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What Exactly Is Vonage?
By:
Amy Nolan
Vonage is one of the leading providers of
commercial and residential VoIP telephony. In a short
span of three years, it has acquired more than a million
customers for this recent communications technology. The
company is based in Holmdel, New Jersey and offers
quality-rich features as a part of its VoIP offering to
customers. Customers throughout the United States can
avail
Vonage services;
Vonage started its Canada and UK services in
2004 and 2005, respectively.
In order to make use of the services provided by
Vonage, customers need a broadband internet
connection and a good quality VoIP router or adapter.
Vonage is different from IM-based VoIP
services such as Skype as it offers greater ease of use
and a greater selection of plans. A number of monthly
packages are offered by
Vonage; these include fixed minutes as well as
unlimited use. The minutes allotted can be used for
communicating with anyone in the U.S.; long-distance
charges are applied for international calls. These
charges are far less than those charged when using
traditional telephony.
Vonage offers a 14-day or a 30-day money-back
trial period for customers to test the features and
quality of VoIP service provided by
Vonage.
Vonage subscribers are provided with a regular
telephone number that can be used from anywhere in the
world. Subscribers are free to choose an area code
different from that of the place where they are located.
For a small monthly fee, subscribers can obtain virtual
numbers. The concept of virtual numbers helps
subscribers, especially if they are businesses with a
global network, to save on communication costs. If a
US-telephone number is used from outside the US for
making a call to the US, it incurs only local charges.
However, all area codes in the US are not covered by
Vonage therefore prospective subscribers should
check for number availability before deciding on
Vonage.
Vonage is one of the few VoIP companies that
provide a package which is a complete fully functional
replacement for land lines.
Vonage provides its subscribers with an
extensive set of features including 911, call
forwarding, 3-way calling, free in-network calling, call
waiting, and voice mail at a fraction of the cost as
compared to traditional telephony.
Vonage makes use of SIP, which is a robust open
source protocol, for its software.
Subscribers are not required to connect a computer to
the Internet for using the
Vonage phone service, as the company provides
handsets. Moreover, unlike other VoIP services,
Vonage does not charge extra for calls between
the
Vonage network and landlines.
Vonage is ideal for those who need to make
regular long-distance calls, since it works just like a
regular telephone; it suits people who are not
comfortable in making calls through a computer.
The flip side of subscribing to
Vonage is that the cost, although lower than
traditional telephony, is much higher as compared to
other VoIP services. However, the cost is offset to a
large extent by the services offered and voice quality.
Also, since the phone number of a subscriber may not
correspond to his actual location, implementing 911 is
not easy.
Vonage runs its own emergency telephone number
service, which requires that subscribers provide the
residential address to
Vonage.
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