rblog

A friend of mine at work switched over to Vonage and that got me thinking. A Quicken report showed me that we spend about $60 per month on local and long distance phone calls - and we could probably get away with the cheaper Vonage plan - $15/month. In preparation for this migration, I have to go out and purchase an expandable phone system - as I will plug the base station into the router and use the phones wireless capability to have 2-4 other handsets. I choose the Vtech 5867 system, as it was rated #1 by Consumer Reports. I get the base station and one additional handset on EBay for $90 and the handsets at RadioShack (on sale for about $49). Great prices. Unfortunately, it never worked well. Before hooking this up to the VOIP service, I connect this to our regular phone service. And the quality is NOT good. I return lots of handsets to Radio Shack (as Radio Shack equipment never works on the first try), but no luck. In addition, the handsets are not comfortable and the functionality of the system is strangely limited. For example, there is a USB connection to the handset, but it only allows you to download pictures and personalized ring tones - you can't download phonebook entries! Nor can the phonebook be copied from one handset to another - you have to manually enter each phonebook entry on each handset! (Vtech customer support confirmed this.) So, for the moment, I am stuck with a poor phone system. This is the only time that Consumer Reports has steered me wrong, although I am more likely to blame this on the EBay purchase.

I shift to the next phase - ordering VOIP. This goes quite well - I am able to purchase a VOIP adapter (to connect the phone to a router) and start service for -$50. Yes, that is a negative sign. With rebates the cost of the adapter is free and I also get a $50 gift card and some other prize. I am a bit fuzzy on these details as none of the rebates have actually arrived yet. But that is par for the course with rebates.

Sadly however, my adapter doesn't work. Vonage tells me that the router information is missing from their database, which is odd, since this is a Vonage adapter. It will be fixed in 24 hours. One day later, same problem. I call again and am told that it is a problem with the adapter, but they will send me a new one - overnight, will be there tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. Well, tomorrow arrives, but no phone. I give them an extra day, but no phone. Call back and they profusely apologize (the Vonage people are nothing if not polite - in fact, they are often content-free but quite polite about it) they will send another one absolutely. But a few minutes later they discover they are not allowed to send me a new adapter. They want to send me a new router/adapter combo that I can connect to my existing router. I am not thrilled with this idea, since connecting two routers can create problems beyond my ability to solve (e.g. involving the word "subnet"), but I relent. Then, the next day, I decide to return my adapter to Circuit City for a replacement. I plug in the new adapter and it works! Well, it half works. I can hear people, but they can't hear me. Which, actually, isn't really working. But another call to Vonage and this is all fixed.

Testing Vonage with a corded phone gives good results - except for one conference call to India. Overall, I am happy with this. I switch the phone lines around a little, no one seems to notice any difference, so it is time to revisit our other phone problem - the expandable phone system.

About two weeks ago, Costco is running a great sale on Uniden 5.8 GHz (TRU-8860-2), it has a base station and a second handset. There is no answering machine, but Vonage will provide that, so that is ok. And the Uniden is a much handset, both in comfort and capability. And the sound reception is much better - both when close to the base station and when wandering through the house. It is not as great as a wired phone, but it is close enough.

So, we make the big switch - we tell Vonage to go and grab our phone number from the phone company. The waiting game now begins as I am sure that PacBell/SBC/AT&T will find some way to slow this down. The big question now - which will happen first: (a) the rebates will arrive or (b) our phone number will be transferred? Right now, the bet is even money.

More details as the story develops, but VOIP offers some very big financial advantages over traditional service - and we are not even very big phone users. If you are interested in trying it out, let me know - I will get two months of free service :).