[Asterisk-Users] Vonage Linksys Router - Life after Vonage

[Brian Capouch]

Matt wrote:
> Indeed.. there is no $40 cancellation fee unless you fail to return
> their ATA.. then they charge you and it's yours... what you think
> those devices are free?

I'm pretty sure Vonage added that termination fee some fair while after 
they began offering "free" ATAs as an inducement to use their service.

I signed up in May 2002, and at that time there was no mention of a 
termination or disconnect fee in their TOS.

It wasn't until after a very lively cottage industry sprang up selling 
"cancelled account" units on Ebay that they retroactively added that charge.

But $40 for a ~$150 ATA was still a good deal for the grifters, and 
after continuing to take a beating on Ebay, Vonage finally inveighed 
upon Cisco to put the "nuclear option" password on the unit, which made 
it a brick if one didn't know the magic string.

An irony quickly followed: Cisco wasn't all too keen on doing that 
change; they were aware of the negative PR that would follow when they 
would be forced to tell people, "Nope, you have to just send it to a 
landfill."  But within months of Cisco's reluctant accomodation, Vonage 
dropped them like a hot potato when Motorola walked in the door with an 
ATA that was .000000000001 cents cheaper per unit.  Ha ha.

Vonage sucks, and if I could port that number I've had now for almost 
three years, I would drop them just like they did Cisco.

B.