Vonage is my Gateway number

Since signing up for Vonage Voice over IP phone service I have not only been happy with the service, which is equal in quality to a cellular call, but an unexpected bonus is the call management features.

Call forwarding sounds simple, but comes in many forms: Call Forward on Busy, Call Forward by Time of Day, Call Forward No Answer. Vonage adds a new twist with the Simultaneous Ring feature. This means you can set up to five numbers to ring at the same time when someone calls you. YOu can also set how many seconds before it goes to voicemail. The numbers can be anywhere since long distance is free with Vonage. Whichever one answers first gets the call. I've found this to be really convenient when I am at home, my Vonage number rings my house too. When I answer, I get all the quality of a conventional phone line. When I am working at a customer site they frequently sit me at a desk with it's own line, and I can forward my Vonage to it while I'm there and save my cell airtime. Best of all I can do this on the website and it takes effect almost immediately. I remember 'bothering' Island Tel to set up Call Forward No Answer. Who needs a grumbly person to talk to, when you can do it yourself exactly as you like on the web.

I really like another Vonage feature: voicemails are sent to my email as WAV attachments. Cool.

I also have a toll free number that rings my Vonage line, it is $4.99 a month extra and means anyone in North America can call me for free. My main Vonage number is a Dallas exchange, Richardson actually, home of Nortel who I work for on contract.

When I travel, I frequently can't plug my Vonage router into the internet, but it's use as a gateway number is invaluable to me even when my VoIP line is offline.