STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Pepper · Kenneth Cole

VONAGE

erin · Chanel

i think missmee posted a bad experience about this. something about 911 calls...i don't remember what it was exactly.

Bastet · Kate Spade

I have Vonage and love it. I almost never use my land line so I got the $15.00 plan and there aren't any hidden fees. I did have to buy a second router though. The pros of Vonage are that it's significantly cheaper than Verizon (my phone bill was over $50 on the most basic plan), you can listen to your voicemail on the internet if you're not home, you can forward your home number to your cell phone when you travel, and lots of other online features. The cons are that when your electricity goes out or your broadband internet isn't working, your phone won't work.

Also, there are issues with calling 911. You can register w/ their 911 service and supposedly it will relay your address to the 911 operators. Apparently, if you call 911 from a land line, they instantly know your address. Calling 911 from Vonage is apparently like calling 911 from a cell phone, you have to tell them where you are unless you use Vonage's 911 service. I think what kind of 911 service you get from Vonage depends on their location. Here's their 911 page:

http://www.vonage.com/features.php?feature=911&lid=footer_911

I've never had to call 911, so I don't know how their service works.

HTH!

laken1 · Hermes

I have it too & I love it - no hidden fees at all. Our service is $27ish with taxes & that's it - I wish I had back the money I used to pay to the phone company for long distance calls! While we were dating & living apart my DH also set up a phone line with my local area code on it so I could call him "locally" & it was only like $5 per month. There are the 911 issues but to be honest, I don't have kids & kind of gloss over that fact. We have had issues with our internet provider or electricity being out but since we have cell phones it hasn't been an issue at all, even with me working from home.

HTH

alb · Marc Jacobs

We have it and love it. My husband and I live in Cairo, Egypt and our vonage # keeps us in contact with family and friends in the US. It is around $25-ish a month for unlimited service. It's great for us b/c otherwise we would spend a fortune on phone bills, especially now I am in TX and my husband is back in Cairo. Vonage allows us to talk at least once a day. We've never had any problems with it.

I have no experience with the 911 iussue b/c we don't have 911 in Cairo--sorry.