Vonage Cutting 1800 Jobs

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/5700

Vonage Cutting 1800 Jobs - 04/13/07

By Jesse Russell

Vonage continues to feel the impact from a federal jury's ruling against the company in a patent lawsuit filed by Verizon. The company’s CEO has stepped down and now plans have been announced to lay off 10 percent of the company's 1800 employees as part of a cost saving measure.

AUDIO story here: http://www.laborradio.org/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram

[Triana]

1. I'm not too pleased w/ Vonage - their prices keep inching up...

....and they do not offer call block.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

2. I just signed up with vonage

should save me about $25 or more bucks a month if they stay in business that is. If they go belly up then I'll switch to comcast digital phone.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

3. Damn, they've been great, and their costs are far below other telecommunication service providers.

MKJ

edited to add: we've had their service for almost a year, I don't want to go back to our old provider.

[bermudat]

4. We have had Vonage for more than a year with no problems.

Too bad, looks like they are on their way out.

[mtnsnake]

5. Verizon just sent us an offer for service for $19.95/mo for 6 months & we took 'em up

We were just thinking of switching from ATT to Vonage when we got the notice in the mail last week. With caller ID it's $25/mo. After 6 months it goes back to its regular market rate, probably of $39.95, but we'll worry about that when the time comes I guess.

Anyway, I'm glad Verizon is at least competing with Vonage now and offering some decent rates.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I'm on a Vonage plan with 500 minutes of phone time PLUS a dedicated fax

line for $29 including tax per month.

Comcast's plan is more expensive for just a phone line.

[ObamaNationYes]

7. If you have Vonage (service or stock) you might wanna start looking elsewhere

Vonage to pay $58 million to Verizon over patent dispute
BREAKING! Vonage has been ordered by a Virginia court to pay $58 million to Verizon Communications for infringing on three of the company's patents. Vonage has vowed to appeal the decision. In addition to monetary compensation, Verizon is also asking the court for an injunction on Vonage's service.

On March 23, U.S. Judge Claude Hilton will hear arguments to decide whether Vonage's service should stop offering phone service until an acceptable licensing agreement between the two parties can be agreed to. Vonage is claiming no interruption of service is expected, and in my opinion this is simply a shakedown by Verizon for money. Also, don't discount the "revenge" factor. Vonage has played a huge role in reducing the costs of residential phone service.

Source www.blog.tmcnet.com

[Capn Sunshine]

10. I'm amazed to see people still signing up

The whole company is on life support AFAIK because they lost the patent infringement case. They keep stating they have a "workaround " but so far, nothin' except a "runaround".

The CEO quit Friday.

[CTD]

13. As a Vonage customer, I was researching what to do if Vonage goes under.

Check out SunRocket (http://www.sunrocket.com). It looks like exactly the same service at exactly the same price. The only issue is how long it might take to get your number moved over from Vonage (as helping customers leave their service is probably not high on their list of priorities right now).

Personally, I'm sticking with Vonage a while longer. But when it looks inevitable, I'll make the switch.

[OhioChick]

8. More Jobs Lost.......

I'm so damn tired of hearing "cost saving measure."

[CTD]

12. Unfortunately, sometimes there is no other choice.

Vonage's back is up against the wall. Their cutting costs in this case may only delay the inevitable death of the company. But if they go under, the rest of their employees lose their jobs as well.

Sometimes layoffs aren't just based in corporate greed but are actually a desperate attempt at survival. This is one of those times.

[corkhead]

9. Ahem, it's actually 180 jobs, 10% of the 1800 workforce. mistake at link...

[meldroc]

11. I smell a settlement in the works.

Since Verizon got such a strong legal judgement, Vonage is going to have no choice but to settle with Verizon, probably paying them zillions of dollars for damages and the right to license Verizon's patents. Alternatively, Verizon could just buy out Vonage for dirt cheap.

Which means prices will go up for Vonage customers...

Did I mention how much I hate Verizon? I fucking hate that evil goddamned company. Remember these are the guys that cripple their cell phones, so you can't put your own MP3 ringtones on them, you have to pay them $5.00 each for an overly compressed, crappy-sounding 30-second bite of a song that you already own.

Oh, and did I mention how much I hate patents? All of them. They're nothing but a fucking racket. They're an excuse for big companies with deep pockets to sic their bloodsucking lawyers on their competition and drive them out of business. There are soooooo many bad patents out there - Amazon's one-click patent, Unisys's patent on GIF image compression, I could go on and on. It's turned the tech industry into a fucking minefield. An independent developer can't write software without inadvertently violating someone's frivolous patent and getting sued out of his life-savings.

Patents should be completely and utterly abolished. They do not aid innovation, they stifle it.

[MLFerrell]

14. Woo-hoo-woo-hoo-hoo...

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of fraudsters!

Woo-hoo-woo-hoo-hoo...