Vonage Versus Lingo
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- The Good
- Affordable price
- Unlimited nationwide calling, plus Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico
- Home phone is mobile with Smartphone
- The Bad
- Internet required
If you sign up for a Home Phone plan, Vonage provides you with a free phone adaptor; they ship the adaptor for free and activation is free. For those people with a Smartphone, one of the best features of the Vonage Home Phone plan is the fact you can synchronize your cell with your home phone. With a smartphone, you can take your home phone with you anywhere.
- The Good
- Directory assistance
- Free international calling
- Mobile add-on service
- The Bad
- Limited-minute nationwide plan
- No fax
A few of the features that are uncommon for VoIP services are directory assistance and three-way calling. However, Lingo falls a little short in relation to some other home phone VoIP service providers. It does not provide a dedicated fax line and Lingo does not function as a softphone, but for people without a home business, neither are essential. About the only major drawback with respect to Lingo’s home phone service is the fact that Lingo Essential has a limited nationwide plan whereas most other home phone VoIP service providers offer nationwide calling for free.
- Price
- $9.99 per month
While other companies charge anywhere between $15 and $45 for a home phone line, Vonage charges $9.99 per month.
- Lingo Essential
- $9.95 per month
- Lingo Unlimited
- $14.95 or $19.95 per month
Lingo offers price points comparable to the most competitive in the home phone VoIP industry. While not the lowest price for an adaptor-to-router VoIP home phone, there aren’t service providers that offer lower rates. Lingo has three plans: Lingo Essential, Lingo Unlimited without a contract and Lingo Unlimited with a one-year term. Lingo Essential is $9.95 per month, Lingo Unlimited without a contract is $19.95 and Lingo with a one-year term is $14.95.
- Features
- Enhanced call forwarding
- SimulRing
- Vonage Voicemail Plus
- Virtual Number
- Dedicated Fax Line
- Add a Line
- Toll-Free Plus
With enhanced call forwarding, you can answer your home phone from your smartphone anywhere you have cell service. If you have more than one smartphone, SimulRing will assure your home phone calls reach all of them. Vonage Voicemail Plus delivers your voicemails to your email. A virtual number allows your family friends abroad to call you for the price of a local call. A dedicated fax line allows you to keep your home phone line free when you are sending and receiving faxes. Plus, it is easy to add extra phone or fax lines when necessary. Toll-free plus lets others call you for free.
- Features
- Call waiting
- Caller ID with name
- Call relay
- Three-way calling
- Directory assistance
- Simultaneous ring
- Voicemail anywhere, anytime
Lingo’s three-way calling and directory assistance are both services that many home phone VoIP service providers do not offer. Caller ID, simultaneous ring and caller ID with name often cost extra, but not with Lingo. Some non-essential features Lingo offers with all three plans are anonymous call rejection, call forwarding selective, caller ID block and do not disturb.
- Equipment
- Free phone adapter
The Vonage phone adapter connects your home phone to the Internet, which allows you to unlock many of the Vonage home phone features. In order to function, the Vonage phone adaptor requires high-speed internet: cable or DSL.
- Equipment
- Lingo Adapter
The Lingo Adaptor is typical of most home phone VoIP adapters. Like most, it is not a modem. Instead, it converts the internet signal from your modem into a VoIP signal that you can use to make local, nationwide and international phone calls.
- International Service
- Yes
Vonage offers a number of features that are very helpful for those hoping to make international phone calls or receive calls from those abroad. With the basic plan, all Vonage calls across the nation are local calls and any call to Canada, Mexico or Puerto Rico are also local. For those calling outside the US, Canada, Mexico or Puerto Rico, Vonage offers Virtual Number, a plan similar to Skype that allows users to both receive and make international phone calls while paying local rates. Even Vonage customers without a virtual number can make international phone calls and pay exceptionally competitive rates in relation to those paid by the customers of Vonage’s competitors.
- International Service
- Yes
Regardless of the plan you select — Lingo Essentials or one of the two unlimited plans — you can add an international plan. For $9.95 per month, you can make international phone calls anywhere in the world with unlimited minutes.
- Support
- FAQ
- Message board
- Live support
Vonage offers a variety of support programs including email, a toll-free number, a message board community and an index of frequently asked questions. Vonage does not have chat support.
- Support
- Customer care phone operators
- Tech support phone operators
- Customer care email
- Support page with indexed explanations
Unlike some companies that offer home phone VoIP services, Lingo has more than one support number. Lingo customers have one number to call for tech support, another for general questions and billing, and a third for sales. While Lingo does not have tech manuals per se, the support page is very extensive and explains how to set up most options and features, and even gives some troubleshooting solutions.
Vonage: User Reviews
Lingo: User Reviews
Vonage: Comments
Lingo: Comments
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How Does Vonage Work?
Installation is simple. The Vonage home phone adaptor — the “Vonage Box” — plugs directly into a high-speed internet connection. Vonage customers plug their home phone directly into the Vonage Box and customers can begin to start saving on calls.
The Vonage Home Phone Plan, while inexpensive, does not skimp when it comes to versatility. Even the basic plan offers a great deal for a small investment. Like a landline home phone, the Vonage allows people to make local calls for free. The difference is, “local” has a completely different meaning with respect to the Vonage. Local includes calls all over the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
In other words, with the exception of international phone calls, all calls from home are free.
If the basic plan does not offer what a person needs, there are a variety of features a person can select to customize their plan. If a person needs to make or receive international phone calls regularly, they can select a plan that provides a virtual number.
A virtual number allows customers to make and receive international calls and pay local rates — nothing.
There are other features, besides just low rates, Vonage offers that can make life easier with a home phone line as well. Enhanced call forwarding makes keeping track of incoming home phone calls simple. Attach your Vonage number to your Smartphone to receive all your incoming home phone calls and use SimulRing to forward your calls to all your Smartphones.
And, if you aren’t at home, you can also use your Smartphone to listen to your voicemails. Vonage Voicemail Plus sends your voicemails directly to your email and you can then download them as .wav files and listen to them on the go.
For those that need a dedicated fax line at home, there is a Vonage home plan that will suit your needs. And, you can add more than one home phone line to your plan as well as more than one fax.
Toll-Free Plus is a feature that, in conjunction with a dedicated fax line, works very well for a small or home business. Anyone anywhere in the US can call you free of charge.
What Makes Vonage Stand Out?
Vonage is different than many other home phone service providers because, in addition to being convenient while at home and inexpensive — if you already have an internet plan with another provider — Vonage allows you to run your home phone through your smartphone, so your home phone line goes with you when you are out and about.
Additionally, while the Vonage Home Phone plan is designed for residences, it offers a large number of features that are very convenient for a home business. The Vonage Home Phone plan is versatile enough that a person can feel confident running a small business using it as the primary source of inbound and outbound telephone communication.
Common Reviews of Vonage
With respect to the clarity of phone calls and functinality of the tools and services, Vonage gets rave reviews. The few complaints about the Vonage Home Phone plan that lower its overall rating include the fact that the desktop app costs extra and the home phone plan does not have text nor video capabilities, features other VoIP providers do offer.
Something Vonage gets high ratings for having is solid customer support. Most people agree, the customer support staff is polite, helpful and makes a sincere effort to resolve problems.
Is the Vonage for me?
If you are a person on a budget or someone who wants a home phone, but don’t use it as your primary — and you already have internet in your home —Vonage will work well because the service is solid and the price is low. However, the Vonage Home Phone plan is best suited for you if you have a small business that you operate out of your home. The features Vonage offers with the home phone plan are ideal for a small business.
While there are a number of over-the-internet home phone service providers, most do not offer second lines or fax lines, will not allow you to connect your home phone to more than one line and do not offer free international calling.
The Vonage Home Phone plan offers a large number of very versatile features.
Lingo offers all the standards associated with a home phone VoIP service with a couple of minor extras. The price is very reasonable with respect to the industry standard and — with the exception of the minutes limitation — the Lingo Essentials plan is not a great deal different than the Lingo Unlimited plans. The biggest difference between Lingo and other quality VoIP service providers is the international plan. It is unlimited once the low monthly rate is paid. The no-contract options also set Lingo apart from other home phone VoIP service providers.
How Does Lingo Work?
Once you decide on the plan you want, you receive the Lingo Adaptor in the mail. Connect the adapter to your internet router and your home phone to the adapter and you are ready to begin making phone calls. Once the home phone is set up, you can connect it to your iPhone or Android via the Lingo App.
Dialing nationwide is as simple as entering the area code and pressing the send button. Calling internationally is no more difficult. You simply add the country code plus the area code and the seven or eight digit number.
What Makes Lingo Stand Out?
What makes Lingo different than other home phone VoIP service providers is the fact that both the basic and premium plans are available without a contract. While you pay a little more for the Lingo Unlimited No-Contract plan, you can rest assured that anytime you are not satisfied with the service, you can stop using it.
While there are home phone VoIP service providers who allow you to sign up for the basic plan without a year-long contract, almost no others allow you to take advantage of their premium services without signing up long-term.
Another component of Lingo that sets it apart is the international plan. It is simple and affordable. Pay $9.95 a month and call anywhere in the world and talk for an unlimited amount of time.
Common Reviews of Lingo
Almost everyone who reviews Lingo gives the company props for being a pioneer in the VoIP home phone industry. However, most reviews are average at best and ugly in more than a few cases. The biggest complaints are outdated and unintuitive interfaces as well as average to poor call quality and voice clarity.
Another complaint is the fact that Lingo Essentials only allows for 500 minutes of calls per month. For many people reviewing Lingo, that is a major sticking point.
Is Lingo for me?
Lingo is definitely for you if you are the type of person who wants to test a product before making a long-term commitment. Since you can sign up for the Unlimited plan without signing a long-term contract, you can try Lingo’s best and most attractive features for a couple of months and decide if you are happy with what Lingo has to offer.
Lingo is also for you if you need a home phone VoIP service that allows you to make international calls with unlimited minutes.
But, if you are someone whose internet is spotty or slow, Lingo might not be the home phone VoIP service provider for you. Lingo needs a strong internet connection to provide high quality connections and voice clarity.
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