Vonage Blows

I know that Patrick loves them so much that he's even gotten a free hat from the company. But I'd be darn near death from shock if I could even get them to set up the service right.

Here's how it's supposed to work:

1. You buy some box thingy that lets your phone work over your internet connection.
2. You call them to set up the service, and give them the name of the people who referred you so those phonepimpers can get a free month. Here's the first problem. Apparently Mr. Tim (as this dude on the other line keeps calling ME) didn't say the name of our referring party at just the right point in time, our "benefactors" didn't get their free months.
3. They set everything up and call your old phone company to have the number moved from BellSouth to Vonage.
Here's the other problem It's been 9 weeks. We're presently paying both bills, and calling Vonage every 48 hours. Each time we call we get the "free beer tomorrow" treatment. They keep claiming they've escalated us, and to call back for the final status in 48 hours. I am currently on hold for what will be the 6th set of "48 hours"es.

Why do I press on? Quite simply, it's my greed. Our BellSouth bill would be $90.00 minimum, not counting the increased long distance from having two active home offices telecommuting with North Carolina, Florida and Texas. Add to that the fact that we've already sprung a fifty for the Vonage Box Thingy®. Theoretically when this is up and running our monthly bill will be a flat $30.00, with unlimited long distance. We've also bought the special local numbers for both our families' convenience. So, to quote Mel Gibson in Braveheart "Some of us are in this thing."

But really, I would highly discourage you from attempting to join Vonage if you have a history of high blood pressure, risk of stroke or are in the early months of pregnancy. Or have inherited your father's Welsh temper.