Overview 
Apple’s kung fu grip strikes again – Vonage Mobile for iPhone is DOA. So divorce yourself from what you thought Vonage Mobile for iPhone would do, because it does none of that.
Vonage Mobile for iPhone is a discount international per-minute calling app, aka a ‘Calling Card’, and it’s going to cost you over and above what you already pay for Vonage every month.
Features
How does Vonage Mobile for iPhone work? Well, the Vonage Mobile for iPhone uses your cellular voice plan minutes or a Wi-Fi connection to make cut rate international calls. Yes, you read that right, you have to pay Vonage for the per-minute calls and it eats away your cellular voice plan minutes if you are on your cellular providers network.
WHAT? Yes, and if all that isn’t enough you will have to pony up on the cash and prepay for your per-minute international Vonage calls.
Vonage Mobile for iPhone has the following features:
- A dialer much like the standard iPhone dialer but with a funds balance display
- Standard call history, contacts, and keypad buttons
- A link to your Twitter account so you can tweet directly from the dialer
- A My Account button that takes you directly to your account so you can juice up your balance
The Breakdown
The Good
The UI for Vonage Mobile for iPhone is nice and it allows you to make discounted international calls and it does that very well. Seriously though, that’s all I could find positive to say about Vonage Mobile for iPhone. Maybe with AT&T blessing VoIP over 3G recently Vonage Mobile for iPhone can change for the better. But, until then, that is all I the positive I can muster.
The Bad
If you have a regular Vonage account you can fuhgeddaboudit because Vonage Mobile for iPhone does not allow you to do anything with that account. As a matter of fact, you have to create a new and separate account with Vonage to use Vonage Mobile for iPhone. How’s that for convenient? I also have to remind you that because of AT&T you have to burn through your plan minutes and pay Vonage when you use Vonage Mobile for iPhone on 3G.
To use Vonage Mobile for iPhone you have to open the app and then dial to qualify for Vonage’s discount rates. On the Blackberry however, things are markedly different. Research In Motion (RIM) allowed the Vonage discount rates to kick in anytime you dial an international number. In layman’s terms Apple’s and AT&T’s death grip on the iPhone has a lot to do with Vonage Mobile for iPhone ending in the FAIL column.
The Verdict
Vonage Mobile for iPhone is a total FAIL due to expectations, I mean it does well but if you don’t make international calls don’t bother. I’m not in a hurry to burn through my mobile minutes while paying Vonage. If a n international call is so serious that I can’t wait till I get to my home Vonage account, it is probably worth the money to go ahead and make the call.
Our Rating
Vonage Mobile for iPhone
- Developer: Vonage
- Category: Social Networking
- Released: 2009-09-24
(currently 1.1)
(currently free)
Thanks for taking the time to review the Vonage Mobile application. I wanted to address your opinion about our first mobile application.
While going through the development process, we spoke to consumers who want to use their mobile phones (over Wi-Fi and cellular networks) to call internationally for a low cost, and that is who we created this application for.
The next phase of this application, Vonage World Mobile, will extend the ability to make unlimited calls to over 60 countries for one flat fee to mobile customers. When we launch this plan, existing Vonage World home customers will receive a monthly discount when they purchase Vonage World Mobile.
As we develop our mobile application road map, we will continue to listen to what our customers are asking for. We look forward to launching more voice and messaging applications over multiple devices as the wireless networks in the U.S. open up over time.
For more information on the Vonage Mobile app and ongoing discussion, please check out our Vonage Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/vonage?v=app_2347471856). Again, thanks for taking the time to review our first app, we look forward to giving our home Vonage account users more functionality as we continue to build mobile applications.
Best,
Michael @ Vonage
(http://twitter.com/Vonage_voice)
I will be contacting Vonage soon, to get the great service they provide.I do bussines in Brazil and London, this is perfect for communacating at the cheapest rate to date.I see the capabilty of vonage to capitalize communacations through cities for everyone with undercutted prices.
I would like to see Vonage soon running there internet service as well as voice, vonage is the future and there is no end were and what they can do for the people,keeping the service cheap, affordable and running out the other companies that jack up there price after the contract ends .
I can make Vonage the worlds leading communacater, with the way i do bussiness , it would be in best interest of the world to put me on top of Vonages board. I can create and make sunflower seeds into roses and rose peddels into rich metals. Rich , quilty, purity into the worlds greatest cummunity.
I responded to you in an email.
I’m kind of shocked though that more customers have been asking for this and not the ability to manage their account from their iPhone.
I mean, I know an app like that won’t make actual $$$ for Vonage like the current app but it will help with customer service.
Oh well colour me stupid.
I’m a Vonage customer in Canada and I was excited to hear about Vonage Mobile for the iPhone getting approved and the mobile application being available for iPhones as well as Blackberries.
However, after seeing the limitations, it just makes me disappointed. The biggest limitation in my case is that it is only available in the US (I’m in Canada and I’m a Vonage Canada customer). The second limitation is of course that it can’t be linked with my existing Vonage account.
I was looking for something similar to VonageTalk which was cancelled which would allow me to make calls with my cellphone (Blackberry, iPhone, etc.) or PC when I was not at home and have the call display on the recipient’s phone show like I was at home.
This is just another disappointment for me from Vonage.
I see what you’re saying. Hopefully they will have a Canadian version of the app.
Tried the Vonage app on my new iPhone 3GS and it simply blew up my phone functionality – can’t receive or make calls. Had to uninstall the program, reboot – first time ever I had to do so with my iPhone – to get things back working again.
It’s just awful isn’t it to have an app disable your phone features? Hmm.
Hearing your story sorta makes me understand why Apple would have a problem with developers linking to stuff built into the platform.
Can you imagine if they messed up the core dialer, permanently?
There is no need for Vonage Mobile because the meter is always running. You can extend your Vonage World flat rate to 60 countries to your cell phone by installing the DialMate CM1003 (see http://www.woodtel.com) on your Vonage line. There is also no need for a 3g or WiFi connection, just your regular cellular network. Since all cellular networks now have free incoming calls or free favorite number calls to cell phones and vice versa, with the CM1003, you can do call back or call bridge and call out from your cell phone through your Vonage line to 60 countries unlimited and free unlimited air time (no need to subscribe to expensive unlimited air time and long distance plans) to boot. In addition, using the Vonage Call Transfer feature, the CM1003 will transfer your domestic and some international calls (e.g., China, India, Malaysia, etc.) and hang up automatically your Vonage line to be ready for the next caller. Multiple callers can use one Vonage account almost simultaneously. Called parties in those 60 countries can also do call back and use the Vonage line using ordinary landlines or regular cell phones without a broadband, WiFi or 3g connection.
— Edilbert
Hi there
I just wanted to comment on your review as I think that it has a number of things missing. The fact that this option exists is great if you are calling a cellphone in a country where the free international calls are not extended to cellphones like Ireland. You also did not commet at all on the how well the app works through the ipod touch. I do not have one yet and I am not yet signed up but as you have put out a completely lobsided review and do not have the information I need to make an informed decision I am going to have to make some assumtions. Accordin the the Vonage webiste you can usr this app through your ipos\d touch which would not interfere with your cleephone plan minutes as long as you have a headset. I would urge you to review this item again with ALL of the facts so that users like myself with the afforementioned problem of not being able to dial internationally to cell phones through a vonage homephone would fare while using the ipod touch.
I am extremely disappointed with the vonage mobile service. I downloaded the app on the iphone because I wanted to make international phone calls to Cameroon. I have made over 7 calls today, and the call goes through just fine, I can hear the person on the other end, but they can’t hear me. I have tried calling into 2 different cities and it’s the same issue. I finally got a calling card, and the calls went through with me being able to have a converation!!!
To make matters worse, I tried calling customer support and they don’t work on Saturdays!!! And it’s charging me for each minute because the call went through, but I wasn’t able to hear the other person!
Anyway, I don’t like the beta testing on clients. Make sure your system works before you roll it out!
I hate this app. I was happily using my iPhone version 1.1.2 for almost 2 years without needing to update the firmware. Then Vonage decides to release this app in the App Store so I bought into the hype and decided to upgrade my iPhone so I could install it. But it doesn’t do any of the stuff that was implied. Like the article says it is “international only” (though the description mentions local/long distance calls). To make matters worse it doesn’t even dial out on my iPhone for some unknown reason. It just makes a hiss or a chirp sound every 20 seconds or so and says that it is still placing the call. It can’t even retrieve my account balance so I have no idea what that is anymore. And to make things even worse none of the applications I had been using for the past two years works on the new iPhone firmware so now I’m far worse off than I started.
I’ve been a happy customer of Vonage for over 5 years but this application has me seriously reconsidering. I’m aware it is a “free” app that I’m complaining about and that no one forced me to download it but it is THAT BAD.
I’m amazed at how many negative reviews I’ve found for this app. I just downloaded it, and called my brother in law in mexico over wifi with no problems. Sound was good, and it was WAY CHEAPER with pay as you go then at&t rates. Also what a great app to have if you are in a hotel with wifi in a foreign country to be able to call home for free.
To Michael @ Vonage,
I find your explanation specious at best. If you were truly listening to existing iPhone users and your customers, you would have heard a resounding demand for a quality VoIP application. This is why existing Vonage (and I would bet potential) customers were anxiously awaiting the release of a Vonage app that would allow them to take their Vonage number on the road with them and use that to make all types of voice calls (local,long, and international). Instead what your company came up with was a way to squeeze out a few dollars more. Then you have the audacity to come here and plug yet another service as an improvement to the existing solution?
The author has done a good job of cutting through the hype of your application and pointing out the failure in your solution.
So to be clear, what you are saying is that an iPhone user with an existing Vonage account should now pay an additional $24.99/mo. ($14.99 with the current promo) on top of their existing home Vonage and At&t changes for the privilege of using your application?
You think that’s a cost conscious decision? Really?!
No thank you.
Well, there are better services for International traveller Try http://www.myglobaltalk.com. They have a better application, allows you to call from anywhere in the world to anywhere literally, and way cheaper than packet8, vonage and skype. But I have been a vonage customer too, but its 10.99 cents expensive, however myglobaltalk allows you the service from your home phone, cellphone from the same account