Hi there all - i was thinking about moving to vonage, i am getting mixed reviews about them, is anyone on this forum using vonage, if so what do you think; is it worth the move ? or shall i stay where i am - with virgin media?

Hi
I've been on vonage for a year..I'm not saying that its the best thing that ever happened to the telephone industry,but for the monthly rate and the features included its absolutely brilliant.
It works brilliantly for me,and I have cable internet.
There is no line rental either,just plug the ethernet cable into the vonage router,then go from there to the computer.
One of the best features is the online section,you can see every call incoming and outgoing,and you also get an email sound file anytime someone leaves you a voicemail..
The international rates cannot be beaten either..

Whether you switch to Vonage depends on how much you make phone calls.

If you only make a few phone calls, then look at other companies such as Sipgate who charge no monthly fee, you just pay per minute for phone calls and get a local number of your choice of area. as it's VoIP and it's the hardware that matters you get all the options included such as caller display, call waiting, 3-way calling etc.

You just need to buy the adapter either from the VoIP provider or retailer.

I use Sipgate along with others such as Vyke (just over 2p per HOUR for a call - no incomming number tho), VoIPStunt etc.

I currently have a Linksys PAP2 ATA which has two independent lines, however other devices out there let you have several accounts on one line.

So glad to find that someone has started a thread on this as I must admit, VoIP is a bit of a blind spot for me - despite being otherwise reasonably tech savvy.

Sorry to ask some Janet & John questions, but does VoIP allow me to ditch BT?

My company recently swtiched to VoIP for all calls and I've found it quite unreliable (calls dropping out mainly) - is the consumer experience worse?

You still need an internet connection so you still need BT or another phone supplier.

I have voipcheap dot com which works well and is very low cost and I used to use it for daytime calls before they became inclusive. I now use it for phone to mobile phone via a web page if necessary and also use (should I admit this!?) Skype via a mobile phone.

thanks for the replies so far much appreciated, will have a look into the other providers as well, however, what is vonage customer services like ?

If you get your broadband via the BT line then you need to keep that. If you have cable broadband then this doesn't require a phone line as the broadband comes down a co-ax cable like the TV, so you don't need a phone line.

I was VoIP only for over 3 years, only had phone line back in due to VM offering it me at no cost per month and evening and weekend package and caller display at no monthly cost.

Only had a couple of issues and that was just when broadband went down, however my normal phone line has gone down more often and for longer.

Don't know what Vonage CS is like as never used them as for me wasn't worth the constant monthly price.

Vonage customer services are just fine,I really dont see what there is to think about - its about £6 monthly and no line rental..

I pay no 'line rental' for my VoIP and as my calls are only 2 pence per hour I'd have to make over 300 calls each and every month for Vonage to be worthwhile.

I have had vonage for about a week now and it works fine call quality is very good.

Zoom do routers with built in telephone adapters so you do not need a separate ATA like the PAP2 and the vonage box.
I got mine from ebay for a tenner but unfortunately it is not wireless which would be more use.

I use voipcheap.com with this as being .com the calls are "free" to the UK. The quarterly few euro fee is far more than I use and the paid for calls (and SMS) last me the rest of the year!

As a low user I am though considering a Skype hand set for the call I need to make to overseas numbers.

Using vonage here with the device they provide you with call quality is very good and no noticeable lag on the phones.

I used vonage for a couple of years way back in 2006 to about 2008. Good service although at the time there was a huge fuss when they all of a sudden introduced a fair usage policy (Which when I needed it at the time didn't fit in with my needs) But yeah for the most part I would say that they are pretty good

Another option to consider would be something like Localphone which lets you call internationally for next to nothing and is great if you don't want to mess about setting up voip or being tied to using the service when your at home next to your internet connection, but still want cheap calls abroad.

I use them all the time and the call quality is just as good as if you phoned direct, except it's a fraction of the cost!

When BBC Choise was launched it was advertised as a spill over channel for things that BBC One and Two, didn't have time to carry, or as an add-on to the main service.

With the launch of these new kids stations, it won't be possable for the BBC to use Choise as a spill over station anymore.

Why do we need BBC kids progs anyway - Most of them should be at school between the planned broadcast hours. It would be much better to stick with the current BBC Choise format (and just re-name that to BBC 3), and the BBC Knowlegde format could be changed to reflect what they want to be BBC 4. The main difference is that there is only TWO channels that broadcast 24 / 7. As it is BBC Choise outputs CBBC programmes between 6.00 am and 7.00 pm anyway, and BBC Knowlegde provides an alternative for the adults.

Sorry BEEB, but I think you've made a mistake with this one ... If you had held off and launched all four channels (CBBC, CBeeBee, BBC 3 and BBC 4) at the same time, then you would have got off with it, but no, you had to rush in and get BBC Choise and BBC Knoweldge on the air away ahead of their time !
Last edited by ROB54321 : 11-08-2010 at 15:21

Well i took the plunge and decided to with Vonage, ported the number from VM to Vonage, and there has been no issues so far with the service, not sure about customer service, i dont ring them much anyway, all is good up until the point where VMs broadband connection goes down and calls are routed to my mobile.