Section 5.4. Signing Up | Talk is Not Cheap!: Saving the High Costs of Misunderstandings at Work and Home

5.4. Signing Up

Does it seem obvious that a phone company would provide a toll-free number on their home page so you could call and sign up for their service? It does to me, but only Vonage and Packet8 make their toll-free numbers obvious.

Of course, you have to have broadband and an Internet connection before any of the broadband phone services can help you, so expecting you to sign up online isn't that great a stretch. Let me walk you through what will happen when you go online to sign up, using Vonage as an example:

Choose Sign Up from the top menu or Retail Activation from the bottom right of the home page.
Choose your service plan (Residential Premium or Basic, Business Premium or Basic).
Choose to get a new phone number from Vonage (or transfer your old number on this screen).
Choose the state, area code, and region for your Vonage phone number.
Provide personal information for billing and router shipment (you can't use a P.O. Box).
Agree to the Vonage terms and conditions.
Put in your address information and choose a Vonage username and password. Your password must be eight characters long with no spaces. Pick a mix of letters and numbers without any real words inside for better security ("password3" is not a good idea).
Provide credit card and billing information.
Verify the order, and then hit Order Now. Your initial order charge will be shown on this screen.
Wait for your new phone equipment to arrive.

There is less trouble ordering a new phone service from Vonage than on many e-commerce web sites. Everything is explained clearly, as you'll see in the following screen shots, and web pages can change at any time. Let me show you a few of the pages so you'll get a flavor of how they look and what type of information you must provide. Figure 5-2 shows the first page you see after clicking on the Sign Up menu item.

Figure 5-2. Half of the first page you see when signing up

Notice the little lock sign in the bottom right corner of the screen? That shows the Vonage web page is using a secure connection. All the information you provide, especially financial details like your credit card number, will be encrypted before going across the Internet.

Notice the blue box in the top right of the page? If you bought a router at a retail outlet or online, click that link to start the activation process. You can also reach those screens from the home page as well.

Figure 5-3 shows the interesting option you have with virtual numbers. Although I'm in Texas, I'm selecting a phone number that's local to Cleveland, Ohio. Why? Because I can, and because someone in Cleveland may want to call me, but not enough to pay the long distance charges (obviously they're not on Vonage yet).

Figure 5-3. Choosing your virtual number

Warning: No P.O.Vonage won't ship to a P.O. box so you must provide a physical address. Many online vendors demand a physical address to cut down on fraud.

When you get to the last screen, you will see the total for all your activation, shipping, Federal Excise Tax (FET), and the Regulatory Recovery Fee (the government always gets theirs somehow, don't they?). The total shown in Figure 5-4 is what will appear on your first month's billing.

Figure 5-4. Your verification page before ordering

Obviously, your monthly billing amount will not include shipping and activation charges. Every broadband phone service company charges similar fees, except for occasional specials for new users.

If you have a friend with Vonage already, let them refer you. That will cut one month's service fee off one of your early bills, and your friend gets up to a $50 credit. Then make them take you to lunch.

When you purchase a router before signing up for Vonage, the screens differ somewhat. One major difference will be registering the router or telephone adapter you purchase that comes with the Vonage service. There will be instructions in the box, but before you start your sign-up process, make sure you have the equipment box with you. Figure 5-5 shows the screen asking for the MAC (Media Access Control) address of the hardware you purchased.

Before you see this screen, you will tell Vonage whether this is a new activation of the Vonage service or if you're adding a line to existing service. After this screen, things progress pretty much like the earlier steps and screens.

Figure 5-5. Signing up with pre-purchased hardware

One interesting note is the pull-down menu that lists where you purchased your Vonage device. Early in 2005, the screen already listed 67 different retail and online chains. Any question why Vonage is the market leader when they sign up that many retail partners?

Warning: DSL Users BewareDo not transfer your telephone number to Vonage if your broadband connection is a DSL connection on that number. Broadband providers are working on ways to provide what they call naked DSL, which is a phone line with DSL but no phone. This is available in only few places today.

You can actually come out ahead financially by dropping your traditional telephone service options down to the bare minimum and adding a broadband phone to that line. The combination cost of the broadband phone, especially if you get a metered service for $10 or $15 that provides all the regular features but only a limited amount of calling minutes, will be less than a traditional phone line with Caller ID and any other service.

Signing up with other broadband phone services works much like the Vonage example here, because they will need similar information. You'll have to provide an address, choose your virtual number if you want one, and provide your credit card information for billing.