Might be making the switch to Vonage.
 

Hello All-

I know quite a few of you use Vonage and was wanting to know what you thought about their services. I am currently using MCI and for the price I am paying with them, I could get 2 months with Vonage! I know their service comes with Caller ID, but does it also come with Call Waiting ID - which will show you the name/number of the person who is trying to get a hold of you while you are already on the phone?

My biggest concern at this point is getting 2 phones set up on one line. If you use Vonage, how are you hooking up more than 1 telephone to the line? I need to be able to hook up a telephone in my room, and a telephone in another room down the hall. I guess one way is to get a new phone that supports 2 phones to 1 base. What are some other reliable ways of getting this to work?

Thanks,
-SlickVic78

as you said, get a cordless phone with a base and as many handsets as you need; I have a base with 4 handsets, so i can use the line in 4 different rooms...
Yes call waiting/caller ID is included...
And, its a good idea to have one land line or a cell phone available, cause if you lose your high speed connection, you will have no phone service..

Well I was going to go with AT&T but now I am thinking I will go with Vonage too. :)

Unless of course someone knows why I should not? Seeing as Vonage is cheaper and AT&T does not even disclose what the full price really is. Though u do get a month free but not really important. Cause i know thats just their little trap to pull you into buying their service. Besides not as many free extras either.

Well on second thought. Been reading reviews and what not. Vonage is great but Packet8 looks even better and cheaper:

https://www.packet8.net/about/residential.asp

And its the highest reated overall and it has all the same featuers and only one i found that offers ENHANCED 911 which I want.

Hey Will,

I did see an ad for Packet8 but wasn't quite sure what/who they were. Great find... Cheaper than Vonage, but - are they reputable? That is the question...

-SlickVic78

Can you get your land line and vanage number to be the same ??? I have been thinking about this as well. The only thing I don't like is that eash additional line cost the same as the first ..

Hello Leech,

You mean port your home number over to Vonage? You can check if this is available for your number from the Vonage site. I checked mine, and I am able to take my existing number over to them.

But now I am looking at this Packet8 deal. For $19.95, you get everything that Vonage offers for $24.99... Decisions... I have never heard of Packet8 until now, so who knows if they are a reliable service...

Is anyone here using Packet8? Obviously, I would go with the company that is reputable...

-SlickVic78

Thanx for the info slickvic. What I mean is can you use the same phone number on both services. I found the answer out, the way they set it up if you have dsl (which I do), is, they give you a new number so you can keep your current number to use the dsl connection. I'm not sure what the price diff would be to keep the current line and add this. I am going to look into it.

I did some research and found that Verizon and ATT have this service as well:

Att's service is $29.99 | http://www.usa.att.com/callvantage/index.jsp?
Verizons is $34.95 | http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourHome/VOIP/VOIPHome.aspx

This with internet would run around 60.00+ a month, for my home business this would be perfect. There is no mention of how much each additional line cost though, I am guessing the same as the first line. When vonage first came out they gave you additional lines with all the same features as the first for $5.00 extra. I guess since more people are getting it they changed things.

As for the service you mentioned, I just looked at it and it looks pretty good. I like the virtual office package they have ...

Here is a recent review from PC Mag:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759...129TX1K0000530

Its the highest rated by PC Mag too.

Also I have learned it is pretty new, around June 2004.

http://www.dslreports.com/reviews/2413

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Packet8...2.html?tag=tab

Some are a little harsh. lol

And some of the info they said were neg. no longer apply. Like the 911 service. They have that now.

And they say hardware fee but thats really bs cause its just your router really unless you want to go the video route which I dont so.

Also I just found a coupon. Save $10 - $20 off Activation Fee. Dont know if it still works since have not bought yet.

Coupon:

Gateshare

I dont know though might still go with Vonage. Waiting to see what u do. hehe ;)

well, I heard about packet 8 after I signed up with vonage, but havent heard anything about their quality...Vonage works all the time for me..
You can adjust the quality of Vonage calls by using their "bandwidth" adjuster;
Keep in mind with lots of uploads and downloads, you may lose a bit of sound quality, ESPECIALLY while UPLOADING!

You can get a 2nd Vonage line for 9.99 per month; I have that as my fax line....
I think you have to "say" its a fax line, but I also make calls from it..

As many already know I have Vonage and have had it for sometime. As for Packet8, never heard of it until now. If I understand correctly you have to use a special phone? I wouldn't want to buy special equiptment and how often do we really use video phone tech. After all the person on the other end needs it too in order to see you.

Make sure if you want Vonage to allow Vonage to cancel your current landline phone in order to allow the transfer of your current phone number to the Vonage account. Learn from my mistake, don't start small... just get the unlimited account. I had to pay $9.99 + the unlimited price to upgrade within the first week from the smaller plan to the unlimited plan.

I use the one base two cordless phones Uniden model #DX17286-2 for around $39.99 and I'm very happy. We also have a cell phone that we have the Vonage account setup to forward to automatic if our cable internet should go down. We also have it setup to forward automatic to the cell phone if we don't answer the home phone within three rings. By doing this we leave the house and never have to worry about missing calls. Our voice mail on the cell phone works as our answering machine when the call is forwarded so no need to use the voice mail feature from Vonage or even an answering machine at the house. It wouldn't surprise me if Vonage dropped their unlimited price again sometime soon to stay ahead.

Sounds like a good deal but what if sombody calls when I'm in the middle of a download or online game. Would I have to cut all internet traffic in order to talk on the phone? Wouldn't downloading negativly affect Vonage's voice quality?

Does anyone here hear echoes or delays when they talk. I used MSE LOS systems in the US Army and they suuucked. Wouldn't want that kind of quality at my home phone.

Hey KC,

That is only if you want to make use of their Video Phone features. If you just want telephone service, they will give you an adapter that just plugs into a router, and you plug a normal phone into it. Similar to Vonage.

Hey Will,

Perhaps I am waiting to see which one you go with... :lol: I am still leaning towards Vonage as well, simply because they have been around... Packet8 is still rather new, and also - I think I saw something on their site that you have to commit to them for 1 year or else you will pay a $60.00 cancellation fee - if you cancel after 1 month which is a trial period.

@Everyone,
Vonage is a none contract base service, right? You pay month to month without commitment?

-SlickVic78

I understand Vonage is month to month. I've used the online Vonage bandwidth adjustment for the voice quality and turned it down to the lowest level. After doing so I still hear no problem in quality. The only time I hear cliping in the audio is when I hit my max download using BT or uploading at my max.

Thanks for the info KC. I still have a week or two before I am going to go through with it. So anything could happen... Even though Vonage it a little more expesnive then Packet8, I dunno how comfortable I am about going with a less reputable company - which makes me think I am still going to go with Vonage.

-SlickVic78

I've been trying to get my wife to switch to an internet phone for the longest time, it would save us 15$ a month on phone bills, and we would have long distance! :) I have found all the information here VERY useful, I was also considering going with packet8 but after reading some reviews and there site, and the info here, I have decided to go with Vonage! I Was consider AT&T but why pay more for something you can get less! :)

Thanks Betaone your the best! :) Thanks for all the info here everyone!

Sincerely,
PCTech

Hello PCTech,

Would you please post the links to the Packet8 reviews you mentioned. I think this would really help me make my decision.

Thanks,
-SlickVic78

Reviews Site
 

Below is the link to the nytimes site on cnet, this is where I got my reviews!

http://cnet.nytimes.com/4520-9140_7-5131543-1.html

Look on the left and you will find different voip phone companies, "Vonage is 'unmatched' in feature sets..."

Hope you find this useful..

PCTech! :)

make sure you read the latest reviews on all of the companies that you are interested in, because some of the "BEST VOIP 9/10 *'s" reviews are from Sep. 2004, so beware of this! :)

Hey PCTech,

Thanks for linking the reviews. It appears they both Vonage and Packet8 have their issues - apparently it is their customer service... But most companies have their days where customer service is horrible.

After sorting the reviews to show the latest, both Packet8 and Vonage seem to be about the same.

I think I still need to do some homework. :confused:

-SlickVic78

I also read the reviews at dslreports, that were posted earlier, and they really helped. I just feel like sinse vonage has been around longer, kinda like the "granddaddy" of voip, I just trust them more than I would packet8. However you are right, reviews are needed, because I would've thought AT&T would be good, but the reviews I read, just said that were fair to good (at best), and call quality sucked, and very hard to setup! :( but then again no one company can be perfect, if you find one that is or is close :) let me know! until then I will keep looking and anything I can dig up I will post it here in this thread! :)

~PCT

Hello PCTech,

I agree with you - no company is perfect. You are always going to see reviews of bad service, bad customer service, but then again, there are millions of people out their using their services and are quite happy with them that haven't posted reviews.

They both offer the same services, but like you said, Vonage has been around a little longer - so they may have worked out most of the kinks in their system. So if I have to pay the extra 5 bucks a month, so be it. Packet8 requires a year contract, and if you cancel, you owe them $60 bucks. I'd rather go month to month anways...

I also see that Packet8 has been encountering problems porting over numbers to their system... I've only heard good things with Vonage - where it takes them about 10 days to port your number...

[EDIT] - I also read that Packet8 only accepts credit card payments... What payments does Vonage accept? Do they bill you and then you have the option to cut them a check, or charge your credit card?

[EDIT2] - Just found out the answer to my own question... They only accpet credit card payments as well...

Please continue to post info you find. Of course, I'll do the same! :)

Thanks!
-SlickVic78

Do you take any other method of payment besides a credit card?

Currently Vonage only accepts Credit Cards with a United States Billing Address as a form of Payment. Vonage will also accept debit cards with a Visa or Master Card logo. All debit cards must have a credit verification number on the card.

The above info was taken from the following website

http://www.vonage.com/help_knowledgeBase_article.php?article=363&categor y=197

Thanks PCTech, I ended up answering my own question about the payment methods... I ended up editting my previous post before you posted. :p

One feature that I see that Packet8 offers that I cannot find on Vonage's website is Anonymous Call Blocking. This is something I currently have that I really like. I hate when I do not know who is calling me. I am not sure if this is available with Vonage. But I do like Vonage's Bandwidth saver feature....

-SlickVic78

Hey Guys I have been using Vonage nearing a Year, ( I was the First when they entered the retail store market; I got mine from Circuit city with 2 months free, no activation fee and a $50 MIR. My whole phone home network is on Vonage, all the Jacks in my house are vonage jacks. So all the rooms in my house with a Jack have phones that ring when a call comes in. I disconeccted my copper wires from the Local phone, and use the old jacks in the house from the phone company I.e there old phone network. I think that we have about 8-9 phones that ring when a call comes in. I have my phone adapter & Cable modem on a UPS for power outages. I have ditched going with a back up local telco line we have two cell phone lines instead ( and car adapters for cable & power outages)

I have gotton to talk with vonage Customer service several times. I am pleased. The MIR took a little time to get and I ran into a hitch but I got credits equal to the MIR as welll as the MIR finally.

There is also LINGO as a VOIP company. I am unfamilar with them.

In nine months of use, I have only had a few hiccups with the system, at first I had to reset the power on my phone adapter once a week ( although I have'nt had to do in quite some time)

With 2 price drops since going with vonage. It is a refreshing change.:p:D

The other thing I love is the incoming and out going phone log, (we have to track calls with our bussiness) Although sometimes I have had trouble logging on to the website.

The biggest difference I have seen, is that vonage has there act together they are the biggest and the Oldest.

AS for AT&T
I have Sworn off anything with the Intials AT&T & ME (enough is enough ) Bad wireless, bad cable, bad High speed, bad long distance, just plain BAD SERVICE, last spring 30 -45 minutes waits for wireless customer no-service rep.

The other decsion point is we do a lot of international calling, There plan to HK, UK, OZ, Phillippines, etc, is the cheapest among the VOIPs. .03 -.05 per minute. Lingo has Asia free call plan but is $80 and Cell calls are not includeded.

Comcast has been working on a VOIP system and has rolled it out in 4 markets. I know that when they bought out AT&T that they highly recommend cable or you got a $10 surcharge for high speed. ( BTW we spend $9.80 for the basic cable no biggie be cause we get clear stations we live in a valley, and about 20 other channels) We were at almost $115 for high speed & phone service before switching to vonage not including long distance and the junk charges that get wrapped into all those plans.
Now around $75 per month. Anyways I think that it only a matter of time before comcast does like the Telco with DSL you gotta have there phone service .

Hey Firefox,

Thanks for your review - very helpful. I am still leaning towards Vonage. I guess I can deal without the Anonymous Call Blocking. It is a nice feature though, and it would be nice if they could implement it being that Packet8 offers it.

I am still hesitant about going with Packet8, and I really dunno why. They offers the same features and then some over Vonage, and is a bit cheaper, but they are new and I know of no one who is actually using their service. I don't even think their hardware is all that good in comparison to Vonage that give you a LinkSys adapter.

Another neat feature that Vonage offers is that you can take your adapter anywhere and use your service. So if I were to be away for a few days, I can take the adapter with me and never really miss a call... That is pretty sweet.

-SlickVic78

Well I have decided to go with Vonage then. hehe

Well just one question, how much download and upload bandwith do you say it takes? Like 100KBps down? and 10KB up or what?

I think the max for prem sound quality us 90 Kbps, normal is just 30Kbps. Never really noticed it affecting UL/DL speeds that much.

Hey Firefox,

I have been looking over Vonage's site for information and am not sure if a feature is included in their plan... Anonymous Call Rejection. Do you happen to know if this is an available feature?

Thanks,
-SlickVic78

Not yet. It is the only feature that I miss as well.

Is that upload requried?

Is that 90 kilobytes per sec. or 90 kilobits per. sec?

God I hope its not upload and kilobytes per. sec. requried or I am screwed. :(

Since i only have 512kbps up...thats around 60 kilobytes per sec. max upload speed....

Pretty such my download speed is fine @ 6mbps thats around 750 kilobytes per. sec average. Though suppose to be getting 8mbps next week. Free upgrade. hehe

Went with Vonage!
 

I've decieded to go with vonage :) I tested it out with the virtual # they give you until you get your hardware and phone# switched out, and it works pretty cool! I had a virtual # in my area code instantly! :)

I wonder about upload as well! anyone know the bandwidth req?

~PCT

How do you get to do that?

I must be blind.

Thanks,
Will

BTW be sure to send me a refer a friend...

you get two months free and i'll get a month free... hehe

referal sent! :) After you sign on if you transfer your #, it gave me a virtual #, you can call it and it will send you an email with the temp, pin to your voice mail! then After you have it set up, it really serves no purpose until you get your stuff in the mail, but after you get it you can use the virtual # to actually call people until the transfer is complete, and it will be seamless! meaning you nor anyone else will know about the transfer! :)

~PCTech

oh ok cool

thanks for the referal..have not gotten yet though ;)

um got to remember to check gmail account more offten :)

so got it..

thanks a lot and enjoy free service too..

think i will sign up tommorow..have to call bell south and clear up some issues..

thanks again,
will

If anyone else wants to be refered to vonage by me let me know and we can all be happy! I'll be happy to refer to people! :) PM me or gmail me :) pctech25@gmail.com

~PCT

Yea me too. hehe

If all goes as plan and am happy after a month or so I will hook up my grandparantes and all my friends. hehe I'll have two years free in no time. :p If only u could. ;)

OH and thank god accroding to Vonage its:

90 Kilobits per second (Kbps) requried per phone :)

like fire fox said..just clad its kilobits per second instead of kilobytes...

see:



I am assuming that is upload bandwidth. They really should make their web site clear about that. Should add download bandwidth requried as well if thats indeed upload requried or the other way around.

As long as you do not use the 3-way calling feature, the lowest bandwidth 30Kbps should work just fine for you. I have mine set that way and I think it sounds fine.

good thing its kbits per sec, and not bytes huh? or else a bunch of us would be screwed! :) well i'm glad, and I can't wait to get my vonage package! :) oh yah war, be sure you fill out the "Letter of Authorization" to release your current# so you can xfer it to vonage :)

~PCT

Well having to wait until friday it seems. Some Bell South issuses.

But yea PCTech thanks will do. :)

Well I have 512kbps upload so I should be ok. hehe

I plan on trying 60kbps first.

But yea glad its so eash to switch. I like that.

i want them to hurry up and send my stuff! I want to try this thing out! :)

~PCT