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Vonage: We Are Not Going Away

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 26, 2007, 11:54 AM

According to Vonage, rumors of its demise due to its ongoing patent litigation with Verizon have been greatly exaggerated.

In a statement released Monday morning, the nation's largest VoIP provider disputed media reports that the ongoing lawsuit brought against it by Verizon may have a negative impact on the company's business.

Vonage is accused of violating seven patents covering telephone features and the use of Wi-Fi to place telephone calls. Some have suggested that a loss in the case could cause a service interruption and put the future of smaller VoIP providers in doubt.

"It is wrong and irresponsible to presuppose either the outcome or the impact this litigation would have on our business," Vonage CEO Mike Snyder said. "We are confident we have not infringed on any of Verizon's patents and, in any case, we believe the Verizon patents are invalid."

Snyder said that the company would have plenty of cash reserves to remain in operation, and furthermore, regardless of the outcome, would be able to continue operating.

The company called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said it expected the court to see that Verizon's case would be "exposed as a transparent attempt to stifle one of its most successful competitors."

Verizon has so far declined to comment on the suit.

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By mrgintl

edited Feb 27, 2007 - 9:01 AM

I've used Vonage for years without problem. The service and quality have been adequate. My cost saving has been extraordinary (from several hundred a month to double digits). I moved to Vonage because my experience with Verizon was horrendous, time wasting and it took several calls to get anything done; the customer reps were American dolts (in my customer service experience a company doesn't have to outsource to get idiots). I hope that avaix's experience it unique; its definitely not mine.

Score: 0

By bugmenot

posted Feb 28, 2007 - 7:33 AM

You should be happy that it only took you a several calls to get things done. Every time I called, they always said they have no problem, it's my fault. Their customer service reps are rude. When asked for their full name or ID, they said they cannot give it out.

Score: 0

By mayo_mutt

edited May 5, 2007 - 11:12 AM

OMG!!!
I LOVED MY VONAGE FOR OVER A YEAR BUT NOW ITS BAD.
I CANT HARDLY GET CONNECTED TO LOCAL 336-427 ----NUMBERS!! EVEN NEXT DOOR!! ITS LIKE I CALL, I DONT HEAR A RING, BUT AFTER A LONG SILENCE MY NEIGHBOR HEARS IT RINGING AT HIS HOME & PICKS UP.
ANYONE WHO CAN HELP WITH A CONTACT TO VONAGE IN THE USA, PLEASE WRITE TO ME @ MAYO_MUTT@YAHOO.COM
THANKS!!!
write to me at mayo_mutt@yahoo.com
if you have real help for me !!
WE HAVE DROPPED CALLS AT TIMES AND ALSO NOW SOME PPL WHO CALL ME SAY MY PHONE DOESNT RING & GOES STRAIGHT TO VOICE MAIL.
I HAVE BEEN CALLING & EMAILING VONAGE FOR TWO WEEKS!! I KEEP GETTING PPL IN INDIA. I KEEP GOING IN CIRCLES.
ONCE I ASKED FOR AMERICAN TECHS. I DID GET TRANSFERED TO NEWJERSEY. I THOUGHT HE WAS NICE & HE MONITORED MY OUTGOING CALLS, I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO HELP! NOPE!!! 3 DAYS LATER IVE HEARD NOTHING FROM HIM. PROBLEM IS GETTING WORSE.
TODAY I GOT A FOREIGNER WHO TOLD ME THAT NOTHING IS WRONG WITH MY VONAGE!! WELL YEP..IT IS!!
I HAD TIME WARNER (INTERNET PROVIDER) CHECK EVERYTHING HERE. IT IS VONAGE.
I THINK ITS IN THE WAY THEY ARE ROUTING MY LOCAL CALLS (427 ) NUMBERS}BUT VONAGE SAYS SOMETIMES THAT ISSUE WILL BE RESOLVED IN 48 HRS BUT YET CANT TELL ME WHATS HAPPENING!!
OMG!! ITS A DAILY NIGHTMARE!
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO ACTUALLY GET USA AND OFFICE.
I NEED HELP FROM SOMEONE WITH BRAINS.
WHY DO I KEEP VONAGE?? ITS ONLY $28.00 PER MONTH!! THAT INCLUDES TAXES!! I LOVE THAT PART$$
BUT IF MY PHONE ISNT FIXED IN ONE WEEK, I WILL BE FORCED TO SWIITCH TO ANOTHER PHONE SERVICE AND PAY $20.00 MORE PER MONTH.
CAN ANYONE GIVE ME A NUMBER IN USA OR PLACE TO REPORT THEM??

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 9:31 PM

When a company says "We are not going away", that's usually the kiss of death.

Score: 0

By avaix

edited Feb 26, 2007 - 1:04 PM

Can't say what the outcome of the pending litigation will be, but I CAN tell you that their support ranks among the worst in any industry I've ever experienced. Mike Snyder should stop hiring subhuman Third-World incompetents and instead use some of that huge cash reserve he's bragging about to hire English-speaking American tech support reps!

I finally gave up in disgust after wasting 3 days trying to get these morons to issue me a phone number in my own area code after they f#cked-up my order and gave me an exchange for a location that's 1500 miles from where I live!! These a-holes want you to keep calling them back over & over again, yet nothing ever gets resolved. I ended up going with SunRocket. Not only are they cheaper by nearly 10 bucks per month, but also the quality of their service is head & shoulders above the frustrating and protracted failures I experienced with Vonage.

This was a classic example of how trying to shave a few pennies off your bottom line by outsourcing can end up costing you the bulk of your customer base.

I'm no fan of Verizon, but I hope they kick Vonage's a** in court and Snyder is forced to make a living giving hand-jobs at the local truckstop.

-hav0c

Score: 0

By zenarcher

edited Feb 26, 2007 - 1:15 PM

I've never tried Vonage, but have been using Packet8 for nearly 3 years now and have no complaints. It's been more reliable than our local telephone company and better service. As you pointed out with SunRocket, Packet8 is also less expensive than Vonage.

Oh, and the couple of times I've called their Support, I have spoken with someone in California.

Score: 0

By daq

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 1:13 PM

Man, that's a lot of anger. Did you know MOST companies outsource support to those countries?

Score: 0

By avaix

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 5:52 PM

All that anger was the gradual buildup resulting from 22 phone calls, 17 emails, and a culmination of 3 days of getting nowhere. All in all, I wasted over 8 hours of accumulated phone time just trying to get these pinheads to assign me a phone number that was in my area code and exchange.

I realize that most companies outsource these days, and I am aware of the projected cost savings, BUT . . . if you entrust your customer base to a third-party company in a Third-World nation simply because their people are willing to work for a bucket of fish heads & some stale bread each week, you WILL end up losing customers. In the end, you end up LOSING money instead of saving it.

Score: 0

By Neoprimal

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 7:57 PM

I feel your pain. I went to a local Wendy's recently and .... well lets just say, I couldn't understand her and I don't think she could understand me, because I didn't get anything close to resembling what I ordered. And that's been happening at many fast food places lately, wendys, BK, McDs. If I ate LOTS of fast food, apart from being fat, I'd probably be as angry as you as well.
I'm with Lingo, been a happy customer for 2 years.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Feb 26, 2007 - 1:55 PM

The bottom line is that customer service reps should be required to fluently speak the primary language for the country they are doing business in. This means, for example, that if someone is providing customer service for Gateway who is located in the USA then they should be required to speak fluent English.