Dropped $20/month from Vonage Bill

[salesguy]

Quick Tip for those using Vonage.  Background is I work from home and use the phone quite a bit.  I prefer to use a real telephone as my cell doesn't work all that well in the house.  So of course we use a VOIP line and Vonage has been the best performing service for us.  I've tried ooma and Google Voice on OBI and Vonage works the best for us. 

Originally I was on a $26.99/month plan that got me a free device, and since work was paying I didn't mind.  Total with fees was $38.xx which isn't cheap.  Now that work isn't paying I followed advice found on another forum and asked to cancel my bill due to it being too expensive.  Immediately I was offered a permanent $9.99 plan that would total $16.xx with taxes.  Not a bad savings of $240/year for a 5 minute call.

I also prefer to use vonage because having a physical adapter on my network allows some interesting VOIP packet monitoring & call quality metrics to make sure I'm getting a decent network connection & good call quality.

So if you have vonage call and get a lower rate!

[Daley]

It's great that you talked Vonage down to a more reasonable rate, but you are aware that you don't need to use Vonage to get what you're after, and that rate is still nearly twice what other quality VoIP providers that let you bring your own device charge?

You've already got the Obihai ATA, maybe give the guide a read.

[salesguy]

Thanks for the link.  Yep, I am aware of other options but I already sold the Obi device and I didn't have great luck with the call quality on it anyway.  I guess I'm happy enough with vonage to give them the $16/month since my number is ported there and it all works well.  Maybe down the road if I come across a cheap Obi I'll give someone else a try.  At some point it's not worth spending a ton of time troubleshooting issues with a new provider if what I have works.

Good info though, thanks.

[Daley]

For what it's worth, the problem with your call quality on the Obihai ATA wasn't the device... it was the fact you were using Google Voice. GV is terrible. The Obi would've worked just as well as Vonage with a non-free VoIP provider.

Agreed though, you're starting to approach a price point now that you have diminishing returns on savings, especially if you have to invest in your own hardware. That said, VOIPo does provide their own pre-configured ATA as well and the two year deal aggregates out to $7.71/month after taxes. Future Nine also has a 2000 minute/month plan for $5/month plus a buck for e911 if desired, but you have to bring your own equipment.

[salesguy]

Good point on GV - you are correct.

Over the course of 2 years I should save around $240 - not bad.

What happens to the pricing after the 2 years are up?   Their month-month rate is pretty high.  Probably hard to say what they will do down the road.

[Daley]

Well, for one, if you're happy with their service and are keeping them long term, don't renew after the two year period at their month-to-month rate, renew at the annual rate... which is the same cost per year as their new customer rate for two years (they're giving you a free year, basically). This makes the annual rate $185 after taxes and after the intro rate. Without the intro discount, annual purchase price averages to $15.42/month on its own.

If you run the math, though, it takes a long time to approach that cap... 185*4= $740 for 5 years. 740/60= $12.33/month. In five years, you'll likely either need a new ATA or there might be cheaper alternatives available. 16-12.33= $3.67*60= $220 savings over the course of five years. Diminishing returns-ish, but still in your favor. Even still, if you stick with VOIPo for ten years, the aggregate average monthly price math still only works out to $13.88/month. It won't be amazing savings, but the switch will basically net you between $200-250 across the lifetime of the service over Vonage, no matter how long or short you keep it.

The thing to remember is that if you terminate service, this is where the monthly rate comes into play. They refund you the balance of your paid amount less the month to month rate for the time used on the account for that bulk purchase price.

[Daley]

Have a bit of a research update (more for everyone, not just you):

I discovered that Vonage's "unlimited" calling package is capped at 3000 minutes/month.

I re-refreshed myself with Future Nine's Future 5 calling plan. It's 2000 outbound + 2000 inbound (4000 total) a month for $60/year, unused minutes during the previous two months roll over to cover overages during any month. Billing over that point is 1¢ a minute. I'd posted details on this plan a few months back, but my memory is imperfect at times. You might want to check your Vonage call records, but odds are, you'd probably fit nicely under those limits without problem. The only downside is no outbound Caller ID Name for numbers outside of CA/PA/VA/WV/DE/MD. Number porting is $20, $5 to set up e911, and you can order a pre-configured ATA for $40 from Nitzan.

Here's the numbers: $72/year (with e911 service), $65 for number porting, e911 setup and pre-configured equipment at F9. (I've been with them for a number of years and have been happy with them and the service quality - but I also bring and configure my own equipment.) Now, let's factor cost for the next five years and decade, assuming no rate changes.

Vonage runs $192/year approximately at their "discounted" rate of $10/month+taxes (figuring $16/month). Cost next five years - $960; cost next ten years - $1920.

VOIPo runs $185/year approximately, but they also provide the ATA for free, port for free, and give you a free year of service up front with the initial two year order. Cost next five years - $740; cost next ten years - $1665.

Future Nine runs $72/year approximately. Cost next five years - $425; cost next ten years - $865 (both numbers include the initial $65 setup cost, the last number assumes an extra $80 for at least two more replacement ATAs - worst case scenario type of thing).

If you can make F9's numbers work for you and you potentially don't need outbound CID Name, the savings numbers are even more compelling than VOIPo's, which stays steady at about a lifetime savings of around $200-250-ish. Setup with a new provider can always have a small hassle curve initially, but once it's done, it's done and things usually roll smoothly from that point. A consistent ~55% savings between providers (even if that involves buying and configuring your own equipment) is nothing to sneeze at. Just something to consider.