Vonage going IPO 221
Diashto writes "I just recieved voicemail on my Vonage phone saying that Vonage is going IPO, and that certain customers may be eligible to purchase common stock at IPO pricing. More information is is available on their IPO site."
they need to. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:they need to. (Score:2)
Re:they need to. (Score:2)
Re:they need to. (Score:2)
Re:they need to. (Score:2)
I just received email... (Score:3, Funny)
I received... (Score:2, Insightful)
- and
phone number. Regardless, I think this is better than most IPOs who only offer to the elite brokerage houses, and better than Google where it was anyone's game. Offer to those who have a history of support.Sounds great ... but. (Score:5, Informative)
Not a deal-breaker but just a heads up.
Re:Sounds great ... but. (Score:5, Insightful)
Common misconceptions (Score:5, Interesting)
Secondly, debt is not necessarily a bad thing for businesses; in fact, it's a positive. I won't go into all the details, but suffice to say that it increases the earning power of the money supplied by the shareholders.
Third, debt is a much cheaper form of financing than equity offerings. It's only natural to expect Vonage to use as much debt as is available to them before they launch an IPO. Think of this, also -- with an IPO, the current Vonage stakeholders are giving up a lot of control over their company. So really, the fact that they are conducting an IPO should really raise more questions than the fact that they have a lot of debt.
Aside from the debt... (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Their CEO (and top officers) have 6 digit salaries with bonuses that are larger than the actual salary
2. In order to succeed (in their words) Vonage will need consumers to move away from traditional phone lines in favor of Vonage. [Without E911, this is be VERY difficult indeed - and the telcos are not likely to willingly give up their business by giving Vonage access to their E911 systems...even if the FCC says they have to.]
3. In order to succeed (in their words) Vonage needs their competitors to *not* come up with products as good as or better than Vonage's own product. [While this seems intuitive, just think how long it will be - if digital phone takes off (#2 above) - before the cable companies offer equivalent or better offerings with guaranteed QoS for their digital phone service]
I also am not going to take this offer for two reasons:
1. I have to buy at least $100 shares which is more than I can afford at the moment, and
2. I think the price will go down after the first day or two.
Re:Aside from the debt... (Score:3, Informative)
Re point 2, yes, the landline phone market is pretty saturated, so they'll have to take customers from RBOCs. No news there.
Point 3 is rather obvious.
I didn't RTFA, so I'm not sure if the shares cost $100 each or if you have to buy at least $100 worth of shares, but if it's the latter, you should know that $100 is nothing
Re:Aside from the debt... (Score:2)
And I did not RTFA, I'm speaking from the email Vonage sent me as a customer who's been with them since January last year.
Re:Aside from the debt... (Score:2)
Re:Aside from the debt... (Score:2)
Re:Sounds great ... but. (Score:2)
Last of all, at least if you are using Firefox, you can't get through all of the steps - they refer to a next button which isn't there.
Re:Sounds great ... but. (Score:5, Interesting)
wow, that's either genuinely paranoid or really self-centered. You think they will read slashdot, correlate your slashdot account to your real name or vonage account name, look up your account, then cut your service?
Sorry dude, but none of us are that important.
Re:Sounds great ... but. (Score:2)
VoIP offerings from cable companies are ridiculous as they're often far more expensive than Vonage, and there are several other VoIP companies that offer at least the same service as Vonage and cost the same or sometimes less.
Vonage is a tech company. After seeing what happened to Google (tech IPO
Otherside of the coin (Score:2, Informative)
Missing steps 4-7 (Score:1)
Re:Missing steps 4-7 (Score:2)
Step 4 is "Profit!" You don't see it because it's a scam the scammers are the ones who "Profit!".
Ok, really, I don't know if it's a scam or legitimate. But someone other than me always seems to "Profit!".
I sense... (Score:2)
Vonage IPO Questions? (Score:2)
Contact Questions [vonageipo.com]
You may wish to speak with an independent financial or tax advisor before making any decision to purchase Vonage common stock. Neither Vonage nor any of the underwriters are recommending that you purchase Vonage common stock in this program, and they cannot advise you on whether or not to make such an investment.
Contact Us
Technical Customer Care
Phone: (866) 431- 9801
Hours: Open 7 days a week from 8:00 am EST to 8:00 pm EST
Legit or not? (Score:3, Informative)
It's legit. (Score:2)
It also forces you to use one of three "limited purpose brokerages" - Smith Barney, UBS, or Deutsche Bank Alex.Brown.
Re:It's legit. (Score:2)
For the life of me, I can't find a "next" button and go set up a brokerage account.
Re:Legit or not? (Score:2)
Not to mention that it appears Vonage did register that domain and if it is a phishing scam it's one of the most detailed and elaborate ones I've ever seen.
Re:Legit or not? (Score:2, Informative)
Domain Name: VONAGE.COM
Administrative Contact , Technical Contact
Holdings, Vonage
itadmin@vonage.com
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
Phone: 732-365-2603
Record expires on 12-Dec-2008
Record created on 12-Dec-2000
Database last upda
Re:Legit or not? (Score:2)
I also know the email is most likely legit because it was sent to a very specific email address that only Vonage knows and uses (I create a new email alias for each company I deal with. That way I can delete that email address if it gets abused by t
Re:Legit or not? (Score:2, Insightful)
I do the same thing, and my IPO email also came to my vonage specific email address, and I also received the message in my Vonage voice mail box. All these people on here calling this a phishing scam need to take off their tin foil hat for a minute an
Re:Legit or not? (Score:2)
Domain Name: VONAGEIPO.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/ [networksolutions.com]
Name Server: DNS1-NYC.VONAGE.NET
Would you buy stock from this man? (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1272830/000 104746906006601/a2169686zs-1a.htm [sec.gov]
The past background of our founder, Chairman and Chief Strategist, Jeffrey A. Citron, may adversely affect our ability to enter into business relationships and may have other adverse effects on our business.
Prior to joining Vonage, Mr. Citron was associated with Datek Securities Corporation and Datek Online Holdings Corp., including as an employee of, and consultant for, Datek Securities and, later, as one of the principal executive officers and largest stockholders of Datek Online. Datek Online, which was formed in early 1998 following a reorganization of the Datek business, was a large online brokerage firm. Datek Securities was a registered broker-dealer that engaged in a number of businesses, including proprietary trading and order execution services. During a portion of the time Mr. Citron was associated with Datek Securities, the SEC alleged that Datek Securities, Mr. Citron and other individuals participated in an extensive fraudulent scheme involving improper use of the Nasdaq Stock Market's Small Order Execution System, or SOES. Datek Securities (through its successor iCapital Markets LLC), Mr. Citron and other individuals entered into settlements with the SEC in 2002 and 2003, which resulted in extensive fines, bans from future association with securities brokers or dealers and enjoinments against future violations of certain U.S. securities laws. The NASD previously had imposed disciplinary action against Datek Securities, Mr. Citron and other individuals in connection with alleged violations of the rules and regulations regarding the SOES. These and other matters are discussed under "Information Concerning our Founder, Chairman and Chief Strategist."
There is a risk that some third parties will not do business with us, that some prospective investors will not purchase our securities or that some customers may be wary of signing up for service with us as a result of allegations against Mr. Citron and his past SEC and NASD settlements. We believe that some financial institutions and accounting firms have declined to enter into business relationships with us in the past, at least in part because of these matters. Other institutions and potential business associates may not be able to do business with us because of internal policies that restrict associations with individuals who have entered into SEC and NASD settlements. While we believe that these matters have not had a material impact on our business, they may have a greater impact on us when we become a public company, including by adversely affecting our ability to enter into commercial relationships with third parties that we need to effectively and competitively grow our business. Further, should Mr. Citron in the future be accused of, or be shown to have engaged in, additional improper or illegal activities, the impact of those accusations or the potential penalties from such activities could be exacerbated because of the matters discussed above. If any of these risks were to be realized, there could be a material adverse effect on our business or the market price of our common stock.
NO TOUCH! (Score:3, Informative)
Again, from the SEC filing,
"Jeffrey A. Citron, our principal stockholder, founder, Chairman and Chief Strategist, will own 48,427,617 shares of common stock, or 31% of our common stock."
More detail about the fraud he conducted. [sec.gov]
Pay careful attention t
Re:Legit or not? (Score:2)
$$ made from IPO (Score:2)
This isn't news (Score:2)
Vonage S-1 [sec.gov]
Sounds like a winner to me...or not (Score:2)
Re:Sounds like a winner to me...or not (Score:2)
Re:Sounds like a winner to me...or not (Score:2)
Most of the docoms that
Re:Sounds like a winner to me...or not (Score:2)
Citizenship requirements for Vonage IPO (Score:2)
S
Either it's spam, or it's a scam (Score:2)
Either way the answer is obvious: don't touch the stock.
I signed up (Score:2)
However, for people like myself using vonage for 2+ years now, it immediately makes sense. I registered and am now waiting for the time when I can buy my shiny new stock certificates.
Considering that the email NEVER went to the people who DO NOT use vonage, well... the aluminum foil is just seeping into your crania right about now and polluting your otherwise smoothly fun
Vociemail from "system" confirming legitimacy (Score:2)
Could you !!!FRIST P0ST!!! morons be bothered to check on anything in TFA?
From whois:
Registrant:
vonage holdings
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
Domain Name: VONAGEIPO.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Certain Customers (Score:2)
They should have only left those messages on those Certain Customer's voicemails. Otherwise I'll wonder just how well this company is being run, and do I want to give them my money.
Personal experience with vonage. (Score:2)
1) After four months they totally FAILED to transfer over my old phone number. (Note, the fact that they prominently advertised this ability was why I choose them over skype.)
2) Part of the problem was that their email system did not work correctly. I never recieved emails informing me that a problem existed, which caused their system to automatically close the attempt, so I had to restart i
The Risk No One Is Talking About (Score:2, Interesting)
As for "scam", well, has it occurred to no one else that some scams are "legal"?
Everyone's talking about the financials, the financials, the financials.
What about the people, the people, the people? Specifically: Jeffrey A. Citron, Vonage's founder, chairman and chief strategist seems to have been a very naughty boy in a previous life.
( INFORMATION CONCERNING OUR FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN [sec.gov]
Probably a good buy. (Score:2)
Currently, VOIP outgoing providers sell time for about a cent per minute in North America, or as high as 1.5-2.0 cents for an incoming number. My roomate and I have a 1-888# which comes in to the house for a few cents a minute, with outgoing numbers going through 3 different VOIP providers of varying cost (cheapest first, of course). I think it costs us a grand total of 8$/month-2 month
Read the prospectus (Score:2)
"On March 1, 2004, we dismissed Amper, Politziner & Mattia P.C., as our independent registered public accounting firm previously engaged as the principal accountant to audit our financial statements. We re-engaged Amper, Politziner & Mattia P.C. on June 30, 2004, and dismisse
Eligibility for Shares at IPO Price (Score:2)
The customer opened an account directly with Vonage America on or prior to December 15, 2005. The customer must have opened an account with Vonage America and not through a third-party wholesaler.
The customer maintained the Vonage account in good standing through February 1, 2006.
So, running out and signing up for a
An interesting thought... (Score:2)
Re:I'm pretty certain... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'm pretty certain... (Score:3, Informative)
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net/ [internic.net]
for detailed information.
Domain Name: VONAGEIPO.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/ [networksolutions.com]
Name Server
Re:I'm pretty certain... (Score:2)
Re:I'm pretty certain... (Score:2, Interesting)
Think this will work.. the wav of the voicemail recieved.
Re:I'm pretty certain... (Score:2, Informative)
However, they should never have sent out email with a link to a site other than their own.
-There's no way to verify through whois records that the site is legit
-Best you could do is if the whois has a DNS server listed on vonage.com's domain
-Their dns servers are not authoritative for the domain
-It would not be hard to net scan for vonage SIP phone adaptors, then connect to them to leave voicemail
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:3, Insightful)
JOhn
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Why don't you read the post first that you're replying to, and then UNDERSTAND WHAT IT SAYS before typing a response.
Hint: The whois record comes from the domain registrar, not the website you're "logging in" to.
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Also, when you enter your account number it successfully looks up your account information, a phishing scam wouldn't be able to do that.
But you type in all caps, so you must be right.
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
You have a cause there, and an effect, but unfortunately you've got the two mixed up, which is a classic sign of low serotonin levels, you might wanna check up on that. And of cause I could just respond with something like "but you pointed out that I typed ~10% of my words in caps, so you must be right", but I think when you address the format of a response rather than the response itself, credability becomes hard to retain. (Yes I am aware of mine slipping qu
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
JOhn
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2, Informative)
How could anyone call this a phishing scam? Not only that but what does someone have to gain from accessing your vonage account? They get to see who you've called? You can't add services or lines without entering some personal information that the phisher wouldn't be privileged to.
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
At the very least, it's suspicion inducing. If it's legit, Vonage should put something on their site - currently, a search for "IPO" comes up empty.
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:5, Informative)
A story on it over at VoIP Magazine is here [voip-magazine.com].
Their (not yet active) trading charts can be found here [marketwatch.com] under the symbol "VG".
If this is a fishing scam, it's a pretty darn good one. More likely, Vonage wanted their financial issues to be separate from their marketing site and didn't think about how that would look.
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Granted, it might've made much more sense to have run everything through the vonage.com domain, but anyone who's sending a message from within the system probably has enough access to screw with my account already.
(On top of that, one the front page, they ask you to log in with your IPO site credentials, not your Vonage user account credentials. You don't get to set up a login on vonageipo.com u
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:5, Informative)
Registrant:
vonage holdings
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
Domain Name: VONAGEIPO.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
vonage holdings itadmin@vonage.com
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
732-365-2603
Record expires on 25-Apr-2012.
Record created on 20-Feb-2006.
Database last updated on 10-May-2006 10:08:55 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS1-NYC.VONAGE.NET 216.115.31.140
AUTH00.KEWR0.S.VONAGENETWORKS.NET 69.59.252.42
AUTH01.KEWR0.S.VONAGENETWORKS.NET 216.115.30.40
>whois vonage.com
vonage holdings
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
Domain Name: VONAGE.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Holdings, Vonage itadmin@vonage.com
Vonage
23 Main Street
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
732-365-2603
Record expires on 12-Dec-2008.
Record created on 12-Dec-2000.
Database last updated on 10-May-2006 10:09:41 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS1-NYC.VONAGE.NET 216.115.31.140
AUTH00.KEWR0.S.VONAGENETWORKS.NET 69.59.252.42
AUTH01.KEWR0.S.VONAGENETWORKS.NET 216.115.30.40
Amazing... Admin contact and DNS servers are the same...
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
#dig vonage.com
#dig vonageipo.com
ARIN reports the vonage.com IP being hosted on a
ARIN reports the vonageipo.com IP being hosted by Savvis.
If you own a
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
You try to register? No, apparently not due to your comments.
All you give them is your account number, billing zip code, and email address associated with the account. None of which is identifiable to you unless they have a direct connection with the Vonage system. As it were, they correctly identified me based on that information alone.
At any rate, i
The IPO offer is real (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2)
Go ahead and try to log in. Go ahead - I'll wait. Can't can you?
I hadn't tried it until I saw your post, but I went back and dug up the e-mail
Re:Reelin' 'Em in I see (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:3, Informative)
I see you were modded a troll, but I'll just assume you don't know what Vontage is. Skype is free. This applies only if you call another Skype user.
What you get for the fee is nationwide calling to regular telephones. Skype out and Skype in are not free. Please compare apples to a
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re: Vonage is a scam?? No... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
First, What kind of **idiot** does not see the multiple notices that you must have a broadband connection available before signing up. Second, Skype is fine, but I would like to use an actual phone when I talk to people, not a headset on my computer. It's an ergonomics thing. I actualy do manage to step away from the screen once a
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:3, Informative)
Skype is free only for computer to computer calls.
Skype charges 1.7 Euro cents per minute (about 2 US cents) for calls to real phone numbers. And you have purchase that time in advance in blocks of 10 Euros.
If you want to get a real phone number you have to get SkypeIn, which is 30 Euros per year.
Skype can't be used for 911 at all, while Vonage is working on it and has gotten it together in many locales.
All Skype
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Vonage and Skype are similar services with different pricing and marketing models.
Vonage is trying to compete directly with POTS for all calls, and prices on the assumption that you will be making lots of calls to non-Vonage phones. It offers convenience, a single telephone and number to deal with (with some nice options on that), and you don't have to worry about whether you're calling a Vonage or POTS phone-- it just acts like a phone. They don't prov
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re:Vonage is a scam (Score:2)
Re:Going "public," you mean (Score:2)
Just about all the ones that were alive during the first dot-com boom...
Re:IPO = more reliability/quality? (Score:2)
Re:IPO = more reliability/quality? (Score:2)
Now, their customer service people are aweful. I only had to deal with them once ever, that was this weekend. Basically after years of
Re:Need to be a citizen? (Score:2)
Oh well. It doesn't matter much, I doubt I would participate in this anyway. Much too speculative for
Re:Need to be a citizen? (Score:2)
So do 49.9% of taxpayers. You're not in any kind of special group there.
Re:Need to be a citizen? (Score:2)
Go look up "average" in the dictionary.
Re:An IPO as new customer lure? (Score:2)
s few ducats is going to be at least $1600, if the pricing on the site is accurate, and could be more ($1800+), depending on how oversubscribed the offering is (if it is at all). You are required to by in 100 share lots. So your investment amounts are multiples of $1600 (again, assuming the price is $16) - $1600, $3200, etc. And putting that much into a speculative stock like this, especailly when they say 'no profits in the forseeable future' is pretty risky. So, yeah, if you have $1600 you can stand
Re:Hells yeah! (Score:2)
Re:Second thoughts... (Score:2)
Re:Disappointed in /.ers (Score:2)
I simply don't have > $1,600 to throw down the drain in an attempt to keep my digital phone. If they go out of business I will simply move to the next digital phone provider
Re:vonage "spamming" using voicemails (Score:2)