This is a great marketing ploy by Vonage and Linksys that is a win-win for both, though mostly for Vonage since they get a perpetually paying monthly subscriber. Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, Inc., and Vonage, today announced a trade-in program for customers interested in upgrading their existing router for a Linksys Wireless-G Router configured with Vonage. For a limited time, customers can trade-in their used router – any brand, any model – for a Linksys Wireless-G Router with 2 Phone Jacks for broadband telephony (WRTP54G) for free (after rebates), when they sign up for Vonage’s broadband phone service. Utilizing various rebates it essentially makes the router upgrade "free". Too bad this offer doesn't extend to existing Vonage users - and it's only good for the next 10 days, so if interested, better get on it right away.
According to their release, "The BIG Trade-In Wireless-G for Free with Vonage promotion enables customers to get two of the latest and most innovative technologies at the same time: Wireless-G and Vonage’s leading broadband telephony service. With the Linksys Wireless-G router, users can now experience networking speeds up to five times faster than Wireless-B, which means users can download and transfer their music, movie, photo and other files five times faster with Linksys 802.11g technology. Additionally, with the added benefit of Vonage’s built-in broadband phone service, users can significantly cut their standard telephone costs by as much as 50% when switching to Vonage’s high-quality, feature-rich, Internet phone service."
The rest of the release states:
“This promotion enables us to give back to customers by providing them with a means to capitalize on their original investment in a router by upgrading to newer Wireless-G technology and VoIP,” said Glen McLaughlin, Linksys vice president of sales.
“This is a great opportunity for anyone who has been thinking of cutting the cord to get a great deal on Vonage and a free wireless router as well,” said Matthew Deatrick, senior vice president of sales for Vonage. “As more Americans are moving to wireless networks, they can now easily configure their home networks by switching to Vonage, and immediately start getting more for their communications dollar, knowing also that they can depend on the high performance and reliability of Linksys.”
There are significant benefits to trading in an old router for the new Wireless-G router configured with Vonage’s service. VoIP is one of the fastest growing communications services today. Vonage has over 700,000 subscribers today and Synergy Research Group anticipates by 2009, 58.9 million home users world wide will be using VoIP to talk to friends and family around the world using broadband and VoIP technology.
• Vonage enables consumers and small offices to save money on phone calls, get more features and maximize their broadband connection.
• Customers can use their current home phone system.
• When customers fire their phone companies, they never have to change their phone numbers again, for life.
• For only $24.99 per month customers can make unlimited calls throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
• Vonage lets customers choose any area code from across the U.S. and many other countries and they can take their service with them when they travel.
• Only Vonage gives you all of the standard features for free and adds new capabilities that traditional phone service can’t offer, such as online voicemail, free in-network calling, virtual phone numbers, click-2-call and much more.
Since 2000, Linksys has shipped more than 15 million routers worldwide making up about 50% of the total home router market. Millions of customers can benefit from upgrading their router to Wireless-G technology:
• Upgrade from a wired network to the freedom of a wireless network for free.
• Wireless-G (54Mpbs) is up to 5X faster than the Wireless-B standard (11Mbps).
• Wireless-G is backward compatible with Wireless-B devices.
• Faster networking throughput allows simultaneous multiple networking applications such as gaming, VoIP, email, printing and music streaming.
How the Program Works:
1. Purchase a Wireless-G Router with 2 Phone Jacks for Vonage (WRTP54G) at participating retail stores and e-commerce sites. Receive a $10 rebate from Linksys and a $20 rebate from the participating reseller.
2. Activate Vonage’s Internet phone service. After 90 days, receive a $50 activation rebate from Vonage.
3. Mail in your old router to the Linksys fulfillment center. After 90 days of service, receive the additional $50 trade-in rebate from Vonage.
4. With $130 in rebates, the router is FREE.
Customers can also feel confident that when they mail in their old wireless router that it will be disposed of properly. Linksys and Vonage are supporting environmentally safe ways to discard and reuse materials from electronic devices. The recycle program helps to conserve landfill space and natural resources, and provides a guaranteed safe and secure disposal method.
Availability:
This offer is available in the U.S. only through select retail and e-commerce stores and runs from Sunday, June 12 through Saturday, July 23, 2005. Retailers and e-commerce sites include: Amazon.com, Best Buy, Buy.com, Circuit City, CompUSA, Fry’s Electronics, Office Depot, Radio Shack and Staples.
Get Vonage and a Free Linksys Wireless-G Router
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Let me preface the discussion with the fact that I was a network administrator for about 8 years and have continuing experience with networking products since transitioning to application development.
The following are my experiences with attempting to get the Linksys WRTP54G router to function. I originally purchased it at Best Buy because the rebate program seemed to make it almost a no brainer with the rebates totalling more than the cost of the device.
After opening the box:
I read the agreement. An item to note is the nearly $40 cancelation fee that is charged by Vonage unless you send the router back to Vonage.
I read the rebate requirements, which state A WIRELESS router must be sent in, whereas Best Buy stated that any router could be sent in.
I read the manual cover to cover before attempting anything.
I used the installation software to configure the router, however, the internet could never be reached at the end of the configuration process when using the configuration software.
After a lot of trial and error attempting to manually configure the router using the built in administrative web pages, I realized that I could not use the administrative pages unless the router was disconnected from the internet. Every time I connected the WAN/Internet port, I would receive an "internal communication error" message when trying to access the administrative pages. This occurred with both a wired and wireless client. I also disabled all firewalls to eliminate all potential points of conflict. Once I got that error on the router, I would have to restart the router to get it to work with the internet again.
When trying to configure the wi-fi portion, I was not able to configure the router to disable SSID broadcasting and have a client (a Linksys WPC54GS) connect. Whenever the SSID broadcast on the router was disabled, the link lights on both the router and the wireless adapter card would flash extremely rapidly. It seemed as though some sort of flood was occurring. A wired connection would not work at this point either.
I called Linksys support. I spoke to an initial call taker, was transferred to a supervisor and was then supposed to get an expert. Instead I sat on hold for an hour. All this on my cell phone since my "land line" was supposed to be implemented by this device.
I browsed the internet some and saw that some people had been provided updated firware revisions. I was running on 1.00.18 and it appeared that there might be versions as high as 1.00.29, yet there were no firmware updates available for device on the linksys web site. Currious.
I decided I would give Linksys a call again and give them one more chance to resolve the issue. This time, the wait times were shorter but was stil transferred up to a third person. Rather than try to go through a long resolution on a marginal cell phone connection to India, listening to the echo of my voice, I simply asked if there was an updated firmware version I could try to resolve my problem. The tech said that if there was, it could only be provided by Vonage. I explained that I was concerned by the fact that they did not provide firmware for the device that they manufacture and he said. "It would be easiest to exchange the device for a new one since it is only two days old and should function out of the box."
Experience has taught me to never purchase equipment where you are unable to obtain firmware from the original manufacturer. Linksys/Cisco have been in business for a long time, I trust that I will be able to get firmware for some time to come. Vonage is a completely new company, if they go away, support for the device goes away. With two companies, it is too easy for the customer to be caught in the middle of finger pointing when there is a problem.
My personal opinion is that this device was an endeavor poorly executed by both companies. Either the manufacturer should provide all support for the device, or both companies should provide equal support (ie. firmware obtainable from either company). The product, from my perspective, was also brought to market before it had been adequately tested. All considered, I have no confidence in this product and I am returning both of my wireless products and will research my options more carefully.
I am a longtime owner of a Linksys BEFSR41 router that has met my needs well for the past 4 years or so (it's been so long I can't recall when I specifically started using it). This isn't a case of any prior dissatisfaction with Linksys.
Linksys is very use full routers and Good .