I just wanted to let you all know that-- you might already. I got tantalized by one of those 30-day free trials and month-to-month service. I call to cancel within the 30-day Trial. I never even hooked up the equipment. They talk me into trying again. Then I find out that I have to do all this re-wiring crap or get new phones. I put it off and it goes past the 30 days. So I call today to cancel and they are very polite about it. At the very end they inform me that I have incurred a $42.95 early disconnect penalty-- first I've heard about that. Of course, it must be buried in the TOS agreement. What happened to my first month free and month-to-month? I never made a dial on their system. Eat **** Vonage!!!!!!!! Tell everyone you know.
Their commercials are annoying enough to never make me want to use them. Isn't Vonage Voice-Over-IP? Avoid that crap like the plague.
I got a phone solicitation. It was the most painful thing I've ever done on the phone. They guy was in the Phillippines. He barely spoke English. It took 45 minutes; I should have taken a cue right there. I'm with RoadRunner still. They are okay but don't offer 3 way or second lines. I see where BellSouth offers both. I may go back to BS. G-R-R-R-R-R-R-
Never too quick jumping on unproven products by the market. But I think it will improve as more and more people sign on the service. I am still waiting. As for your situation, after the trail period, did they tell you there would be disconnect penalty? See part of your fault is you let them talk into using it after trial period without checking these things. Be careful next time.
VoIP is far from a unproven technology.. You can save HUGE dollars on long distance calls and if you have a fat pipe you wont notice any sound quality over a standard phone line.
Err...easy on the FUD there guys. I've been a Vonage customer for over 3 years. Absolutely satisfied with the service. It's nice to be able to pay $15/month for a phone line, get all the bells and whistles, great international rates, and none of the telemarketing hassle that comes along with SBC.
The impression I had was 30-day Trial and month-to-month. Nothing was said about a year-long "contract" or face a disconnect fee. I'm sure it was in the written TOS which I skipped over. That is my fault, but I have no doubt that they didn't want me to be aware of it.
I would go back to using smoke signals before I would use SBC again. I have digital phone via Roadrunner and I'm very happy with it even though I hardly ever use it.
i use both packet 8 and sunrocket (2 years for 199) and it works great. Im currently using both from india, and packet8 works great for making calls to the usa... Im gunna try the sunrocket when i get to saudi.
I switched to RoadRunner VOIP last year and it worked fine. But for half the price + more features, I switched to Vonage in December and not a single complaint. Never had a single outtage and nobody notices quality. I'd go Vonage or just use cell phones. I'd never pay $ for a landline again. Giddyup, that sucks about the cancellation fee. I thought they were just monthly anyway. I don't recall signing up for a 1-yr contract.
What sucked even worse when I had to cancel my Vonage line was they told me the wait on the phone line to speak to an operator was 35 minutes. I called several different times, including in the middle of the night and the wait was the same amount of time. Talk about shady business practices.
giddyup, here is a good site with user comment about the various VoIP providers: VoIP Provider - VoIP Solution - Broadband Phone Company Service I picked my VoIP provider (http://www.voicepulse.com/) from the user comments and have no complaints with them so far. My only problems with VoIP is that RR is up and down like yoyo at my house. I have the VoIP setup to ring my cell if the call can not ring my phone, so I am not missing any calls because of RR. As an aside, one of the great benefits of VoicePulse is that I get emails at work with .wav attachments of all of my answering messages. Other VoIPs probably offer the same feature.
I've had digital phone service from TWC for about a year now and there are times it drives me NUTS. Whenever the modem is even the slightest bit iffy, the sound cuts out and it will drop calls. I'll sit there with the phone dead for an hour because the modem is struggling even though my internet and television are fine. It has really been frustrating the past few months. Plus, no electricity, no phone, which blows.
Jeff, call TW and ask for their battery backup internet/phone modem, they are free and all you have to do is ask, I think they are good for almost 3 hours after the power goes out.. I have mine hooked up to another UPS on top of that so while t's not totally faultless, it comes close (for me anyway)
That is why God made cell phones. That and long distance. 911 is also another VoIP issue. Most have national 911 centers that will forward the call to the local 911 center. Of course if RR is down ...
I'm also dissatisfied with my Vonage service (in Austin). Sometimes, calls cut off unexpectedly. Other times, I get strange computer-ish noises on the line. Plus, people claim my voice sounds faint, but I can hear them fine (which may have to do with my phone, although it's freaking brand new). To top it off, my Vonage modem is unwilling to work when plugged directly into my cable modem, but it works fine when I plug it into my wireless router. Double-U Tee Eff? If/When Time Warner lowers their VoIP prices, I'm totally switching. Until then, I guess I might tough it out. That is, unless my wife, who absolutely HATES the service, snaps and goes beserker mode one day (due to the calls cutting out) and goes on a murderous rampage. Then, I'll probably switch immediately.
