Anyone tried "Phone Power" (similar to Vonage)?

[Looking4Wife]

In the past there have been mixed reviews about Vonage.  I was about to sign up for Vonage today, and somehow (thru google) discovered that there are many other companies out there that offer the same VoIP service.

I checked out a couple of review websites, comparing various services, and Phone Power seems to be getting rave reviews from customers.  Who's to say they aren't employees?

I thought I'd check here to see if anyone has used "Phone Power" which has an introductory rate of $9.95, but then kicks up to $19.95 (vs. $24.99 at Vonage).  Plus Phone Power has free activiation if you sign up online.  I couldn't find any Vonage free activation deals doing a quick google search.

Thanks in advance...

[Calipro]

There are better values out there than Vonage if you are using it to call Colombia from the States.

I took my Vonage router to Colombia so I could make unlimited calls to my apartment in Cali and it was a local call, no additional charge.

You can use this company http://www.telefonodirecto.com/index.php

to set up a local Colombian telefone number here in the States and your girlfriend or her family can make unlimited calls to the phone in the States for a monthly fee of as little as $35.

[Kiltboy1]

CP

Will this work for other countries too or only colombia??

KB

[Calipro]

CP

Will this work for other countries too or only colombia??

KB

My Vonage router works fine in Colombia so calling my apartment in Cali from Phoenix Arizona is a local call because I ordered it with an 602 area code.

The same thing with the Colombian router. I ordered it with a Cali number so calling my house in Phoenix is a local call from Cali.

I imagine it works just like a Vonage router in that you can connect it any where in the world and have a local Colombian phone number.

As far as providers that offer VOIP services with local numbers in other latin american countries, I don't know of any. But I'm sure that they exist.

[pablo]

L4W,

It's nice to see you posting again.  How are you and the Mrs.? 

FWIW, Vonage will lower their rate to that $19.95 per month for unlimited calling.  (They also have a $15.00 rate for 300 minutes if you want to save a few bucks and don't talk very much.)  To take advantage of their lower monthly unlimited calling rates you will have to prepay for the entire year.  An annual rate of $240.00 but you will have to sign up before June 20, 2008 to take advantage of this.

Note that Vonage was experiencing financial problems and might face future bankruptcy.  I don't know if that is still the case but worth Googling before signing up on that yearly rate.

If you send a router to your wife's family she'll be able to talk to her heart's content for a local phone call if they have cable internet.  Hope this helps.

 

[Looking4Wife]

There are better values out there than Vonage if you are using it to call Colombia from the States.

I took my Vonage router to Colombia so I could make unlimited calls to my apartment in Cali and it was a local call, no additional charge.

You can use this company http://www.telefonodirecto.com/index.php

to set up a local Colombian telefone number here in the States and your girlfriend or her family can make unlimited calls to the phone in the States for a monthly fee of as little as $35.

Thanks calipro.

I probably should have been more clear that my purpose is to simply replace my local phone crooks (I mean service) with a more cost effective service.

Nevertheless, the info you provided may be of interest.  We currently use Yahoo Voice to call my wife's family and friends, so she's limited as to how much money she wants to spend on Yahoo.  Plus its not practical for them to call her on Yahoo.  Sounds like she could budget the $25-$35 and get more bang for buck, and allow her family to reach her more easily using telefono rojo.

Intermission... in the middle of writing this, I got sidetracked and ended up visiting the website and calling these guys.  I just got off the phone with Juan Sosa, and I asked him about calling Venezuela (where my wife's mother lives) in addition to Colombia.  Although its not listed on the home page of their website (only Colombian cities are), he said that Caracas could be added as a extension city to the service (I believe just like a 2nd Colombian city would be) at no additional cost.  Very interesting stuff.

Thanks again.

[Looking4Wife]

Calipro:

Can you do the same thing with vonage as you suggest with Telefono Rojo?

It sounds like you had to physically take your Vonage adapter to Colombia in order to acieve the savings...

Rather than simply adding a Colombian number to your Vonage service in the USA?

[Looking4Wife]

L4W,

It's nice to see you posting again.  How are you and the Mrs.? 

FWIW, Vonage will lower their rate to that $19.95 per month for unlimited calling.  (They also have a $15.00 rate for 300 minutes if you want to save a few bucks and don't talk very much.)  To take advantage of their lower monthly unlimited calling rates you will have to prepay for the entire year.  An annual rate of $240.00 but you will have to sign up before June 20, 2008 to take advantage of this.

Note that Vonage was experiencing financial problems and might face future bankruptcy.  I don't know if that is still the case but worth Googling before signing up on that yearly rate.

If you send a router to your wife's family she'll be able to talk to her heart's content for a local phone call if they have cable internet.  Hope this helps.

Hola, Pablo, como estás?

As far as Me and the Mrs... I'm teaching her to drive... picking up where the "professionals" have left off (or were scared off?)... all I can say is O-M-G...

Thanks for the info.  The more I find out about this, it seems the more questions it raises :-)

Based on what you suggest, it sounds like I would send a router with a USA number to my wife's family, so they can call here for free?

Remember, I want to use some VoIP provider (in this case Vonage) to replace my phone service.

So I wonder, if we bought a 2nd adapter (for her family), we would then be paying 2 monthly Vonage bills? 

If that's the case, then the shipping the adapter thing to Colombia is an added step we wouldn't encounter with telefono rojo.  I'm just thinking out loud...

[Calipro]

Calipro:

Can you do the same thing with vonage as you suggest with Telefono Rojo?

It sounds like you had to physically take your Vonage adapter to Colombia in order to acieve the savings...

Rather than simply adding a Colombian number to your Vonage service in the USA?

Yes

I had to take the Vonage router to Colombia to be able to make local calls to Colombia and for them to use the Vonage phone to make local calls to the States. It is not possible to add a Colombian number to Vonage service.

Once the Vonage router is connected in Colombia it can be used to call any number in the States for the monthly fee of about 25 bucks.

The advantage of having a Telefono Rojo router is that colombians can call you from any phone in the city in Colombia that you select as a local call.

Telefono Rojo is based in the U.S. as well.... but there really is no point in taking the Telefono Rojo router to Colombia.