I know it is just simple opinion. Yet as Vonage files for their $250 million IPO in the face of increasing losses tracing to marketing dollars.... Really do they even have a prayer?  I read in Forbes that they have signed up 1.4 million customers. They report there that it cost $213 to win a new customer and their current profit per customer is about $18.32. Which suggest the rates are far to high.. which we know. Their churn rate is 25% which the article says is good.

As a business Vonage's proposition appears to suck! The money is not in subscribers anymore it is in communities. It's not in call times rather the opportunity to set up calls and transactions. Vonage has none of the value added offerings that will really matter in 3 to 5 years time. Even if they did sort out a WiFi phone it's not the solution they require.

Ultimately that's the difference. It's why eBay can become a conversation company and Vonage can only wish it was operating in 1906. eBay gets the idea that you faciliate a market for conversations. Conversations accelerate exchanges, commerce etc. Today's world is no longer one in which the telco enables two people to talk. Vonage has failed to reduce the friction inherent in a traditional telephone call. It's failed to make the world a more interesting place. I say do everyone a favor. Don't invest in it. Then we can move beyond yesterday's Telecom.