Anyone use Vonage and have you seen their new service for travelers?

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

I have been wanting to sign up for Vonage for some time.....$24.95 for unlimited calling USA/Canada and now several European countries Vonage Europe services The reason I have held off is the 911 issue.....my kids are young and I don't want them to have to give our address in case of an emergency (my 3.5 yr old can't just yet anyway). They say they are working on 911 enhancements in our area but we are still waiting.

Now they have the Vonage V-Phone service which stores the intertnet telephone servie on a USB key.....so it is small and can be carried on a key chain and plugged into a computer's USB port....a travelers dream.

Here is more information on it.

The Gadgetress Review of VV-Phone

The Gadgetress Blog pictures and review of Vonage V-Phone

June 29, 2006
Phone on a stick from Vonage


So the Vonage media person was trying to explain to me how its new phone, the V-Phone works. I completely spaced because it takes more effort to explain how it works than to show you. You know, a picture is worth a 1,000 yaddas... So here are the pics and the video.

My brief explainer: It looks like a portable USB drive because it is, but the Vonage phone software is built right on the stick. There is also a slot to plug in a headset. Oh course, it's not a phone by itself. It's a parasite that must plug into a computer and lets you dial phone numbers from your computer.

The V-Phone is $40 plus service. It's nice for those who are on the road and no where near their Vonage service. The USB also has an extra 250 MB if you need to stash extra files. Hmmm... similar to the U3 key I reviewed a while back that includes free Skype software to make calls on a laptop.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Does anyone have a primer on Vonage? I have read the ads, etc. and it looks very interesting. Anyone have experience with vonage?

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I use vonage and I love it. My favorite feature is simultaneous ring of your vonage phone and cell phone.

I checked out the V-phone, but you need to buy another monthly vonage account.

The better idea is to just sign up for a free Skype account. Then, you can have free pc-to-pc phone calling. It also has a chat client so you can ping people prior to trying to call. It has EXCELLENT phone quality. Far better than vonage.

And, Skype has an offnet calling feature that lets you dial from you PC to any other phone number. Calls to the US are FREE for the rest of the year. There is also a per minute fee for other countries.

What I would do is wait until we find out the offnet calling plan for the US before signing up for the V-phone. I'll bet that Skype is cheaper and the quality and feature set is far superior.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

What I would do is wait until we find out the offnet calling plan for the US before signing up for the V-phone. I'll bet that Skype is cheaper and the quality and feature set is far superior.

When would this be? Is there a link to Skype?

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

What I would do is wait until we find out the offnet calling plan for the US before signing up for the V-phone. I'll bet that Skype is cheaper and the quality and feature set is far superior.

When would this be? Is there a link to Skype?

www.skype.com

All you need is a headset. It's a fantastic service. We should have a link so that we can all skype each other. Wait until you hear the quality.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I switched my business phones to Vonage several months ago and it's great. If I could get a Vonage adapter with three phone lines, I would convert our home phone in an instant.

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Re vonage 911. When you set up a Vonage account, you give them information on where you have the phone installed. So when you call 911, they route the call to the appropriate Emergency Call Center, including the address of the phone. So you don't need to give the address when you call 911.

The only hook comes is if you take yoiur adapter on the road with you (which is a big advantage for me when traveling). If you do that, and you dial 911. Vonage will send the call to the center where you have the phone registered, not the physical location. If you're going to be gone for an extended period of time, though, you simply change the address associated with the location of the phone.

****

Much of the cautionary language that Vonage puts out about limited 911 service is just lawyerese created to prevent someone from sueing Vonage for failing to provide 911 service after someone relocates the phone without advising Vonage of the new address.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Finally got Vonage!

I finally got Vonage and so far I love it. 911 was the stopper for me but I did confirm that I do get E911 so that covers the concerns I had about the kids. The gadgetress referenced at the beginning of this thread confirmed that my area has E911 since everytime I called Vonage to check it out they claimed that it was coming soon but for some reason could not confirm that I had it. I had additional motivation because I just got notice from ATT that they are raising our rates and I have been wanting to rid myself of that company.

I just signed up with a Circuit City and got the first month free, $100 mail-in rebate, and a $75 gift card to CC. CC did charge a $30 activation fee.

I have been wanting to set-up wireless at home in addition to the four PC's that I have that are hard wired. I got the Linksys 'G' wireless router with two phone ports and 4 PC ports and it was on sale at CC as well for only $35. I was able to use my CC gift card to buy it. I need to use the $24.95 unlimited calling plan for 60 days and then I can downscale to the $15.95 500 minute plan if I don't need unlimited. But now that I have it I may start calling some of you more often.

One of the reasons I signed up now was we were going on vacation and Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad CA has hi-speed internet (not wireless) in every room and I wanted to test the system, use my unlimited calling plan from my room, and set-up wireless/hard wire for our laptop. It works!!!!!...the hard wire anyway as I have not tried wireless yet. Now I will be able to get my home phone calls here when our number switches over in a few days.

So far so good with Vonage.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

One of the reasons I signed up now was we were going on vacation and Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad CA has hi-speed wireless in every room and I wanted to test the system, use my unlimited calling plan from my room, and set-up wireless/hard wire for our laptop. It works!!!!!...the hard wire anyway as I have not tried wireless yet. Now I will be able to get my home phone calls here when our number switches over in a few days.

Whe we were at Po`ipu last summer, I brought the Vonage adapter along. I connected the cable modem in the room to a LAN/wireless router. Plugged the Vonage into one of the LAN ports and had phone service. Then used my daughter and I both connected our laptops through the wireless.

Worked like a charm.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Skype is something everyone should sign up for. Skype to skype is always free and the quality is fantastic.

Skype out, which is Pc to phone was free until the end of this year. Now, there is a promotion of $15 for the whole next year. It's a bargain and all you need to do is bring your laptap and a headset. If you have broadband, it works great. I've used it with my 3G wireless card and got great phone service.

Vonage is a problem in most timeshares since they often times have a proxy of some type if they charge. So, it only works in a few resorts that have DSL and free at that.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Typical Rebate shenanigans by Vonage

I kind of expected this but I hate when they do this. Now I have to call them and fight it.

I purchased Vonage on 12/23/06 and sent everything in on time.

Vonage:

We’re sorry, but you do not qualify for this rebate offer. The following problem(s) occurred:

Your purchase was made after the rebate offer ended.




Vonage

Instructions:
To qualify for $100 Visa Debit Card prepaid Visa card:
Purchase any Vonage device at participating retailers between 11/24/2006 and 12/30/2006.
Activate your Vonage service within 30 days of purchase.
Your Vonage account must remain active for at least 60 days. Rebates are valid for new account activations only.
Not valid for purchases made at Vonage - A better phone service for less. Rebate only valid on new service activations not existing accounts. Vonage $100 prepaid Visa card is issued by Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Fees may apply, see Terms and Conditions for details.