Vonage?
Published by Deanna Hoak May 1st, 2007 in blogDo any of y’all use Vonage? Do you find it slows down your Internet appreciably? Do you have any other problems with it? It looks like such a nice deal, especially with being able to call the UK for free….
5 Responses to “Vonage?”
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award for my copyediting.
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I think Vonage’s Days are numbered. Certain legal issues may force them to merge into another rival company.
I’ve never used Vonage, but from what my dad has told me, Skype is pretty good too.
I’ve used Vonage for a while now, really like it, but I have to agree things don’t look good for them. (Verizon sued them for patent infringement and won, I gather that other traditional phone services are standing in line to sue too).
Skype is an alternative, (Disclaimer: I work for eBay and they own Skype now). I’ve been meaning to try them out as a phone service (they also have AIM like chat functions that we use at work a lot).
One of the things I really like about Vonage (and probably any VOIP solution) I can pack up my “box” and take it with me when I travel so I’ve got my phone with me where ever I go.
I haven’t noticed any bandwidth problems, and I’m often on the phone during a conference call while I’m working at the same time. (Multi-hour conf calls chewing up my cell phone minutes are why I got Vonage in the first place).
Another nice feature is that I get email notices when I have voice mail.
Hope these data points help!
I use Vonage, too. I’ve never had any real problems with it, except that sometimes long distance calls (to Australia) have more interference than normal calls. But local calls have been fine.
And it is nice being able to take your phone anywhere you can get an internet connection and still have your “home” phone.
Can’t really say anything about the future of Vonage, but I have heard that, as stated above, its days are numbered.
I haven’t used Vonage, but I use Skype all the time. We don’t have long-distance service in our house anymore because of it. I’m tempted to drop our phone line too, because I tend to use Skype for local calls. The price for Skype is certainly better than Vonage.
We have Vonage, and have been really happy with it. Our only issues with bandwidth actually have been from our own traffic. If you have a busy website or other services sharing the connection you can find it eats time from the phone and then it’s a little like a bad cell phone connection. My sister and several other friends have it as well and they have no problems with the connection.
Otherwise we’ve been really happy with it, and we’re really hoping that they don’t go under since local phone rates are unbelievable.