Vonage Lets You Call Santa

Back to the hard news: Vonage (News - Alert) has announced that throughout the Christmas season, its customers will be able to once again dial 1-700-CALLSANTA from a Vonage home phone line and hear a recorded greeting from Santa Claus. 


After hearing the message, they will be able to leave Santa a message telling him what they want for Christmas.

Note to all of you asking for a white Christmas: Thanks. Thanks a lot. Next year be careful what you ask for, willya?

As an additional customer service, the recorded message will be sent to the account holder's e-mail address so they know exactly what their loved one asked Santa to bring them. The audio attachment can be forwarded to other family members and friends, or even set aside as a keepsake. Or as a good blackmail threat in a few years.

Starting at 5:00 p.m. EST on Christmas Eve, callers can track Santa's whereabouts as he delivers toys around the world by dialing 1-700-CALLSANTA. And if you send First Coffee $10 we promise we won't let your kids know about this feature.

Vonage sells voice and messaging services over broadband networks, including unlimited calling to landline phones in all cities and locations in more than 60 countries. Vonage Mobile is available for download on the iPhone (News - Alert), BlackBerry and iPod touch.

The vendor's service is sold on the Web and through regional and national retailers including Wal-Mart, and is available to customers in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

In late August TMC's (News - Alert) tech maven, Tom Keating, spoke with Vonage's Michael Tempora, Senior VP Product & Program Management about the launch of Vonage World and Visual Voicemail. 

The big news, Keating wrote, was 'Vonage World' with unlimited calling across the world to over 60 countries, which covers 2/3 of the world's population (4.5 billion) - all for $24.99/month:

'As an aside I also asked him if Vonage was working on an iPhone app. He said it was in the works but couldn't comment further. I was going to blog about it back on the 19th, but got busy preparing for ITEXPO. Speaking of which, I'm blogging this using Virgin America's GoGo wireless. Too bad it isn't free. Was $12.95 which was nearly the same price ($15) I had to pay to check a single bag. Whatever happened to the first bag is free? Anyway...'

Keating reported that 'sources have revealed that Vonage has submitted their app to Apple (News - Alert). Having a Vonage iPhone app combined with Vonage's World's global unlimited $24.99 plan could be a killer app that gives Vonage a shot in the arm. Imagine a SIP client on the iPhone that lets you call 60 countries - 2/3 of the world - as much as you want for just $24.99/month. Combine the large user base of iPhone users and the millions of Vonage users and what you could have is the most largely deployed WiFi (News - Alert) VoIP phone on the planet! Forget about buying those standalone WiFi SIP or Skype phones which is another device you have to carry.'