Vonage DigitalVoice Service Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have been using Vonage as my primary phone service for several months now. I also have a strong background in VoIP when I had worked as an Engineer at Nortel Networks on their Carrier and Enterprise VoIP and VoATM solutions. Here is my review so far:
Pros:
1) Low cost long distance, regional, AND international rates. Their rates/overall cost is extremely hard to beat from what I have seen.
2) Gives the customer an additional reason to pay the expense of a broadband connection.
3) Access to voicemail and service features online.
Cons:
1) POOR support of their service. I have had multiple occasions (more than 10 in 2 months) where calls were able to be established (the signaling portion or path of the call was created) however you could not hear anything (the voice path was not established).
2) A power outage can prevent you from making calls.
3) Internet or ISP bandwidth congestion can affect a call (distorted/choppy voice, loss of connection, delay and echoing while talking).
4) Often times when the above problems occur, you must reset all the equipment in order to re-establish a good connection. When this doesn't work, you have to rely on support. I have gone days without service. When the service came back, it didn't appear to be related to Vonage Support fixing anything. In other words, they never checked back to confirm service was restored after any changes/or troubleshooting they performed. They also lacked any useful suggestions on how to prevent similar outages, etc.
5) You should maintain a secondary land line separate from Vonage. This service is not reliable enough to use as your only home phone service. 911 services ARE now available, however if something happens during a power outage, you won't have any phone service to make that 911 call.

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Early Adopters Pick: January 2003. The world's only end-to-end voice Internet service that uses traditional phones to make and complete calls.
The Vonage DigitalVoice Service package contains everything you need to quickly and easily install a phone line in your home. In a matter of minutes, your Vonage DigitalVoice phone can be up and running, and you can be making and receiving calls over your broadband connection to and from your friends, business associates, and faraway relatives. It's easy: just plug the included phone adapter into your high-speed Internet connection and plug your telephone into the adapter.
Enjoy the conveniences of a standard telephone service with none of the hassles. With Vonage DigitalVoice, you can talk all you want to anywhere in the country for one flat monthly subscription fee. Plus, you can make international calls at a low per-minute rate. Another bonus is that a U.S. call to Canada is treated like a domestic long distance call rather than an international one. Vonage also supports short-form emergency 911 services, where available.
Unlike other Internet telephone service providers, Vonage does not require access numbers, account numbers, or PINs to make a simple phone call. Instead, you just dial your party's phone number on an ordinary telephone keypad. Also, if you purchase DigitalVoice from Amazon.com, the box includes a special URL that lets you register for service without a setup fee, plus you get two months of free calling. Switching your current local phone service to Vonage is a snap. You can even choose any area code you want, subject to availability.
Terms and Conditions Buying this item signifies agreement to sign up for service with Vonage and to pay a monthly subscription fee after the initial promotional period has ended. For details about how the service works and for complete terms and conditions, visit www.vonage.com. For technical assistance, call 1-866-293-5676.

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