Q.   Do you need to have high speed internet for Vonage to work?  Can you buy high speed internet from Vonage?

A.  Yes, you do need high speed internet in order for Vonage to function.  Vonage uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology which requires a high speed connection for operation.

Vonage works by hooking your existing phone up to the internet for crystal clear calls.  You'll be mailed a Vonage phone adapter as part of your Vonage plan.  The adapter translates sound ((ie, your voice) into data and then sends it over internet.  Once this data arrives at it's location (ie, the number you're calling) that data is converted back into sound.  The call will be so crisp the person you're calling won't notice any difference between a normal land line call and your call.  If you'd like to learn more about VoIP and how it works, check out our VoIP FAQs.

At this time Vonage does not sell high speed internet.  However, high speed internet is easy and fairly inexpensive to obtain.  Contact the telecommunications providers in your area to sign up for the service. You can often find discounted offers, especially if you are a first time customer.

Vonage World is a great deal right now.  If you sign up, the first 6 months of service are only $14.99 per month.  After that, the monthly fee goes up to $25.99 per month, which is still a good price for what you get.  With Vonage World you can make unlimited calls within the US and to 60+ countries.  This is a very pocketbook friendly service if you make numerous long distance and international calls a month, and Vonage World is the highest rated of all the VoIP providers we've reviewed.

1.  Are in the military, deployed overseas OR
2.  Outside of the US, making calls to the US

AND you have a high speed internet connection, Vonage World would be a great money-saving plan for you. If you have a Vonage adapter sent to a US mailing address, and then you ship it whoever will be calling you from overseas, they would be able to call you as if it were a local call. And if you both have Vonage, calls are free (all you need to do is pay for the monthly service). That's right – Vonage to Vonage calls are free.

This is actually a great way to save money because the cost of 2 Vonage World phone plans is much lower than if you were calling internationally without them.  Right now Vonage World is even running a special where the first 6 months are only $14.99/month.

If you're a business traveller or are frequently out of town/state/country you can benefit even more by taking the Vonage Phone Adapter with you.  Just plug the adapter into a high speed internet and a phone to save some cash when you're away from home.

Q:  I live in Florida for 6 months of the year and in Canada for the other 6 months.   Can I take VoIP with me and use it wherever I go?

A: The nice thing about VoIP services is that they are portable.  The Vonage World plan is particularly convenient for travelers.  With Vonage World you can easily pack the small adapter and use it wherever there is a high speed internet connection. This means you can make local and long distance calls from almost anywhere in the world, provided you have a broadband connection.  And Vonage World is running a special where you can make unlimited calls to 60+ countries for only $14.99 a month (for the first 6 months, then $25.99 a month).  That means when you're in Canada, you make free calls to your friends and family in Florida and vice versa.  Nice, right?

There is one small caveat:  you need to have a United States mailing address to purchase the service.  However, once you've signed up and received the Vonage phone adapter you can take it with you and use it outside of the United States.  It's perfect for vacations or business travel and you'll most likely end up saving you a bundle of money.

A: You certainly can. Vonage plugs into your Internet connection, but still allows regular traffic to and from your computer. With magicJack, voice data follows the same route as other Internet traffic that runs through your computer. If you do use this dual setup, you'll either need two phones, or you'll need to switch the line over to magicJack when you want to use that (or vice versa).

Check out our reviews and comparisons of Vonage and other VoIP services here, and well as alternatives like magicJack and Skype here.

Q: I currently subscribe to Comcast for phone, cable and internet and have a land line with Verizon because of my home security system. If I used Vonage to replace my land line service would it work effectively with my home security monitoring system and the current cable set-up?

A: The answer to your question is "yes" and "it depends". Because Vonage (and all VoIP service) is designed to run over a high speed internet connection, it will work with your existing Comcast cable set up. In short, VoIP requires a high speed internet connection like cable or DSL, so what you have will work fine.

The "it depends" comes into play when you have a home security system. If your security system is a telephone based one where the company uses your phone line to contact you in case of a break in, it may not work with Vonage. If the security system is wireless, and doesn't depend on a phone line, Vonage will most likely work. Vonage recommends you contact your security company to see if their system is compatible.

Check out our Skype review and see how it stacks up against the other VoIP services we've reviewed.

Q: We are looking for less expensive way to use Blackberry from New Zealand to US.  Can you use  VOIP from New Zealand to US on the Vonage Mobile global plan?  Does it include BBM use?

A: Unfortunately, Vonage Mobile is only for use inside the United States. Regular VoIP services can be used in any country with broadband (though there must be a U.S.-based shipping and billing address). Mobile VoIP is just beginning to gain traction, and cell phone service providers and VoIP companies are still working things out. After all, VoIP uses the cell phone's data infrastructure, but the VoIP provider gets the money.

One thing that may work for you is a Skype To Go number. You can get these in New Zealand, and they seem to offer pretty good savings. They work from any line, including mobiles. There are some connection fees associated with them, but it may save you some Kiwis.

It's a tiny device that plugs into your computer's USB port, something that's technically called a "dongle." It's about the size of a Zippo lighter, but nowhere near as sturdy. It has a plastic chrome body with a clear plastic top that let's you see the magic inside. One end plugs into your USB port on an Internet-connected computer. The other has a standard telephone jack for the phone of your choice. It's highly portable, and it has the magicJack software built in so it can be plugged into almost any computer (Intel-based Macs or PCs running XP, Vista, or Windows 7). MagicJack stores your account information with the device, so you can use the service on multiple computers.

Once connected, the software loads and you begin the setup process. If you ordered your magicJack through the magicJack website then you've already entered your credit card info and you'll be starting your 30-day free trial. You cannot port a pre-existing number over to magicJack; you'll have to use the one they give you.

You dial numbers using either your handset or the magicJack application, a small window that contains a dial pad, call log, and, rather unfortunately,  an ever-changing slew of ads for other magicJack products. According to magicJack's terms of service, phone numbers that you call may be analyzed by magicJack's ad software to deliver more relevant ads to you. You cannot close this program and still receive calls, though you can hide the window. It will reappear when you receive a call or dial on your handset.

This is ultimately magicJack's biggest limitation and why it's no substitute for traditional phone or VoIP service. You must have the program open and your computer must be running and Internet connected. MagicJack "solves" this problem by preventing your computer from going to sleep, something you may or may not want. However, if your magicJack is not connected, calls are routed to your magicJack voicemail so you won't lose any calls. Those voicemails are sent right to your email, so you can listen to messages from your mail reader.

The call quality seems to vary. We used a cordless phone to connect to magicJack. Though our call was only across town, our recipient (who was on a landline) said we sounded like we were in another country. It wasn't interference so much as a deadened, far-away sound. A call to a city further away had better performance. When we used a cel phone to call our magicJack phone, we noticed a lot of compression—-a problem with using two pieces of voice compression technology. It seems to be like that for magicJack: quality is highly dependent on many conditions.

Your call quality will be affected by the speed of both your network and your machine. We had less problem with call quality on our dual-processor MacBook Pro, even while simultaneously downloading an MP3 album from eMusic, watching two shows on Hulu, and downloading an HD trailer from Apple (though the latter took a bit of a hit). On our single-processor 2.2GHZ Toshiba PC with 2GB of RAM, we had more trouble with audio, including crashes and interruptions when we tried multi-tasking.

magicJack is one of those products that's not designed to improve on the quality of an existing technology, but to make that technology cheaper. Next to just about every other VoIP technology, it's the cheapest way to make unlimited phone calls in the US and Canada. magicJack doesn't have to be great, because it's so cheap:

After the 30-day trial you'll be charged $39.95 for the first year (plus $6.95 for shipping). And that's all you'll pay for unlimited calls inside the United States or Canada. You can renew a single year for $19.95, or five years for $69.95 (meaning you pay about $13 a year). International calls are billed at a discounted rate (their rate-chart is incredibly cryptic, with some countries having 10 or more alternate rates), but you must pre-purchase credits from magicJack.

Should you purchase magicJack? It depends on what your calling habits are and whether or not you can deal with the advertising. We don't think that it will ever be a phone replacement for most people, and your mileage will vary based on your home computer setup. The good thing is that it's pretty risk free to find out. If you don't like magicJack you can return it for a full refund within 30 days. You'll have to pay return shipping charges, of course.

Q: Do you have VoIP service in Vietnam?

A: All the VoIP services that we review are sold in the United States or Canada only. However VoIP services are portable and can be used from any broadband connection around the world. For instance, someone can purchase Vonage in the United States and then send the equipment to another country, such as Vietnam. Unfortunately while Vonage World Unlimited covers calls to over 60 countries, Vietnam is not one of them. So calls could be made from Vonage equipment on a broadband connection in Vietnam to any of those countries (see below), but calls within Vietnam would not be covered. This will work for you if you need to make frequent calls from Vietnam to the US, for instance. You just need a US-based shipping and billing address.

Countries covered by Vonage World Unlimited:

Andorra
Argentina
Australia (excl. External Territories)
Austria
Bahamas**
Bahrain
Belgium
Brazil
Brunei**
Bulgaria
Canada**
Chile
China**
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Guadeloupe
Guam**
Hong Kong**
Hungary
Iceland
India**
Iraq
Ireland
Israel (non Paltel)
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Kenya
Latvia
Luxembourg
Macau**
Macedonia
Malaysia**
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico**
Romania
Russia
Saipan**
San Marino**
Singapore**
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand**
Turkey
U.S. Virgin Islands**
United Kingdom
Venezuela
Zambia