Vonage Trial

I signed up with Vonage (VOIP) recently and actually got my “internet phone service start up kit” in the mail yesterday. Today I was able to get everything connected and operational so I thought I would give my early impressions of the process so far.

Online Sign up: As I begain the online signup I was asked to input a phone number. It wasn’t clear (to me) if putting in this number meant that Vonage was going to have it switched over to their system. (I’m keeping my standard phone service, at least for now) It became clear I could not sign up without inputing a phone number so I gave up and called their sales toll free number.

Telephone sign up: The telephone sign up went more smoothly. However, while giving my credit card infomation the person helping me misheard one of the numbers and was forced to ask for them to be repeated as the card was rejected when she tried to process it. After getting the number a second time she assured me I was all set.
CC Processing: Getting off the phone with Vonage I received an email thanking me for becoming a customer. I also learned that my credit card had been rejected. I wasn’t worried knowing that the representative had run my card twice. I figured I by waiting I would get another email assuring me that my VOIP startup kit was being shipped. Unfortunately, I still had not received a new email by the next morning. I logged into Vonage and for the third time I gave my credit card information - this time everything went through.

Shipping: I paid an additional few dollars to have my startup kit shipped by DHL in 2-3 days. I orignally paid for the service on Wednesday and then had to re-submit my card information on Thursday morning. I did not receive my startup kit until the following Wednesday which seemed like a long 2-3 days. Yes, I realize they probably shipped it on Friday and then it likely sat somewhere on Saturday and Sunday but I still count that as four days. Maybe I’m just impatient though.

Setup - The setup of the broadband router (which has the special phone plugin) was simple, really. Plug in your broadband connection, connect your computer to the back of the router and connect your phone to the back of the router as well. You’re done.
Website account - Looking at my account information on the vonage website was for lack of a better word goofy. The website was very slow and I was forced to re-enter my username and password when I went to check my voicemail settings within 2 minutes of initially logging in. Luckily I suspect I won’t need to change my account settings that often.

Okay, that’s my initial thoughts. I will post more soon, including why I don’t think Vonage is as good of a deal as I initially thought.