|
|
|
Choosing VoIP: The Pros And Cons Of An Internet Phone
Until recently, our options have been limited when it comes to making local and long distance phone calls. It has been standard to have to pay high monthly and by-the-minute charges to keep in touch with loved ones that live far away. With mobile...
Find the best downloads online
Oh, we all know that we can download a load of free stuff from the Internet easily. But the best downloads are the ones that DON'T come with 'extra' features like viruses, worms, adwares, spywares, whathaveyounots. It's the truth. When you download...
New to gaming, all you need to know about Flash gaming sites
Whew! According to Computer Gaming World, there are 80
gazillion free Flash games sites in the cyber world.
Popular sites are:
* www.games.yahoo.com -- this has card games, word games, arcade
games, as well as puzzles. The number of...
Setting Up a Home Network
With the cost of PC's dropping and the number of home users increasing, it has become more and more reasonable to have a home network. Many families now have more than one PC to suit the growing needs of the home user, but many feel setting up a...
VOIP QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, has grown in popularity recently and with that rise in popularity has come a number of common misconceptions and confusion. Global Value Conncet ( http://globalvalueconnect.com ) has complied this simple...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Honest Review of Vonage: A feature-rich, World-ready VoIP
With more players jumping into the already populated space of
Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP), the perceptive user has
that much more choice. Vonage is a leading player in this
marketplace with over a million subscribers worldwide in a short
lifespan of three years. However, there is a set of negatives
too, so wait until you reach the end of this review before you
decide to switch from your traditional landline service to
Vonage telephony.
What is Vonage and how does it differ from your landline
connection? For a start, you must have a broadband connection,
preferably cable-based; a dial-up is no good. When you call
Vonage customer service for a connection, Vonage sends you a
tiny box, which you have to plug to your telephone and your
cable modem or DSL. You are now set to start a Vonage
conversation. With a Vonage connection, you have access to your
telephone through your computer and the broadband connection.
The other big difference from a traditional phone service is
cost effectiveness; with a Vonage, you can cut your telephone
bill significantly, and converse worldwide by buying local
telephone numbers from Vonage.
Vonage offers a set of four monthly packages for all calls in
the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico: a premium unlimited offer at
US$24.99, a basic plan of 500 minutes at US$14.99, a
small-business unlimited package at US$49.99, and a basic
small-business offer of 1500 minutes at US$39.99. For calls from
the US to other world destinations, there is a nominal
per-minute rate applicable, which is well below what you would
pay to your landline service provider. For example, for a
minute's call to Mumbai (India), you need to pay only US$0.17;
for a call to the UK, it is as low as US$0.04 per minute. The
Vonage Website lists the charges applicable to each city on
its
network. Perhaps the best part of Vonage is that you can carry
your US telephone number to any part of the world with broadband
connectivity, and call the US at local call rates. For any
reason, if you are dissatisfied with Vonage services, you can
opt for the 14-day (or 30-day for some packages) money-back
offer. This trial period is enough time to try out the excellent
features that you get with Vonage:
* An unlisted telephone number
* Call waiting, callerID
* Call forwarding, 7-digit dialing (rather than area code
+number used in many markets, including Lingo)
* An innovative voicemail feature
* Repeat dial
* Dynamic periodic feature updates
However, Vonage is not all positives. Its founding premise is a
bit wobbly; your connection is afloat only as long as your
broadband connection is. Any Internet outage and Vonage will
cease to function. Call quality is also dependent on the speed
of your broadband. Then there is the question of availability of
a local number for your city; Vonage may not have your city
listed, so you should confirm this with Vonage customer support
before deciding on the service. Vonage is facing stern
competition from AT&T and Verizon, and users have preferred the
call quality of AT&T to that of Vonage. Vonage is also not the
cheapest VoIP service around in the marketplace.
However, Vonage is a winner on features. If you have a
dependable broadband connection, need to make frequent
international calls, and travel to world destinations but need
to stay in touch with the US, Vonage is for you.
About the author:
Hamesh Brown enjoys writing about VoIP. For more information,
see this Vonage review.
|
|
|
|
|
|