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Does anyone have Vonage??

18 years ago

Keep seeing the commercial for it. When it says broadband required, they just mean an internet connection, right? Can I keep Verizon for my DSL, and have them (Vonage) as my phone??

Thanks!!

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Comments (5)

redcurls
18 years ago
I don't think so. To my knowledge, DSL is different from broadband. I think DSL is simply dial-up - faster than regular dial up, but still dial-up.

My son has Vonage and it is not all the great anyway. I wouldn't have it.
monica_pa Grieves
18 years ago
DSL is broadband....not dial-up. It's a digital line that travels on your home phone connection.

However, I can't see why you would piggyback Vonage onto DSL, since you need the phone service for the DSL, anyway.
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I've used Vonage for years for my business phone, with no complaints. If the internet is down, yes, the phone goes out, but it will send calls to voicemail, or you can set it up to forward to another number, like your cell phone. The internet isn't down much where I live. The quality is directly related to how much bandwidth you allow Vonage to use. The adapters come with a setting that uses a medium amount of bandwidth, which can sound garbled at times. If you change the setting to allow it to use the maximum amount of bandwidth (not *your* maximum, just the maximum the phone could need), it sounds good. At times, it's not quite as good as a phone with a cord, but I'm never embarrassed to make business calls on it. However, Vonage is a voice-over-internet protocol service, and I'll bet your cable phone is also VoiP. If you don't like the cable phone, you may not like Vonage. Or maybe there are settings you could change on your cable phone, to allow it to use more bandwidth. Vonage has terrific features. My favorite is SimulRing. It allows you to set up to five alternate phone numbers, and when a call comes in on your phone line, Vonage will ring all the numbers, including your original phone line. When I had a phone line, I used to set my cell phone as an alternate number, and the cell phone would become, in effect, an extension of the home phone for incoming calls. Another Vonage feature that I use on my business line is Virtual Voicemail. All my voicemail is run through a machine that transcribes it and then the transcript is emailed (or texted) to me. Very cool.
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This is the reply I just posted on "Cell vs. land line": o RE: Cell phone as Home phone * Posted by lithigin (My Page) on Wed, Jun 14, 06 at 13:52 Have you considered VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) service such as Vonage? DH and I spend $80 each month with taxes on our joint cell plans. Vonage has two main plans: $15/month for 500 minutes $25/month for unlimited minutes We have the first plan and pay about $16.50 per month, total. PROS: Low, low taxes! Low, low rates! Very easy to forward your home calls to your cell when you're traveling. All features are included...voicemail, voicemail sent to your email, caller ID, etc., etc. 911 works just fine (contrary to what Time Warner Cable likes to tell me when they try to get me to switch!). You just have to register your physical address so that it is linked to your phone number. You can get any area code you want that Vonage serves (you just relocated to NYC, but your entire family is from Nebraska; you can choose a Nebraska home area code). CONS: You must have cable modem service to use VoIP. If your internet goes down, so does your phone. But you have a cell, right? Also, all calls cost an equal number of minutes, so you pay 'airtime' for 800 number calls. Vonage does a referral plan where both parties get a month or two free. If you're interested, PM me with your email address and I'll send you an invite. We are very happy with the service. Lindsay
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Zipper_TX
18 years ago
I have DSL and I have Vonage. It works great and it's a much better deal on phone service ;0) The only thing you should know is that if your internet goes down so does your phone service.

You will need to check with your ISP to make sure it works in your area or that they won't/don't have problems with it. HTH ;0)
redcurls
18 years ago
I'm glad to stand corrected.....love learning new stuff. I honestly thought DSL was internet through a phone line.....
ntt_hou
18 years ago
DSL is a data transfer line through your telephone line and usually provided through your local SBC/AT&T company.

My only fear with the all digital and wireless world is when power is down, all communication is down. In case of power down, your only source is your cellular phone. If the whole town or area is in crisis, cellular lines can get quite tied up and if you have an emergency... well, you got the idea.

True story: During hurricane Rita a few years back, remember the traffic in Houston that you saw on the news? Well, being stuck in that traffic, people had nothing else to do but chatting away on the phone... the cellular phones. All the lines were tied up. My family couldn't get through my cellular line until I reminded them to call me on my regular home phone.

Good thing, I had kept a corded telephone with SBC/AT&T as a back up because the wireless phone was no good neither when power was out.

SBC/AT&T has a back up unit that allows the phone to ring and function as usual. So, I was able to communicate with my family still.

Another event with cellular phones was during the terrorists attacking London. The government cut off cellular communication channels to the public in order to give priority usage for the government. However, the public was still able to use text messaging for communication.

I strongly advise everyone to keep an old corded phone handy. They're so inexpensive nowadays, it's worth keeping one in case of emergency.

However, if you chose Vonage or any other digital telephone system, remember, if you cannot call out with your cellular, try text messaging.

Be safe!

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