Is Vonage a good company?, anyone with them?, what are the pro/cons? as not much info on the web about them

They're probably OK service-wise, but certainly not the cheapest. For the cheapest no frills company, you're better off with one of the Betamax group of companies (voipcheap, et al.) listed:

http://www.backsla.sh/betamax

I'm with Voipcheap.com and have never (touch wood) had a problem with them. Other SIP providers are SIPgate, Orbtalk, and many others (a quick Google search will show quite a few).

B

I've been with them for ages and found them very good. Excellent customer service and engineering support. Price is good for us as my boyfriend needs to call the US, Australia and Italy on a regular basis.

Advantages of Vonage will be that all the setting up is done for you.Just plug the vonage box into your router and a phone into the vonage box and away you go. Disadvantages can be that you may pay for services that you can get cheaper elsewhere but as a total solution that works out of the box it's worth considering when comparing to Sipgate or Draytel etc (who will also sell you pre configured pieces of hardware if required).

Hi there

I work for Vonage and would be great to help you out with your decision - Are you still interested in our service?

Drop me a PM with your email and I'd be more than happy to help you

In the meantime you can see all the call plans here
http://www.vonage.co.uk/call-plans/
and the 20 FREE services we offer here
http://www.vonage.co.uk/inclusive-call-features/

Thanks
Enzo

Don't know if this thread is still open. I don't work for Vonage but have had a Vonage line for over 12 months. Service has been excellent. I am sure there are cheaper options out there but is easy to set up and can be used wherever you are in the world so long as you have an RJ45 port to plug in. £7.99 a month allows free calls to most of the major countries. Downside is there is a cancellation cost if you cancel before 12 months is up.

If you have a decent ISP I say go for it. You shouldn't be disappointed.

Vonage is one of the more expensive VoIP companies and there are plenty of far cheaper ones out there. I'm with Sipgate who provide many features others charge a fortune for which I get for free.

In my personal experience somehow Vonage got hold of my phone number and I found their marketing extremely aggressive and unwanted. After many repeated calls and my demands for it to stop, it only ceased after I involved their New York office and the Information Commissioner.

is there ant voip out there that are similar to vonage where you can plug in your normal phone and also get a landline number rather than a 05 or 06 one?

Quite a few, you simply buy you own ATA and then choose your VoIP provider.

can you name any?
any that supply the connection to a real phone rather than buy seperate.

Loads, I mentioned Sipgate but there are at least a dozen which are popular players. You need to get an ATA plugged into a router port or router with in-built VOIP, then your phone plugs into the back and it operates exactly the same as a landline. My provider not only gives me a geographical number for free, but importantly gives access to the emergency services. I've had VOIP for about 6 years now and cannot imagine going back to a fixed line from my local providers. In that time I've saved over £700 in line rental and goodness knows how much on calls.

that company looks pretty expensive compared to vonage, vonage calls are fre yet sipgate is chargable

Vonage you pay a set-up charge, a monthly rental and an exit fee. So can't be called free, plus if you don't make any calls you still have to pay the monthly fee. They advertise you get this free, that free etc such as Caller Display, Call Waiting, 3-Way calling etc, but that you get anyway with VoIP and your device.

Sipgate you pay nothing other than for the calls you make, so if you make no calls for a couple of months you pay nothing for a couple of months.

There are several other companies, and you can use more than one, some give local numbers like Sipgate out for free and no on going charge, others give you free minutes for a top-up yet you can still use that top-up credit for other calls and with a free service like MySIPSwitch you can use several services together.

For example use Sipgate for one or more local numbers and use Vyke for out-going calls, calls cost 2.1p per call.

I have a Linksys PAP2 ATA on Line 1 I use VoIP Stunt (as at the time they gave me a local number and it is very memorable) on Line two I am using MYSIPSwitch with several Sipgate numbers, VoIPTalk Numbers, OrbTalk Numbers, Coms number, Local Phone number, EuteliaVoip numbers and Vyke. I have it set up to use the various networks for various calls for example Sipgate to Sipgate calls are free so use Sipgate to call friends and Family on Sipgate etc.

I use Vonage and I looked at some of the others mentioned in this thread with Vyke being quite attractive, however and without having contacted each company directly, none seem to offer what I find the most useful.

And that is virtual numbers. This has proven to be a very useful feature to me and one I don't want to part with. Having localised phone numbers for overseas family members has ensured we've kept in touch.

So far only Vonage seem to offer that feature, unless anyone on this thread can advise me otherwise?

You can use Vyke with a combination of MySIPSwitch, which is what I do, so I have several numbers some from the UK and some from other countries (though only the ones that don't charge for having local numbers) and use MYSIPSwitch to allow me to make outgoing calls mainly on Vyke, but also allow me to choose which calls go over who and also allows incoming calls on any number.

Quality is the problem with a lot of VOIP. I know someone who uses Vonage and when he phones me, you would never know he is using VOIP, it is so good and yet someone else I know who uses Tesco VOIP and the quality can be hit and miss.

I don't know anyone who uses Sipgate, but a couple of years back there was a lot of complaints about them.


You got to look to see if you need VOIP, so many landline service providers are doing good deals, that VOIP is not worthwhile to most people. Useful if you want a second line.

I was with vonage for 3 years (august 2006 to may 2008) Had a lot of problems with them trying to call 1 number inparticulair I needed to call (my fiance in the states) kept getting error messages when trying to call that number for whatever reason. Everything else was fine. They shot themselves in the foot though when they introduced the 2000 minutes fair usage policy more or less out of the blue (I use a lot more than that and I was slightly peeved that they more or less just announced it and didn't give many people warning) I guess they're OK and they will try to help when need be but probabloy cheaper and better out there.

Having a rather noisy phone line, after repeated calls to BT over it only to be told there is nothing wrong. I plucked up courage and ordered Vonage VOIP. Using the same cordless phones, we have a crystal clear line which is a pleasure to use and extras that you would have to pay for from other telcoms. So easy to set up took 10 mins from opening the the box the adapter came in to up and running. No regret's

That's the good thing about VoIP, the extras are actually part of the device you use, so even if you use a company like Sipgate where there is no monthly fee, you still get your Caller Display, Call Waiting, 3-Way Calling etc etc.