Vonage broadband phone service

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Vonage broadband phone service

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Jan. 26th, 2006 at 11:10 PM

I have Cox Communications as my ISP and a regular analog phone service for my land line.
Should I switch to Vonage?
Why or why not?

--
Banazir

Current Mood: pensive
Current Music:Alabama - Feels So Right

( 10 comments — Leave a comment )

fleurdelista

Jan. 29th, 2006 07:53 am (UTC)

yes. it's quite good, i've never had issues with it and it works flawlessly. bonus points: cheap.

if you do sign up, they ask for referrees, and they give referrees free months so if you do, and want to use us as refererers, plz let me know :)

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banazir

Jan. 29th, 2006 08:46 am (UTC)

Will do

I'm almost set on switching.

Watching the new BSG: whoo.

--
Banazir

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abrichar

Jan. 29th, 2006 07:59 am (UTC)

I've had Vonage for about a year now and am quite pleased with it. It's about $25/month for unlimited LD, including calls to Canada, voicemail, callerID and call waiting -- as opposed to $55/month for the equivalent from Qwest.

No outages so far and great reception. The conversion (during which I had a temporary number) from Qwest took about 6 weeks, but that was all Qwest's fault. Annoying, but worth it in the end.

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banazir

Jan. 29th, 2006 09:17 am (UTC)

Very good!

Thanks. I'm currently paying Sage about $40 a month. I'm thinking of getting the following monthly plans:

Vonage basic (500 minutes): $15
Dedicated fax line (250 minutes outgoing, unlimited incoming): $10
Toll-free number: $5
-------------------------------
TOTAL: $30 per month, with 3-way calling, dedicated fax, and other extras

Does the basic plan count incoming minutes too?
I was thinking about getting SkypeIn for 30 GBP per year, but the toll-free number is about the same and it's good from anywhere.

--
Banazir

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twinofhugin

Jan. 29th, 2006 04:24 pm (UTC)

the one problem, and it's kind of self-explanatory, is that your phone service is now dependent on your power service and internet. so in emergency situations when there is no power or internet, you won't have any landline phone.

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banazir

Jan. 29th, 2006 04:55 pm (UTC)

Landlines and 911

Yes, indeedy. I do have a cell phone, so the cumulative reliability is high, but it means I'll have to have battery power enough for a 911 call from it. A double-knockout is rare enough, though, that having one during (or due to) an emergency is pretty much an Arcturan invasion EMP and/or apocalyptic scenario.

I did notice from this that Vonage uses traditional trunk calls for 911 and has a staffed failsafe 911 center, which is good (though these still depend on power and broadband).

--
Banazir

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twinofhugin

Jan. 29th, 2006 05:10 pm (UTC)

Re: Landlines and 911

Yeah; the problem for me is I don't trust the cellular network for reliable communications, it's not the battery in my phone, it's the ten-million other things that are failure points in the network. Along with, in a crisis situation, the load placed on the cellular switching network is great enough to usually shut it down.

this is just coming from my 'growing up in rural virginia' mentality, where if the house lost power, odds are the closest cellular repeater also lost power.

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banazir

Jan. 29th, 2006 05:34 pm (UTC)

Network issues

Well, some of those are inherent traffic problems with any telecommunications network, whether it's packet-switched (VOIP) or circuit-switched (traditional analog), but I get your point.

--
Banazir

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sui_degeneris

Jan. 29th, 2006 05:05 pm (UTC)

I'm losing my mind.

Or my vision.

I could have sworn when I clicked on this entry that there was a macron over the o in Vonage. I look again, and no macron.

I think I need to tank up again on Nyquil and go back to bed.

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banazir

Jan. 29th, 2006 05:16 pm (UTC)

Sōrry, that was mē

I had decided of my own volition that it was pronounced Vōnage. As the morning wore on, though, I recalled that the announcer in the "woo-hoo, hoo-hoo hoo" commercials was saying "Vahnage". I therefore googled for Vōnage and got nothing, and hence decided to change it.

Sorry for the implied hallucination!

--
Banazir

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( 10 comments — Leave a comment )

December 2008