Vonage
From Free net encyclopedia
Vonage (the company's name is a play on their motto "Voice-Over-Net-AGE") is a commercial voice over IP (VoIP) network company that provides telephone service via a broadband connection.
Vonage is known as the "Broadband Phone Company" and has recently marketed itself as "Leading the Internet Phone Revolution." While companies such as Skype, Cablevision and Time Warner have more subscribers than Vonage, it was Vonage that has led the Voice over Broadband (VoBB), or Broadband Phone, industry through its aggressive consumer marketing in the US, Canada, UK and other countries globally. Template:Infobox Company $33M 2004)| num_employees = 1500+| homepage = www.vonage.com }} In order to use the service, customers must purchase or use a branded "VoIP router" or adapter that connects to their main router or broadband modem. In addition, an upload speed of 30-90 kbit/s as well as a reliable/QoS optimized connection is necessary to make calls without substantial lag or jitter.
Vonage was originally based in Edison, New Jersey but now has moved to Holmdel, New Jersey, into a building previously occupied by Prudential [1]. Vonage offers services to subscribers throughout the United States. The company expanded into Canada in April 2004 and into the United Kingdom in January 2005.
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Telephone Number Availability
Subscribers are permitted to choose any number for their primary line in the country the service they subscribe to. Whether it be Vonage US, Canada or UK, subscribers may choose from any area code regardless of their actual residence. Subscribers also have the option of obtaining additional "virtual numbers" for a monthly fee. For example, a subscriber in Florida may choose a number with Manhattan area code 646, allowing callers from New York to be billed only for a local call. In addition, Vonage also offers 'virtual numbers' in Mexico, Canada and throughout Europe for any and all customers to choose from. This is especially beneficial to businesses with an international client base. While Vonage supports porting a telephone number in the US via the FCC's Local Number Portability LNP, Vonage does not offer phone numbers in every area code in the United States.
Although only residents of the US, Canada, and the UK may subscribe to Vonage, there are many people around the world who use their accounts with local broadband connections without difficulty. For instance, someone who has a relative in Australia may order the Vonage package for that relative, and it would work without difficulty.
9-1-1 issue
A frequent criticism of Vonage and other VoIP providers is that, since the physical location of a caller may not correspond to his or her listed phone number, traditional emergency telephone number service, such as 9-1-1 in the US and Canada, is not available. Vonage provides its own emergency telephone number service, but the service requires subscribers to register their address with the company and is not operative in case of a power failure. For more information, see the 9-1-1 feature dialing link below.
SIP support
Vonage uses a Session Initiation Protocol gateway for its software, but it does not extend this feature to Internet dialing (a service available for free in Google Talk and Skype, for example).