Vonage IPO

[Degen]

I like it, plan on buying a bunch of it first morning it trades.

Bad play?

[PhiGamTN]

when does it go on/opening price?

[midas]

Can some explain the hype re Skype (Ebay deal) and why Voneage is different from Skype? Everyone I've talked to thinks VOIP is substandard for home use and the telcos are sure to continue to drop rates to protect their turf.

[Degen]

vonage is more for residential mom and pop customers

skype is a bit more tech savvy and 'hip' and def more international

skype is computer to computer calls (for the most part) and vonage is a regular phone line, that runs over the internet.

meaning that w/ vonage, your computer is not involved at all, only your internet connection.

Has anybody here used Vonage? I've used Skype once, and that was plenty. 1-2 second delays between me speaking and the other person hearing me. Finally it crashed after 15 minutes. Is Vonage any better?

[Dan Mezick]

I use it and I like it.

[Degen]

ya i have several lines

it totally depends on how good your internet is-if you have a T1 it is no different than a land line...if you are on dial up its gonna suck

there are so many crazy features that even if you get some interferance now and then, it is definately worth it...o and its like 75% cheaper than tel-co's


precisely why i want to invest in this company...the product is amazing and as broadband becomes more wide spread, i see no reason why everybody wont be on VOIP w/in ten years...business, residential, cell...everybody, and vonage is the industry leader right now...

[midas]

Thanks for the responses, here's another question. Why is Voneage better than Cablevision's VOIP solution (Optimium Voice) or any other VOIP competitor? I'll bet that if VOIP is so good in 5 years, broadband providers will just bundle it into the internet package - then what does Voneage have?

Voneage maybe the future AOL of the internet access business without the content. I'll short Voneage once the momentum players have bid the IPO price through the roof.

[Degen]

this is a very valid point

i've researched it quite a bit and it appears there isn't a whole lot that is in the way of that...they are leading now, the future will tell if they can keep it up

though Netscape, AOL and every other first in their sector made a lot of people very rich in the beginning...

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
precisely why i want to invest in this company...the product is amazing and as broadband becomes more wide spread, i see no reason why everybody wont be on VOIP w/in ten years...business, residential, cell...everybody, and vonage is the industry leader right now...

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you pay for a service that you can get for free using an IM?

[Degen]

what is an IM?

and i highly doubt they do toll free calls for free and give you multiple residential phone numbers w/ any area code in the country and the insane features i got

tho plz do send a link or something...

[Sniper]

Investing in a new technology without understanding all its competition = bad!

[ QUOTE ]
what is an IM?

[/ QUOTE ]

Instant Messenger. You can talk to anyone computer to computer (or in groups) typed, voice or video.

Just one example... http://messenger.yahoo.com/

[cdxx]

[ QUOTE ]
it totally depends on how good your internet is-if you have a T1 it is no different than a land line...if you are on dial up its gonna suck

[/ QUOTE ]

well, ignoring the fact that you wouldn't get vonage over a dialup. yes it is connection dependent. my parents live in the boondocks. their dsl is slow 20-30k no more. when i use the phone, i usually have to stop any downloads (such as bittorrent). i actually hear the call fine, but the other party complains that there's breaks in conversation.

[mcb]

once a bigger company comes out with the same product this vonage will be useless. at&t could easily produce the same service vonage does. oh, and by the way, don't foget about Google Talk (http://www.google.com/talk/) .

[Nicholasp27]

actually, at&t does it now...but vonage is still leading the industry

and fwiw, i use packet8, as it's cheaper than vonage and i have no issues with it

it's just like using a normal phone...the phone hooks up to a box connected to your router; no computer is needed

calling over IM requires a computer, which mom&pop won't like...it's better to be able to use any standard phone...u can even plug the connection into any phone jack and all phone jacks will be active with the voip (make sure u disconnect the phone lines coming into the house first!!!)

also, say you go to china for a month...take the lil box with you and plug it into any high-speed connection there and you can call anyone in the US for free...


btw, it's only like 3cents/5cents to europe, etc whereas normal phones charge u much more...

i get unlimited local/longdistance/canada for 19.99/month with hardly any taxes/fees, making the grand total 20.xx

when i had unlimited local/longdistance through at&t and through mci, it ended up being $60 after fees/taxes/fcc/etc

big difference


dsl/cable+packet8=$60
unlimited long distance telephone plan+netzero=$70

[cdxx]

forgot to mention, lingo is cheaper than vonage as well.
lingo (http://lingo.com/)