Vonage, or Not!

OK, for those of you who've been asking lately about my new Vonage box, here's the latest. I finally last week got all the necessary componants together to set up my vonage system. I got a power strip into which I can plug both my american phone and the american vonage box. Then I bought a heavy duty transformer to plug the strip into. I got a new adapter for my computer plug (since that was the trouble-some problem that caused me a month of internet disruption at home - of all the dumb problems!). So, I plugged in the Vonage box and all the lights lit up and then blinked out about 30 seconds later. I fiddled with the plug a little, and then smelled that scary burnt electronics smell. I brought the box and the new transformer up to my awesome hardware analyst at work. Turns out the transformer converts power to 126 instead of 110 power, which generally isn't a problem, except that Vonage boxes are very high maintenance. So yeah, my box is D-E-A-D! Here is the killer - he explained that the big heavy plug for the box actually transforms the power from the wall into 12 volts. So if I had just bought a 220 plug that outputs 12 volts, i wouldn't have even needed the transformer. AAAaaaahhh!!!

I just got my phone local bill for April - $150. Plus my cell phone is $20. Plus my Vonage bill $30 (and i'm not even using that!!!). This is crazyness!!!