Vonage - unlimited calls, no line rental, £9.99 per month

Darryl

Is this too good to be true?

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

This seems to be the first broadband-internet based (VoIP) telephone service that seems to compete with the BT line rental / discount call provider approach many of us MSE-wanna-be's use.

For £9.99 per month they will give you an adapter so that you can use your normal phone via your broadband connection.

No line rental, just £9.99 per month for the service, including unlimited calls to UK local and national numbers (but not mobiles, 0845, 0870, etc). So, like One-Tel but you don't need a BT line to use it. So, a saving of £10.50 per month!

Given that I use my mobile free cross-network minutes for other mobile calls, and saynoto0870.com for those type of calls, this has got to be a winner.

Does anyone else use this service? I use Skype now for my VoIP calls, and know that this type of phone service is as good as a normal BT type call.
Can anyone see the downside?

Darryl.

Darryl

The only downside I can see (having slept on this), is if you have broadband via a BT line then you have to pay BT for line rental anyway.

But then, if you have broadband via cable companies like NTL or Telewest, then all you pay for is your broadband monthly fee plus the £9.99 for this Vonage service...

Am I missing anything else?

Darryl.

bunking_off

You need to be a little bit wary of going down the path of giving up your conventional telephony line and relying on an internet based service (e.g. using broadband from Telewest and VoIP from Vonage as a substitute for a BT line).

If you've got a mobile, all well and good. However, if you haven't, you need to be aware that the voice over internet services will either not provide 999 access, or will do so on a "best effort" basis;

1) There are special measures built in to the normal telephony network so that 999 calls get preference over standard calls, and to prevent the calling party hanging up (ie the emergency handling centre can hold the call open).
2) Your calling line identity is linked to a database which pinpoints your location, so if you make a 999 call then collapse without being able to utter a word, you can be traced and the emergency services get to you.
3) Your conventional line works even if there's a power failure (unless you've only got DECT handsets!), whereas depending on the configuration in your house, a power failure (e.g. the consumer unit tripping in a fire) could take out your broadband connection hence your VoIP service.
4) Consumer ISPs don't work to the same level of availability as telephony networks (I work for a company that provides IP and telephony services so can vouch for that)

You may feel that the saving made is worth the (probably small) risk involved that you won't be able to make a 999 call. Point is, go in with your eyes open.

If you take a VoIP service and retain your BT line, then you avoid the issues. Problem is, the economics aren't as good.

Edinburghlass_2

Have a read at this thread too.

PTLD

liked your motto....
except.. I remember it's i before e except after c

derrick

PTLD wrote:

liked your motto....
except.. I remember it's i before e except after c

reign,height,
their, and countless others to disprove that "rule"

koru

Darryl wrote:

The only downside I can see (having slept on this), is if you have broadband via a BT line then you have to pay BT for line rental anyway.

But then, if you have broadband via cable companies like NTL or Telewest, then all you pay for is your broadband monthly fee plus the £9.99 for this Vonage service...

I think you are right. This might finally be a way to scrap BT altogether, if you use cable for your broadband.

The other way it might pay off is if you need a second phone line. I need one for my home-business, but was not keen on paying BT £75 installation fee (for a line that is already in place), plus £10.50 per month line rental. That's £200 in the first year, without any calls. So, I had planned to get an NTL phone line, which is just £9 per month with no set up fee. That's £108. But with Vonage, looks like £9.99 per month would get me the second line I need, plus free UK calls. Wow.

Phonix

Couple of things.

Read about Vonage here, they're a nasty company, that don't like freedom of choice. They like to lock people into their products, for example the VoIP phone they give you should work with everyother VoIP service but alas it doesn't and they don't make this clear on their packaging.

4) Lots of financial trickery over the next year from a new breed of phone companies
There's a new breed of phone companies, like Vonage, who are implementing a stealthy campaign to deceive customers. They are selling devices and plastering the box with "Free calling! Free voice mail! Free call waiting!." etc., without disclosing that a monthly fee is required. They'll proudly announce "No contracts!" but fail to mention that a credit card must be on file, which is then auto-billed. And perhaps worse of all, they are not disclosing that the phone service on the router will ONLY work with Vonage. Their packaging even talks about working with "other compatible services," but it only works with Vonage. Either you pay them money or you won't have service - and remember this is for a device that you paid good money up front for. This would be like a modem company selling modems that would ONLY work with Compuserve. What a damper this would have put on Internet growth.

Vonage and other similar companies are within their rights to charge a monthly fee or to cripple a device so it will work only with their service. But they cross the line to deception when they sell networking hardware without disclosing it will only work with their service and hiding monthly fees and other charges like cancellation fees. It will likely take some lawsuits to force Vonage to be more forthcoming in their advertising. Until they do, other net calling companies are following in their footsteps, which is making net calling a confusing money trap for new users.

http://www.linspire.com/lindows_michaelsminutes_archives.php?id=154

http://sipphone.com/legal/

Have a good read on the second link.



My recommendation for the moment is

http://www.call1899.co.uk/voip.php

1899 offer a VoIP service. Using 1899 is one of the cheapest ways to make calls. As 1899 offer a VoIP service this means you can ditch your landline and instead use your PC to make phonecalls. Using a PC to make phonecalls is abit !!!!!!, but if you combine this with a SIP phone and are able to configure things properly (it's not THAT hard) you will be able to afford to get rid of your landline.

Getting rid of your landline will mean you no longer have a landline number to recieve calls. You can pick up a free landline from https://www.sipgate.co.uk and other places offer them for a small fee. I'm looking into how the SIPgate number can be used with the 1899 VoIP service.

So , if you have cable, no more BT or cable phoneline rental charges, calls can be just as cheap VoIP.

koru

Thanks, Phonix. Very useful.

Perhaps Vonage market their service differently in the US, but, to be fair, it is pretty clear from the UK website that you have to pay £9.99 per month. As far as I can tell, you don't buy the hardware from Vonage, and you have to return it if you close the contract, so I had assumed it was only for use with their service. Realistically, this field is changing so rapidly that any hardware is going to be obsolete within a year or so, so ability to use on other services isn't a big deal for me.

However, I agree that they are not entirely upfront. Hidden in their T&C's is a condition that says you have to pay a fee if you discontinue their service, which is "currently £24", which is quite a lot, in the context of a £10 per month service. There seems to be nothing to stop them deciding, a few months down the line, that the cancellation fee is increased to, say, £100. They could use this to erect a huge barrier to customers who want to leave.

I am also unhappy about another T&C, which gives them the right to suspend your service if you use it outside the UK. That's a bit rich, given that they make such a fuss about being able to use this service anywhere in the world, over a broadand connection.

Darryl

Thanks for the respones everyone. Very interesting.

Doing a few calcs and re-reading Martin's guide to the cheapest phone calls, it seems to me that these VoIP companies are going to have to go a long way the beat the offerings on call18866 and call1899.com. So, for the moment, I'll be sticking to that route plus my £10.50 BT line rental. However, I think I'll probably switch from Skype to call1899.com VoIP for calls, as Skype charges for calls to landlines, mobiles, etc can't beat call1899's prices. If this works out, the BT line could be ditched....:cool:

But, I think this area is one to watch - seeing that call1899.com have entered the VoIP market. Won't be long before the likes of Vonage, Skype etc are seeing their market share taken away by these discount call companies... which is nice for us...

Darryl.

Phonix

If you're used to using VoIP and cale is available in your area, the best thing to do is to get rid of your landline and use your cable internet connection to make VoIP calls.

If you need a number so people can ring you get one from https://www.sipgate.co.uk .They also do some nice sipphones which shoud be able to be configured with the 1899 service.

My best advice is to go to the https://www.sipphone.com forums and ask about configuration settings. They will be very helpful, if anything they will be interested to hear about what's going on in the UK VoIP market.

Regards,

Adam