[poulh]

What do people think of Vonage? Is Packet8 the same/better?

I have an airport express... will I need a hub or is there one built into their box?

Can I use the click-to-call feature on my mac (tiger)?

[jasonsRX7]

I have the Linksys Vonage adapter that I picked up at Sams Club. The quality is great, and there's only been a couple of times that I've heard any audio degradation. Simply hanging up and redialing fixed it.

Their account tools online are very nice. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it is very feature rich to me. You can check your call activity, billing, voicemail, and other account settings online. You can also configure it to email your voicemail to you.

My device does not have a built in switch, I just plug it into my existing switch. It works just fine thru my Airport Extreme.

Click to call seems to be a Windows only application, but they do support Softphones on OS X for an additional fee.

[The Mick]

Vonage works great here on my Comcast cable modem. I'm using the Motorola phone adapter that Vonage supplied. The call quality is indistinguishible from a traditional phone call. I'm very pleased and I've kept the service for over 6 months now.

[Link]

We've had vonage for a few months now, and aside from random equipment quirks (linksys router+voip box they shipped us), it's pretty darn good.

[KeyLimePi]

Routers? Adapters? I've had Vonage for close to a year now. I plugged the Vonage box into my cable modem and the my Airport Base Station into the Vonage box. Easy-peazy.

As the others have said, it's pretty much indistinguishable from regular phone service, but you have to have a pretty good connection. I convinced my GF to get Vonage and it was all but unusable (I've never clocked her cable connection, but I just 'assumed' it was good enough). When she called to cancel the Vonage guy asked why, and she said she didn't think she had enough bandwidth in her apartment. He said 'oh..apartment building...yeah, probably not.'

[FulcrumPilot]

More features for less! I say just go for it. Although I wish there were adapters that werent locked into vonage only. Ideally, you should be able to buy the adapter and chose which voip server that you will log into after buying the access. I guess this will happen sooner or later I am sure as vonage begins to feel the heat from cable cos.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally Posted by FulcrumPilot

Ideally, you should be able to buy the adapter and chose which voip server that you will log into after buying the access.

That would be nice, but I kind of view the adapters as disposable. I paid $49 for my Linksys Vonage adapter, which came with a $40 account credit, so it really only cost around 10 bucks. In my mind, it's a lot like the free cell phones that are subsidized by the cost of the contract.

How does it work if you get the adapter thru Vonage themselves? I assume they give you the adapter free with a contract, and you have to pay for it or send it back if you terminate early?

[Josh Reid]

Vonage = No Contracts!, in reply to JasonRx7.

Copied & pasted from a post of mine in March, answering a Vonage question:

"I've had Vonage for 7 (edit: 9) months, and could not be happier with it. There were intermittent problems in the beginning where I had to reset the data box that you use, but it was never anything that was severe or didn't easily clear up.

These are the reasons why it's so great for me. I moved from Pittsburgh to NYC, switching my cell phone to a New York number. Anytime friends or family called me, it was a long distance call for them. However, with Vonage I was able to pick a Pittsburgh area code (412), so that it's a local call for anyone in the 412 area code. Also, I have it set up to forward to my cell phone at all times. However, it's not really a forwarding, as it is a dual-ringing. That means that whether I'm home or out, I can even be reached on my NYC cell phone thru a 412 number. I can answer all calls to the 412 # on either my home phone or cell phone, and all calls made to my 917 NY cell phone from NY people on the cell. The only downside is that when someone calls the 412 Vonage #, even if I pick up the call on my cell phone, it uses both my cell phone minutes AND Vonage minutes. That's a bit of bull**** in my opinion, as the call isn't using the Vonage bandwith or system except to forward the call. The Vonage section of the phone call should terminate when I pick it up on my cell phone. But, whatever, it's still a great feature.

With the Vonage set-up, you pay no long distance, so I can call NY numbers from my 412 Vonage phone, and it's no different than calling a 412 number. I use the $14.99 plan, which includes 500 nationwide minutes. I find that I use it everday, but I've only gone over my minutes one month, and even then, my total was still less than if I had gone with the $24.99 unlimited plan. (Edit: Last month I went well over my minutes, making my total $27. However, it's nothing like when you go over a cell phone and get charged 35cents/minute. The Vonage overage minutes are literally like 3cents or something per minute. No biggie.)

I say give it a try. The solutions and extras the service provides are wonderful!"

[Link]

I paid nothing at all to setup our vonage account, used this:

http://www.vonage.com/campaigns/land...ONMKTGPROMO001
^
Dunno if it still works, and it's not a referral I'm very sure. Feel free to edit it out if you think it is *nod*