Vonage broadband phone service ?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I dumped my Verizon land phone and got Vonage a year ago last January. It's one of the best things I've done computer wise. I use my regular phone, it sounds as good or better than Verison at half the cost. Voice mail, caller ID, forwarding...everything. All for about 27 bucks a month. Yes, that is the total price, with taxes and fees. But the really cool thing is that anywhere in the US or Canadaville (not that I'd need to call there) is a local call. I live in Oregon. If I want to call New York, I don't even press 1. It's a local call. How cool is that?

A. Have you made sure to sign up for the 911 'service'? I've been hearing reports from those in the States about people forgetting to read the fine print and make sure that if they dial 911 on their VOIP enabled phone they will actually get connected to an emergency operator. There is one drawback to it. If you lose power, without a UPS to provide power for your cable modem and their router, you won't have phone service. But my stuff is on a UPS anyway, so it isn't an issue for me. The service is virtually identical to a standard phone service. The only difference is delivery. Verizon delivers voice data over their copper wires, Vonage delivers it digitally over your broadband connection. What about a prepaid mobile phone for emergencies? Then again, a fair home UPS (I like APC's products) should be able to power that router for quite a while. Your residential broadband access comes with no service level agreement (SLA). It is provided on a "best effort" basis. I'll give you three guesses as to whom it is determines what "best effort" means. Furthermore: Your state regulators have been told by FCC "hands off" wrt regulating broadband providers and FCC itself has a "hands off" policy. So, regarding your residential broadband service: You're completely dependent on the tender mercies of whomever it is from whom you're receiving it. When your residential broadband hiccups: No phone. Operations like Vonage, last *I* knew, were not subject to state tariffs. While this means they're not subject to certain charges (one reason they're able to provide cut-rate service), they're also not subject to state regulatory agencies, such as Public Service/Utility Commissions. So should they fail to provide certain minimum levels of service reliability, you've no recourse with your state regulators. I'm no fan of the ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers - i.e.: SBC, Verizon, BellSouth, Qwest), make no mistake. But before you go throwing away your dedicated land-line(s), understand that the phone system reliability you're used to goes with it. I'm a Systems & Network Admin., by trade. I know how "reliable" the Internet is. Personally, if I valued my phone service, and I do, I wouldn't even *consider* trusting it to the Internet.

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