Vonyage or Any Other VOIP Phone Use in the Home

We use vonage and I really like it. I think you are able to go in and set it up and then the 911 will work.

I love Vonage!!

Vonage actually has a great 911 option that, when you sign up for the service, has you tie the number to a physical address that 911 services will see if you should have the unfortunate need to call.

Also, since Vonage is great with their referrals (giving up to two months of free service to the referred and the referrer - a $49.99 value - refer 6 people and potentially get a year of free service), should you decide to use Vonage, find someone who already has an account, so you can both get the bonus!

I would not go to Vonage you will not have phone service half the time I did the 30 free canc. it after 2 weeks into it and now they are charging me $400.00 even though it stated you can can at any time during the 30 days at no charge its is becoming a big ordeal every time I dispute it the bill goes hire now I need to get a Lawyer they are a SCAM

We have been using Vonage for nearly 5 years and are pleased with their service. The only problem I have is that we are using Qwest for our internet access and they SUCK! Perhaps you will have better luck with Cox. If we hadn't signed a 2 year agreement with them we would switch right now.

Anyhow, when you get a Vonage account you register your address with your phone number so when you do call 911 from that number it shows your number as coming from your address. You have to go in and designate this manually, though, so it is important that you do this right away. From then on it's no problem. I hope that helps! :)

I have VOIP phone in my home and it works well. Now if there is a power outage or if your high speed internet service goes down you have no service at all. As far as 911 service they ask all your information and ask that you keep them updated if you move or have a change like that so I'm sure it will go through to the right address as long as you keep them updated. I haven't had to use 911 yet. I also had to get a basic phone line with my cable service because with VOIP you can't get any collect calls which I need. But free US long distance is a blessing.

We've had vonage for about 2-3 months. We absolutely love it and will also switch our office to it soon. Vonage tells you that there will be a lag in the conversation, however we have not yet experienced this (maybe just satellite users?) When you go to your account online, there are several options you can choose for your phone that are free (unlike regular phone companies). If your internet goes down (and you've configured it to do so in your account) all calls will automatically be transferred to the phone of your choice (ie. your cell phone).

You can activate your 911 dialing in your account online which means that you enter whatever address you would be calling 911 from. You must activate it for the address to appear when you call 911. To make sure it is activated you dial 933 from your phone.

You can configure call forwarding so that if the phone rings for anywhere from instantly to 50 seconds it sends the call to the phone of your choice.

You'll also have call waiting, voicemail, a bandwidth saver (you can allow your phone to use more or less bandwidth to be more compatible with your computer internet usage), a call block for anonymous callers, and a "do-not-disturb" that will either send all calls straight to voicemail or tell the caller that you're not accepting calls at the moment. This is all easily configured on your online account.

You can also access your voicemails online, be notified of them via email, and have them transcribed and sent to you in text format. Great if you're out of town. But, if you're going to be out of town, you can bring your vonage modem (i guess you'd call it) and use it wherever you're staying as long as there is the correct kind of internet. Nice if you'll be gone for an extended period.

Fax machines also work on the line or you can add a dedicated fax line for an extra $10/month.

If you have family or friends that are long distance to call you can add a "virtual phone number" for $4.99 a month, which is essentially a phone number in their area code, but on your home phone. Or, you can add a toll free number for the same price.

We really, really, really are happy that we switched to Vonage, and my husband and I are not easy to please. If 911 calling is your only concern, then I'd go for it. Keep your regular phone connected and test out Vonage for a few weeks, if you like Vonage, drop the regular phone service. Wow, this is a long response, I guess I'm just really pleased with their service!

I love my Vonyage, I have had it for 5+ years. My only problem is that my internet provider Mediacom has a great deal of problems keeping the internet functioning. I have never needed the 911. I would check to see if Cox does a better job than Mediacom. I have no choice but to keep a cell phone that has minimual signal as a back up to Mediacom poor service.

I've been happy with Comcast Voice, which runs over your cable line. With most of these services, you need to make sure your account address is accurate b/c THAT'S what comes up when you call 911. So if you make sure you do that, you should be fine.

my friend has it and she loves it, we tried it but because we have satlelite internet it didnt work well at all there was a big delay in conversation like i would say something and it took three times longer for someone to hear me and to respond. so we went back to quest. But with a regular computer connection you wont get the delay we had.

Hi L. G. We used Vonage for about three months we had heard wonderful things about it especially the price. We were very disappointed. We had a cable connection for our internet and because the speed of the connection didn't stay constant we experienced delays in our phone conversations. These weren't small delays they were 10 to 15 second delays and many times people would hang up on us because they couldn't hear us answer them. My husband occasionally works from home and this caused many problems with his business phone calls. We tried repeatedly to get either vonage or the cable company to fix the problem and both kept passing it back and forth and did nothing about it. We finally couldn't take anymore and got rid of both companies. We also had problems getting our phone number back from vonage. People who had vonage couldn't call us because the message would say that our phone was disconnected. It took us another two months to get vonage to understand that we were no longer with them and that our new phone company had purchased our number back and they needed to release it. Over all, if you can't tell, we did not like vonage at all and would never go back to it. Usually I am not so negative about things, but having vonage was not a good experience for us at all. The other thing to consider is that if the power goes down you do not have 911 access.

L.,
We had Vonyage and the service is horrible, is it always full of static and don't even try to run your microwave while on the phone it gets really bad.
P.

I believe regardless of whether you pay for phone service from Qwest or Cox the line is always able to connect to 911 services. Give call to your phone company now to double check, since obviously I could of been wrong information as well. Have a great day!

I haven't actually used it, and I don't know about the 911 - although I've heard that a lot of the emergency numbers are now asking where are you as the first question, since that is really pretty important. But, of course, little kids may not be able to answer this question.
Anyways, what I have heard about vonage, from one of my friends, she would call me around dinner time and I couldn't hear her, it was so full of static because everyone was getting home from work and using the internet and I couldn't even hear her at all. That's my only experience with it.

HI, we have vonage in our house and when you sign up you will go to their website to your account and you activate the 911 usage. Then you get an email in about 1 or 2 days letting you know your number is now going to come up when you dial 911. If you have anymore concerns you can look at the info they have on the website before you sign up. Hope this helps.

I also have vonage and we like it. Once you have signed up you just activate the 911 option to your phone it is easy takes two seconds and does come up with your address if you have to call 911

Hi... I am a retired 9-1-1 dispatcher (21 years).

I am sick to think anyone would change over to Vonage knowing their ADDRESS will NOT SHOW UP if they call 9-1-1. And for what a little cheeper phone bill a month?? The cost of 9-1-1 on your current phone bill should be somewhere around less than $1 a month.

Do you know how many 9-1-1 calls are processed and human lives are saved just because we had their address on our screen. They never said a word, but help was sent to them right a way. Children were always the BIGGEST concern because they did no know thier address, but again they always got help if they needed it because we had the address.

Personally I have taken several calls simular to those from children, the elderly, and others who could not speak or convey their emergency. THANK GOD we had the address!

It's your choice, but you serioiusly need to consider the cost of your savings by giving up 9-1-1 service.

B.

Hi L.,

We've had Vonage for about 3 years now and we're pretty happy with it. The only downfall is that if your internet is down... then so is your phone. It's not that bad as it's only happened to us about 4 times in the past 3 years and usually only for no more than a couple of hours so make sure to always have your cell phone charged! Other than that... we like it!

L., I have Vonage and have used it for years. Their equipment has gotten better since we first started using it so even though we live in a somewhat rural area we have had no problems with connection or voice quality. The way the 911 works is that you have to update your address anytime you move so that if you do call 911 they'll have it just the same. When you sign up for Vonage they send you all the info you'll need to know about it and you can update the info online. It really is the easiest service we've ever had. We pay $20.02 per month including all fees and taxes. That includes all the features you could want and 500 minutes per month. I didn't think that 500 minutes a month sounded like enough, but we barely use 200. Anyway, hope this helps with your decision. I highly recommend their service!

L.,
Hi, we have had vonage for a couple of years and I had the same concerns at first. Unfortunatley we have had to call 911 twice in two years and it worked perfectly fine both times. I would just ask them about it when you set up your service and ask them to double check it and also explain to you how it works to set your mind at ease. Good luck, M.

If you lose power, you also lose phone service. Also in the event of a power loss you would also lose your connection to your home security system if you have one. We tried it several years ago and did not like the sound quality. It has improved some since then, but I can tell when I talk to my friends who do have the service.
Just a few things to consider on top of the 911 issue.

I dont recommend transfering to Vonage. I had Vonage for over a year and had nothing but problems with my service and I couldnt just cancel, I had to wait for my contract to expire. I seriously had to call with problems atleast once a week the entire time I had that service and I was on the phone for atleast an hour each time. Their customer service really stinks! I transfered to Cox and havent had a problem since.

L., we were so excited switching to Vonage about a year ago and thought we were going to save a lot of money on our phone bill; which we did. HOWEVER< we definitely paid the price for 9-1-1. It is awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to use it and it did not connect - I ended up lucky having my cell phone with me as well and that is what definitely came through. SO-PLEASE for the safe of you and your family STICK TO A WELL-KNOWN phone provider!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We have cox now and like it.