Converting to Vonage phone service

Converting to Vonage phone service - David Woodsmall

5/05/2008 - Optimized for Firefox 2.0.0.14

COPYRIGHT 1992 thru 2008 - David R. Woodsmall

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We just switched to (this won't make any sense to some people) Vonage Internet (VoIP) phone service (instead of Bell South's (now AT&T) regular telephone service over wired phone lines. We expect to save between $35 and $40 a month. We like to save money. Too soon to have a real opinion (so far, so good - 16 hours after the installation, four outgoing calls and two incoming calls and one hang-up [caught by the caller-ID]). I have friends and neighbors using Vonage - some have had perfect service for 5 years, others, like my neighbor Kitty, had horrible experiences, and have gone back to regular Bell South (AT&T) wired phone service (Vonage is wired, but can use either your TV cable (from a cable TV service) [like we use] or a DSL phone line - IF the Vonage Service is available in your area). We are saving about $40 a month (we have a 500 minute, incoming calls, free incoming calls. This is saving $50/month from not having Bell South phone service and about $5/month from not using Pioneer for long distance. We are paying about $19/month for our Vonage service. NOTE that Vonage will not work if either YOUR power goes out OR your Internet service goes out. Also not the emergency calls are slight different (and will not work if Vonage does not work [see above]). You also have to leave your cable modem connected (I normally turn mine off when not usiong the internet). I've seen that Vonage is financially shaky, but it has the best Service Record (reviews). Vonage Forum - Reviews Any current Vonage customer (such as us) can "invite" other people in the USA to convert to Vonage - both the Inviter and the Invitee get several months of service free (or is it 50% off?), if the Invitee accepts the invitation to convert to Vonage. Valid only if service/equipment purchased through Vonage. If a person accepts the invitation to convert and does sign up, there is small icon on the web page for accepting the service for for home use, that says OTHER PLANS. I clicked on the OTHER PLANS and signed up for the cheap 500 Minutes (outgoing) a Month plan - TOTAL COST is less than $20 a month. Additional minutes are 3.8 ?? cents a minute (under 4 cents a minute). Incoming calls are free. I can call anywhere in the continental US without extra fees. Caller ID, and other stuff is free. You have to buy a small piece of equipment, but with an instant rebate, I paid $9.99 for this. We also paid a $25 activation fee. You can keep (if Vonage works in your area) your Current phone number (if you wish). You can also GET A PHONE NUMBER LOCATED IN ANOTHER AREA. For example, I could get an Orange County, California Vonage phone number, and then people calling me from Orange County would be making local calls (not long distance) - THIS could be very useful for families. You can get two separate phone numbers with the Vonage equipment. The new Vonage equipment is much nicer than that of a year ago. Here are a few small pictures of the hardware we use: Vonage - Main menu Vonage - incoming call - line #1 Vonage - Select which phone line's data you wish to view Vonage - LOTS of INCLUDED Features Some of the standard included features are: Voicemail Caller ID with Name Call Waiting Call Forwarding 3-way calling lots more The SMALL desktop unit records all incoming and outgoing phone call phone Numbers (date/time stamped). It times phone calls, showing the number of minutes on the desktop unit. It shows you the phone number of both missed and received calls. Keep in mind that of you convert and keep your current phone number, there will be a certain amount of time (days?) where people calling you will have to use a temporary Vonage supplied phone number to reach you, until YOUR LOCAL phone company switches your phone number to Vonage - Vonage has NO control on when your current phone number is switched to Vonage, UNlike my neighbor a year-and-half ago, out phone number switch was very fast. We received the Vonage equipment on a Tuesday night. I did not have time to deal with it. On that Friday morning, Bell South (AT&T) had already switched our phone number to Vonage. How did I know? I picked up the phone and did not get a dial tone. I then installed the Vonage hardware, an extremely easy task - all needed hardware was included (a cable), The connections are both color-coded and completely described. I moved one Time-Warner TV/Internet Ethernet cable, installed one short (new, supplied Ethernet cable, plugged in the power supply, and I was off and running. I did find a lot of noise on the phone line UNTIL I went outside and disconnected the Bell South phone line from my outside phone connection box (another simple task). Apparently, still being physically attached to the normal Bell South phone system caused some harmonic feedback (noise). 2/8/2008 - Vonage updated the Firmware on their VoIP Vonage onternet phone boxes. Best of Luck!