Last October, the Jablet and I decided to ditch our long distance and local phone company and try out Vonage, the current market leader in the still-emerging consumer voice over internet protocol (VoIP) market. Having used the service for a time sufficient to uncover both its strengths and weaknesses (and to some extent the pros and cons of VoIP technology as a whole), I decided to draft a review that outlines the arguments for and against jumping on the VoIP bandwagon. There are a bunch of other reviews out there, but I think this is distinguished from many of the others insofar as it reflects our overall experience over the past six months, not simply a day or two of intense use as is typical with most technology reviews. I’ll probably make this a piece that evolves over time, so if you have some relevant information, please post a comment or trackback and I will update this post to reflect any particularly salient insights.
What is VoIP?
Before delving into the specifics of Vonage’s service, it is necessary to briefly describe what VoIP is, how it works, and why it is a reasonable alternative to a traditional landline. Simply put, VoIP services use your high speed internet connection to place phone calls. When you order service from a VoIP provider (Vonage, Packet8, AT&T CallVantage, BroadVoice, Lingo, etc.) you are shipped a router that is outfitted with a special phone adapter. You connect your broadband modem to this router, plug your phone into the phone port, and start using the service; in most cases, setup really is that simple. Since the overarching purpose of VoIP is to ditch your local phone company, the switch often only makes sense for cable or fiber optic customers, since many DSL providers require that you keep a standard land line open.
Advantage #1: Price
The primary advantage of any VoIP service is price. For $25 or less per month you can get unlimited phone calls, free long distance in the US and Canada, and just about every calling feature imaginable (voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling, and tons of other features that you will never need). If you attempt to get equivalent services through the traditional channels, you would pay at least $50 to your phone company plus whatever long distance charges you rack up. From a value standpoint, Vonage is hard to beat. I would note that some other VoIP services (e.g. Lingo) are less expensive than Vonage and extend the free long distance features to include international calls to regions such as Western Europe.
Advantage #2: Quality Phone Calls
When we ordered Vonage, we were skeptical and didn’t immediately cancel our traditional phone service. After a short amount of time, however, we were satisfied that there were few noticeable differences in overall call quality relative to the traditional phone company and completed the transition. So far, there have been only two exceptions to the “high quality” observation. The first exception, which we have largely remedied, was caused by simultaneously talking on the phone and performing other bandwidth-intensive functions. We have apparently fixed this problem by tweaking the settings on the “bandwidth saver” that allows us to specify the bit rate for voice transmission. The second circumstance in which we have observed minor difficulty with call quality has been when we have had conversations with other individuals outfitted with similar VoIP services. We have experienced some deterioration in call quality both with Vonage to Vonage and Vonage to Lingo calls. I don’t quite know why it is, but it appears as though having at least one traditional land line (or cell phone) involved in the call measurably increases overall call quality.
Advantage #3: Secondary Numbers
A meaningful benefit of the Vonage service is the ability to associate a given router with multiple phone numbers originating from different area codes or even different countries. For example, if I have a client in Phoenix, I could simply add a number originating from the 602 area code. My client could then simply dial that 602 number, have it ring to my Vonage router anywhere in the world, and incur no long distance charges for the call. These numbers can be turned on and off at will and only cost five dollars a month—a pretty good deal, I think.
Advantage #4: Portability
Voice over IP doesn’t care where you are. Due to the fact that you aren’t linked to a phone line, but rather just to a router, your Vonage number can travel with you. For example, if we went overseas on a trip (or even moved to another country), we could simply pack or Vonage router, plug it into a broadband connection anywhere in the world, and start making phone calls as if we were back home. Some people use this strategy to stay in more frequent contact with friends and family overseas. I know of people who have shipped US-based VoIP routers to family members in India who can now call back home free of charge. Similarly, some military families are using VoIP technologies to stay in more frequent contact with family members deployed overseas.
Advantage #5: Wife Approval Factor
The long term viability of a gadget is largely dependent on the degree to which your wife (or significant other) actually recognizes the benefits of the technology. This wife approval factor (WAF) is the unspoken arbiter of whether or not a technology product remains in the house. Items that appeal to both the Jablet and I are few and far between. The only technology item in our home that exceeds Vonage in terms of the WAF is our wireless router. The reason for the high WAF, I think, is that the benefits of Vonage are very concrete. Jablet simply makes the same phone calls she used to make, but pays less for them. I understand that MythTV also has a very high WAP; that’s the next project.
Disadvantage #1: Shoddy 911 Service
This is the BIG one. Since a VoIP number does not physically reside in any given location, it has been problematic for Vonage to establish reliable 911 services for its customers. I went through Vonage’s standard procedures for establishing 911 services, but when I tested it out to make sure that a 911 call actually landed to the appropriate operator, I was connected to a clueless person at the local police department. After I researched the situation a bit more, I found that this was the extent of Vonage’s 911 services—getting you in touch with your local equivalent of Barney Fife. Vonage claims to be well on the way toward finding a solution for this problem and has made the issue a top priority for 2005. I, however, am skeptical and detect a bigger problem; it wouldn’t’ surprise me if this issue lingers for quite some time. The company is currently involved in a major dispute with SBC over their 911 infrastructure; Vonage is trying to get congress involved. In the meantime, Vonage’s lack of real 911 services has already become a bit of a PR nightmare, with at least one state suing the company over the absence of this critical feature. This is a serious issue that has already cost at least one person their life.
Disadvantage #2: Number Portage
One of Vonage’s major claims is that you can keep your old phone number. Some of my friends have successfully ported their number to Vonage, but I’m here to tell you that this won’t necessarily be possible. We went through a three-month long number portability headache when we switched to Vonage. After becoming frustrated with our local phone company over the slow pace at which they were releasing my old phone number, I called to investigate. To make a long story short, federally-mandated number portability only applies to transfers within and between cell phone providers and landline carriers; the law does not apply to VoIP providers. I investigated this thoroughly, calling not only the FCC, but the Kentucky Public Service Commission as well. So basically, if your local phone company agrees to transfer your number to a VoIP provider, they are likely doing so as part of a contractual arrangement with the VoIP company. The thing that made me mad about this is that Vonage swore up and down that our number would be easily and rapidly ported from our local phone company. If they just told me from the outset that our number would not have been ported, that would have been fine. I really wouldn’t have cared all that much. But because of their insistence, we proceeded to order several phone number-specific items (personal checks, engraved dog collar, etc.) that immediately became obsolete once the true situation became apparent.
Disadvantage #3: Single Physical Connection
One of the lesser problems with Vonage is that you can only plug a single phone line into the router. If you’re cheap, this means that you will only have one phone working in your house. The rational means by which you can sidestep this limitation, however, is to simply purchase one of those base station/peripheral unit setups for around $100. These systems allow you to place phones throughout your home while only plugging the base station into the phone port. It’s not that big of a deal, but if you have a phone from 1985, VoIP will force you into the 21st century. Alternately, you can disconnect the phone company’s input lines into your house; once you do this, you should be able to plug in your vonage router and have it ring through every hard wired line in the house. I, however, think that this is a bit of a silly solution. I’d rather just buy the $100 phone and leave my traditional phone lines in tact for future potential owners of our house.
Disadvantage #4: Faxing
The Vonage router comes with a second phone port in case you choose to purchase a fax line. We didn’t order the fax line initially ($9.95/month), but did so recently for business purposes and to accommodate the fax-intensive tax season. I’ve been really disappointed with the fax features; for some reason it appears as though fax capabilities; they simply don’t work for us and we are going to cancel the service. A few days ago I got on the phone with a tech support specialist who told me that I needed to turn off ECM (error correcting mode) and switch the baud rate to 9600 in order for faxing to work. First, I don’t like the idea of turning error correcting mode off; I don’t really know how it works, but it sounds like something that I would want turned ON. Second, didn’t the 9600 baud rate get left back in 1992? Apparently the manufacturers of both of my fax machines agree with me, since it isn’t possible in either case to override the machine’s default baud rate. A good friend of mine tells me that he has not been able to replicate this problem, so it would be most evenhanded, I suppose, to say that the quality of your fax experience may be unpredictable. Update: see this post for an update on the fax situation
Disadvantage #5: Tech Support
If you order Vonage and actually need to get in touch with a technical support representative, make sure that your new base station unit has speakerphone capabilities because you will be on hold for an extended period of time. When I have managed to get in touch with a Vonage representative, I must admin that I have been impressed. However, by the time a customer service representative has gotten around to answering my question, I’ve been rather testy from the protracted wait. Make sure you have at least 30 minutes when you make a support call.
Summary
Overall we’ve been impressed by Vonage. Call quality is excellent, the service is feature-rich and you simply can’t beat the value. It’s the only bill that we actually look forward to paying each month. The major disadvantage of Vonage’s service—namely lack of true 911 service—makes the switch impractical for individuals with chronic life-threatening medical conditions or for families with children. If keeping your old phone number is a big issue for you, we strongly advise you to confirm both with Vonage and your local phone provider the existence of a number portability agreement prior to initiating service. Lastly, you need to be generally comfortable playing around with computers and routers. While this won’t be a problem for the overwhelming majority of Vonage’s potential customer base, I wouldn’t advise a switch for individuals whose interest is only lukewarm.