Recently in Vonage Category

Today Vonage launched Vonage Mobile for the Apple iPhone and Blackberry. I've already said this will be a killer app and could sway iPhone users to sign up with Vonage. Though, many iPhone users and wireless phone users in general have killed their landline entirely. Nevertheless, there are some cool features with Vonage Mobile, including a single-number identity for both your home and mobile number that could give Vonage an added boost.

Vonage World is not limited to just WiFi - it works over 3G!  Vonage Mobile offers low-cost international calling and Vonage claims that you can save more than 50% on calls to dozens of countries versus the rates charged by wireless carriers. Vonage Mobile will be available for download on the iPhone, BlackBerry and iPod touch at www.vonage.com and the iTunes App Store later today.

In Q42009, Vonage will enhance the app to include the popular Vonage World plan that was introduced recently. "Vonage World" includes unlimited calling across the world to over 60 countries, which covers 2/3 of the world's population (4.5 billion) all for just $24.99/month.

"Our new mobile app is an important step in establishing Vonage as a software technology company that enables high-quality voice and messaging across any device in any location, providing great value over any broadband network," said Marc Lefar, CEO of Vonage.

Vonage Mobile features:
• Rates are better than traditional wireless and landline carrier rates
• Lets you make calls while on Wi-Fi or cellular networks, providing full mobility
• Uses your existing contact list - just click and dial - no extra steps
• Utilizes your existing cell phone number so the people you call will recognize who is calling
• Real-time balance updates and the ability to automatically replenish funds in your account
• No more trips to the store to buy calling cards, no 800 numbers or access codes, and no connection charges

In the ITEXPO Press Room I just met with Cliff Rees, President & CEO of XCast Labs. They have some interesting VoIP technology, including a patent called  "direct RTP" which reduces VoIP bandwidth requirements in half.

The example Cliff gave was a VoIP call from Los Angeles to San Francisco using Net2Phone based out of New Jersey. When the Los Angeles user calls the San Francisco user, it initiates a 90Kbps IP call cross-country to Net2Phone's headquarters in New Jersey. Net2Phone then routes the call cross-country back to a termination gateway which connects to the San Francisco user. This too uses 90Kbps of bandwidth for a total of 180Kbps for the RTP media. The Net2Phone server in New Jersey has to allocate and hold 180Kbps of bandwidth for each call. Additionally, the call has to cross the country twice which adds more jitter and latency.

XCast Labs on the other hand uses their patented "direct RTP" which is able to tunnel through both user's firewalls and setup a direct peer-to-peer (P2P) RTP session between the two users. Once the call is setup, the two users are able to send the RTP media directly to each other. Since both callers are in California, they are just a few hops/routers away from each other thus dramatically reducing latency and jitter. XCast Labs simply maintains a small signaling connection to determine when the call ends for billing purposes.

When Cliff from XCast Labs explained to this me, I was dumbfounded that no one else had thought of this. It seemed so obvious that a direct RTP session would result in less bandwidth requirements, better latency, and better voice quality. Their technology sounded eerily similar to Skype's ability to penetrate firewalls and initiate high quality peer-to-peer calls so I made the analogy with Skype and Cliff agreed they are very similar. Though in the case of XCast Labs they use standard SIP while Skype uses proprietary technology. Further, XCast Labs offers both a consumer (residential) and a hosted business offering with advanced functionality such as call parking, call transfer, etc. They also support video calls and video mail. They support both Polycom video phones as well as Grandstream, including the new GVX3140 H.264 video phone seen here:


XCast Labs developed everything in-house, including their own SIP stack and softswitch so they are not paying Sonus Networks, Acme Packet, Broadsoft, etc. any sort of licensing fees. They told me this helps them be extremely competitive when compared to other VoIP providers. They offer their own residential VoIP service but they also sell to the cable MSOs who white label it for their Triple Play packages. Lastly, XCast Labs said they support HD Voice using G.722 so if you have a G.722 end device you have have HD audio.

Last week I spoke with Vonage's Michael Tempora, Senior VP Product & Program Management about the launch of Vonage World and Visual Voicemail. The big news was "Vonage World" with unlimited calling across the world to over 60 countries, which covers 2/3 of the world's population (4.5 billion) - all for $24.99/month.

As an aside I also asked him if Vonage was working on an iPhone app. He said it was in the works but couldn't comment further. I was going to blog about it back on the 19th, but got busy preparing for ITEXPO. Speaking of which, I'm blogging this using Virgin America's GoGo wireless. Too bad it isn't free. Was $12.95 which was nearly the same price ($15) I had to pay to check a single bag. Whatever happened to the first bag is free? Anyway...

Sources have revealed that Vonage has submittd their app to Apple. Having a Vonage iPhone app combined with Vonage's World's global unlimited $24.99 plan could be a killer app that gives Vonage a shot in the arm. Imagine a SIP client on the iPhone that lets you call 60 countries - 2/3 of the world - as much as you want for just $24.99/month. Combine the large user base of iPhone users and the millions of Vonage users and what you could have is the most largely deployed WiFi VoIP phone on the planet! Forget about buying those standalone WiFi SIP or Skype phones which is another device you have to carry.

But it gets better... Vonage's current SIP client called Vonage Companion has unique technology which enables it to "share" the same SIP credentials with your ATA device connected to your home cordless phone system. Thus, you can accept an incoming call on your PC using Vonage Companion or answer the call using your regular analog phone connected to your SIP-compliant ATA. I discussed this single identity to multiple SIP devices with Vonage last year.

In a mid-2008 interview I had with Mary Grikas, Vonage's Executive Director of Device Development I asked, "What sort of technical challenges did you have having the same CallerID and the same phone number? Obviously, you are leveraging SIP and the ATA that sits at the home residence logs on with one set of SIP credentials and Vonage Companion logs on with different SIP credentials, but it's mapped on your back-end to the same phone number."

Mary responded, "That's really a great question because we actually had to put almost a whole new infrastructure in place with a lot of new equipment. And we actually have proxies that are just dedicated to Companion to handle those calls. We do differentiate between the home TA DID credential and we do have flag for Companion. That way we know, as you said on the back-end it's all mapped and then we know where the call originates. We know if a call originates from Companion versus originating from the TA." Mary continued, "That was a lot of work for our call processing team. They had to do a lot of work configuring that system and all the redundancy and mapping. It was a pretty big effort, but it's something we were committed to doing because we had such an overwhelming request from our customers to implement a feature like that.

So what does this mean for the iPhone & the Vonage app?

Well, since their single SIP identity technology is done on the back-end, you will have a Vonage iPhone app that does the same thing as Vonage Companion. Thus, you will be able to receive calls to your home phone directly on your iPhone using VoIP or of course you can answer the call on your home phone.. No more remembering to setup your home phone to call forward to your cell phone when traveling! Further, your outbound calls can use your home phone number's CallerID and use your unlimited bucket of VoIP minutes.

The real question will be if Apple allows the Vonage iPhone app to work over 3G. Don't hold your breath. They haven't allowed a single "official" VoIP app to work over 3G. Actually, I just remembered siphon for the iPhone allows you to turn on VoIP over 3G & Edge in the Settings screen in the app. How did that get past the Apple censors? Though, I only got siphone to work 1 time over 3G. Must be AT&T blocking port 5060 on their network.
Update: I just tried siphon in California at ITEXPO and then back here in Connecticut and siphon worked both times over AT&T's 3G data network. Maybe was just a hiccup that one time I was trying it and siphon didn't work. I can now make & receive VoIP calls over the 3G data connection through my corporate PBX. I don't get it though -- why is Apple allowing a 100% standard SIP client to run on the iPhone while limiting other VoIP clients (such as Skype - or even other SIP clients such as fring or Nimbuzz) to just WiFi?

Features I expect in the Vonage iPhone app:

• Voicemail playback
• Voicemail push notification
• Send to Voicemail
• Block caller

I'll see if I can get Vonage to commit to a tentative date. So stay tuned for the launch of the Vonage iPhone app.

Vonage today has announced some significant value add to their core $24.99/month unlimited plan. Vonage's Michael Tempora, Senior VP Product & Program Management told me they are announcing two new services. First, they are announcing "Vonage World" with unlimited calling across the world to over 60 countries, which covers 2/3 of the world's population (4.5 billion). The existing $24.99 plan included U.S., Canada, and five European countries. The new Vonage World adds an additional 60 countries to the plan. One of those countries is Iraq, so now spouses, friends, and family can contact their loves ones serving in Iraq.

Michael said, "That's really 60 whole countries, unlike some competitors who offer specific destinations or cities within a country. When we say it's a country that is included for unlimited we mean every place within the borders of that country. These countries represent nearly two-thirds of the world's population."

The second feature is called Vonage Visual Mail featuring unlimited speech-to-text transcription. It gives Vonage users the ability to read their voice messages. via email or SMS depending on the user's preference. In addition to email and SMS, Visual Voicemail will also be accessible via Vonage's online web portal. Michael explained, "Vonage has been offering Visual Voicemail for over a year on pay-per-user basis. When we launch this, we will be the only U.S. home phone service provider to include unlimited visual voicemail in their base plan at the flat rate of $24.99". I asked Michael which speech recognition engine they use and he said Nuance, which is well known for their very good accuracy.

I inquired, "So customers will wake up tomorrow and have this as their base package?" Michael responded, "This is available to new customers. They'll get the [Vonage] World Plan and the unlimited Visual Voicemail. For existing customers all they have to do is call and ask to migrate to the new plan. So we're sure they want it. We'll move them over with no change fees or any other issues involved."

I asked, "What is the main reason for adding so many more countries at the same $24.99 monthly plan?" Michael responded, "There's really an unmet need in the marketplace today. If you look at calling statistics in the U.S., since 2000 domestic long distance calling has fallen 6% annually. Over that same period, outbound calling from the U.S. to international destinations has increased 15% annually. With very little changing in pricing or pricing models in that industry. We think these customers have been underserved in terms of value. We did this to meet the needs of those customers who want to call internationally and not worry about calling to the store for a new calling card, or dial an access number or pay a high per minute rate from traditional carriers."

I asked, "With this announcement, how will you now compare with Comcast, traditional single-play providers such as Packet8, as far as the number of countries and price?" Michael responded, "When we launch this no one will match the breadth of countries or the unlimited calling that we will provide. No one is close to this. Nobody will reach the number of people throughout the world - 4.5 billion people - that we will reach with this offer. We think that this will be the greatest value in flat-rate calling that's offered in the U.S."

Complete Chart of Available Countries/Territories

 

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

** Includes calls to mobile phones

Google Voice just added SIP connectivity through Gizmo5 which basically enables FREE inbound and outbound calling! With the Gizmo5-to-Google Voice connectivity not only can you can connect any SIP device (softphone, IP phone), but you can even use regular telephones for free calls in the entire United States. Google Voice already offers DID numbers in nearly every area code, which means businesses, especially SMBs can take advantage of this without resorting to some obscure out-of-state area code.

As you already know, Google Voice already gives you FREE outbound calling in the U.S., but the missing piece of the puzzle is free INBOUND calling. Well, Gizmo5's beta service called Gizmo Voice is the final piece to the puzzle. Gizmo Voice lets you take full advantage of the messaging and calling services of Google Voice combined with Gizmo5's support for any SIP device. Thus, in addition to the free inbound and outbound calling, you also can take advantage of Google Voice's free voicemail and free voicemail transcription.

With Google Voice + Gizmo Voice you can make and receive U.S. calls without any monthly or per minute fees. This is a game changer! SIP termination providers surely aren't going to be happy about this deal. How can they compete with free?

Today, sipgate is launching a new free VoIP broadband phone service called sipgate one. sipgate one is similar to Vonage, Packet8, and other broadband VoIP providers, but with some additional cool features and a fairly unique pricing plan. For instance, you get a free telephone number, no set-up costs and no monthly charges or minimums.

I spoke with sipgate CEO Thilo Salmon to find out more about sipgate one. First, unlike many VoIP broadband providers, sipgate one isn't tied to any specific SIP hardware (locked ATAs, SIP phones, softphones, etc.), so you can use it with your favorite SIP device or use a SIP-based ATA and connect your favorite analog cordless phone. Want to use a softphone but don't want to mess with SIP credentials? No problem - sipgate one has a free softphone app that will autoprovision for you. Those that want to use their favorite SIP device will be pleased to see a helpful drop-down list of many popular SIP devices with corresponding screenshots on how to configure the device to work with sipgate one.

What does it cost?
When using a VoIP phone, outbound calls to other sipgate users are completely free, just like Skype. However, inbound calls on the free U.S. phone number are also free, unlike Skype which I know charges a monthly or yearly SkypeIn subscription. I was a bit surprised sipgate was offering the first phone number for free, so I contacted Thilo a second time to confirm. He responded, "The first U.S. number is indeed completely free. So we are inviting everyone to sign up for a free number and as long as one only uses sipgate to receive calls on a SIP phone the service is free in its entirety. We do not even ask for a credit card. That does set us apart from Skype. While they do not charge per incoming minute, Skype charges a yearly (monthly?) fee as you have pointed out."

When dialing other phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada are just 1.9¢ per minute and calls to toll-free numbers are free. Other rates apply when calling other countries. Thus, sipgate only charges for outgoing calls and E911 ($1.90 monthly), if activated. No other charges or fees are leveraged on a sipgate one subscriber. Thus, to get started you can initially charge your account with a minimum of $10 with automatic crediting if the balance falls below a user-specified amount ($5, $10, $20, $50). Thilo told me that they aim to keep their international rates lower than Skype's to make them a very compelling option to potential customers. I then asked Thilo who was comparable feature-wise and he responded, "Google Voice. They don't allow you to connect a SIP phone, but the features are very similar."

The true power behind sipgate is its Web-based interface which gives you full access to your voicemail messages, recordings, and faxes. I tested a preview version of sipgate one and was pretty impressed with the features and ease of use. My experiences in my mini-review of sipgate follow below...


Thilo told me that they designed the Web-based interface with Google's Gmail in mind. For instance, you can search, star/unstar a recording, as well as label recordings, which are very similar to Gmail. Additionally, the interface allows users to call someone back with a single click, as well as divert calls to other landline or mobile phones. Starting a call is as simple as clicking the New Call button and then choosing which phone device you wish to use. Below you'll see I have 3 options for a new call - an arbitary connection (specify any phone number ad hoc), phone of Tom Keating, and Mobile or Landline of Tom Keating.


As seen by the screenshot above, you can bridge a call to any of your phone devices by initiating a call via the web. This is very similar to Jajah, who made the web-based calling method famous. This interface can be used on your web-enabled smartphone - Windows Mobile, Apple iPhone, etc. if the device doesn't have an embedded SIP stack or 3rd party SIP softphone installed for making outbound calls.

Mobility features are just as powerful. You can have your home, office and mobile phone ring in parallel. If you are using a mobile phone with a SIP stack, (many Nokia series have SIP) you can be in the car, receive a VoIP call, and then simply press *6 on your mobile phone to record the call. When you next gain access to a web browser you can retrieve the call recording. This is perfect for sales people on the go and who need to enter important call details into a CRM system.

Other features included the ability to customize your outgoing message by uploading an mp3 file, divert calls to another number, create an ad-hoc conference with the touch of a button, and the ability to view missed calls with CallerID info. I asked Thilo what they use on the back-end and he told me they use a fork of SIP Express Router, which enables Class 5 type features. Additionally, Thilo stated there is no maximum storage limit for voicemail and faxes.

Outbound faxing is a breeze. You can click some fields on the web interface and add the fax number, from/to info, add a signature, and of course body text. You can also attach a PDF and it will render it. I asked Thilo about Word support and he said that was in the works.



Inbound faxing does require a separate phone number, but there is no fee to receive faxes. There is a nominal $2.90 one-time fee per additional phone number. I asked Thilo about CNG autodetection of fax tones using just a single universal phone number, but he said "We have found that most people don't really like that." Personally, I'd rather just have one phone number on my business card, but it's a minor complaint.

"There is simply no barrier to people disconnecting their old phone lines anymore. Phone and cable companies have long been pushing voice plans in the region of $25 to $40 per month--which end up being as much as $60 or more with extra charges--and that's just ridiculous," said Thilo Salmon, CEO of sipgate. "Even with calls to other landlines and mobile phones, most users will spend less than $5 a month using sipgate one. And for those people only receiving incoming calls on their VoIP phone, the service is completely free."

sipgate is also readying a multi-user edition of the service aimed at small businesses, which will not only replace landlines, but also customer premise phone systems. sipgate is certainly setting a new low-price benchmark with bundled powerful features that should cause VoIP fans to seriously consider them. Free phone number, free toll-free calling, free inbound calling, free inbound faxes, what's not to love?

Verizon VoiceWing customers received letters in the last couple of days saying, "We regret to inform you that effective March 31, 2009, Verizon will no longer offer VoiceWing. At that time, all VoiceWing service will be terminated". Rumors of VoiceWing's demise have been circulating, especially with Verizon FiOS (Voice, Video/TV, data) a much more profitable long-term business than single-play VoIP. I should add that Verizon stopped marking VoiceWing last year.

Verizon VoiceWing uses a locked Linksys PAP2 ATA, but the letter says they don't want the ATA back, once again fullfilling prediction #2 in my 2005 VoIP predictions.

I wrote:

2) VoIP providers will continue to harp that the government shouldn't impose any regulations on VoIP and that the industry should be open & free, while simultaneously VoIP providers will continue to alienate their customers by password-protecting and locking the customer's ATA (analog telephony adaptor), thus preventing customers from easily switching to another VoIP provider and using the same ATA. This is hypocrisy at its worst! Customers will continue to be left with useless ATA "bricks" which eventually will make it the local landfill when they switch to a better VoIP provider.

It would be nice if Verizon included the PIN for the ATAs to allow customers to switch to another VoIP provider. Of course many VoIP service providers offer free ATAs with a one-year contract. Still, do we really need millions of working ATAs sent to the landfills? No very green if you ask me. I should point out that VoiceWing is actually a cooperation service with Deltathree.

Perhaps not so coincidentally to Verizon killing off VoiceWing, is this lawsuit filed on December 5, 2008 by Centre One against VoiceWing for patent infringement. Oh the sweet irony if Verizon, the ones who sued Vonage practically to death, would themselves have given up on the VoIP industry over a patent lawsuit! Still, I'm doubtful the patent litigation was the cause. I think Verizon sees bigger fish to fry in their FiOS fiber-to-the-home offering and single-play VoIP just isn't that profitable to them.

Keynote Systems released their latest VoIP quality report with some interesting findings. For one, Comcast, a cable company dominated the voice quality rankings beating the closest competitor by nearly 300 points. As for reliability, to no surprise AT&T won this category, no doubt to their decades of experience in building reliable voice and data networks.

Keynote Systems measures VoIP quality (MOS scores), call completion, etc. by automatically placing calls from corporate apartments using residential VoIP services and network services just like a typical residential customer would.  Service Reliability scores are based on the key performance metrics of Service Availability, Average Answer Time and Number of Dropped Calls. Additionally,  Audio Quality is an aggregate of Audio Clarity and Audio Delay (latency, jitter) performance factors. The study compares the relative performance of PSTN (regular analog) service, Broadband VoIP providers (e.g. Vonage, Verizon VoiceWing, EarthLink trueVoice, AT&T CallVantage etc), and cable voice services (e.g. Time Warner Digital Phone, Comcast Digital Voice). Test calls were placed from residential locations in New York and San Francisco.

Keynote ranked VoIP Service Providers in two categories: Reliability and Audio Quality. The Service Availability, Call Completion, Average Answer Time, and Dropped Audio performance factors all contribute to the Reliability ranking.

In the summary report they only list the top 3 VoIP provider names and then have Provider D - I as anonymous. You have to purchase the full report to see the names. I'm guessing Packet8 and Vonage are somewhere in this anonymous list.

Provider                   Reliability Points    Rank 
AT&T Landline                    996                1
Time Warner Digital Phone        925                2
Verizon VoiceWing                872                3
Provider D                       859                4
Provider E                       793                5
Provider F                       687                6
Provider G                       643                7
Provider H                       408                8
Provider I                       374                9

Audio Quality
Provider                   Reliability Points     Rank 
Comcast Digital Voice            901                1
Verizon VoiceWing                609                2
AT&T Landline                    506                3
Provider D                       500                4
Provider E                       487                5
Provider F                       480                6
Provider G                       462                7
Provider H                       252                8
Provider I                       0                  9

General Observations
• The best providers always deliver dial tine and connect the call to the number dialed in a timely fashion.
• Only one of the providers in the study failed to provide dial tone 99.9% of the time or better.
• All providers had very small percentages of calls with dropped audio, but only two providers had zero calls with dropped audio.
• One VoIP provider required two seconds more than any other voice provider to connect calls after dialing.
• Most providers had slightly more audio delay and slightly lower MOS in Wave 6 as compared to Wave 5.
• Eight of the nine providers in the study had a better call completion rate in Wave 6 than was evidenced in the Wave 5 results.

What's amazing is that Comcast has been adding a ton of new VoIP customers each quarter. In fact, Comcast has become the nation's fourth largest phone company. The cable company has signed up four million VoIP customers in just the last two years. Relatedly, Forrester Research analysts have projected that Cable VoIP providers will claim up to 80% of the 28.4 million residential VoIP users by 2013. This forecast includes an expected growth from the approximately 19 million installed lines in 2008.

Check out the summary report.

Vonage today announced an agreement for a $220.3 million financing which is seen by many experts as crucial to its survival. Silver Point Finance LLC, which already holds a $216 million financing stake in Vonage, will lead the financial deal, which consists of $130.3 million in senior secured first-lien credit, $72.0 million in senior secured second-lien credit and the sale of $18.0 million of convertible secured third-lien notes. The proceeds will be used to help refinance $253 million of debt.

Analysts and bloggers such as the VoIPPrincess, have pointed out that the recent financial crisis and credit crunch made Vonage's refinancing efforts very difficult. I too have had my doubts whether Vonage could secure more financing in this tight credit crunch market.

"We are pleased to reach definitive agreement on this refinancing at a time of unprecedented volatility in the credit markets," said John Rego, Vonage's chief financial officer. "This agreement provides clarity to our partners and suppliers regarding the Company's liquidity position in these challenging financial times," he said.

Even with the financial deal, Vonage still faces tough challenges ahead. It still has to replace 1/3 of its customer base due to churn and faces tough competition from Cablecos and phone companies that offer bundled & discounted triple play packages. Vonage started many years ago at $39.99/month (unlimited plan) if I recall and today's unlimited plan has dropped to just $24.99/month. As voice minutes continues its spiral towards $0, it becomes increasingly harder for single play players like Vonage to be profitable.

That said, 8x8 is a single-play VoIP company, which offers Packet8 residential and business VoIP services and they continue to grow. 8x8 doesn't get nearly the media attention that Vonage does, yet continues to perform well. Part of their success is that 8x8 has targeted businesses with their Virtual Office, Virtual Trunking, and Packet8 Hosted Key system offerings.

According to the VoIPPrincess, "In the last five years, 8x8 revenues grew 460.3 percent while Vonage's grew 0.0 percent. 8x8 made $700,000 during the first quarter of this year. Vonage lost $8.9 million and is shopping for a $215 million refinancing deal to stay out of bankruptcy. 8x8 holds 73 patents. Vonage just got its first."

I've talked to 8x8 over the past several years and when I remarked how much Vonage was spending on advertising and customer acquisition, 8x8 told me several times they did not intend to try and match Vonage's huge marketing campaigns. I recall commenting to 8x8,  "I'm reminded of the turtle vs. the hare. Slow and steady wins the race, right?" 8x8 agreed with the analogy. While Vonage just got an injection of cash/adrenaline to keep the hare running, one has to wonder if and when the hare will crash and burn. If it does, I don't think that spells the death knell for single-play VoIP providers just yet. It does however signal the end of high-flying, high-spending, VoIP (woo hoo) TV commercials on every other minute, which is good news for me, since I'm sick & tired of fast forwarding my DVR past those annoying woo hoo commercials. Lastly, I think 8x8 might just be in prime position to pick up many Vonage customers should Vonage fail.

Look at this email phishing scam purportedly coming from Vonage. You know Vonage has hit the big time when scammers starts targeting them. Unfortunately, the scammers, like many scammers, have poor English skills making their poorly written emails a dead giveaway.

Let me give the scammers some tips for the future:

1. Spell October correctly. It's not Octomber
2. This is not grammatically correct (wrong tense) - "You did not accessed your account for more than a month."
3. Sorry, but 'confront' is a poor word choice - 'compare' is what you meant. I think your English thesaurus or translator got you. "We will check your IP address, time zone, and confront it with our database logs."

Now here's what I'm trying to figure out. Even if someone logs onto someone's Vonage account, I'm not sure what information they'd have access to. As a former Vonage customer myself, if I recall, the web interface doesn't display your credit card information. So the online web interface would give them access to your voicemail, which could contain some confidential info, but typically people don't leave confidential financial info in their voicemail.

Maybe the web interface does display credit card info, social security, or some other info that a credit card or identity thief can use? Any Vonage customers out there care to pipe in?

Here's the scam email.
Warning: The links go to www.angeltrans.kr not vonage.com. I didn't click through. You never know what untrustworthy sites have viruses, buffer overflow exploits, etc. I suggest you not click through either.

From: Vonage Marketing [mailto:service@vonage.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 7:59 AM
Subject: Message from Vonage, Customer Service
Importance: High

Dear Vonage Member,

 Your Vonage Account will expire in: Octomber, 10

 This might have happened due to the following reasons:
- You did not accessed your account for more than a month.
- You have dynamic IP address and due to that our system might have interpretated it as a hacking attempt.
- You entered a wrong password 3 times when you tried to connect to your Vonage Account.

 To avoid an account suspension, please click here or the link below:

https://secure.vonage.com/vonage-web/public/login.htm

*We will check your IP address, time zone, and confront it with our database logs.

 We are very sorry if this affects you in any way but our client's security is a top priority for Vonage Inc.


Regards,
Vonage Security Team.

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