Comments on: Vonage IPO Reactions

By: Dan F.

Dan F. — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:38:19 +0000

I tried to cancel Vonage in June of 2006. Now it is August of 2006 and I'm still being charged. My service was down more than up. I can't stand any of the numbers I've called. Everyone appears to have a heavy accent & have trouble spelling my name. (forget about pronouncing)

The Vonage person (heavy India accent) told me she'll cancel my account. Needless to say..this never happened. Even though there is a June 2006 comment on my account that says the customer wants to cancel his account, they will not refund for the past 2 months. Vonage refuses to refund the charges saying that they have a strict policy & my situation could not have happened. Their policy dictates that the Vonage person I spoke too should have transferred me to an Account Mgt. Dept.<-never happened. Now I am sunk 2 month charges + early cancellation fee. They never refunded me for the down time nor my time on the phone with their technical support dept. Bad service, poor equipment, Watch out!

By: jonathan

jonathan — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:22:33 +0000

has anyone had problems running Vonage over a SBC/ATT DSL line? I have been paying for Vonage for nearly 3 months, and have ot been able to get it to work nor get Vonage or ATT/SBC DSL service to help me with my problem. Could it be I have a MAC? Or is DSL not the way to go if you plan on using Vonage? Any Ideas???

By: Howard

Howard — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 18:11:30 +0000

Posted by Goak

"Don’t you all realize there are only 4 million shares going to subscribers and plenty of people including myself wanted the full 5,000. Most people under 1500 shares won’t be getting filled at all and I will probably only get 1300."

I hope you got the full 5,000 shares dummy!! Hahaha

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 05:08:43 +0000

I certainly hope Vonage succeeds. If it doesn't I will probably go totally cellular. I will not pay for a land line from Qwest, with long distance charges ever again. The local cable company wants $15 more a month for a similar service ($39). If I was living alone I would get $14/per month package from Vonage saving even more. I basically want the landline to put on resumes, do an occasional fax and for giving out to others you don't want to give your cell phone number to (etc).

While I don't know if Vonage will survive or is really good investment, I will strongly reccomend it if you wan't to keep a landline it is certainly more affordable than the usual suspects.

By: Emmanuel Huna

Emmanuel Huna — Fri, 26 May 2006 00:09:35 +0000

Used to be an SBC customer with a DSL subscription. With my wife talking long distance to her parents, our phone bill was regularly around $150.

Got broadband from Comcast for $40/month and signed up for the unlimited long distance plan at Vonage for $29/month.

So we ended up with:

1) Broadband much faster (Comcast cable modem instead of SBC DSL, 8000 Kbps instead of 1500 Kbps)

2) Unlimited long distance and very cheap international rates.

3) Excellent service. In the past two years I don't remember my Vonage phone being down once.

We now spend $70/month instead of $150/month with much better service. I completely cancelled my SBC DSL and phone - I don't even have a land line anymore.

How can anyone think that Vonage and VOIP won't succeed? The big phone companies are the dinosaurs that move slowly and will eventually loose.

By: Basharat Iqbal

Basharat Iqbal — Thu, 25 May 2006 16:41:31 +0000

I have been Vonage customer for over a year and am fairly satisfied with the service. It is not perfect but the bellsouth service that I previously had was also not perfect. Vonage has great international rates. As regards customer service, the only time I needed to call them was at the time of installing my equipment and they were very helpful.

By: Conrad

Conrad — Thu, 25 May 2006 14:25:37 +0000

My apologies, the above post was meant to be directed toward ichris, not Goak.

By: Conrad

Conrad — Thu, 25 May 2006 14:21:14 +0000

So much for your survey and the “Wisdom of Crowds”, Goak. I suggest you look into another theory widely embraced by the financial community, called the “Greater Fool Theory”. I really can’t throw stones though. I was also off in my first day closing estimate. I thought it would close at $11.50. Looks like it won’t hit that until today or tomorrow.

By: KC

KC — Wed, 24 May 2006 17:52:54 +0000

Nice open on the market, great valuation. Glad they let the people the depend on the most loose money out the gate. I was not “in”, as I declined their ploy to prop up the price of the stock. It will be a good buy when it hits $9.00.

By: ramesh bas

ramesh bas — Wed, 24 May 2006 17:14:25 +0000

I have used vonage after quitting verizon. I called once to to setup the system. After that the phone works. Quality is good. You cannot beat the rate. The international calls aslo has excellent connections and voice quality. The only draback I have to shellout to Charter 50$ for cable internet!

By: anon

anon — Wed, 24 May 2006 16:54:10 +0000

You should all know that a lot of the positive comments here and everywhere are posted by Vonage employees themselves. This is a common but very hush hush job responsibility over there. Key marketing, PR and technical employees have been tasked with refuting bad user experiences online with better ones while posing as customers. They consider it viral marketing.

By: viplav

viplav — Tue, 23 May 2006 21:18:02 +0000

Skype has over 75 mil users worldwide. Vonage just 1.5 in US. Skype just started free skypeout. All US and Canada calls to regular phones are free – that puts a pressure not only on Vonage but on all bells combined. AOL is going to roll out VoIP AIM with a free inbound number. Google, Yahoo, MSN are all getting on the VoIP bandwagon. In short, the prospect for Vonage and the widly detested bells looks bleak. The only issue with these VoIP services is that you are tied to the PC. There are a few options – get a bluetooth headset or wait for one of the WiFi phones (Netgear is launching one). In short, this market will be brutal for the next few years and we the customers have all to gain. I predict free (almost) internet and phone service in the next few years. We’ve been milked by the comcasts, bells of these world for way too long. Its pay back time.

By: iChris

iChris — Tue, 23 May 2006 15:10:20 +0000

Survey submissions are still coming in, so I will post periodically.

Valid Responses: 179

Current Customers: 176

Plan to participate: 154 (87.5%)

Min Day 1 price: 9.00 Min Year 1 price: 1.00

Median Day 1 price: 22.00 Median Year 1 price: 20.00

Average Day 1 price: 24.64 Average Year 1 price: 26.71

Max Day 1 price: 100.00 Max Year 1 price: 250.00

The latest responses have pushed the averages up just a bit. The planned participation rates point to the reserved shares possibly being oversold. Let's hope they don't have to exercise the 75% reduction rule.

By: Goak

Goak — Tue, 23 May 2006 02:49:34 +0000

Don’t you all realize there are only 4 million shares going to subscribers and plenty of people including myself wanted the full 5,000. Most people under 1500 shares won’t be getting filled at all and I will probably only get 1300.

By: Howard Roarke

Howard Roarke — Mon, 22 May 2006 22:01:06 +0000

I saw the Vonage IPO discussion on CNBC with Sue Herera earlier today (Monday). Learned nothing from the Vonage-nayser nor the pro-Vonage analyst guests. They discussed business model sustainability. No one mentioned the “network neutrality” bills in Congress that may be important for long term growth. Very shallow knowledge of the actual environment.

One thing about the true competition to Vonage, (the telcos and cable companies) is that it’s unlikely for them to offer VoIP solutions over a competitor’s infrastructure. Vonage is delivery neutral. I use it on Cox. My sister uses it on Comcast. My girlfriend uses it over her Qwest DSL line. So, how can these competitors make much inroads, other than bundling with cable and high-speed internet services? Still, I do the math, and I’m still saving a significant amount per month with Vonage. That’ why I reject Cox’s VoIP phone service, even though I receive cable and internet from them. Their monthly pricing is the same as Vonage’s but they charge $.05 per minute. I also like the ability to travel with my Vonage/Cisco ATA box and phone, allowing me to receive and send calls wherever I travel (that there’s a high-speed internet connection).

One thing to remember. While Vonage is great at retail marketing, their real boom in sales may be when DSL providers bundle Vonage with their service.

If telcos offered a $39 per month high-speed internet connection without requiring a basic landline phone contract, their sales would boom and it would be perfect to offer a bundled Vonage solution. Qwest in my area is a pig on pricing, bundled or not. When they offer a just-DSL connection, I will gladly dump Cox (the fascists who along with Phoenix city council killed public access TV for our 3-million person tri-city area).

So, look for Vonage growth to take-off as last-mile telephone companies see the profitablity benefits of selling “just DSL”. It could happen.

Oh, did I mention Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tempe? As cities Wi-Fi their entire areas with high-speed internet, Vonage can piggyback that perfectly, without any bundling with actual competitors, relying again on retail customers to do the math and easy installations.

That may be Vonage’s biggest hope - the WiFi-ing of cities, eliminating the need for potential customers to connect through cable or telcos! Perhaps they should focus their marketing efforts in these areas. I bet they would receive a lot more new subscribers per dollar spent on marketing.

Best wishes for a happy Vonage IPO day (pricing Tuesday, opening Wednesday?).

-HR

By: geombarnox

geombarnox — Mon, 22 May 2006 20:53:26 +0000

I have had Vonage for several years now. I had a problem with the first Motorola voip router they sent me. I could not enter tones into interactive voice response systems. I told them I had a problem and they promptly sent me a new Linksys router. No problems at all since installing the new router. I have the voip take priority since it is the first device on my network. I have no problems down-loading and talking on the phone.

I think Vonage will be a buyout target when the baby bells get IPTV to the home.