Vonage Going Public

Business VoIP — 12 September 2005

Vonage is expected to file for public status any day, and it may just rival the hoopla that surrounded Google’s IPO. Vonage is one of the biggest providers of VoIP (voice over IP), taking a large share of the market.

The biggest concern right now amongst investors is whether or not Vonage will truly perform due to the overwhelming number of competitors (Vonage’s share of the market dropped from 60% to 30% this year). Cable and other telecom giants pose a large threat to their business. Just do a Google search for ‘VoIP’ and you will see what I mean; there are currently 1,110 VoIP service provider. Number of subscribers to VoIP by 2009 is expected to reach 28 million.

There is most certainly some money in the space, but ask a colleague of mine and he will tell you that Vonage provides terrible service. According to him he couldn’t get through to customer service and when he did he couldn’t get through to their inept staff. To make matters worse there has been recent concern about the inability to dial emergency numbers from VoIP. There was a law suit that accused of Vonage of being negligible but Vonage claims to have made the ‘inability’ extremely apparent in their packaged materials.

About Author

Christen Costa

Grew up back East, got sick of the cold and headed West. Since I was small I have been pushing buttons - both electronic and human. With an insatiable need for tech I thought "why not start a blog focusing on technology, and use my dislikes and likes to post on gadgets."

http://www.blogger.com/profile/13126143 bagman3rd

Vonage BLOWS!!!

I signed up for Vonage back in January. After 6 weeks and almost 10 phone calls to customer service, Vonage was unable to enable my phone to receive incoming phone calls. So, for over 6 weeks, not one single friend or family member was able to call my home phone. I had to cancel Vonage servoce because they could not figure out why my phone would not receive incoming calls. I live in an urban area, and have never had any problems with my high speed internet access. On top of that, Vonage charge me for their service, or moreso lack of service, and refused to refund any of my money. Voip might be a great invention, but do not use Vonage unless you dont actually need to use your phone.

Archer
http://www.blogger.com/profile/13126143 bagman3rd

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bob Ley

I’ve been a Vonage customer for 8 months and I must say the price and service are great. I pay for the $14.99 limited service (500 minutes) which meets my monthly requirement. Even if I go over my minutes it still save me much more that B— South which charges over $32 just to have a line in my house for local calls! It was easy to hook up into the telephone wiring already in my house. This is also much cheaper than the cable companies offer (e.g $39 from T— Warner) .
Ken from Cleveland

I love Vonage! I have had it for over a year and it is great service. The sound quality is second to none. The price is always consistent with what I agreed to, unlike rip-off artists SBC/ATT who would tell you something cost $$49.99 and you end up paying $76.42 or more (it fluctuated); a company that has grown so large that they can poop on the public (potty habits of the big oil companies).

I also have virtual numbers in other cities that I forward to my cellphone, try that SBC (don’t think so). The fax line runs independent of my phone line for a small fee extra per month. I can go onto the phone log and look for numbers that I have misplaced. What more can you ask for.

Archer stick with SBC it’s easier to spell, because looking at your typo’s in your article you probably can’t read very well either and didn’t follow directions in hooking up you VONAGE line.
SC

Couldn’t agree more. I’ve had Vonage for 2 years now and I’ll never go back to Verizon/ATT etc for home phone service. My bill is consistently $28 (I have the $24.99 unlimited plan plus taxes etc). The quality is fine and I run it through my home network. I get my voicemails emailed to me at work. I truly hope Vonage doesn’t get swept under the carpet by cable giants or corporate takeoevers. I’m buying some stock.
Benny

I love Vonage! I’ve been a customer for over a year now and am very happy wih their service; especially their pricing. I have a home office that I use them for. I chose the unlimited phone plan for $25 as well as their limited fax service for an additional $10 (perfect for my needs.) My combined bill, including taxes for both lines, has been about $40 a month. I also have a “regular” phone line from our local phone company (Quest) for my home number (teenager.) Our home security system piggybacks onto that line, since “ADT” told me it had to connect to a “land line” for security purposes. I pay more for that one line with no long distance than I do for both of my Vonage lines! I do agree that their customer service is crappy, but their website pretty much addresses any troubleshooting issues one might need. Overall, I still think it’s well worth it and I highly recommended it for anyone that wants to save month after month.
marinela calcerrada

I had vonage since august 05,after some delays to get my old phone numer , I has been very happy with the service , I make a lot of internationals calls,, the sound and especially the price its great! I don’t worry any more how many minutes I talk to my family ,and my bill that use to be over 200 a month ,now never gets over 70 dollars!
All my friend are changing to vonage, I can look online all the incoming and outgoing calls and also transfer to my cell when I,m not at home
I LOVE VONAGE!!!
George S.

I’ve had Vonage since 2003…The quality is not like a land line, but for the most part it suites my needs. I like the ability to forward my calls to a cell phone or work or wherever I want. I think they will make it and eventually like all good small companies they get bought out by the big boys so they do not have to invest in the infrastructure to be as good as Vonage.
Dude

I’ve had Vonage for more than 1.5 yrs and have been very happy with both the cost and quality. I do have to make sure not to upload massive files to remote servers during a phone conversation (bandwidth on DSL won’t handle it) but other than than, I’ve browsed the internet and had crystal clear phone conversations. For $15 a month I can still afford a backup land line (basic service) to ensure emergency and power outage access and still pay less than for AT_T or other long-distance companies
ME

Setting it up did take some time because the router they sent me didn’t work. That being said I would still do again 100%! Every company has issues and problems but at least this one is saving me some $$$$$$! I LOVE VONAGE and would never go back to any other phone service.
Mark Z

I recently signed up for Vonage and the signup to connection was simple, I kept my number and so far it works great. The only problem was my builder and how they ran old POTS jacks around my house and how V*r*z*n wired my phones in the front of the house. By all accounts, you can plug Vonage adapters into a jack in the house and all other jacks should be live, but you have to remove the line from your old landline provider.
Rafael

VONAGE SUCKS.. AND THAT’S ALL I HAVE TO SAY!
THE SERVICE DOESN’T WORK, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR TECHNICAL SERVICE, AND EVEN IF IT ISN’T FIXED YOU HAVE TO PAY $90,00 FOR CANCELLATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT COUNTRY ARE WE IN?
Russ

I agree with the first comment, Vonage Blows!. No one told me that I would not be able to receive local incoming calls. I missed two really good job interviews because the prospective employer gave up when they could not reach me. One month now and no progress on switching me back. Is there a Federal Public Service commission or an Attorney General that I can plea for relief to?