New Vonage Service Lets Consumers Take Their Home Phone Anywhere

HOLMDEL, N.J., Oct. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Whether running errands, away on business, or anxious to talk to friends and family overseas, Vonage customers can now make and receive unlimited nationwide and international calls¹ using their home phone service anywhere they use a smartphone. The new mobile inbound calling functionality, standard on all Vonage home plans, is now part of the patented Vonage Extensions® App. 

Different from call forwarding, this new functionality allows shared use of a family's home phone identity. Calls made to the home phone number will now ring on mobile phones at the same time so anyone in the household can immediately take important calls from doctors, children's schools, home improvement professionals, friends and family.

With the new service, inbound calls to the app indicate that the call was made to a user's home number, and outbound calls are displayed with the home caller ID. This allows customers to have a second identity on their mobile phone and to keep their mobile number private, giving them more control over when, how and where they communicate.

"When Vonage was founded in 2001, the Company helped shape a new form of communications – one that had no boundaries, delivered unprecedented value and forever changed the telecommunications industry," said Joe Redling, president of Consumer Services for Vonage.  "Today, we launched the next evolution of our service, combining the benefits and utility of a shared home identity with the value of low international calling rates, and the convenience of enabling customers to extend the cordless phone they use in their homes to their mobiles."

Mobile outbound calling using Extensions has become increasingly popular with Vonage customers since its launch in 2011, especially among international callers. In the second quarter of 2014 alone, 29% of all outbound international calls on the Vonage network were made using a mobile Extension.

"Vonage has seen a dramatic shift in consumer behavior since we first gave customers the ability to make calls from their mobiles," Mr. Redling added. "Enabling two-way mobile calling will drive even more mobile usage of our service and change the way people think about and use their home phone."

To take advantage of this added benefit, residential service customers simply download the Extensions app to their iPhone^® or Android™ smartphone. Once installed, calls to a customer's number will ring on up to two mobile phones, and users can make and receive calls anywhere there is Wi-Fi or a 3G/4G² connection. With Wi-Fi calling, customers can use Vonage service on mobiles in areas with poor cellular coverage, including their homes, regardless of which cellular carrier they use. 

Committed to ongoing innovation, Vonage holds 53 U.S. patents, 56 patents in foreign jurisdictions, and has 380 pending patent applications around the world. The Company has focused its innovation efforts on enhancing the quality, usability and features of its mobile applications. Over the past three years, Vonage has received 17 patents related to mobile services covering products such as Vonage Extensions, Vonage Mobile^®, ReachMe Roaming™ and the Company's unique video voicemail feature. The Company currently has 93 U.S. patent applications pending related to mobile technologies.

To illustrate the unique benefits of the new service and to demonstrate how Vonage lets consumers take their home phone anywhere, the Company is launching a new integrated marketing campaign across multiple platforms including TV and digital advertising, direct mail and the Web. For more information visit www.vonage.com.

1) Unlimited international calling to more than 60 countries is available through the Vonage World plan. Reasonable Use Policy applies.

2) Data rates apply.

About Vonage

Vonage (NYSE: VG) is a leading provider of communications services connecting consumers and businesses through cloud-connected devices worldwide, with approximately 2.5 million subscriber lines. Vonage provides a robust suite of feature-rich, affordable residential and business communication solutions that offer flexibility, portability and ease-of-use for both landline and mobile phones. Vonage's residential service is sold on the web (www.vonage.com) and through telesales and regional and national retailers, and its business service is sold through Vonage Business Solutions (www.vonagebusiness.com) telesales and channel partners.

Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey. Vonage^® is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc.

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SOURCE Vonage