Sorry i did not get a chance to respond any sooner. I have been swamped.

I disagree that they have had a negative effect and that they are to blame for mis-informed consumers. Sure they did not go out of their way to educate consumers about all of the cool things that are possible with the technology, but then again, the vast majority of consumer could care less. They just want cheap calls.

I worked very closely with Vonage for almost a year and ran a four month retail kiosk trial in which I learned more then I expected about the mass market consumer. For the most part, they are computer illiterate. A large majority of folks I spoke to (anywhere from 50 – 100) still thought AOL WAS the Internet.

So while Vonage could have done more to push innovation and education for the greater good, the fact remains that what they did was give consumers what they wanted. I can’t blame a company for giving folks what they want, even if it turns out to not be the best thing for the consumer.

Vonage had a positive effect in that they took the technology mainstream and carried the torch when no one else wanted to (or had pockets deep enough to). They had a negative effect in that they did not take it to the next level and were not proactive in education, innovation and leveraging the technology to it’s fullest.

I see both sides, but I would rather stay positive than be negative.