Add this to the list of number portability problems. I received a tip that Vonage is blocking access to a phone number formerly maintained by Vonage. A disgruntled ex-Vonage customer emailed me to explain his dilemma. The ex-Vonage customer's number was ported to another carrier and now his phone number cannot be reached by any current Vonage customers.For instance, suppose I am a Vonage customer with phone number 212-555-1234, then decide to leave Vonage and port the number to AT&T. Any non-Vonage customers can still dial 203-555-1234 and reach this AT&T owned number. However, any current Vonage subscribers that attempt to dial this ex-Vonage phone number (now AT&T) receive an error message that says, "That Number Is No Longer In Service."
The customer is pretty upset as evident by his email:
Now that Vonage has ceased billing me and my new telephone company has control of my phone number, there is one legacy Vonage insult left. Vonage now blocks access to your phone number from any of their current subscribers. Any non-Vonage phone can call me, but nobody with a Vonage account can. And I am not alone. I have 5 friends who have suffered this Vonage sneak number block too. My wife is furious, she cannot receive calls from several of her friends. Anyone calling my phone from a Vonage account gets the message "That Number Is No Longer In Service."
Vonage is the devils phone service.
Now I will say that this may not be vindictive on the part of Vonage. This could simply be a database management issue. When a customer leaves Vonage and ports their number, their procedures should include deleting the phone number from their database. I should mention that I'm sure Vonage tries to leverage their SIP registrar database for call routing. So when you dial from Vonage user to Vonage user, it does a SIP registrar lookup, sees both are in the SIP registrar and routes the call over IP and not the PSTN. So perhaps Vonage deleted his record from the billing database but not the SIP registrar. When a call is attempted and his number is still in the SIP registrar, the billing database probably tells the SIP gateway to return the "That Number is No Longer in Service" message. Though usually the billing (usually RADIUS) system is consulted first, so the above explanation could be the reverse.
Obviously, when a Vonage customer cancels, both the billing and SIP registrar should both be updated. Since this customer was porting a phone number to another carrier, perhaps Vonage keeps the record open until they are sure the number has been ported successfully and then forgot to update after a few weeks.
Still, I'm hesitant to make excuses for Vonage and this does stink to high heaven. Perhaps this particular customer just needs to just call Vonage and ask them to delete his phone number record so current Vonage customers can call his phone number. Of course, we all know the trials 7 tribulations when calling Vonage customer service, don't we?
Maybe he'll be joining this Vonage protestor?
p.s. I asked Vonage for comment via email but did not receive a reply within 4 hours. If they do respond I will update this post accordingly.
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a simple solution to the problem . tell ur friends that are on vonage and calling u . to get the hell off vonage . ...
Over nine months ago, I ported two Vonage numbers to AT&T CallVantage (because it provided call filtering features that Vonage doesn't, and, to my delight, the sound quality is better!)
And I have the same problem. Two friends that are Vonage customers can't call me, one of which intends on canceling their own Vonage service now.
Even if this is an ''oversight'' on Vonage's part, why should it be contingent on a former customer to correct such a mistake? Vonage should audit all their ported cancelations to ensure their remaining customers can reach everyone - including former Vonage subscribers. The fact that the problem has existed for so long, and that Vonage has done nothing about it, speaks volumes to me about their level of ethics.
Please let us know if you ever did receive any response from Vonage. You can let them know you've become aware of a number of these incidents now.
I've recently experienced just the opposite problem - AT&T screwing with me. After years of expensive and reliable service with Bellsouth and AT&T, when I dropped my local service and switched to naked DSL - everything went to pot.
Suddenly, my DSL is no longer reliable. It drops in the middle of the day. My password was mysteriously 'reset' in the middle of one browsing session, etc.
I think both companies may be using underhanded tactics.
Just attempted to cancel my Vonage service because it never worked more than half the time. Was charged a disconnect fee as well as a charge for the modem that they said was free at the time I signed up. Was told to read my contract, but I never received one.
Now it is costing over $200. just to get rid of horrid service from a rip off company.
Tell everyone NOT to change to Vonage and if they are alreadt on it- to get off it- if they can afford to. I am really pissed off.
this has nothing to do with Vonage specifically and they are not doing anything to keep your number. you need to call them and ask the to release your number of fully "release" it from their system. what is happening is that for vonage users you are still on their network so they get partially routed (locally on the vonage network) to a number that does not exist there. outsiders (non vonage) users can reach you because your new provider is announcing your number and you can be reached .... but vonage users see the number on theri local network (since it has not been full released by vonage) and thus get directed nowhere. i hope this helps but a simple call explaining the issue with fix your and your friends problem.
it has happened to me.
we tried calling vonage to "release" our number - in fact, we never even had vonage set up - we cancelled before that happened. but still, anyone with vonage cannot call us. vonage blamed at&t, our current carrier, for the problem.
I am a Vonage tech support agent & as the main post said, this is not deliberate. The account is disconnected, but sometimes the database that holds numbers does not update, so therefore a # w/i the same database (Vonage to Vonage) is going to appear disconnected. The fix is to contact Vonage Technical Support, not Customer Service or any other department, & ask that the number be removed from the database. We submit a database removal form to the engineers, removal process takes 24 hours. Please understand just because I work here that I'm not saying Vonage is perfect or the best service, this is just a job, like any other. I just wanted to offer the clarification & advice.
There actually is also another part of this that is being left out. In order to have the numbers, they need to have a PSTN carrier to work with. When the number is ported out, that "underlying" carrier releases the number to the new carrier, but does not always provide Vonage with that information. Of course, being customer facing, Vonage gets the blame. Yes, it seems there needs to be a better process between the two, but I just wanted to get my 2 cents in there to support the fact that it is not a vindictive act.
BTW-Vonage doesn't use RADIUS
Hello,
I'm hoping you can help me with my experience with Vonage, at the very least spread the word of what this company is really doing. I had activated an account at the mall here in NJ, I thought their V-phone was nifty. When I later talked to some friend, I found out that they had had their credit card information stolen by the Vonage employees. The worst part is, they called to report it, found out via customer service that this was in fact a KNOWN problem in the NJ area, yet when they would go to the mall, these same employees still had jobs!!
You can imagine my disbelief! I went to return my unopened V-phone a few days later, and thought I was done with that annoying company. Have you ever walked past them in a mall, so pushy!! I was a fool for falling for their "great savings" in the first place. No one told me I had to also call and cancel the account. It wasn't until I received an customer service update via email that I realized my account was even still active.
So, two days after my 30 day trial, I call and explain. No matter, I'm still stuck with a $40 cancellation fee. Every dealing with this company has made me feel dirty, that's the only word I can think to describe it.
I also got ripped off by Vonage.
I am also having phone problems as well.
Such as my numbers is no longer in service.
But I can make calls but can't receive any.
As vonage charged my credit card $238 for 1 year service. than carged another $109
For early cancellion. Now I have to file a dispute letter with the credit card company.
As per phone call with credit card company.
My credit card company ask if i tried taking to vonage? I stated that I didin My words Told them that I stood a better chance of winning an augment with my ex-girlfriend.The phone to vonage about the charges were one sideed. And not to my favor.
If the letter of disput doesn't work off to court I go. I do have all their email and other items ready to take court. I their money back guarante
The 'telephone' company that is taking the number is responsible for the port in - in this case, AT&T is responsible for resolving the customer issue with the other carrier, Vonage. As far as the voice announcement that the line is no longer in service - could be one of two issues - 1) the pstn side, that Vonage Gateway connects to, has not updated their data base to point to AT&T - or 2) Vonage still has the number in their number inventory in unassigned state. IVR would be generated in either case.
The customer must deal with the company that has taken the number - that company must resolve the issues - they should not have their new customer contacting the prior carrier - this is poor customer relations.
I was with Vonage for about 2 yrs. Two years in which I regretted it every time I had to deal with their frustrating customer service.
I finally ported the numbers over to Optimum voice because they had LOCAL repair / service people. AND it was cheaper.
So I am very happy with that, having kicked Vonage to the kerb. Yay!
This was about 2 months ago.
Today I find out that whenever someone on the Vonage system calls my office phone (which used to be Vonage, but is now on Optimum's network), they get a "phone not in service" message.
Yup .. for TWO months no one that was using Vonage could get hold of me on that number ... yup, the number that appears in all my online business listings.
Isn't that sweet? I leave Vonage and two months later they give me even more reason to hate them.
Bastards.