So I’m looking at switching to Vonage for the two house lines - we aren’t quite ready to go cell-only but what we’re paying Comcast is an obscene amount given how little the main house line is used (the business line gets a little more traffic and is the real need for a landline).
It looks like Vonage is our best option - good reputation and service, reasonable cost; I’m not willing to go with a bottom-tier VOIP provider just to save a few bucks a year, not considering I’m dropping around $700 a year from Comcast already.
What I can’t find is pricing information for that second line. It looks like all Vonage boxes now shipping have two ports, and the second line is available with all plans (including the Home 300, which is what I’m choosing)… but all the site says is that “second line costs are based on your plan.” No numbers anywhere.
I have an email in to them for an answer, but… anyone have a second Vonage line, or know where the pricing can be located?
When I had Vonage, a second line was priced like the first one except in some unusual circumstances. For example, you could get a fax line for $10/month, or sometimes they call you to offer a special deal if you wanted a second line.
For quite a few years, I had three total lines with Vonage (2 business, 1 personal) but I’m not currently a customer. The business needed a proper multi-line system a year ago and my home line became a cell phone a few months ago. (Needless to say, I’m paying about 5x what I used to. Sometimes I miss the days of Vonage.)
A few years ago I switched to OOMA for my home phone needs. I don’t see what Vonage has to offer that ooma doesn’t, so after reading the reviews and thinking about if for a while, that is the way I went.
For a single line I pay less than $4 for a home phone line. For a few days I had issues with call clarity, but that was probably a year ago. I haven’t had any issues since.
The startup cost was around $200 if I remember correctly. Vonage is around $25/month, so I save $20/month with ooma. In other words, I recouped the startup costs in under 10 months.
The last time I checked, I could get a second line on ooma for $10/month, but I don’t have that.
To sum up, if you are considering VOIP, I’d recommend taking a look at ooma. They’re using the same network Vonage would be using, but for 1/5th the cost/month. I even got to keep the same phone number (but I did have to pay $25 for that, I think).
Look into Phone Power. It’s about $9/mo if you buy a full year and get one year free. I’ve had them for about 4 years now. It’s so reliable I almost forgot their name. I rarely have had to call for service issues. You get all the bells-and-whistles and it comes with two lines included. The 2nd line has the same phone number. When a call comes in, both lines will ring. If one line is in use, the 2nd line can be used to send or receive calls. If you actually want a 2nd line with a different phone number, that costs extra.
Thanks for all the feedback. Yes, each line is priced by whatever call plan you put on it. Two instances of Home 300 will run us about $34 a month, which is a third of what we’re paying now.
I am aware that there are less expensive providers, but I need utterly dependable service for the business line (and prefer it for all lines). A year from now I’ll review and see if anyone notably cheaper has equivalent reliability - like many, landline service is of decreasing use to us, especially now that we have solid cell service again.
Glad to hear you found your answer, NitroPress. I’m also surprised that the pricing is that simple.
I clearly recall reading (~10 years ago) that a second phone lines was legally considered a “business line”, at least for the purposes of what carriers were allowed to charge you.
Now I’m trying to figure out, a bit in advance of receiving the hardware, if the Vonage box follows the standard model of putting both lines on the first jack (using the second pair) or if it only has two single-line jacks.
(I know it has two jacks, each usable for one line, but most gear also combines the lines on one jack.)
Both models of router that Vonage provided me over the years had one phone jack per line. It was a little bit of a pain with my two-line phone system; we found an adapter that took two single-line phone cords in and then provided one dual-line cord out. Lots of excess wires… but it worked fine.
Precisely the answer I was looking for, thanks. My house is set up to take one dual connection from the voice router to the wireless phone base unit, but I have the parts to combine the lines as well. (Just prefer the tidier solution…)