number (or several directory numbers) from any area code they offer. In our case, I chose an Oklahoma City number, so calling us is a local call for my 88 year old mother; she doesn't ever have to worry about area codes or tolls. Additional directory numbers (after the first) are $5 a month. You can also take your Vonage box with you anywhere (in the world) and if there's broadband Internet service you also have phone service.

Thanx, Marvin. A plus for you. I was considering Vonage because it's the biggest name out there. I mostly want to make sure there aren't any hidden problems with it. It'll work with any generic WalMart phone, right? Does it have voicemail and/or will it work with an answering machine?

Someone brought up something the other day on a radio program. If you have an internet based phone service, you lose it during a power outage unless you have a huge battery back up. Just something else to consider.

Vonage is good, except if you use Bit Torrent.<---important to consider!

if you are using Bit torrent, the person that calls either can't hear you, or hears every fifth word.
Not just me, this seems to be a fairly common thing with Vonage. not sure of other services.
There is a new one out (sunrocket) not sure how it is:
https://www.sunrocket.com/sign_up/signup.do?tcd=DBC2s2e

I use vonage. I like it. Something like $15.00 a month. I have a cell also, so if pwer goes down at my house all calls are automatically diverted to it.

I've got two Vonage lines in my house. One for personal and one for my office. I've been with them for over two years also and love it. I have two lines with unlimited long distance for what I paid for one line from SBC.

There are two downsides as pointed out... If your cable or power go out, you have no phone. There are three cell phones in my family anyway so that is no problem.
The other problem is that if you are into heavy downloading, it will degrade your reception on your phone. In the old days I would have to stop downloads if the phone rang or the person on the other end couldn't even hear me. I have made changes in my Vonage settings that has helped it but it still is not perfect. (Rumor, have you adjusted your bandwidth settings in the control panel? It does help some.)

But I still recommend Vonage easily. It is a great service. I'm just glad I didn't jump on the IPO offering that existing customers could have taken advantage of a few months ago. They turned out to be the biggest losing IPO in history! I was shocked that they didn't do better... But I still love my Vonage service.

I have two of the $24.95 accounts with unlimited. If you sign up, if you start referring people to the service you can get free months too so if you are trying to work on a budget that can help.

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4th Annual California Coast Run
October 27-29, 2006
San Simeon, California

[This message has been edited by Songman (edited 08-31-2006).]

Vonage. No real complaints. I had problems with my cable provider and that caused some issues but it wasn't Vonage's fault. I pay for the expencive plan a whopping $27. Its worth it to get a prepay cell phone to as a back up that you can get as low as $20 every 3 months.

quote Originally posted by Monkeyman: Does [Vonage] have voicemail and/or will it work with an answering machine?

Yes and yes. Standard Vonage service includes voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding, and several other "extra" services ... all for $15 a month.

People are correct about the need for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), but it doesn't have to be "huge." As luck would have it, the power failed just as I was finishing my original post. I have a single $40 Tripp-Lite UPS that is dedicated to the Vonage adapter box and all my network gear (cable modem, firewall/router, 16-port switch, and wireless access point). I just finished typing my post (in the dark), clicked "Submit Reply," then used my Vonage phone to call the power company.

911 service is still a legitimate issue with with VOIP, since you can move your Vonage adapter box from one location to another without their knowledge. Vonage provides "indirect" 911 service, but you have to be sure to manually configure your correct street address.

As a final consideration, I don't expect Vonage (the company) to be around very much longer ... although I'm sure someone will pick up the pieces and continue the service. According to the prospectus for their near-disastrous IPO, it is costing Vonage almost $200 in advertising and marketing for every new $15 a month customer they sign up. Prior to the IPO, Vonage had about $500 million in debt, had lost over $200 million in 2005, and expects that loss to more than double in 2006. The IPO did not raise all of the money that Vonage had hoped, and now they have been sued for alleged patent infringement by a couple of big telecom companies. Even if Vonage prevails in these lawsuits (likely IMHO), the litigation will cost them millions of dollars that they can't afford right now ... which is probably exactly why the big guys are suing them.

Me? I'm keeping my Vonage until it goes dark, until their rate structure changes drastically, or until they start acting more like a "big" phone company.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 08-31-2006).]

All of that stuff Marvin said...

The greatest use I have found for my Vonage is when I am traveling out of the country. I take my laptop, my Vonage box, and a small phone and I am still in touch and it is free! A couple of years ago when we went to France, every couple of days we made about a 15 minute phone call home. We just charged it to our credit card and when we got home the bill for long distance was almost $500! When we went to France in April of this year I made sure the apartment I rented had broadband and I took Vonage with me. Calls to AND from my family in the US almost every day... FREE! My great aunt in GA couldn't believe that she was calling the local number I have set up for them to use in GA and my phone was ringing in Paris! (The extra phone number for GA cost me $4.99 per month I think.) That one trip made Vonage worth it for me...

As Marvin said, the future of Vonage is cloudy but I am going to enjoy them while they are still around and hope for the best. I've had calls from AOL and my local cable company trying to get me to try their VOIP service. Both were almost double the price of Vonage.

BTW - I have the Linksys Vonage box and it works seamlessly with my complete Linksys wireless network.

[This message has been edited by Songman (edited 08-31-2006).]

quote Originally posted by Songman: I've had calls from AOL and my local cable company trying to get me to try their VOIP service. Both were almost double the price of Vonage.

Don't be surprised if someday soon your cable company (or your phone company, if you're using DSL) starts blocking the ports and/or protocols that Vonage uses ... since Vonage now competes with their own commercial offerings. This is what the "Network Neutrality" issue is all about, and it's why the big guys spent so much money lobbying intensely against it.

Sounds like something that would start to fall into monopoly laws. Of course, legal sometimes has nothing to do with what is fair. That would be about like GM building cars that would only run on gas that they sell.

I can tell you that if my cable company (I hate DSL) ends up doing that, they might put Vonage out of business but it will not gain them a customer. I'll just switch to my cell phones full time. I don't want to deal with companies that have to cheat to get my business. If they want to earn it, then that is a different story.

Sidenote: Marvin, I just checked out your First Alert Weather site... Very cool!

[This message has been edited by Songman (edited 08-31-2006).]

quote Originally posted by Songman: Sounds like something that would start to fall into monopoly laws.

Many broadband ISPs already block inbound IP ports 25 and 80, so you can't set up your own SMTP or HTTP server unless you pay them extra (sometimes a lot extra) for the privilege. They are selling you high bandwidth and full-time connectivity, but they won't allow you to use it all.

The bad old AT&T monopoly is busily resurrecting itself as we speak. For several years, the CEOs of AT&T, SBC, Verizon, BelllSouth, and other divestiture AT&T spinoffs have been proclaiming, "We own the wires, and we should be able to do whatever we want with them." This is notwithstanding the fact that a significant percentage of "their wires" were installed many years ago by the old AT&T ... under the financial guarantee of a government-granted and government-regulated monopoly.

For an interesting article on Vonage, click here.

quote Originally posted by Songman: Sidenote: Marvin, I just checked out your First Alert Weather site... Very cool!

Thanks. Visit it again sometime: www.FirstAlertWeather.com. It's even cooler when it has live data. (The power failure last night took down the NFS link between my web server and my weather data base.. It's back up now.)

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 08-31-2006).]

That is an interesting article. Makes me want to go out and buy some of that Vonage stock! The guy in the article said just what I said. If the big companies want my business they need to earn it by offering better deals and better service, not by cheating the system to get rid of competition. I'm pulling for Vonage.

About your weather site, I was wondering if it was live feed normally. Is it possible for real time or do you just have periodic updates?

quote Originally posted by Songman: About your weather site, I was wondering if it was live feed normally. Is it possible for real time or do you just have periodic updates?

It is normally real-time data, received from the National Weather Service via both Internet and satellite communications channels ... typically available on my web site within 10 seconds of the time a NWS forecaster presses SEND on his/her computer console. I do not push new data out to your browser, though, so you still have to refresh your display periodically. The date/time of the last update from the NWS is posted at the very top of the main page.

Since this isn't Vonage related, e-mail me directly if you would like more detailed information.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 09-06-2006).]

quote Originally posted by Songman: That is an interesting article. Makes me want to go out and buy some of that Vonage stock! The guy in the article said just what I said. If the big companies want my business they need to earn it by offering better deals and better service, not by cheating the system to get rid of competition. I'm pulling for Vonage. About your weather site, I was wondering if it was live feed normally. Is it possible for real time or do you just have periodic updates?

I did get Vonage stock. It was offered to subscribers first wich I thought was preaty cool. I haven't been watching it as Its not an investment for me as much as one in Vonage. Does that make sence.

I thought real hard about the IPO, Phranc, but decided against it after talking to my broker. Kinda glad I did since it fell so fast but hopefully it was just a slow start and will go flying up again. They did offer a really tempting deal to customers. It was tough to pass up.

I got Vonage just now.

Welcome to the club Mr. Monkey meetings for world domination start at 7pm est on wednessday.

quote Originally posted by Monkeyman: I got Vonage just now.

Start referring your family and friends and you may never have to pay a phone bill! I've had two people that I told about Vonage sign up. It is good when you don't have to pay for a month!

I'm a skyper. Only because they have a PPC client. I dont use it too much though, so I can't comment really. It works failry well on my PPC-6700 and all outgoing calls within the US are free for the year.