Though the service isn't available in my area code yet, I'm considering the service if it ever comes here.

Was wondering if anyone here has any experiance with their service.

For phone and fax with my current teliphone company, I'm paying about $71.00/mo. Based on the Vonage plans, phone and fax through them would cost $35.00/mo for the unlimited plan or $25.00/mo for the 500 min plan. Either way, it would end up saving ~$430-550 per year.

I was looking at this over the weekend and would also like to know what anyone's experience with Vonage has been like.

I'm paying 60 with unlimited evening and weekend calling, fax etc.
canada though.

I'm looking too....
I've had AT&T local and unlimited long distance, but AT&T ais being bought by SBC
who I HATE! (yes, Hate!)

I know our rates will go up so I am looking

I looked around the Vonage site and it doesn't mention what the equipment charges are. I got as far as the sign up page and didn't see any mention of the cost. I saw an add in the TigerDirect catalog where there was a full rebate on the equipment, so I am wondering if buying retail might be a better way to go.

One of my friends has vonage and he loves it... I've been on the phone talking to him 1000 times and it is clear as a bell... I don't remember the charges but he told me that it was as cheap as phone service is gonna get and wants me to convert as well... I'm considering it

ive got vonage and it is awesome! But for int'l outgoing cals.i use skypeout

The addapter is free if you sign up with Vonage. There is a $30 setup fee and a $10 S&H fee as stated here.

The adapter can also be bought locally at circuit city, ect(saw it there yesterday.)

It may not be a whole lot cheaper for you D3. cause a large part of your phone bill cost is tennessees stupid library internet tax. They charged $20 tax on our basic long distance. But if you dont have to pay that tax with vonage it would probably be cheaper.

My uncle just got it and he loves it. he didnt say anything about how mcuh equipment costs but hes only paying like 25 a month for it.

he lives in minnesota and he got a phone number from willow grove, so now when i call him it local for me,but long distance for his nieghbors

he was just using cell phones and not having a home phone,but he has to do some conference calls from home a few times a week so thats why he got it

I had vonage for a few months, I had some problems, the biggest problem was they would charge me 2 times so instead of $24.99 it would be $49.98 a month, And costumer service is horrible, But other than those 2 things is was an ok service, For reviews and problems with the service check out DSLreports.com they have a section just for voice over IP.

The kid on the vonage site looks like a vampire....

No its batboy from the weekly world news.

there are forums over at http://www.vonage-forum.com/gate.html?name=Forums that can tell you more than you'll ever want to know

Thanks for the link, Ruisu.

yeah, best buy has the Linksys voice enabled NAT router for $80, then all you have to do is sign up with Vonage, i am fixing to do it myself, my Bellsouth bill is around $80 for unlimited everything, with Vonage it should drop by about 30-40 bucks/mo

the only thing holding me back is figuring out how it will impact my bandwidth if i am using the internet and the wife decided to make a call, i have read somewhere that it uses quite a bit of bandwidth, that for users of DSL Lite they recommend an internet speed upgrade

My understanding of the service is it is a lot like TeamSpeak or Ventrello (sp?). You can adjust the quality of voice which will determine the amount of bandwidth used. Vonage also has a Bandwidth Saver. From the user guild it looks like it only uses 30Kbps - 90Kbps (per line) depending on your settings.

i use Packet 8 VoIP and it works great, and is only 19.99 for unlimited calling us and canada. THey also have low international rates and video phones if you want to go that route.

I've had a couple of problems when trafffic is heavy, where the connections seems to break and i can't hear/speak. But those are rare, and you can always call back in a 20 seconds....because it's free! Packet8 will also let you port your existing phone number (not sure if vonage does this) but this takes awhile and you essentially pay for the lowest regular phone service w/call forward to your temp packet8 number as well as paying for the packet8 number. THe hardware is free and small.

ALso, with packet8, and probably all of them, if you want multiple phones in your house, then you need one of those portable phone systems that have satellites that you just plug into outlets, because the phone is directly plugged into the box (no wireless connection), so your base phone is next to your router/modem.

Thanks for the link.

While Packet8 has a lower rate, the Vonage network looks like the better way to go, IMO. The main reason for me, as stated above, is the ability to have a dedicated fax line. Doesn't appear that P8 can offer additional numbers or dedicated fax. - Vonage does.

Here is a snip from P8's site:



Since I am a contractor and my employeer is located in the DC area, I send a lot of faxes each month. I need a dedicated line that I can use for that.

You can also buy a "multiple jack extension connector" which allows you to plug more than one phone into a Vonage line. Though, like you said the base would still be near your Cable/DSL modem. I'd probably go with an expandable cordless phone system anyway.

I just signed up for the Basic 500 service. I'll let you know if I have any problems.

Cool. Let us know. I'm still waiting to hear about the 865 area code.

We just got set up with lingo. $22.90/month AFTER taxes, for unlimited U.S. and canada. No equipment charge.

So far the service seems to be good - I signed up on Monday and on Tuesday I got an e-mail notification that my Linksys phone adapter had shipped.

I faxed my LOA in today to get my number transferred. I'll post back when it goes through- it could take as long as 20 days.

Edit
Got my phone adapter today and I am up and running on Vonage.