Vonage 'Welcomes' New Competitor, MagicJack

I asked Vonage (VG) to comment on MagicJack, which was the focus of my column yesterday on MarketWatch, and a somewhat quirky video that is running today.

Says Vonage:

As always, Vonage Welcomes new companies to the market as competition tends to breed innovation. However, with more than 2.2 million active subscriber lines, and growing every month, Vonage's service offering has proven successful against other VoIP providers, including free or deeply discounted offerings which have been in the marketplace since the mid-90s. Emergency dialing capability is one of the major concerns weighed by the consumer when decided to switch to VoIP. Vonage has proudly turned up Enhanced 911 for 94 percent of our subscriber lines, the fastest turnout in the history of 911 roll outs. In fact, our vice president of Regulatory Affairs, Stephen Seitz, was awarded Industry Professional of the Year for spearheading our E911 Effort. We are confident that Vonage provides the biggest bang for the communication buck. WIRED magazine recently agreed, rating Vonage the highest in best overall value compared to a variety of different competitors, including free offerings and cable offerings.

MagicJack says it expects to provide emergency services when it is formally launched in April.

In case you're wondering: I'm not promoting MagicJack vs. its rivals. My reason for focusing on it is because I believe investors in public companies do need to know about private upstarts, especially if they're being run by people who have shaken things up in the past, as has MagicJack founder Dan Borislow. Doesn't mean he'll be a success here, or that the product will work as billed, but it would be foolhardy to ignore.

Comments

[singh:]

EGHT has 65 Patents it may be VG 's sympathy play voipservices.tmcnet.co...

2007 Mar 24 10:59 AM

[GARDENZ:]

HAVE BEEN TESTING THIS FOR SEVERAL WEEKS. THIS TRULY APPEARS TO BE THE VALUE IN LANDLINE TELECOM SERVICES WITH THE POTENTIAL TO UNDERCUT ALL OTHERS. CAVEATS BEING:
1. IT HAS ZERO HUMAN INTERFACE CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND I MEAN ZERO.
2. APPARENTLY THERE IS NO ABILITY TO KEEP YOUR EXISTING TELEPHONE NUMBER
3. DEPENDING UPON WHERE YOU LIVE YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET A TELEPHONE NUMBER WITH A LOCAL AREA CODE.

OTHERWISE, IT MAKES AND RECEIVES CLEAR TELEPHONE CALLS, AND PROVIDES AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE VOICE MAIL AND ALL OTHER CALLING BELLS AND WHISTLES OTHERS CHARGE EXTRA FOR. I LIKE VONAGE BUT COMPARING MJ @ $20/ YR. TO VON @ $250/ YR. THERE JUST AREN'T ENOUGH DOWNSIDES TO MJ TO NOT CHOOSE IT.

2008 Jul 18 02:10 PM

[magicFan:]

I bought magicJack even when reading some reviews a lot of costumers were not happy. I have comcast internet and my magicJack works great. Unlimited calling for $50 for the first year and $20 there after. I cut my long distant service from AT&T whih will save me $44 a month, just left the basic line just in case. I have been trying for almost a month and no complains.

2008 Aug 24 02:12 PM

[milkchaser:]

I just tried to install magicJack and discovered that it is incompatible with Vonage and Skype (according to the tech). My wife relies on Skype for int'l calls -- so magicJack is out. Of course, the tech may have been mistaken. Why did they not ask me that at the beginning of the installation process instead of one hour later?

But I am pretty sure that there were other problems getting my magicJack device to install properly in Windows, so it may have worked alongside Vonage and Skype had we ever gotten my PC to recognize that the magicJack was plugged in.

As with any upstart, there is a learning curve for their tech support staff. I paid that price in the early days of Vonage -- don't want to pay it again.

I do think MagicJack should state up front that it is incompatible with Vonage and Skype before the potential customer goes to the trouble of buying and vainly trying for an hour or two to install the device.

Apr 05 11:50 PM

[milkchaser:]

Also, MagicJack has no email address or phone number to contact to register a suggestion (such as please disclaim your incompatibilities with Vonage & Skype up front). They have live chat with techs and billing -- that is good, but not as good as the choice of email, phone or live chat. In this regard, Vonage has them beat in spades -- which is one reason Vonage costs so much more. But then Vonage offers more features as well.

Apr 05 11:55 PM