Shopping For a New Phone Company
Aside from some isolated issues, I've been pretty happy with my phone service from Vonage over the last four and a half years. The call quality is good, the price is excellent and they have an awesome set of features. Despite all of this, I'm looking for a new phone company. Why would I do such a thing when I'm happy with what I have? Simple: Vonage is in dangerous financial territory. They thought they had secured $253M in loans back in July to keep things going, but the recent credit crunch has sent the lenders scattering and Vonage seeking loans for a fourth time. The odds are that they could go under SunRocket-style, leaving us without service or a way to transfer our number.
The problem with shopping for a new phone company is that even with reviews, you're going to have a hard time figuring out which one is best. Comcast got knocked off quickly since they want to charge $40/mo for their service, far more than I'm willing to pay. Lingo seems like a good option ($22/mo) and they have pretty good reviews. Packet8 is a bit more expensive ($25/mo), but they also have better reviews. There's also literally dozens of VoIP providers out there that I've never heard of who all want my business. Given that it takes about a month to transfer a number, it's a real hassle to switch and especially so to switch again.
So what do you think? Should we jump ship or see if the SS Vonage will stay afloat?
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Posted by Jesse | Filed under: Geek on October 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Man…I did not know this…we’re with Vonage…so now what? It was such a hassle to switch over to it, I just can’t stomach trying to do it again….I didn’t vote on your poll because I honestly don’t know which is best….good luck….
See, I have Comcast for all of my services, and I too am looking to bail out.
I’m even considering the option of a Cricket cell phone as the house phone as their lowest plan is still unlimited with long distance for $25 a month.
Let me know what you find out - I’m desperate to leave my Comcast plan.
I’d have done it long ago had I been permitted to use DirecTV.
The good news is that Vonage finally secured that emergency financing. The question, however, is how many times they can keep on doing this.