Vonage Review by WhichVoIP

If you are considering Vonage for your home phone service, you have reached the right place. Vonage is a popular, well-advertised VoIP service that was founded in Edison, New Jersey during the early 2000's with service extending to Canada and the United Kingdom in successive years. Vonage has had discrepancies in the past regarding user cancellation and advertisements involving "free" services. Since then, however, Vonage has undergone several changes in business and advertising practices. In its 4th quarter financial report that was released in February 2015, Vonage states that it has almost 2.5 million subscribers, maintaining its position as one of the largest VoIP providers in the USA.

The Good

Vonage offers a 30 day Money Back Guarantee that covers monthly charges, taxes and any shipping or activation fees. This guarantee, combined with a low introductory rate creates a welcoming offer for those who want to try the service out before committing long term.

Standard features are included with all plans, such as call transfer, call waiting, 3-way calling, caller ID, caller ID block and Vonage Extensions, which allows plans to be used from mobile phones. Voicemail can also be accessed from any phone or PC. Premium features are also available, such as virtual numbers, fax lines, additional phone lines, toll free lines and softphone. A quick note on Vonage caller ID. By default your outgoing caller ID has a 13 character limit and it tries to use your last name and first initial. If, for some reason, you choose to perform caller ID block (dial *67) it will block your Vonage caller ID and instead use Anonymous. These days, this is frowned upon and many providers use Anonymous call block so your call will not get through to its intended recipient.

The World plan is a very popular option for users that frequently make international calls due to its unlimited international calling to 60 countries feature.

The free Vonage Mobile App offers free video calling and video messaging for iPhone and Android users. The app has received high ratings across both operating systems.

Vonage is more accessible to customers than many other providers. Support is available via phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with live chat support available through their website Monday to Sunday: 9am to 10:30pm.

Call quality is consistent for inbound and outbound domestic calls across all phone types and devices. Calls have generally been reported to be at "landline" or above sound quality.

The Bad

Vonage is a popular service and has accumulated a good number of user reviews. The majority of users on WhichVoIP reviewed Vonage negatively and do not recommend the service to others, with additional monthly fees and difficulties in resolving service issues being the primary complaint.

If a plan under contract is cancelled early, a fee of up to $99.99 may be charged per voice line.

International phone calls have been reported to have lower sound quality than domestic calls. The quality of international calls varies from country to country.

The Bottom Line

• Vonage offers both nationwide and international residential plans. Each plan includes free activation, free calling to other residential Vonage customers, the option to keep your current phone number or a new one, and free shipping of the Vonage Box adapter with one-year subscriptions. If they prefer, customers can sign up without committing to a one-year contract.
• U.S. and Canada Unlimited plan: $9.99 a month for the first 12 months, after which the price increases to $25.99 a month. Although this is an unlimited plan, there is a "normal usage" limit of 3000 minutes per month, after which minutes are billed at 3.9c a min.
• U.S. and Canada 400 plan: A one-year agreement at $12.99 a month with free shipping and activation or a no annual contract option at the same $12.99 a month price without free shipping and activation. This plan includes 400 minutes to landlines and mobiles within the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, with additional minutes priced at 5 cents each and low rates within 10 other countries.
• U.S. and Canada 800 plan: A one-year agreement at $21.99 a month with free shipping and activation or a no annual contract option at the same $21.99 a month price without free shipping and activation. This plan includes 800 minutes to landlines and mobiles within the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, with additional minutes priced at 3.9 cents and low international rates.
• World plans - these include a regular world plan that has unlimited landline calling to 60 countries plus mobile phones in 10 countries. The world plus plan is slightly more expensive but that plan adds 250 monthly minutes for calls to mobiles in 40+ countries. There is also a specific plan for those that are frequent callers to Mexico or the Philippines. The Mexico plan offers unlimited calling to both landlines and mobile phones in Mexico and North America, while the Philippine plan provides 3,000 minutes of monthly calling to Globe numbers in the Philippines. Again, remember that the unlimited calling is only unlimited up to the 3,000 minutes per month that are deemed to be within regular usage limits.

Overall Thoughts

Compared to other VoIP services with similar minute plans and features, Vonage is more expensive (after the 12 month introductory rate expires). While Vonage's business services are well-reviewed only 35% of the over 300 reviews on WhichVoIP recommend its residential service.

Vonage's strengths lie in its size, which provides for a more stable and more accessible service to customers when compared to smaller VoIP providers. If you plan on using a good number of minutes monthly at home or the home office the unlimited plans offer a cost effective solution, while the World plans are a great option frequent international callers.

All User Reviews (Page 1 of 51)

Vonage reviews are listed in chronological order.

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Disclaimer: The opinions, views and ratings expressed in these VoIP Reviews are those solely of the reviewer who submitted the review. Whichvoip.com does not necessarily agree with any of the expressed opinions, view or ratings.

WhichVoIP Visitor Comments

#2 : Posted by Joe

I am considering getting rid of my landline for vonage. I have no cell service where I live. I am on satellite internet, and, I wonder what happens to my phone service when I have used up my 10 gig of high speed internet, and the provider switches me to very very slow speed. Does my phone still work then?

-> Response: To be honest I think you may struggle to get decent audio if using Vonage (or any VoIP service) over satellite. The latency and jitter for satellite Internet causes a lot of problems for VoIP.

 

#1 : Posted by Linda Morey

Does Vonage offer a phone service that can be used with home security systems?

-> Response: Security systems can be troublesome for VoIP service in general, regardless of the provider. This VoIP and home security article may help explain the issues and potential ways around them.

 

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