ITE221 - Fall 2011 - Chapter 9

Site reviewed: http://www.vonage.com/

For Chapter 9, I reviewed Vonage’s United States webpage. Vonage is one of the major commercial providers of Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) telephone services in the U.S., and offers worldwide phone service at reasonable prices. The site has links along the top for a number of important pages, including overview and FAQ pages, a calling plan page with pricing for various levels of service, a features page, and a support page. The service will function with most regular phones, as Vonage will provide customers with an adapter which connects phones to the Internet. Like most VOIP services, Vonage-connected phones will not function during power outages – they inform customers that they should enter a Network Availability Number, which will forward calls to a landline or mobile phone when the Vonage adapter is affected by an outage – and they state that home alarm systems do not work with Vonage. There is a link at the bottom describing their workaround for 911 services – the user fills out a registration for during sign-up, and Vonage passes the user’s home address and phone number on to the appropriate 911 emergency call center during a 911 call, if the user is in an E911 area.  Under certain circumstances, the user will still have to tell the dispatcher their phone number and address, and of course the service will not function during a power or Internet service failure. As long as the limitations are understood, this seems like a viable alternative for phone services for users in areas not subject to frequent power or Internet service interruptions.