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Vonage Review- Perhaps one of the best known VoIP providers is Vonage. Vonage offers some great VoIP features. It is very important that you read this Vonage review by Best VoIP Review so you can learn all about the Vonage VoIP services! Vonage review!

Vonage is one of the best known Voice over Internet Phone (VoIP) services, having been a pioneer of VoIP service, but it’s had its share of difficulties since then. It survived shareholder class actions related to its IPO (initial public offering) claims of patent infringement, and an investigation of its business practices by a large group of states. And while the patent suits and shareholder suits are settled, the market has now changed: Vonage has been joined by Cox Communications, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable in the VoIP business.

This meant that Vonage had to come up with some new tricks besides its existing replacement for home phone service for domestic calls in order to compete. It started its turn around with the introduction of Vonage World, an international landline calling package, introduced in August 2009. Its mobile phone service, which came out in October, 2009, has downloads available for the RIM Blackberry and Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. Flexibility in the design allows calls to be placed over Wi-Fi or cell networks, depending on the hardware. Finally, in December 2009, Vonage debuted Vonage World Mobile, a software application that allows unlimited mobile international calls. This comeback is being attempted under a new CEO, who signed on in July 2008.

What does this mean to you?

To the person reading about Vonage in 2010, this means several things:

• If you read Vonage reviews, check the date and the service. Anything pre-August 2009 may not be talking about the same services.

• Vonage is in the red. Is that the choice you want to make?

Vonage Service Quality?

It’s always a good idea to read customer comments before choosing a service. It’s typical that not everyone will be 100% pleased with everything, but customers who state facts that are checkable can help you understand whether or not the service may work for you.

In the case of Vonage, a customer review on another VoIP review site put out a huge red flag. Titled "Vonage NOT unlimited" and written on February 10, 2010, it states that the International plan that is referred to as unlimited is not, in fact unlimited. This turned out to be easy to check. All you have to do is go to the Vonage site and check out the residential section to verify that.

Under Vonage World, the first words in bold are "Unlimited local and long distance in the U.S. and Puerto Rico" followed by "FREE unlimited landline calls to all ciites and locations in more than 60 other countries, including India, Mexico, and Canada."

If, however, you go to the bottom of the blurb to the section sign which in the advertisement follows the words "25+amazing calling features included like readable voicemail" and seems to refer specifically to that, it says:

"Unlimited calling subject to normal residential use."

What this means, in fact, is that unlimited does not mean "unlimited": it means as much as other folks typically use. The poster takes exception to this, any you may as well.

Other complaints at the same forum are not so easy to check, but in the 37 complaints posted since the beginning of August, 2009, one can observe the following:

The main problems cited from this time forward are:

• Problems canceling the service

• Hidden fees

• Poor sound quality

• Calls dropped

• Falsehoods/Misrepresentations in their advertising

• Unauthorized payments

• Inconsiderate or bullying customer service staff

This summary turns out to be identical to the problems customers reported on this forum during the month of July, suggesting that the introduction of new services has not been accompanied by a change in the practices that have been angering consumers.

It is also interesting to note that out of the 50 most recent posts, in the general category "Consumer reviews for Vonage" with no further specification, only one of the reviews is positive.

 

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