VOIP - Who would I recommend?
I've been using Voice Over Internet Protocol (internet telephone) since October, 2003. Initially, it was a way that I could afford high-speed internet. We were paying $72 for our unlimited long distance, but with cable-internet for $28 and VOIP for $40, we'd actually be paying less and getting more! Yes, I worked up the Excel charts and showed them to my wife. She approved.
So, we signed up with AT&T CallVantage. They were one of the first VOIP services available. We were very happy with AT&T land-line, and we figured that AT&T VOIP would be just as good. In all honesty, I never had to call AT&T's technical support line in the entire time I had their service. The only downtime I encountered was when the lights or cable went out. AT&T's service was flawless.
But, with an income that wasn't keeping pace with the rising cost of living, we began to consider cancelling the VOIP and cable and going with a limited long-distance land line. Most folks we knew had either cell phones or an unlimited plan of their own, so we could call them on our dime, then ask them to call us back. Yeah, they'd call us cheapskates, but it'd work out fine.
Then I saw an advertisement for Vonage VOIP - $25/mo. Hey, that'd save us $15/mo, and we could keep the cable internet! Cool! We switched from AT&T to Vonage in January, signing a year-long contract with a 60-day back-out.
Of course, the first real test came five days after the back-out period expired. On the afternoons of April 5, 6 and 7, Vonage experienced some problems with their servers. The problem was documented on their website, and their engineers were working to resolve it. With my on-going job search and the death of a close friend, I needed my phone to work without interruption. I asked friends and family who were familiar with Vonage if this was a regular thing, and they said it wasn't. After a brief discussion, I received the requested credit for the downtime.
Not only did they admit that the problem was on their end, when it came down to it, Vonage was there to support their customers. They don't want to force a customer to pay for service they are not getting. Customers will only do that for so long before they decide to go elsewhere. Vonage stands behind their customers.
Who would I recommend for VOIP? I'd highly recommend Vonage. Ask me for a referral!
posted by ClayMan at 1:08 PM
3 Comments:
You should mention that Vonage is knee deep in a lawsuit with Verizon and isn't exactly on steady ground.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17982142/
For $50.00 at AT&T you can get a land line, dsl and a couple hundred minutes of long distance service, and service stability that VOIP can't compete with. Oh and no contracts.
VOIP could be the future, but the Bells are going to continue to lower rates in order to bully them out of business.
Thank you, Mr. Bell, for your comment. And, it's a wonderfully un-biased comment as well.
Yes, I had forgotten about Vonage's lawsuit, and they are currently unable to accept new customers as a result. I'm unfamiliar with Verizon's customer service.
But, I think the biggest point of my post above was about the customer service. SBC (wearing AT&T's clothes) has always had lousy customer service. And, just putting that globe and new initials over the old SBC way of doing business hasn't improved my opinion of them at all.
When American businesses begin to realize that their paying customers are the reason they are in business in the first place - that's when they will start to see their relationships improve.
heh heh heh - this is only a couple of years later...
We have cancelled our Vonage account after some irritating periods without dial-tone. They kept telling us it was our internet service, but that was performing flawlessly.
We are now on PaBell's recommended land-line with DSL - and couldn't be happier! We also have unlimited LD.
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