http://www.freetalk.co.uk/vonage/

Got a email last night


Dear Freetalk customer,

Freetalk has partnered with Vonage, one of the world’s leading internet phone services!

From 19th September 2006, your internet phone service will no longer be supplied by the existing Freetalk network, but by Vonage, to give you continuous excellence in service, at the same low price, with even more great features.

To ensure seamless continuation of your service, with the same phone number, all we ask is that you call Vonage on Freephone 0808 178 3403 (lines are open now, 24/7) before 16th September 2006.

With Vonage you will...

Keep your existing Freetalk telephone number
Keep the same low price plan as your current Freetalk service
Keep on making unlimited calls to landlines in the UK, also in the Republic of Ireland – talk for as long as you like, as often as you like
Enjoy low international and mobile call rates – always as low as Freetalk rates, in some instances even lower
Make free calls to other Vonage customers, 1.8 million customers worldwide
Call 999 to speak to emergency services – we hope you’ll never need to!
Enjoy even more great features, such as fax availability and voicemail to email notification, from one of the world’s best known and fastest growing VOIP providers
Receive a new Motorola VT2442 telephone adapter and four port router – it’s small, stylish and easy to set-up!
Benefit from Freephone Customer Service Support, 24/7, 365 days a year

To ensure a smooth continuation of service, please call 0808 178 3403 – lines are open today, 24/7, with advisors happy to answer any questions.

One Month Free
As a welcome present for Freetalk customers joining Vonage, as well as keeping your existing low price plan, you’ll receive the first month’s unlimited calls to landlines in the UK for free!

Want more Info?
To find out more, including answers to frequently asked questions, visit www.vonage.co.uk/freetalk


Best Regards,

All at Freetalk




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This offer is exclusively for existing Freetalk customers. No promotion code is required. Restrictions may apply to this sale.

Copyright ©2006 Freetalk Communications Ltd. All rights reserved

Yes, just been reading.

What isn't made clear, its not that easy to spot on their web site, is that you will need to take out a 12 month contract with Vonage.

If you cancel within 99 days you need to pay a rebate on the new adapter they sent you, and a 23.99 disconnection fee. If you cancel before the year is up (i.e. before next September) but after 99 days, you will still need to pay the 23.99 disconnection fee.

-------------

Compared to VoIPStunt and the like, neither FreeTalk or Vonage were good value for money, but this means there is less competition for these type of services.

Now if you had an unlocked ATA you could use a service like VoIPStunt or sister services if you signed up with them when they issued VoIP-In numbers for free, as they are better value.

There's also http://www.voip.co.uk/res_products.html worth a look.

I am not happy as I payed out £19.99 for a box locked to freetalk and now I dont have any spare money for a new one. people on the 12months pack are well done by as you need to pay the p&p for the new box as they that that off your card. and give you 2 months without a rebill. I will just go without a phone line for a bit

I just bought a Freetalk box 13 days ago!

You don't need to buy a new one, they are supplying it free of charge. Or making you pay £8.99 for it and refunding it to your account, which is pretty much the same thing.
Last edited by troublegum : 30-08-2006 at 22:32

but they are makeing you stay for 12 months or you have to pay £23.99

I just got the email as well so i called them on the 0808 number and spoke to a nice american woman who informed me that i had to pay £8.99 for delivery of the new router.

Not to bothered about that but she said something as i have 6 months remaining on my acount that they will credit £7.99 a month to my account for the next 6 months so in other words unless i call outside the uk i wont get a bill at all.

Great i thought but isnt the line rental £6.99??

I never clicked on to this till after the call so i will be calling back later to find out what she meant by this.

Apparently in order to keep your existing number you need to call them before the 8th September to ensure it gets ported over to Vonage.

And another thing she mentioned is you get 1 months service free.
Last edited by neo6776 : 01-09-2006 at 04:49

According to their website the normal cost is £7.99 but because you currently pay £6.99 they will credit £1 to your account every month to make up the diference.

You will only get the first month free.

Well spotted thanks.

I just looked on the Freetalk website and it just looks the same as it ever did with no news on this at all

http://freetalk.co.uk/vonage/

http://vonage.co.uk/freetalk/

You need to be quick to qualify for all the free stuff though.

Got my new router today and number gets ported tomorrow.

Sound quality seems good so far as im using the temp number they gave me at the moment.

Yep, I noticed the sound quality has been extremely good for me.

I think my number gets ported tomorrow too.

Router is good isn't it?
Last edited by artnada : 07-09-2006 at 17:06

Yeah its a very good router.

I was pleasently surprised with it.

I wont use any of the ports on it though as i have a seperate Linksys wirless router that has my 3 PC's plugged in and use the wireless for the laptop.

Sound quality seems far better as well which is brilliant

my sound quality is superb (there is a setting on the website to improve the data used).
i never had any problems with the freetalk service (apart from the sound not being great), so lets hope vonage has a good service.

the lady i spoke to in new jersey, usa said that it shoud be possible to transfer LANDLINE numbers to vonage next year!
the only reason i keep bt now is because loads of people know the number and i always had a fear that the voip service would be crap & unreliable. once it's possible to port numbers it wont matter because you can take it wherever you want

I am one of those transfered from Freetalk to Vonage. I was told that the line rental would be £6.99 p/m as with Freetalk, yet I have just been chaerged £7.99? This right???

£7 or £8 per month, each and every month is way too much money, especially when you think what offers you can get for much much less money, Vonage try and make you think you are getting all the little extras in with the money, when in reality it's just because it's VoIP that all those services are free anyway, so whether you pay £8 per month or £0 per month all the 'extras' are part of having VoIP.

I sometimes pop up and mention www.draytel.org which I use. No monthly charge, and a host of extras (a geographic number area of your choice, voicemail, call forwarding etc.)

No one else mentions them - why?
Last edited by Captain Cod : 03-10-2006 at 10:05

The fact is i'm on Vonage now and i'm not [currently] interested in moving to another service. My question still stands. Anyone who has recently transfered to Vonage from Freetalk, have you been charged £6.99 or £7.99 this month?

tia

this month should have been free.

I've had my first month free, but now they have charged me £7.99

There is also my new VoIP provider, VoIP.co.uk who have a UK Calls package which is charged at £19.99/yr

For that you get unlimited UK off-peak calls and and peak calls at 2p/hr which seems to be a lot cheaper than Draytel.

The reason they are few mentions of these companies are that they are probably a lot less well known than Vonage who have the finances to advertise in the national media!

Were you able to get a "local" geographic number with voip.co.uk ?

VoIP.co.uk, OrbTalk, VoIPTalk, Sipgate and many many others all issue you any area code you wish, many 18+ months before Vonage / Free Talk came on the scene, issuing 'local' area codes is nothing special, and nothing unique to Vonage.

The only real thing unique about Vonage is they make you think you are getting all these extras because you have Vonage, when in fact doesn't matter who your VoIP provider is, you will get these 'extras' because they are part of the VoIP system, so even if for example you use Sipgate where there is no monthly charge, you still get Caller Display, Call Waiting, Caller Display on Waiting Call, Call Transfer, Call Divert, 3-Way calling etc - That's part of VoIP.

The only other thing about Vonage, is it's way too much money each week compared to what you can pay and still get a better service.
Last edited by MadMulla : 05-10-2006 at 11:36