Vonage ripoff, liars, scam, deceptive, terrible customer service, long hold times, rude Internet

Ron,

First, let me say there is no love lost between me and Vonage. I left them after 18 months due to multiple customer service issues ... the last one being BS over 911 calling.

But, as much as it pains me to "defend" Vonage, I do have to say one thing in their defense.

First, the customer service rep who promised you a ten-day turnaround on porting your AT&T number overstepped his/her authority. The reason why they did is because, in almost all cases, delays in porting a number are the fault of the "surrendering" provider, not the "accepting" provider. This makes accepting companies look bad when, in fact, the delay is not their fault. True, though, the promise Vonage made you was out of line. Customer service reps for ALL phone companies should know better.

I'm now a Packet8 customer and a very happy one. But even if you switched to Packet8, you'd encounter the same delay in porting your number. My advice?

Suck up the fact that you will have to keep your old phone service for some unknown duration. Get a new broadband phone with a new number and set up your old phone number to call-forward all calls to it ... while, at the same time, asking your broadband phone company to port the old number. Once the porting is complete, then you can have the broadband phone company "turn off" the original number.

This porting time delay issue is vexing. But, complaints over it should be directed where they belong ... in the FCC's lap. They really need to address this issue and put a reasonable time limit on all phone providers to surrender a number to a new provider. It's the only way this problem will ever be solved permanently.

Ron,

First, let me say there is no love lost between me and Vonage. I left them after 18 months due to multiple customer service issues ... the last one being BS over 911 calling.

But, as much as it pains me to "defend" Vonage, I do have to say one thing in their defense.

First, the customer service rep who promised you a ten-day turnaround on porting your AT&T number overstepped his/her authority. The reason why they did is because, in almost all cases, delays in porting a number are the fault of the "surrendering" provider, not the "accepting" provider. This makes accepting companies look bad when, in fact, the delay is not their fault. True, though, the promise Vonage made you was out of line. Customer service reps for ALL phone companies should know better.

I'm now a Packet8 customer and a very happy one. But even if you switched to Packet8, you'd encounter the same delay in porting your number. My advice?

Suck up the fact that you will have to keep your old phone service for some unknown duration. Get a new broadband phone with a new number and set up your old phone number to call-forward all calls to it ... while, at the same time, asking your broadband phone company to port the old number. Once the porting is complete, then you can have the broadband phone company "turn off" the original number.

This porting time delay issue is vexing. But, complaints over it should be directed where they belong ... in the FCC's lap. They really need to address this issue and put a reasonable time limit on all phone providers to surrender a number to a new provider. It's the only way this problem will ever be solved permanently.

Ron,

First, let me say there is no love lost between me and Vonage. I left them after 18 months due to multiple customer service issues ... the last one being BS over 911 calling.

But, as much as it pains me to "defend" Vonage, I do have to say one thing in their defense.

First, the customer service rep who promised you a ten-day turnaround on porting your AT&T number overstepped his/her authority. The reason why they did is because, in almost all cases, delays in porting a number are the fault of the "surrendering" provider, not the "accepting" provider. This makes accepting companies look bad when, in fact, the delay is not their fault. True, though, the promise Vonage made you was out of line. Customer service reps for ALL phone companies should know better.

I'm now a Packet8 customer and a very happy one. But even if you switched to Packet8, you'd encounter the same delay in porting your number. My advice?

Suck up the fact that you will have to keep your old phone service for some unknown duration. Get a new broadband phone with a new number and set up your old phone number to call-forward all calls to it ... while, at the same time, asking your broadband phone company to port the old number. Once the porting is complete, then you can have the broadband phone company "turn off" the original number.

This porting time delay issue is vexing. But, complaints over it should be directed where they belong ... in the FCC's lap. They really need to address this issue and put a reasonable time limit on all phone providers to surrender a number to a new provider. It's the only way this problem will ever be solved permanently.

Ron,

First, let me say there is no love lost between me and Vonage. I left them after 18 months due to multiple customer service issues ... the last one being BS over 911 calling.

But, as much as it pains me to "defend" Vonage, I do have to say one thing in their defense.

First, the customer service rep who promised you a ten-day turnaround on porting your AT&T number overstepped his/her authority. The reason why they did is because, in almost all cases, delays in porting a number are the fault of the "surrendering" provider, not the "accepting" provider. This makes accepting companies look bad when, in fact, the delay is not their fault. True, though, the promise Vonage made you was out of line. Customer service reps for ALL phone companies should know better.

I'm now a Packet8 customer and a very happy one. But even if you switched to Packet8, you'd encounter the same delay in porting your number. My advice?

Suck up the fact that you will have to keep your old phone service for some unknown duration. Get a new broadband phone with a new number and set up your old phone number to call-forward all calls to it ... while, at the same time, asking your broadband phone company to port the old number. Once the porting is complete, then you can have the broadband phone company "turn off" the original number.

This porting time delay issue is vexing. But, complaints over it should be directed where they belong ... in the FCC's lap. They really need to address this issue and put a reasonable time limit on all phone providers to surrender a number to a new provider. It's the only way this problem will ever be solved permanently.