Anyone have opinions about Qwest??? Vonage?

[CoffeeCat]

I was just wondering if anyone had any opinions about. Qwest the telephone/media
provider?

I am having real issues with this company. They seem to operate like thugs?

Wasn't Qwest one of the companies that enabled Bush's illegal wiretapping?

I find dealing with them, to be exasperating. We signed up for some Qwest program,
in which we get discounted Internet and phone service. They lowered our rates, for
two months. Then, the rates increased. I guess we were hoping that they wouldn't
notice the rate increase. We called, they reduced the rate back down to what we
initially agreed--then two months later, back up again.

I called and told the Qwest person about this situation. She gave me this verbal
tap dance that was absolutely unbelievable. I told her that clearly--they agreed to
give us a lower rate, then raised it. I told her we were canceling.

GET THIS. She told me that the lower rate that I signed up for---locked us in to a contract
for two years. I replied, "So, what you're telling me is that you defaulted on the
agreement, and raised my rates...you violated the agreement--yet I'm responsible for two years???"

I'm thinking about going Vonage. Anyone have experience or opinions with that company?

I'm wondering if we can't just cancel, and ignore the demand for the $200. I never signed anything
that said I'd pay $200. Plus, they didn't honor the special price--so they nullified any
"2-year contract."

I'd love to hear any insight, opinion or experiences with Qwest. We all have to use the
phone. I'm sure many could benefit from this discussion.

:)

[robinlynne]

1. Qwest was the one company which REFUSED to engage in spying. As a result,

the gov't cut their contracts and filed some sort of investigation against the CEO, corruption or whatever they made up. He lost his position, and BUsh's father's company (the big one he owns with the Saudis and a bunch of toher crooks.) bought Qwest. He is currently leading a lawsuit against the federal government for illegal spying, and trying to get it all public. His is the largest of the 14 lawsuits which have come up through the courts, and the reason BUsh so desperately wnats telecom immuynity is for those lawsuits to be thrown out.

[robinlynne]

2. I would contact the bbb about this, and any other consumer protection groups you can

think of. get it on tv, and you will get out of the contract for sure. and then some.

[sam sarrha]

3. we quit Vonage ..more than half the calls were dropped...8 months later i am still being billed..

got Road Runner

vonage sucked, maybe you'll get better results

[Yael]

6. Billing is not an area I have had to deal with as I am still with them

Sounds like trying to cancel AOHell.

One thing that can be done on the dropped calls is to set the priority via the website. That controls how much priority is given the phone connection and how much is given the internet/data.

If you set this high enough, the phone will always have priority.

I also recommend rebooting the Vonage router once a month, just because.

Sorry you had a bad experience. :( I don't use my 'land line' enough to have had any problems -- and was advices early on to set the priority. Likely RoadRunner/Comcast and other cable providers have this priority built in to make calls the top demand as opposed to manually setting it as it is a bundled service.

[Yael]

4. I was one of the first adopters of Vonage about 5 years ago (or so)

I have a crackberry, and don't ever use home phone service, so figured I would give it a try as Verizon rules this area and their Customer Service motto for land lines is "*yawn* so?".

Downside -- VOiP does not connect directly with 911. You can register with them for 911 service, but if you call, you are not directly routed to the local emergency center -- you are routed to a regional. This is also due to the technology. You can take your VOiP router anywhere in the world and make calls "locally" as you are over the internet. Because of this, you could be calling 911 from a hotel room in Phoenix, and they have no way of knowing that.

Downside -- If your power goes out, your phone is out.

Downside -- VOiP requires broadband internet. If you are on cable, it is dependent on the cable connection. Ditto with DSL. No sattelite or dialup.

Downside -- In order to use your existing phone jacks, you MUST be on cable, and you must disconnect yourself from the land line grid from outside the house. If you don't, you could fry your system.

Upside -- it is MUCH cheaper and there is no more long distance charges. International calls are like $0.04 a minute and calls to Canada, the UK, Mexico and anywhere in the US are free.

Upside -- no more charges for voice mail, caller ID, return dialing (*69) and all of the other fun items. They are all included.

Upside -- there is no charge for an unlisted number (Comcast Cable wanted $45 to "set up" that feature).

Upside -- you can get a number in any area code you want and have multiple numbers.

On that last item, my Dad died 2 years ago after being diagnosed with asbestos cancer a year prior. We set him up with Vonage so that he didn't have to worry about long distance and added a second line that was in the area code where his mother lived (she has since passed as well). This allowed her to make "local" calls to him, and it only cost $5 a month for the second number. She was then able to call him any time she wanted without having to "budget" her time as there was no charge for her.

So that we were assured the best connection (as the phone WILL compete with your internet usage), we went with Cable for mom & dad and purchased an extensible phone system for them (the kind of phone that has a base and addon "remote" standalone handsets). This is also recommended if you go the DSL route as you will not be able to use your existing phone jacks because DSL requires them to be active.

If you go this route -- have a backup. I would not recommend it for a home without a second means of calling (cellular).

I have been very happy with them. Have heard some bad reports on the outsourced Customer Service, but have not experienced it. This is simply a router that goes from your internet connection to your phone (via a phone cable). I have mine set up as another router on my wireless network.

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any questions about our experience or how we implemented it.

:hi:

ps -- this is completely controllable by their website. Your voicemails are .wav files that you can listen to, download, email, etc.... You can turn on or turn off services via the website -- as it is all free. There is even a tool that controls where the priority needs to be. If you are on a call and your kid is downloading the latest game (or whatever), you can set the priority to be 8/10 for the phone. It will slow down his download, but will make sure that you aren't getting poor reception on your call.

[On the Road]

5. I Suspect What Happened

was that you were sold a two-year contract with a temporary promotional period. It may not have been explained properly, and might even have been deception by the rep (although it's possible for it to happen by accident).

If you received a contract, check the document. Even if it states that your rate is higher than you understood, I would call Qwest and tell them that you were given a promo rate and told it was a permanent rate for the life of the contract. If they are not able to make it a permanent rate (which is possible), they should be able to let you out of the contract.

It might be worthwhile to have this conversation even if you've given a cancellation order. You want to make sure that they are not going to go to a third-party collector. At that point, it's too late to complain about whether you owe the money and you will either have to pay, go to court, or have your rate suffer.

Qwest is a former Bell company and is regulated. You can also call the state regulatory agency (Public Utilities Commission or a similar name) and talk with them about what to do. Under no circumstances would I walk away from a contract with a major company that still thinks you owe money.