<p>Thinking of switching phone service. Is Vonage as good as the ads? Pros/cons?</p>
<p>I have had a Vonage phone for years. It is VOIP like the ones offered by your cable provider, but the difference is that you can take it with you. I have used mine in 4 different locations, a few years ago I did a 5 month stint in another area, took my Vonage phone and got all my calls at the new location without telling any one to change numbers (there were still people at my usual office so I could not just forward the phone)</p>
<p>They don’t, or did not, offer much tech support, but it is not very difficult to do, so I have not needed any since the initial install.</p>
<p>It is cheap, about $27/month, unlimited US/CAD plus low overseas rates and that includes all taxes. The best cable ‘deal’ is closer to $40</p>
<p>I would say I would not take it elsewhere and hassle the set up unless I was going for at least two weeks- every modem/router set up is a bit different, so you have to think about what to put in what order on install; if I am not staying for a couple of weeks, I am not going to do enough work to merit the time thinking 
I would just forward my Vonage line to my cell.</p>
<p>Thank you, somemom,</p>
<p>Any up front costs? What about access to emergency numbers like 911?</p>
<p>I first got this in about 2003/2004 or earlier, so I do not recall all the details, because I essentially have done NOTHING since the initial set up. </p>
<p>There was some sort of buy it up front get a rebate programme or else buy it at the super store electronics place and get a rebate. It was either cheap or free.</p>
<p>I do recall some sort of register for 911 thing, but like cell phones, I am not sure how well it works and I honestly do not know where it is registered, which state and even which country!! Guess I should check on that.</p>
<p>another double post</p>
<p>BTW, it does come with instructions for the install, the issues I have experienced is that the different modems and different high speed lines have different conflicts</p>
<p>In some places I had firewall issues, in some places I would plug the Vonage into the router, in others it worked better if the Vonage was plugged into the Modem. Some high speed modems only allow one LAN plug in, so I had run the circuit from modem to router to Vonage. It was no big deal, it was interesting to go back and forth between two or three locations repeatedly over a few years and notice how different each one was. It is not Vonage, it is the high speed provided and you just have to try it a couple of ways. If you have a dial tone, all is well.</p>