Feature-rich telephone service through your Internet connection! The Linksys Phone Adapter enables high-quality feature-rich telephone service through your cable or DSL Internet connection. Just plug it into your home Router or Gateway and use the two standard telephone jacks to connect your existing phones or fax machines. Each phone jack operates independently, with separate phone service and phone numbers -- like having two phone lines. With an appropriate Internet telephone service provider, you'll get clear telephone reception and reliable fax connections, even while using the Internet at the same time for normal data operations. With Internet telephony, along with low domestic and international phone rates, an impressive array of special phone features are available. Choose your preferred free local dialing US area code, regardless of where you live. Or add a virtual phone number in any area code, forwarded to your Internet phone. You can even add a toll-free number. The Linksys Phone Adapter is compatible with these and all of the other special telephone features that are available from your telephone service provider, such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voicemail, Call Forwarding, Distinctive Ring, etc.
With Vonage, you can make calls through the Internet, potentially save on long-distance charges, and access a rich assortment of call features. Plans start as low as $14.99 per month, and the Premium Unlimited plan offers unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada for only $24.99 per month. And it's easy to use: For making and receiving calls, Vonage works just like a traditional phone service; no special access codes or account numbers are required.
Easy Hardware Setup
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All Vonage plans let you enjoy the call features you've become accustomed to—call waiting, caller ID, voicemail, call forwarding, three-way calling, call return, repeat dialing, and reliable long distance—plus other features that may be new to you. For example, you can receive your voicemail as an email attachment, and you'll have a phone number that travels with you. Visit http://www.vonage.com/amazon to see which plan is best suited to your lifestyle and budget. The low monthly rates are quite reasonably priced, in our opinion, and with them you may save considerably compared to traditional phone service. International calls are available for additional low fees, with one economical exception: calls from the U.S. to Canada are treated like domestic long distance calls, rather than international. Vonage also supports short-form emergency 911 services, where available. (Dialing 911 requires activation and operates differently than traditional 911. See Vonage's website for details.)
This Vonage Internet Phone Service Starter Kit is quick and easy to install in your home or business. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection (cable or DSL modem) and a touchtone phone. Setup is simple: Just connect one end of the included Vonage-certified Linksys PAP2 phone adapter to your Ethernet router or gateway and the other end to your telephone. Then sign up for Vonage phone service. An extra port on the adapter allows you to attach an additional phone or fax machine. You'll have instant access to both phone lines, each with a separate number, and you can even assign them different area codes (subject to availability). You can still surf the web while talking on the phone or receiving faxes. The phone adapter includes a generous three-year warranty from the manufacturer.
What's in the Box
Linksys phone adapter, power adapter, user's guide on CD-ROM, network cable, quick installation card, Vonage Internet Phone Service Starter plan, support information and promotional offers, registration card
1 i tried vonage and switched to Packet8
i tried vonage for 5 months and than gave up. vonage dropped many calls suddenly and it was not easy to get a dial tone when i wanted to make a call. i switched to packet8 and recommend packet8.com
2 Pretty GOOD
My experience with Vonage has been pretty good! I'm in the Chicago area. Occasionally on a phone call the other party will drop out for 2 seconds then come back. But that small annoyance isn't a big deal considering I pay such a small price for unlimited anywhere in the U.S. and Canada plus all the features I get. Customer service wait time is quite ridiculous right now....but what do you expect of a company that's growing tremendously fast! I'm confident that the custmer service will get better. I have emailed customer service before. It took 3 days to get a response back which is too long, but i'm still happy.
3 SHOULD BE VONAGE PHONE ADAPTOR
Very disapointed that it is not clearly stated by Amazon that this product is to be used only by Vonage (very expensive compared to other providers like Inphonex which is now my provider). I bought two routers RT31P2 and two PAP2 phone adapters all with Phone ports hoping I would be able to connect all my family (spread around the world). I got a Huge surprise when I noticed that they are locked only for use with Vonage. It says there is a Mail in Rebate worth 50 bucks, anyway it will only last less than two months. Other providers don't even charge monthly fees.
I had already sent all the units to various countries and after finding out that they are to be used EXCLUSIVELY with Vonage I just had to let them die where they were sent. It is not worth the shipping to bring them back.
As disappointing as this, was that I supposed this was going to happen so I contacted customer support from Amazon and asked them (before buying) if they were a "with Vonage telephony system" or if they were a "exclusively for Vonage telephony system". They didn't know so I just assumed they wouldn't be so distracted to not mention this. Specially for starters like us it may have been the most important thing to advertise: EXCLUSIVELY FOR VONAGE
I have always been a fan of Linksys products, my house is full of their products and never had trouble with the hardware. For sure I will continue to buy Linksys products, for sure I will never use vonage (eventhough I am sure it provides excellent clear voice communication; don't get cofussed, there are others that will give you more for a lot less go to yahoo and spend 30 seconds making a quick search and you will see), and for sure I had to tell other people what they are doing so nobody else will loose the money I lost, and what is most valuable, my time.
Make sure that when you buy a PAP2 it says: Model PAP2-NA
Conclussion: I just lost 260 bucks plus shipping and handling (internationally)
4 Vonage - Very Poor Customer Services and Billing
We signed up for vonage servicve with number transfer from verizon. Within over 20 days phone number was not transferred. I faxed authorization form and verizon phone bill 3 times to Vonage. I believe, they purposely delay so trial period is over and then you have to pay cancellation fee if you want to cancel. I figured it out when I cancelled my service after 20 days, I was on hold for over 30 minutes though. I was charged $87.73 plus $1.29 plus $43.59 cancellation (even the equipment was shipped day after cancellation and I have proof USPS tracking they received it within 3 days) plus setup fee. Their office is in Edison NJ and I am in North Brunswick, NJ. I was on promotion for 1st month free but this trial for 20 days cost me about $140 even I did not use phone that much (1 or 2 local calls only for test purpose) so I cannot say anything about the quality of their phone service. I have been calling them and CS tranfer me to billing which automatically disconnects me after 8-10 minutes of waiting, it happend 4 times. No reply of any emails it has been over a month now.
Their equipment installation was easy and temp number was up as soon as I plugged it it after activation. So if you are not transferring a number, do not need their customer support and want to stay with then for a long time then it might be good for you.
After this horrible experience, I sgined up for AT&T Callvantage, though a little expensive but I am very happy. They tanferred my number within 10 days and excellant customer service.
5 Product needs to mature
I have been a Vonage user (2nd line) for over 2 months now and have made quite a few calls. The sound quality is very good and the features are amazing for the price - I have a 500 minute plan for $14.99 with every option under the sun - voice mail, Caller ID, 3 way calling etc. However there are some things to watch out for:
1. A lot has already been written about 911 and power outages so there's no need to cover that - this affects any emergency or other use such as Tivo, alarm systems etc.
2. It takes an extra second or 2 sometimes to get a dial-tone
3. Even when everything is seemingly working, and you have a dial-tone, I have had many an instance when the call will not go through. You may have to hang up and redial upto 3 times to connect. Althought this does not happen every single time, its often enough to be annoying.
4. Customer service - I had emailed customer service about my bill once, they charged me for the first month even though it was meant to be free. I did not receive a reply at all.
Overall I am awarding 3 stars since this product is a compromise and does not completely match up to traditional Phone service in terms of reliability and satisfaction. I would highly recommend it for a second line, though.
6 Smooth Sailing
I purchased this unit with some concern based on horror stories of support and months of difficulty in trying to keep one's existing phone number. None of my fears materialized. I received the unit and set it up. I was "VOIPing" in thirty seconds or less. Transfering my phone number was almost as easy...and I even had to fax the information twice since I left out some information. I received the unit on April 1, they received my transfer request on April 2...by April 12, my number is totally transitioned over and the unit if functioning seemlessly with my home. The features of Vonage are great and this product does a great job of giving my existing phone network acess to those features and great price. I have not worked with support via phone yet, but interactions via email have been quick (within a couple hours) and helpful. Thus far, I have no complaints with the quality of calls, the ease of use, the features, or the cost. I'm sold...for now. If this changes, I will post a followup.
7 Bill S Holland
The unit and service is awesome. No problems. Just read and follow instructions and you'll be fine. I'm saving money now.
I have been using the service for four months and I had one question (needed to know if there would be any issues with setting up a second PAP2 on my home broadband/cable line for my office). I sent an email and received a reply within a day. They'll reply - in the meantime - you'll live so go and spend time with family or do other work.
8 It seems to work!
Setup took less than 1/2 hour. Basically it worked out of the box. The only thing I had to do was turn off my modem and router to get it to work. Call quality is good - not quite as loud.
9 Vonage Move Over, Lingo Is Here
I just signed up with Lingo service, available here as a link on Amazon, and it leads you to the Lingo.com web site. Lingo has been in business for 11 years, but doesn't advertise anywhere near as much as Vonage Here is the comparison. $19.95 per month for unlimited calling to US and Canada PLUS 17 countries in Western Europe, including Italy, France, etc. Whereas Vonage is $24.95 per month including only US and Canada. Both have all the bells and whistles, of Caller ID, call waiting, Voicemail etc
You hook the Lingo adapter into any available port on your router, or directly into your cable or DSL modem, then hook your computer/network into the adapter.(Recommended)
The VOIP adapters are not meant to feed a house full of connections. Ideally, keep your existing phone, and use the new VOIP line for a cordless, hooked up to a single connection for all of your outgoing.
Since Lingo gives you one free phone number, you don't have to port over your existing phone. Hook it up to your Internet service modem, (broadband only, either DSL, or cable) and enjoy the free additional phone line. It feeds through your Internet modem, not your phone lines.
Lingo also has my 610 local area code, and Vonage did not. You can also enjoy having a phone in any area code in the US for no extra charge, so if you have customers or relatives out of state, and pick an area code and number in their area, it is like making a local call for them to reach you. Since it is Internet based, the call comes to your home, even though it's an outside area. Or you can add a second line for $4.99 at a later date with the same setup. You can also add a third phone number, but it will ring on one of the two lines, with a special ring, not unlike Ident-A-Ring. There are two plugs on the adapter. Also you can bring your adapter with you to a different state, plug it into any broadband connection, and you can receive or send calls with your local area code still using the connection.
With DSL, since it is phone line based, you can not port your existing number over, because you need your phone connection to get your DSL service. Keep your existing line, especially if you have a fax line hooked up to it. It seems that all of the VOIP services require a separate charge, to be able to get faxes.
Since your phone is then dependent on your Internet connection, get ready to have phone service, that is only as reliable, as your Internet connection. So once again, keep your phone, for fax and a flawless reliability connection.
Both Vonage and Lingo offer a money back trial period, Vonage 14 day, Lingo 30 day.
Get ready to do eBay internationally, with Lingo, calls are free to 17 countries in Western Europe. Italy, France, UK etc. not so with Vonage, just US and Canada. With Verizon, they stepped up to the plate, with their own VOIP service, called Voice Wing, which is more expensive at $29.95 for the first year, and $34.95 thereafter, and it does not include Canada or Europe; US only. Also, you can't go over 5000 minutes per month, or they will disconnect you. Lingo, on the other hand, gives you 45,000 minutes per month, that's correct 45K instead of 5K. Since their is 43,200 minutes in a 30 day month, Lingo wanted to make sure you had TRULY unlimited service by giving you 45,000. You can check it out when you visit your account information at Lingo.com by signing in. You can look up your call history, see how many minutes you have used the phone, and a COMPLETE list of everyone you called, their phone number etc, and everyone that called you with number etc, and you have the date, and time, how many minutes, and their number. It deserved a wow the first time I saw it.
I have to be honest with you. The other night, I looked up on the web how to call Italy. I found out that international calling from the US is simple. First you dial 011, indicating an international call, then you put in the country code, in this case 39 for Italy, then dial the phone number. I looked up the Italian white and yellow pages on a Google search, and looked up some phone numbers, and called. It freaked me out. I thought I was in high school again, doing a prank call. You know, is your street light working? It was awesome to hear people speaking Italian, and to know that calling Italy was just like calling someone up the street. Unbelievable! Gracia. This is a good enough reason for choosing Lingo over the others, because they include free unlimited calling to 17 countries in Western Europe for free as well, and I am not aware of any other service that provides that, and for less money than the competition. Same quality service, more of it, in more areas, and at a better price. Seems like a no brainer. Hey get in touch with your heritage. At the Lingo.com site they have a list of the countries that are included.
Disclaimer; Please understand that all of this information is my understanding, taken off of the companies sites, and it is not guaranteed accurate. It is deemed accurate, to the best of my knowledge and subject to change. One of the reasons I am saying that, is that this review will be posted for a long time, and technology changes quickly.
Actually Vonage has come down in price, but they are still not at Lingo's prices.
Lingo sends the adapter out right after the order, and it is supposed to take 3 to 5 days to receive. I ordered it Sunday night at midnight, and got it on my doorstep on Tuesday. (It took less than 48 hours, wow.)
They are available 24/7 for tech support, and ordering. Hooking it up is a breeze, if you simply plug it into your router. I wanted the recommended/advanced hookup, directly into the modem, then plug the routers into the adapter. That takes more doing, because with DSL, you have to edit the setup in your Lingo adapter for PPOE (DSL talk), then change the setup in your router to DHCP. The tech line helped me for an hour, on their 800 number, and very courteously. They walked me through it, step by step, and didn't get off until I was completely up and running. They even checked my network, to make sure that was running smoothly, with the Linksys routers. Wow, compare that to some of the reviews on Vonage tech service. No comparison.
One other thought is that if you have DSL, it is key to realize that any noise in your phone lines equals a slower connection, and or, in this case, a lesser quality voice quality. How to check it? Pick up a phone, hit any key to silence the dial tone, turn up the volume if you have that option, and listen real hard. If it isn't dead quiet, you have hum or noise. That is caused by an open ground, or from running your lines, too close to electrical-romex line. Fix it by disconnecting all lines, except the one that comes into the house. Listen to that one, if it is quiet, then hook up one internal loop at a time, until you find the offending line. Rerun that one with new wire, and away from power lines. How does this relate to Lingo-Vonage? When I hooked up the Lingo service, I accidentally broke a connection to one of the phone loops, that left an open and a hum. When I called friends, they mentioned that the VOIP sound was weaker than my normal line. Then I ran the hum test on the phone that I just mentioned, and there it was. So I checked my connections at the terminal bank in the house, and found the disconnected wire. I reattached it, then re-checked the voice quality, and it was back to full power. So beware of those who complain of less than stellar results. Also, they may be doing the easy install, of simply plugging it into one of their router ports, instead of hooking the VOIP adapter directly into the modem, then hooking the routers into the adapter. That results in no loss of Internet speed, and the most reliable and highest quality connection results.
I am very, very, excited. I have a bunch of people from high school, who are out of state, that I can't wait to call on a regular basis. I also have friends who are local but outside of my immediate calling area.
Make new friends, keep the old, one is silver, the other gold. Thank you Lingo for keeping me Gold, and at such a reasonable price. Hey, I spend 10 or 15 bucks a month on long distance now, and for 5 more bucks, I can go unlimited. Now I realize how longo, I really wanted to go Lingo. Hope This Helps.
10 Vonage Rocks
I couldn't be happier with Vonage.
Before : I was paying 36+ dollars a month for a POTS (landline) phoneline for local calls only w/callerID and Caller waiting.
Now : I pay 15.99 a month for 500 minutes long distance, which I never use up. My Tivo series one still works with Vonage, I have my same phone number I've used for 10+ years, I get voicemails emailed to me, plus a ton of additional services.
To be fair, Vonage has been out of service twice in the last 8 months; during these times all calls were automatically forwarded to my cell phone. VOIP is the way to go now-a-days and the traditional carriers know this. Save yourself some money and get Vonage today!
11 Bad Customer service? So VERY bad......
I purchased the PAP2 but could never get it to work, and customer service is the WORST I have ever encountered (and I used to have Warner Cable and have flown Northwest Airlines!)Only 1 in 10 calls gets through and then the tech knows less than I do. They were willing to swap out the PAP2 with a router (for additional cost!), I already have a router that works fine, thank you. After days of dealing with the mostly non-existant customer service I decided that even if I could get Vonage service to work I didn't want to deal with them any longer. The last rep I talked to said that they were sorry and had hired 500 new CS reps recently, maybe they should have done that before they started to advertise heavily.
If you do decide to try them keep this number handy - 1-800-860-5491, it is the cancellation department and even though they are very busy (surprise) it's still a shorter wait than the regular "Customer Service" number.
12 NO customer service
I originally signed up for vonage online. they shipped me a linksys router with phone ports. I already had a router, but I had to use theirs (what if you have a wireless router??). Then I saw this item (the PAP2) at best buy. I bought it, and when I opened the box, there was a sheet that said go to www.vonage.com/activate or whatever and it also said "if you are an existing customer who is UPGRADING your device call 800-whatever.." So i called... I waited on hold for 30 mins. then when someone finally answered he said "can I help you?" I told him I wanted to upgrade my device and he did not respond. I knew the call was still connected because I could hear him typing, and talking to people in the background. Then the guy YAWNED and still did not answer me, but didn't hang up either. I guess he thought he was being funny. whatever... on the vonage.com/activate page the only option you have for activation is to create a new phone number/account.
Next attempt to call customer service put me into an endless loop of "press 1 if..." "please wait while we transfer your call" "press 1 if..." "please wait while we transfer your call" "press 1 if..." "please wait while we transfer your call" "press 1 if..." "please wait while we transfer your call".
The only way i managed to get someone on the phone (which is the oldest trick in the book of course) was to press the button for new customers "interested in saving money on your phone bill" or whatever. This person, who was pretty clueless, finally managed to tell me that I can't upgrade the device. who knows if that's true or not.
In short, don't waste your time unless you're absolutely certain you'll never have to call CS. BTW, vonage slows my internet to almost a crawl unless i put the voice quality setting to the absolute lowest. and of course, I'm using 2 routers now which makes things more complicated than they should be. The only reason I give it any stars at all is for the $savings and for the voicemail being emailed to you as a sound attachment.
13 3-year warranty info is dead wrong
In the Amazon review of this product, you will find this statement:
"The phone adapter includes a generous three-year warranty from the manufacturer."
This warranty statement is patently untrue, and grossly misleading. I am sitting here with an absolutely dead-as-doornails PAP2 phone adapter, purchased exactly 40 days ago, and have found out the following about the so-called "warranty":
1) Don't even waste your breath calling up Linksys, because they do not service them, replace them or warrant them even if you purchased it at a retail store just 40 days ago and haven't even yet sent in a rebate form.
2) Look at the warranty in the User Guide for the PAP2 at the Linksys website - any warranties are STRICTLY offered by Vonage, not Linksys.
3) When you call Vonage (even within the EVALUATION period, for crying out loud) you are flat out told they DO NOT REPLACE PAP2's with PAP2'S - the one thing the representative was absolutely certain about was that if they replaced it THEY WOULD BE SENDING ME A LINKSYS ROUTER - NOT A NICE TINY PAP2.
This PAP2 adapter worked great for about 3 weeks - until I was forced to replace my cable modem. Poof, the PAP2 is dead, NO blue lights of ANY kind, there is no trouble-shooting that will save it. Before that, phone service was great.
But Vonage has a SERIOUS marketing and customer service problem here. Why on earth are they selling a mountain of these PAP2's at retail outlets everywhere, but then if they die insisting on sending someone out a regular router (that also happens to be HUGE AND ROYAL BLUE). I already have a router, and signed up for Vonage on the basis of the size and capabilities of the PAP2. There is no conceivable way I have room on my jam-packed small living room desk for another huge router, it's not even open to discussion.
If you go to the Vonage website, you will discover that they only warrant their adapters for THIRTY DAYS.... quite a huge diff from 3 years by a long shot! So much for customer faith in the Linksys name, brand or customer service. They are just acting like distributors for a Vonage box, and you are at the mercy of their rather questionable service indeed. There is something very sneaky about this type of marketing arrangement, and it is sure to evoke a great deal of consumer bad will.
14 Simple and Easy Installation
Let me start by saying that I was fed up with the cost of my phone service. I was even at the point where I was thinking about dropping my local phone service and getting a second cell phone. Then I heard a demonstration of the Vonage phone service and that's all it took. End of soapbox.
I chose this basic phone adapter over the Linksys adapters offered by Vonage because I already have a broadband connection with a wireless router; the other units offered by Vonage are routers. Note that Vonage did not offer to scrounge up and include the PAP2 as part of my sign-up deal, as maybe an inducement to get me to sign up -- I had to purchase it separately.
The PAP2 just plugs into the back of my router, and as far as the router is concerned the adapter is just another ethernet device. Network hookup was that simple. Once I powered the adapter on, the lights on the front blinked for several minutes (data transfer? registering with Vonage?). When they went solid, I tried my first call. And was I pleasantly surprised.
Sound quality is superb. I was prepared to suffer some degradation in sound quality in exchange for saving 50% of my phone bill, but the sound is great! I left the bandwidth setting at mid-point (on my account at Vonage), which is the default setting for sound quality. There's a high setting to improve the voice quality and to solve any voice breakup, which I haven't experienced, and a low setting in case your other web appplications start to suffer from sharing internet bandwidth with the adapter (I guess).
All in all, I give this 5 stars. From my perspective, it looks like this Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) is ready for prime time.
15 Stay away!
I feel the need to tell how very unhappy I am with Vonage's lack of customer service and policies. Because of them they lost a potential new customer, permanently. My husband and I spent two weeks reseraching the feasibility of voip for our home to replace our current phone service which is costing us nearly $50 a month. Vonage looks great "on paper" (or rather, on the computer screen), and we decided to give them a try over others such as Packet8 and AT&T CallVantage. However, I was sorely disappointed when I finally did call to try to speak with someone about the few remaining questions I had. Answered through their site or other sources were questions about fees and charges and reliability of service. A stumbling block still, in all of that, was the overwhelming number of people who report a problem with the phone adapter and the lack of support. But, we figured we'd risk it since we have a good broadband connection, and we would cancel if we felt the service was bad. My remaining questions to customer service were: did they have any numbers in our area, and could we use a fax machine once or twice a year on our line, and NOT have to pay an additional $10/month for the privilege?
The Vonage customer service agent was about as clueless as they come. First he wants all my information up front before he will even TALK to me about ANYTHING, then he tries his first attempt to sign me up without answering my questions. He then tells me that no numbers are available in our area, only numbers which would be long distance for our friends and relatives to call. This wasn't acceptable, so I asked about porting of our current number. This wasn't an option we had wanted to pursue, because of the nightmare wait time. It wasn't acceptable for us to have to hold on to our current phone service at $50 a month for the privilege of keeping our number. We didn't want to pay it, but they had nothing else available. He said they could port the number, but there was no way to speed up the process, and we'd have to keep paying our current phone bill for as long as they decided to take to port the number. At $50 a month, no way! And by the way, AT&T CallVantage only takes 8-10 days to port a number. What's the deal with Vonage's horrendous wait times???
And so, after that one question was answered to HIS satisfaction, not mine, he decided to try to sign me up again. NO! Hello? I told you I had another question, and I'm not too happy with you right now. So I asked about the fax option. We have a fax machine that we use only a couple of times a year at most, and I asked if we could use it on our regular phone line. Then the customer service agent was downright rude with me. He said no, absolutely not, if we did not pay for an additional line we would not be allowed to use our fax machine, don't even try it. Wow! Why did he have to be so rude? Then he tries to sign me up again, this time with an additional line. I said that this was absurd, we only used it a couple of times a year, and no, I didn't want another line. He then gets snotty and tells me that if we only use it that much we should go to the local copy store instead. Well, that was it for me. He tries a third time to sign me up, and I said I was no longer interested. He askes why, and I laugh as I tell him back the two issues we just talked about. He acts like he doesn't even remember them! Then he puts me on hold for I don't know what reason. Probably to put us into some database, I'm sure. At this time I am REALLY sorry I ever bothered with Vonage. Then he comes back, tries to sign me up again, I said no, and hung up.
If this is what Vonage calls customer service, it's a joke. By the end of it I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. Every time the customer service agent didn't want to respond to a question I was met with silence, then another attempt to sign me up, like he hoped that if he didn't acknowledge my question it would just go away and I would magically change my mind. After this, if we ever decide to think about voip again, it WON'T be Vonage we call.
And, but the way, I wouldn't even bother with AT&T either. Though their customer service agent was better informed and nicer that Vonage's, she was really, really pushy about signing me up. I don't like agent who won't take no for an answer. It's our policy in our family that we don't make split-second decisions, we talk to one another before making a final decision. And so, when I called AT&T for information only, she tried to sign me up, I said no, we went through this three times, then she asks me if I need permission from my husband. That was very insulting. Why I even bothered to stay on the phone with her after that I'm not sure, but I DID give her a piece of my mind about that particular comment.
The bottom line for us is we've decided not to bother with any of them. Between questionable quality of service, nonexistent customer service, and very pushy business practices, I'm staying FAR, FAR AWAY.
16 Did not pass the wife test
I thought this would be a great additional phone line.
For $15 a month we could get all of the features and 500 minutes of calling anywhere in the US and Canada.
Too bad no body can really hear us. Everybody complains we are too quiet.
I sat on hold with Vonage support for a half an hour until they hung up on me.
I then e-mailed me and they sent me a few suggestions, which did nothing, and I let them know.
I have Verizon DSL with a Linksys BEFW1S4 v4 router.
I tried it with my in-laws cable access and my old WRT54G v2 router with QoS and still no louder.
I left my number for Vonage support after they hunh up on me and they never called or sent me another message.
I tried some suggestions from Broadband Reports, opened ports, checked for leaks and still nothing fixed it.
Since we are going on vacation to the British Virgin Islands I will take the unit along for a local number, but once I return so is the unit!
17 It's great when it works
Here is my Vonage story. Yesterday I made one of the toughest decisions I had to make regarding technology. I had to cancel my Vonage account. A week ago I purchased the PAP2 Telephone Adaptor (TA) at a Circuit City. With the Vonage rebates the unit was free. I was very excited about this technology but I was ready for installation hell so after getting home I read through the installation instructions and thought, "Could it be this easy?" It was. After signing up for Vonage on-line, I literally took the TA out of the box, connected the included Ethernet cable from my Linksys router to the TA, plugged my phone into the TA, plugged the TA into a power outlet, waited for it to boot and picked up the phone and had a dial-tone. I couldn't believe my ears so I looked back into the manual to make sure I had not missed anything. The instructions said that if I have a dial-tone I could begin making calls. So I did and it worked perfectly!
I was so excited to now be able to dump both my Qwest local phone and my long distance company all in one fell swoop that I walked around my living room trying to digest that fact that this could all be this easy. I began calling my friends from my new Vonage line telling them how cool this new technology was and recommending Vonage to all of them. Then I occasionally began getting real fast busy signals whenever I tried to call out. No rings, just an unnatural busy signal. I emailed Vonage about this problem but before getting a response my service returned to normal. Just a one-time glitch in the system? I was hoping so. It seemed to work fine then for the rest of the day.
Then as the week progressed I began getting emails and some calls from people who said that when calling me they got a few rings and then a very fast busy signal and the call wouldn't go through. Sometimes they said that they got a "This call cannot be completed" message. I began troubleshooting and found in the Vonage trouble shooting guide that doing some specific port forwarding on my router could be the fix for the problem. I configured things just as they suggested but the problem remained. After a week of trying figure this out, I called Vonage to cancel my account. The gentleman in the cancellation department was courteous and patient. He said, "Would you mind if we did a few tests to see if we can find the problem"? I said "No problem!" and we began what ended up being a one hour and 20 minute phone call. (Much of the time I was on hold). But I wanted this to work so bad that I thought that if we could get this corrected I could get excited and call the rest of my friends to tell them how cool this is.
After about an hour with the cancellation guy trying a few things with the same results I was forwarded directly to a tech guy. This guy said that he had just uploaded a few updates to my TA and he was in the process of sending another as we spoke. After completing these he called me several times to check it out and it worked just fine each time. I tried a few out-going calls and it worked perfectly as well. Yippee! Problem solved!
After leaving home for a couple of hours I came back and went into my office where my Vonage phone is and saw on caller ID that a friend from Seattle had called. There was no voicemail. Hmm... I called him back and we chatted for a few minutes and then I asked him if he had had any problems with his call to me. He said that he called but it rang just a few times before he got a real fast busy signal. Good-bye Vonage. I called the next morning and cancelled my account. Again they were very courteous and understanding.
Even with all I have been through, I have a hard time not recommending this service. If not for the intermittent problems I would give Vonage 5 stars. If you sign up for it and it all works fine, this is the coolest technology to come out in a long time. The sound quality was very good, the call forwarding and voicemail options are totally cool, and the price is great. Just be sure you check it all out thoroughly to make sure that everything works before your 14 day trial period ends.
18 Dont Buy!! Unless you can get a Local Number
I did my homework and when I got my Vonage number it turned out it was 200 miles from where I was---So it means when your next door neighbor calls you--Its a long distant call.
19 Great service, nasty buzz and humm
I love the Vonage service compared with Verizon's old-world service, but my first PAP2 had a relatively loud background humm. I returned the unit to Amazon (VERY EASY!!), but the second unit had the same humming, so I am putting up with it now and will call Vonage sometime again. I've read about this problem from others, too.
20 Perfecto
After trying another VOIP company first, I tried Vonage with Linksys's PAP2 adapter. Not a single glitch. I love it.
21 Damm near perfect
I have dealt with a lot of imperfect technology in my time. Bad engineering, bad ergonomics, bad tech support, bad manuals, bad ideas. This is not one of those technologies. It was easy to install, easy to configure, and has worked flawlessly with my other network components. It has saved me a boatload of money on phone calls ( the 1-800 option is the way to go). Overall, it has been one of the best gadgets I have ever purchased (Next to my 55" Sony LCD projection screen TV) What can I say, I am a 12 Step Gadget monkey.
22 Vonage service
Vonage has saved me a lot. The quality is better that the Verison and I don't have to deal with them. No more LD and inter lata charges. I used to pay 8 cents to my neighbors since we were in different zones. Internation quality, availability and price is the best. Search the web for vonage best deal and you can get it free for two months.
23 Great Service - A couple of minor issues
I've had Vonage for well over two years and use it as the exclusive phone service at my home (NO Phone company :-)).
The service has been great:
- clear calls
- good customer service
- great features...free *69, click2call, caller ID, etc..
- a company that periodically REDUCES rates!! Yeah!
- auto call forwarding during service interruption
- Save family money. They can call you by dialing a local number for only $5/month more.
Only a few minor issues:
- when Adelphia has problems, phone has problems. Relatively rare, but annoying.
- For some reason, Vonage has trouble sending DTMF to third parties. For instance, if you use a teleconferencing service (for work) and you dial in using vonage, the service may not be able to receive your touch tone inputs over vonage. This has been verified by my teleconf company. I have no issues, from any other phone (cell included).
Overall, a great way to save money.
24 Vonage Service an Amazing Money Saver
In my household, we've had Vonage for nearly six months and we couldn't be happier. The sound is so clear that our friends constantly comment that our voices sound like we're standing right next to them. In addition, the complete control Vonage gives you over their service via the website is a dream. All the information you need is right there (e.g., billing, voicemail, account, etc.). And, we love being able to check our voicemail online. I even have the service set up to send me an e-mail when a new voicemail has arrived.
My only word of warning: The service will only be as good as the system it's piggybacking onto. It sounds like many of the negative reviews are having troubles that likely related to the speed and quality of their broadband service or poor networks setups. If you have great Internet service and a stable network, you will have great Vonage service.
25 Read the negative reviews, bought anyway, really regret it..
OK, OK, I read the good and bad reviews, but believed that I could overcome any issues that arose. I was mistaken.
I spent two days trying to set it all up, went through every setting (including the required four separate port-forwarding ranges in my router) in my network trying to find what I was doing wrong. Even removed my real router and connecting the PAP2 directly to the cable modem. Finally gave up and called tech support.
Vonage tech support verified it was communicating correctly all along. All the troubleshooting was in vain. Turns out, Amazon sent out a PAP2 that was three firmware versions old; such that it re-connected in 5-second intervals, never allowing the current software to download. After MANY resets and connecting the adapter directly to the cable modem, Vonage couldn't update the firmware and refused to send a .bin to me so that I could update it. As you know, Vonage locks users out of the Admin mode; the current firmware cannot be loaded locally. So, I have to return the box to Amazon.
Vonage then sent me a new phone adapter with a charge of $99.94. So now a box that was going to cost $0.00, turned into a $100 charge. When I called to question the charge, they offered me a $49.94 credit, saying that since I was getting a $50 credit from Amazon when I returned the PAP2, the new box would therefore cost nothing - sounds like the old bait and switch or the old con with the $20 bill. If these are the folks programming the boxes, I am starting to understand the problem.
My mathematically challenged helper could not resolve these issues, so I finally gave up and just canceled everything. Therefore, I'll off to another VoIP provider.
I signed up for another providor, now my international calls are more clear that PSTN service.
26 Vonage Does Not Lie About Rates
As someone who signed on early with Vonage, I can attest that their service has been quite good and has improved over time with new features, lower prices, and better reliability.
In my opinion, they do not lie about international rates. They have rate charts on their site which make the rates to mobile phones clear. As someone who calls Europe frequently, I have not found this to be a problem. It is up to the consumer to check the rate charts and see which calls are charged at higher rates.
I do not believe that they misrepresent anything and have found happily used their serice for some time.
27 Don't Do It
Please, I beg of you, do not get involved with Vonage. I must have spent 4 hours waiting on hold to reach customer service, billing, and number transfer. The only person I was able to speak to after 2 months was someone in the cancelation department! Get this, there is a $40 chage for canceling the service hidden in the contract!! While the device itself works, everything about Vonage is underhanded. All I can say is don't do it....
28 Should have mentioned "Only works with Vonage"
I was very excited to see this product out and I ordered it right away. I was shocked when I recieved the product that it :
1- Only works with VONAGE and no other provider.
2- It is password protected and the default password does not work.
3- It is not mentioned anywhere on the site nor on the package it self that VONAGE is a pre-requisite.
I already have a service that I'm using that I'm satisfied with for callback. And I want to try the VoIP feature of myexisting service with this device. But I don't want to switch providers just because the device does not work with a generic VoIP service.
Too bad I have to return this product.
29 vonage lies about rates
We got this service primarily to cut our long dist. bills and not have to always use silly dial around numbers, especially for international calls (for which they promise wonderful rates). Be VERY VERY careful here if you need to make international calls as they lie about the rates.
All calls overseas to mobile phones are billed to the caller at a higher rate (as the caller pays the for the mobile call not the person receiving it as in this country). What Vonage does is lump many numbers as mobile (cellular) when in fact they are NOT and bill you through the nose for them. So you have to be VERY careful of the city exchange you call. This is total BS on the part of Vonage!
As a comparison I checked with AT&T CallVantage and they don't pull these shenanigans on you. Yes there rates are a little higher but.....I hate being LIED to! I would rather know up front what I've got rather than being screwed after the fact as Vonage did to me.
I will be returning their product and getting AT&T CallVantage (as much as I hate AT&T as a company) at least the rates are up front and honest.
30 Line noise, Vonage only
I purchased one of these when they first came out and returned in the next day. Here's why:
Line noise. Plug in the unit straight into a phone with no Ethernet connection. Hear the scratchy line noise?
It's Vonage only. Nowhere on the box or on the web does it say "usage of this product requires activation with Vonage." I thought I was buying a generic VOIP (DTA) adapter, not a piece of hardware that only works with one vendor.
Very dissapointed.
31 Packet8 vs Vonage
I find Mr. Martin's views about Packet8 to be considerably outside the bounds of my own experience. An experience that seems to be shared by the vast majority of Packet8 users, as a visit to the principal VoIP forum, http://www.dslreports.com/reviews/2413
would quickly confirm. There the reader may discover that Packet8 has enjoyed a higher overall rating then Vonage for some time.
32 So long, ATT!
I was looking for ways to save money around the house and decided to give VOIP a whirl. I ordered this despite reading some reviews on Voxilla that some of them give off a slight "hum". Mine did not, so I was happy right off the bat.
The PAP2 is basically a rebranded Sipura SPA-2000, which is one of the best VOIP phone adapters on the market. I hooked it up to my home switch, which has a linux server as the gateway. It worked perfectly without having to forward any ports! So easy! I had a working phone number in minutes! I decided to bite the bullet and transfer my existing number to Vonage, which took 2 weeks. It has been worth every penny!
PROS: Small, easy to set up. Cool blue LEDs. Vonage service is great! Goes behind my firewall like the rest of my network equipment. Faxing works perfectly.
CONS: I have to wait until I have been with Vonage 90 days to get the rebate.
33 International Phoner
Excellent piece of hardware and service (so far) from Vonage. I've had this device for approximately five days. I make frequent calls to Australia, India, and Chicago. I have a Linksys BEFSR41 router, and a Uniden 5.8GHz cordless phone.
Other reviews cover most aspects. Here's some points I didn't see mentioned previously:
- Some background noise, probably due to a WAP (Wireless Access Point) or wireless keyboard and mouse, but not enough to discourage me.
- International rates rival many pay-as-you-go cards
- A perceptable delay and slight echo when calling Australia and India, but again, not bad enough to discourage me.
- Wonderful to be able to configure the various features via the web
Bottom line: Line quality does not quite equal an expensive digital optical phone line, but I cannot ignore the difference in price.
34 Absolutely fabulous
If you have an existing broadband connection with a router and/or firewall, then this product may be the easiest way to go to use your phone over your broadband connection. It should take you less than 10 minutes to get this all hooked up and working. The PAP2 connect to your existing phone and your existing network. A few changes will have to be done on your router/firewall for this to work, but all the instructions for doing this are easily available at the Vonage.com homepage.
There is a degree of technical skills and understanding required to make this work. However, if you are looking for VoIP phones, you probably already know enough to set this up.
The bandwidth requirement for using this service is not bad at all. The default setting is 90Kbps, and that should not be an issue for most people with broadband connections. However, you can tune this down if it becomes an issue, but sound quality may degrade when doing this.
The most basic service with Vonage is now $14.99/month with 500 free minutes (including Canada, but excludes international calls), which is a great deal unless you are constantly on the phone. All the services comes with Voicemail, Caller ID and something called "Network Availability Number". The later allows you to set a phone number (i.e. for your cell phone) that calls will be forwarded to in the event that your broadband connection goes down.
35 Vonage v. Packet 8
SUMMARY: Vonage is great for second lines, but keep a regular phone line for emergencies. At just $29.99 per month, Vonage is relatively inexpensive and offers fantastic features that the regular telephone company can't match. Vonage's sound quality is exactly the same as a regular phone line and the customer support is okay. In contrast, Packet8 is cheaper ($19.99 per month), has very poor customer service and mechanized sounding audio. If you want good audio quality and don't mind paying more, Vonage wins. If you don't mind lower audio quality and no customer support, Packet8 may be a better choice for you.
REVIEW: There are a number of companies that offer the ability to use your broadband internet connection to give you a telephone jack that you can plug your regular phone into. This technology is known as Voice Over IP, or VOIP for short. When you sign up, you get an adaptor you hook up to your internet connection and to a regular telephone. When it works properly, you can pick-up your phone and make calls just like you normally might, but the call gets routed over the internet.
A lot has been said about using VOIP as your only phone line, but I'd sum it up this way: Don't use VOIP as your only phone line. VOIP lines can go down for many reasons, including power failures, internet outages, or VOIP network problems. Also, as of August 2004, Vonage doesn't implement 911 service the same way that your local telephone company does. Although they can set-up 911 service so that it goes to your local police department, the call will not come in on the 911 emergency line, and the police will not know where are calling from.
These issues may not seem important to you if you know about them. But, consider the possibility that the VOIP line goes down while a babysitter is watching your kids, or a guest is at the house alone, and disaster strikes. Having a regular phone line that always works is crucial.
A regular POTS telephone line is essential to have as a backup for an emegency, but given the features Vonage offers, you could probably cancel all the expensive options off of your regular phone line and use Vonage as a line 2 as your primary method of calling.
The technology is a fantastic idea and is loaded with great features, including the ability to get a telephone number in just about any area code, even if it is nowhere near where you live. Vonage gives you the ability to have as many telephone numbers (in different area codes if you want) ring to the same line. Vonage also provide caller ID, call-waiting, call-waiting caller ID, three way calling, call forwarding (including forwarding to multiple numbers at the same time), voicemail, and the ability to transfer calls.
If you pay $29.99 per month, these features are free, along with unlimited local and long distance calling to the U.S. and Canada. You can also take the adaptor with you when you travel and plug it into any internet connection (such as at a hotel) anywhere in the world, and use it just like you were sitting at home.
I've tried Vonage and another company called Packet 8. Vonage's sound quality is fantastic and reliability is good enough for a second line. In contrast, Packet8's sound quality sounds a bit mechanized or computerized. Also, Vonage's customer support, while not great, is far better than Packet8 (Read my Packet 8 Review for more details).
Packet8 has one advantage over Vonage. You can get most of the features of Packet8 for $19.99 a month, whereas Vonage charges $29.99 per month. However, Vonage has much better sound quality than Packet8 and better customer service, which matters more to me than $10.00 a month. Also, Vonage offers the ability to transfer calls, which Packet8 doesn't. Vonage also supports fax calls, but the audio on Packet8 is so bad that most fax machines can't handle it.
In sum, if you don't mind the extra $10.00 per month, Vonage is the way to go. If you want cheap, won't fax or use TIVO, and you won't need support, Packet8 may be better for you.
Note: There are several other companies that offer VOIP services: VoicePulse, Broadvox, IConnectHere, Lingo, and even AT
36 This item is usable only on Vonage Service.
This is a great product, I plugged it into my router and filed out the web page at www.vontage.com . Called the number issued from them and the attached phone rang. Very impressive for my girlfriend. She went and bought one as well.
I didn't realize that this item is locked to Vonage. So if you want a differnet VOIP provider look for the PAP2-NA model. Currently Linksys has recalled all the -NA models from retail sales outlets.
37 Good Value with a lot of features, but...
I've been wanting to switch from traditional phone service (Verizon) to VoIP (Vonage) for a while, and I jumped in with the release of the Linksys products.
Here's what I really, really like about the Vonage service: Setup is a breeze, and PAP2 is diminutive, so if you are travelling to a location with broadband service, you can take the box with you to make/receive calls. In addition, the Vonage service is full of features that are either not available from the local telco, or would cost a small fortune every month.
As much as I like the service, it does have drawbacks and limitations that you should be aware of:
* Power or Broadband outages - If you lose power, or your broadband service is unavailable, you will not have phone service. Even though Vonage can ring your cell phone if this were to occur, this fallback can take up to 4 hours (per the Vonage website).
* 911 Service - Unlike most VoIP services, Vonage *does* offer 911 service. However, you must register, and when/if you dial 911, your call is routed to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in your area, and unlike traditional 911, the PSAP will note have access your location/address.
* Tivo & Modems - Although you most likely will never use a modem when you have broadband access, if you have a Tivo that only has a modem, you may have problems getting the Tivo to make its Daily Call. This is the major issue I have with Vonage. I tried all the "tricks," and even bought a DSL filter, with no luck. I like my Tivo more than Vonage, so I'll be cancelling Vonage and going back to my local telco.
* Phone Number & Caller ID - If you have Vonage assign a new phone number to you (instead of porting your existing telco number), when you dial others from your Vonage phone, they will not see your Name on their Caller ID, only your phone number.
Of the above points, only the Tivo compatibility issue keeps me from switching to Vonage. You should also note that the Linksys PAP2 *requires* a broadband router. If you do not have a router, you should buy the Linksys RT31P2, which is both a router, and a VoIP/Vonage device in one box.
38 Finally!! A Clear Call Over the Internet!
This product is truly amazing. Very easy to hook up. Just go to their website first and give them the MAC address of the device, then sign up for your plan. Follow the simple instructions, just a couple of connections, plug in the power and there you go! Actually, you may need to wait a few minutes on first power up for the device to register with your router. That's it!
The call quality is simply great. Very clear, no echo or an occasional delay like I had with a computer based phone using Net2Phone (not knocking Net2Phone, I still use them, just the phone I had wasn't very good). I have the Siemens 4215 handsets and the message and voicemail system work great with them through Vonage. Lights still blink on the phone so I know I have a message and/or voicemail. And for me, finally I have Caller ID. I have refused to pay Verizon another Nickel for something that should be free to begin with. Now I can see who has called me and when. Vonage VM also gives you the number and how long ago the call came in. Nice feature. But what's even more amazing is that you can login to your Vonage account on their website, any where in the World, and listen to your Voicemail through the computer!! That is just too great. You can even setup Vonage to send you an email to any address you choose when you have a new VM, and/or, they can include a copy of the message for you already in the email so you don't even have to login or call your mailbox.
As a Network Engineer I don't usually get to excited over Hubs, Routers and Switches, but this product is a winner. I like it, and it's going to save a ton of money.
This is money well spent.
39 True Plug & Play
I have been looking at Vonage for some time and when Linksys announced the PAP2 it was enough to push me over the edge and give VoIP a try for real. Set up was truly plug & play, I am using a Linksys WRT54G with a WET54GS5. The PAP2 is connected to the WET54GS5. Following the directions, I plugged the PAP2 into the WET54G and the PAP2 went through it's setup process which took about 5-8 minutes. At least in my case, no port forwarding was required to be established in the WRT54 gateway although the instructions say it could be required in some configurations
Registering for the Vonage service was a series of simple Web pages and in a few minutes I was making high quality outgoing calls. You should register for the service before you install the adaptor. After about a week of testing I decided I have had enough of paying my local Telco rates and I have requested Vonage to port my local number to their service (takes up to 20 working days).
You should consider all aspects of using VoIP as your sole telephone provider, especially if your ISP is not the most reliable service. If you have cell phone service as a back up, then go for it. Vonage does provide an automatic roll over to a back up number of your choice if they lose connectivity with your VoIP adaptor (must be configured on their web site).
