Vonage Review + Pros and Cons

For those of you who haven't switched to Vonage yet and may just be
thinking about it, I thought this list of pros and cons may be
useful. It is by no means complete and some of these may not apply
to all people.

Also, I calculated a while ago that the $40 unlimited plan is better
only if you consistently make over 858 minutes of calls per month.

Pros:
- CHEAP! For $26 you get what most phone companies may charge $65 -
$70 for.
- Cheaper international calling rates; calls to Canada
count as domestic calls.
- Ability to PROFIT from having service; if you can
make one referral per month, you will get $40 back per
month translating to a profit of over $13/month if you have $26 plan.
More referrals, more profit.
- Detailed and continuously updated online tracking
ability.
- All calls to other Vonage numbers regardless of area
code count as local calls.
- Virtual number capability; For $5/month you can get
a second number in any Vonage area code so people can
call you from that area code for free.
- Good e-mail customer service.
- ALL calls within area code are local and free; Not necessarily the
case with local phone companies in many area codes.
- Can easily turn on or off voicemail temporarily.
- Can easily enable or disable international calling.
- Easy number transportability; You can take Vonage
box anywhere in the WORLD where there is broadband and
receive your calls.
- Ability to access voice-mail anywhere you have
online access.
- Can easily enable voice-mail to kick in instantly or
from anywhere between 5 and 50 seconds once ringing
begins.
- 3.9 cents/minute for long distance calls over 500
minutes. No major carrier I know of has rates that
low unless you include cell phones.

Cons:
- Poor telephone customer service, though it is
getting better.
- Bases of all phones in your house must connect to
the Cisco ATA provided by Vonage.
- Caller ID gives number only, not name.
- Switch to service may result in change in phone number.
- If you lose power, you lose Vonage service; though
you can have calls transferred to any other phone
number for free.
- 11 digit dialing required for ALL calls. Most local phone
companies don't require this.

Reviewer: dspandit