The New Jersey based VoIP telephony company has expanded its services to Canada and the United Kingdom since its founding in 2001. Vonage’s claim of over 5 billion calls since then is not to be underestimated, succeeded only by Comcast. The company’s motto “Voice-Over-Net-AGE” is a combination of the acronym “VON” for Voice on the Net and “AGE” indicating the beginning of a new age in consumer telephone services.
The broadband provider has had its confrontations however. A lawsuit filed by Verizon in 2006 cost Vonage approximately $120 Million in damage payments in 2007. Not to get the company down, it was able to triple their customer base and reduce their churn rate since July 2008 and can now boast of over 900 Million US dollars revenue in 2008, over 2.6 million service lines and over 1600 employees in the US, Canada and Britain.
Formerly known as Min-X.com, initially founded in 1999 on Long Island, New York, Vonage’s steady growth and well-priced services can now offer unlimited local and long distance calling beginning at just $ 17.99 a month with no set-up fees and no equipment costs. International calling plans begin at $ 30.99 per month.
Provided that customers possess a high speed internet connection via cable or DSL and using the Vonage phone adapter, customers can use any phone they wish and are even permitted to choose any number in the country for use with their main telephone line. Regardless of their actual place of residence, users can choose for example, the area code of Dallas Texas even if they live in New York, New York. However, Vonage is not available in all area codes in the United States.
Another interesting feature is the mobility of the phone adapter. For example, an individual planning to live abroad for a longer period of time can take the adapter along and plug it into the local network (provided there are LAN plug-ins available) and thus receive from and place calls back home at possibly cheaper rates than the local providers can offer but with no further charges.
As with most VoIP telephone service providers, dialling 911 and other emergency numbers can be rather complicated and may not be possible as the Vonage 911 service operates very differently than the normal 911 dialling procedures. For more information on this, see www.vonage.com/911.
If the Vonage subscription is cancelled before the first year has expired, a cancellation fee of $ 39.99 will be charged and must be done via a toll-free number as it is not possible to cancel services online.
With a great value and very competitive pricing, Vonage offers package deals for every type of user, beginning with a 500 minute package for just $ 17.99 a month to a small business premium package for only $ 49.99 a month. The transparent and clearly represented website allows for a quick overview for the user to find just what they are looking for to best suit their needs and will most definitely serve to continuously increase the number of satisfied subscribers in the years to come.
