Review by denzel 
UPDATED: 122 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 127 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Lincoln,Lancaster,NE
 $24 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Excellent price, reliability, voice quality, great features + Free Western Europe :-)"
 "Some small, newly added fees."
 "Superb! To prove I will refer you (you get $25) & help you with tech questions"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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Help Track:
Is the way to keep track of the number of people I have successfully helped since I started this review.
As of August 4, 2008: 176 people have been helped!
If you need help or a referral in order to receive $25 Lingo credit please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM. I usually respond within 24 hours!
Do not forget to read my review. It is a summary of my own VoIP experience and people find it a helpful tool when deciding to switch to VoIP:
I have had Lingo service for about 9 months now. From day one when I received my ATA and since the easy instalation experience I have been a happy customer. Not a single glitch with the service. Everything works like a charm. Not even with my analog landline phone have I had such a voice and service quality without any glitches.
And oh my goodness is it cheap! $19.95 covers everything...unlimited minutes to US, Canada and Western European countries. Awesome.
I have read some negative reports about Lingo on this website mainly complaining about the voice quality. Being an electronic technician I know that it can only be either their setups or their ISP's connection quality. People do not understand that VoIP companies really do not have anything to do with voice and service quality. The ATA device given by all of the major VoIP companies are basically all the same with a very small quality difference since they all have similar circuitries. From that point on they do not and cannot control the quality of the service since it completely depends on their customer's ISP connection quality. Plain and simple. No matter how much these people have to say about it they are barking at a wrong tree. They should be talking to their ISPs.
I have Road Runner with down 6Mbps and up 564kbps. It's basically smooth sailing!
People have been complaining about regulatory fees. Well they all charge them even Vonage. So before they complain they should first investigate.
Like I said I am extremely happy with Lingo. Not only that they are the cheapest, but they are backed by Primus, the third largest communication company in the world. They own more fiber optic cable than any communication company in the US, which enables them to offer unlimited calling minutes to western Europe! I love that. Especially because when the VoIP bloodbath begins, being backed by a large Telecom will matter allot! The only ones left standing, by my opinion will be ATT, Callvantage and Lingo.
I wholeheartedly recommend this company to everyone.
Anyone who wants to take advantage of Lingo's referral deal and get $25 for it, please feel free to use me as your referral. Send me an e-mail to LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM and I will send you my referral info of how to get the $25.
Update:
It has been more than a year now since I signed up with Lingo. So far I have had no problems. The calls are still crystal clear. Road Runner just updated their speed to down 8Mbps. The up rate is still 564Kbps. This has not made Lingo any better since it was already better than Alltel in many instances. Basically Lingo operating at 128Kbps down has almost the CD quality sound. That is all speed they need to achieve the sound quality. As I have read in the adapter's firmware info, the adapter automatically adjusts to the available broadband speed, so that if for any reason 128Kbps is not available for the highest sound quality, the adapter switches automatically to a bandwidth saver mode and stars operating at 90Kbps, which is almost impossible to distinguish during everyday usage, even if one tried.
Lingo, or Primus also claim that they reserve the right to outsource the adapter production as they will. But so far all off the adapters were ordered from a renowned modem maker TOSHIBA, which is known for their quality (Made in Japan). I do not think that Primus will ever allow any low quality company to produce adapters for them, even though it sounds like that in their disclaimer.
I have also decided to get another line from Lingo, since it is so cheap (only $4.95). This will enable me to use their distinguished ring feature, where I will be able to set up different rings for each line, always knowing approximately who is calling even before I look at the caller ID.
One more time, based on my experience, I wholeheartedly recommend this company to everyone.
To prove this, please use me as you referral, which will allow you to collect $25 from them. Send me an e-mail to LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM and I will send you my referral information which you will be able to enter during your sign-up.
If you have any other specific questions, especially regarding the electronics specifics or my experience, just e-mail me. Again it is LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 2:
I have finally persuaded my girlfriend to switch to Lingo. Her sister is in Germany as we speak and she has been using my Lingo phone to talk to her allot. She said that talking to her sister on my phone took away the worries she had about what might the call quality be when using VoIP. Usually we talk to each other on our cellphones (unlimited mobile-to-mobile with Cingular). You need to understand, my girlfriend is known by her skepticism regarding new technology. She needs allot of time to get acquainted with the new gadgets. It took me like a year to persuade her to go with Dell when she wanted a new computer ( I am avid Dell consumer, I believe that they have the highest quality for the money).
She got her ATA today. She placed her order five days ago. I have set it up for her in her living room, where she keeps her computer. It took me less than 6 minutes, since she does not have any router. The setup was the basic one: Cable modem (Earthlink)-ATA-analog phone-computer. I rebooted everything per instruction and she obtained a phone signal right away. The first person she called was her sister. 
Since I referred her she is gonna be getting the $25!
She plans to cancel Alltel also. Good bye high bills!
Our next plan is to talk to her family about the Lingo service.
If you have any questions please e-mail at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 3:
To answer some of the questions that other people have on this forum I would like to first start with saying that I cannot do anything against the fact that, so far, when it comes to Lingo, basically everything worked well. Please, when you compare reviews like mine with other reviews consider that I am well versed in electronics, like I have stated before. Many people (no offense) do not quite understand how VoIP works and what all the variables are. This is understandable since it is a relatively new product/service that has not been talked much about, well at least not in detailed technical terms.
Second, some are bringing up issues like whether I work for Lingo. Although, I would probably like to work for such a large international conglomerate like Primus, I unfortunately am not an employee og theirs. I have no affiliation with the company, except being their customer. I write about my experience, which happens to be a positive one. I will not come up with lies about Lingo, just to make sure that somebody does not think that I "work" for them. I have posted my opinion on this forum after reading many misleading and inaccurate reports, especially about the tech specs of the VoIP service. I felt that if I write about my experience with VoIP, it will help people understand better. And it did. I have had many people thanking me for this review, but also many people asking more questions. It is a new gadget on the block VoIP.
So, please if you do have any issues, do not even post them here, but e-mail me at my private address that I have stated many times
LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Good luck to all!
A helpful article that found on the web:
As consumer-level Voice over IP (VoIP) becomes more firmly entrenched in the mainstream of telecommunications, VoIP services have become fertile ground for the type of comparison reviews — complete with "Editor's choices" and star ratings — more typical of computer hardware devices such as monitors, printers and routers.
Service comparisons have come from the usual suspects — Cnet, PC Magazine (in August 2004 and again in January 2005), PC World and the highly respected Tom's Networking — and traditional media such as the New York Times (subscription required) and BusinessWeek. There have been so many VoIP reviews that Consumer Search has even come up with a review of the VoIP reviewers, assigning a “credibility rating” to each of the comparisons (PC World was deemed most “credible”).
Comparing VoIP services, however, is not easy — some would say impossible. The results are too tainted by subjective standards and by factors that VoIP service providers have no control over — for example, differing levels of network latency caused by Internet service providers.
Predictably, there is no consensus — not even a clear leader — among the reviewers as to which service provider is best. VoicePulse, AT&T CallVantage, Vonage, Packet8, Skype, take your pick: Each has won a coveted top-choice from a comparison reviewer.
To make matters worse, these evaluations are too severely limited in scope to be considered authoritative. Usually, only four or five of the several hundred service providers operating in the US are covered, and even major providers like iConnectHere and BroadVoice — among the more established VoIP companies — are often ignored.
Even grading service providers based on calling plans and on the features they offer is a bit of a crap shoot. VoIP services are offered with dozens of features — such as online call and voice mail management “dashboards,” “point-and-click” dialing, geographically dispersed virtual numbers, and many others — that are not available with traditional land line telephone service. Still, a feature is meaningless if not used by a customer, and some VoIP calling niceties are too new or too esoteric to get much use. Grading providers on the calling plans they offer is equally difficult simply because there is no calling plan that fits every consumer's needs.
Some question whether VoIP services can even be compared in side-by-side tests like servers or routers. While it's easy to check off laundry lists of features and pricing, reviews of service quality are likely to be determined by a variety of factors that service providers have no control over — one possible explanation for the scatter shot of ratings.
First, results are affected by the underlying network, says Laura Holly, Brix Networks market development manager and author of “Measuring Voice Quality in VoIP Networks: Going Beyond 'Can You Hear Me Now?'”
“It's hard to compare two services without knowing what kind of access network you're riding over,” says Holly. “For example, you and I both subscribe to Vonage but you are on a satellite connection and I'm on a 3Mb cable connection. We're unlikely to see the same quality of performance.”
Brix Networks, which supplies commercial network test products to service providers, also provides a free portal that evaluates the performance of a VoIP call going through a residential broadband connection.
“We routinely get email from people who have used our service and say 'I'm having trouble with service provider X,'” Holly reports. “We have to tell them that it's not the service provider, it's the broadband connection.”
Second, because calls take different routes to the same point, changing network conditions affect test results.
“Very few network providers use the same topology,” says Broadvoice CEO David Epstein. “A tester from location A will get a different result from testers at locations B and C.”
And third, unless these reviews are done over an extended period of time it's impossible to fairly measure performance.
“Vonage might sound great on Monday at noon,” says Epstein. “But that doesn't mean it will sound great on Tuesday at 1:00 pm from exactly the same place.”
Validating Epstein's concern are the conflicting results derived by PC Magazine when it compared VoIP providers in two separate issues, five months apart. In August 2004, the magazine compared AT&T CallVantage, VoicePulse and Vonage, with VoicePulse coming out on top. In January 2005, Broadvox, Lingo and Verizon VoiceWing were added to the chosen companies. This time, AT&T won the magazine's “Editor's Choice.”
Still, some think these reviews have value, despite their limitations.
“Services can for the most part be compared,” says VoicePulse CEO Ravi Sakaria. “What we found after two years of experience in this area that the part that is beyond is beyond our control very seldom has a negative impact on customer's experience.”
“When we first started I thought we would have a high rate of cancellations — 25 percent — because the Internet connection couldn't handle the calls,” Sakaria continues. “In fact, we have less than 1 percent of cancellations because of the connection.”
Sakaria says that there are tools out there that can accurately evaluate customer experience and cites Minacom's VoIP monitoring tool, used in a recent review by PC Magazine. “That kind of test is very accurate as far as what the customer's perception is,” according to Sakaria.
But can these reviews have merit if they only evaluate a tiny fraction of the rapidly growing number of VoIP providers in the world? Sakaria says 'yes.'
“Even if we're not included in the review,” says Sakaria, “we can still learn from the results and use that information to improve our service.”
By CAROLYN SCHUK
for VOXILLA.COM
Update 4:
Ladies and Gentlemen Lingo now has a web based "Connection enhancer". It allows you to increase the quality of your calls by switching to highest quality. Also, MEXICO is included into the monthly fee, so anybody calling Mexico can talk unlimited for free! Awesome!
Update 5:
I have looked at all of my previous Lingo bills that I have saved electronically on my computer in order to see if I can come up with the dollar number of approximately how much I had saved over a period of one year. For comparison purposes and to make everything fair I have used the pricing of our local POTS carrier Alltel, including taxes and charges for long distance and international calls.
First I had summed up the minutes in following categories: local, long distance, international Germany, international Sweden, international UK, international Canada. The international minutes are divided on a country by country basis since Alltel charges different rates for each of them. Alltel also charges different rates according to what time of day the numbers were dialed. This might have complicated the whole matter considerably, therefore I took the average price Alltel charges. Also, I took the local minutes out of the equation, since Alltel does not charge anything extra for them (unlimited).
The layout looks like this:
1) Total minutes spent for 12 months 27604
2) Local minutes 7202
3) Long distance minutes 4046
4) International minutes:
a) Canada 1507
b) Germany 14202
c) Sweden 396
d) UK 251
All of these minutes were included in the Lingo Unlimited Plan that costs $19.95.
After calculating all of the rates it looks like I have saved more than $2400. I know, I was shocked also when I saw the number. It doesn't seem that way once you get used to Lingo and talking without having to worry about cost, but once you put it on paper, WOW!
I would also like to remind you that this does not include all the taxes and regulatory fees that Alltel charges which were approximately around $20 for me every month.
Therefore, my friends, VoIP has been a bliss for me. And it is not only the money it saves me, which is substantial, but also the amount of time I spend with my family on the phone. I used to miss everybody, since it was expensive to call. Mow everybody, especially my grandmother is telling me how nice it is to hear my voice so often. I just feel closer to them!
Until next time.
Update 6:
I have been reading some of the reviews that Review Lingo. Some people claim that $25 referral credits are a scam from Lingo just to get people refer other for free. Well, not true. I have recommended several people and each one of them, including my girlfriend, have received the $25 as promised in the referral e-mail. What Lingo does is actually not send the money, but count it against your current month bill. So if your bill is supposed to be $20 they deduct $25 and you owe nothing for the month. The extra $5 gets transferred into the next month and deducted from that bill.
Once again if anybody need a referral, I will be glad to refer you. E-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
I have been testing the "connection enhancer" for a while now, switching from the normal setting to the highest setting and back and forth several times. While there is a slight improvement for me listening to a person I am talking to, I have been asking my friends to tell me if there is any difference for them to hear me. They said it was much better in the highest setting, which seems to remove that slight background noise that appears sometimes (during a download for example). Overall it is much better to keep your Lingo in the highest setting for both you and the people who call you.
Update 7:
E-mails regarding number availability have been coming into my inbox. As far as I know, for all those living in Nebraska, Vonage as well as ATTCallVantage cover only the city of Omaha. No other provider, except Lingo, cover so many cities in Nebraska. Lingo covers Lincoln, Omaha,Columbus, Emerson, Grand Island, Lexington, MInden,Norfolk, Osceola, and Plattsmouth. Most of the cities are towns actually with no more than 3000 people living there. It is just amazing to me that Lingo covers them all.
Update 8: Just to inform everybody using Lingo, if you haven't yet been contacted by Lingo, to log into your account and read through the 911 statement and acknowledge that you have read it. This is an FCC (Federal Communication Commission) requirement involving the pursuit for VoIP's to better inform their users of difference regarding the traditional 911 and the VoIP 911. You must do it by August 26, otherwise Lingo will stop your service until you do.
Good Luck.
Update 9:
I am thinking of installing a second Lingo line. What happens is, since it is free to call Europe, sometimes, especially on weekends, members of my family talk with Europe for hours. If I want to call someone they tell me to hold on and I do FOR HOURS! Also if someone is trying to reach me, unfortunately, call waiting beep gets ignored to many times. ARGH...
I want to order a new ATA and hook it up to the Linksys adapter, just like my first one. For now I will go with the $7.95 plan and work my way up as I decide that I need more minutes. I will keep you posted about the quality of the connection once I install another line.
Until next time.
Update 10:
I have installed a second Lingo line a few weeks ago. I ordered it on their web site just like the first one and even recommended myself (let's see if that is going to work). I do not like the fact that I could not order another line without having to open a brand new account. Tracking of my seconds spent is not as easy now, since, I have to log in and out of each account to do so. It would be nice if they allowed people to order as many lines as they wish under the same account. Makes life easier. But, anyways, I am very pleased with the overall setup. I have connected the other ATA to the same Linksys router and allowed higher QoS for this ATA also. Very often we find ourselves using both lines at the same time noticing that there is no drop in call quality, even while downloading movies from Movielink at the same time. It is a sweet deal, since now my other family members can talk as much as they want, without having me interrupting in order to make my calls. If they are on the phone and I need to use it, which by the way happens very often, I just use my other Lingo line. Both lines together cost me less than $30 a month (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT), so I 'm a happy camper!
As I explained above, if anyone has any specific questions or would like a referral, e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM. I check my e-mail on a daily basis.
Update 11:
D-Link has a brand new wireless G router, which is made just for Lingo. Amazingly enough, you cannot find it on their web site, but if you Froogle it, you will find it available for purchase in at least four on-line stores. It is similar to it's Lingo Ethernet hub router, but the availability of the wireless capability is really tempting. It's average cost is around $100. I am considering buying it. The only thing that I do not know is would it be worth it $100 to uncluttter my desktop and get rid of the Lingo ATA and some wires related to it. Now I have a Linksys wireless G router and two Lingo adapters and a computer connected to it by wire. I also have several computers, including a laptop, connected to it wirelessly. If I buy the D-Link router, which I heard is of a lower quality than the Linksys one, I could just have that router with only one computer connected to it by wire.
*** Interupdate:
I just had a conversation with a Lingo salesperson. He told me that there is no way to switch devices for already existing Lingo lines that are connected to their ATA. My understanding was that they only need to switch the serial numbers around, but he said that they do not do that. His explanation is that it might cause technical glitches to do it. So if anybody is considering doing this, please know before you buy the equipment that you wont be able to switch your existing lines to the D-Link device. For all the others wanting to sign up for a new number, in that case you will be able to use your D-Link. Another thing, the salesperson said that I could sign up for a new number and just cancel my numbers related to the ATAs. I do not want to do that, therefore I will stick to the wire clutter.
Update 11:
There are several features that I would like to see Lingo offer soon, which I have noticed on other company's plans. The first feature that I would like to see implemented is the Wi-Fi phone support. We would get rid of the the ugly ATA, since it would be integrated in the phone. Since most people I know already have a Wi-Fi hot spot in their houses, it would be remarkably easy to use Lingo. Plus, whenever you travel, just take your Wi-Fi phone with you and you'll have your home phone wherever you are as long as you are in a hot spot like Hotels, airports, etc. Think of the cell phone savings.
The second feature that I would like to see is directory listing. I would like to see a directory listing for all VoIP phones, regardless of which company they belong to. Also, there should be an opt-out option for people who would not like to be listed in the directory.
I hope Lingo listens. I have not seen many changes on their web site or any features added lately.
Update12:
I was reading a few reviews that claim that you are not able to use Lingo for faxing. I am not sure whether they have Lingo home or Lingo business service. As far as I understand, one needs a Lingo business service to have the fax feature enabled. Otherwise, you only get to use the voice feature.
Also, it is not true that Lingo does not work with satellite providers. My girlfriend has a Dish Network satellite and has her receiver hooked up to the Lingo adapter. She needed to get a regular phone connector splitter. That is because she has a Lingo home plan, which means that only port1(on the adapter) works for voice/phone features. She inserted the phone splitter into port1 and then she connected her phone and the Dish receiver to the same splitter (effectively connecting both into port1). It only works this way. She tried connecting it to port two (which if she had a business plan would be used for a fax machine), but it did not work since it is disabled on a Lingo home plan.
I hope this helps those of you who are trying to use Lingo with your satellite receivers.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM.
Update 13:
I just received some unsettling news in a form of an e-mail from Lingo. It looks like that, for their home unlimited plans, they will be raising their rates by two dollars. Now, while it is true, as they state in that e-mail that their price is still lower than their competitors' (especially considering how much Europe they cover for free), raising their prices during the VoIP consolidation times might prove unwise. I am afraid that many customers who do not call Europe much but perceive Lingo inferior to other VoIP providers will switch away. As far as I am concerned, I call Europe everyday and $21.95 is still lower than $24.95 or even $39.00 that Time Warner charges for their "Digital Phone". Hence, I am not going to switch, not even if Lingo all of the sudden went crazy and charged more than Vonage (which I do not think will ever happen). The price increase is supposed to happen on June 1.
Anyways, as always if you have any questions regarding Lingo or any other specific VoIP question or you would like to be referred to get the $25from Lingo please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 14:
Lingo finally has Caller ID with Name, even when you receive a call from a party not affiliated with Lingo. I noticed that they've started advertising it quietly on their web page.
At first, I had some difficulties with it. A few calls would display a name and a few after that would not. Anyways, I e-mailed the customer service and, 24 hours later, a Lingo representative tells me that they will have Caller ID with name rolled out completely by the beginning of September. By then, according to that person, the service is bound to have a few glitches. Lo and behold, this week all my received calls displayed a name of the caller with their number. So it works.
If you have any questions or if you would like me to recommend you so you can receive $25 from Lingo, please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 15:
I decided to change my credit card information on Lingo, so that they could charge me on my MC on which I get some cash back. Low and behold, when I got my last month's statement, the credit card company charged me 2% of foreign transaction fee.
I called them and they explained that Lingo charges are coming from Canada, therefore it is a foreign transaction. I asked to talk to the supervisor, and she explained that Lingo charges from Great Britain, hence why the charges. Well.... something smells funny. I will change the Lingo credit card back to my check card, where I never got charged a foreign fee (Visa). Did anyone else have the same experience?
If you have any questions or if you would like me to recommend you so you can receive $25 from Lingo, please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 16:
Lingo has changed the names of its plans. I guess my plan is now called "Chatter Box". The prices have not changed as of last increase, which happened several months ago. I am still enjoying the service and have not had a single interruption in years.
Update 17:
A peculiar thing started happening. My Lingo bill increased by a few dollars in the past several months. I looked into my recent bills and there was a shocker: Lingo has started charging the regulatory recovery fee and the emergency fee, and my long distance, which is over and above what Lingo's unlimited plan covers, is being taxed now too. My bills are now close to $29 altogether. Nevertheless compared to other VoIP companies, Lingo is still the king of cheap.
Lingo also has a new plan, in which you are allowed to prepay for the year ($195) and have unlimited minutes in US and Canada, without ever receiving a bill. That is about $16.25 per month to get the unlimited plan. Granted Europe is not included, but compared to Vonage or Packet 8, that rate is really, really low.
Update 18:
First of all happy new 2008 to everyone reading this review! I just got an e-mail from Lingo shocking me again. They are saying that, starting February of 2008, they will increase the Regulatory Recovery Fee from $0.99 to $1.99. I find it a bit excessive in all honesty, so I compared my Lingo plan with the rest of the competition, just to see if it is still a great value as it was before. Now, with all the fees, the $21.95 unlimited plan ends up costing around $24-25. The plan has not changed and its still unlimited for most of Europe, all the US and Canada. I could not find a plan that offers all that for less money, so guess what, I am sticking with Lingo!
Again, I wish you all a happy and prosperous new 2008!
Update 19:
On my last Lingo bill I discovered my first error charge. Namely, I called my cousin who lives in Paris a couple of times to his landline. However, Lingo recognized his landline number as a mobile phone number and charged me a couple of dollars for those calls.
It was not a lot of money, but out of principal, I decided to call the Lingo customer number and request a refund. A guy with an accent answered a phone and asked how he could be of help. I calmly explained the situation and he asked me if he could put me on hold to access my information. Less than a minute later he said that Lingo charged me because, apparently, I called a mobile phone in France, which is not covered by the unlimited minutes agreement.
I told him that the phone was a landline. Without putting any fight he apologized for the inconvenience and told me that Lingo will credit the wrongly charged funds on my next month's bill. I will be looking for the next bill to see if it really is true.
The phone call went amazingly well aside from the fact that the guy had an accent. If I get the money back, Lingo will have scored another good point in my book.
Update 20:
With the high gas prices starring me in the face and demanding a bigger part of my income every month, I have decided to decrease my spending in other areas. Lingo was one of the items on the list. I decided to lower my Lingo bill by changing my subscription from Chatter Box's $21.95/month, which included unlimited Europe to Lingo Link's $7.95/month, which is an a la carte service (basically you pay as you go). With that I wanted to know if I will be paying even more monthly if I called my family in Europe and the US as often as I did when I had the Chatter Box. It turns out that I am paying at least $10 per month less. Turned out great for me. The only thing I did not like is having to pay $10 to switch the plans. I believe that Lingo could allow switching services for cheaper or even for free (as they did in the very beginning).
Followup comments:  serg_leo
join:2001-11-28
Germantown, MD | Faxes works for Home Faxes works for Lingo Home without any problems. Just select high quality codec. | |
|  | RichieVega
join:2005-05-04
New York, NY
| Re: Faxes works for Home Yeah, I do faxing from my computer all of the time without any problems. Check out my review, which I updated on 4-25-06. And if you are interested in a $25.00 Credit Referral, please don't hesitate to contact me at "RVLingoReferrals@Yahoo.com" and I will be more than happy to help you out.
So far I've saved over $950.00 by using Lingo versus Verizon/ATT phone service combo I had before, not to mention that I used to have to use my Cingular Cellular Phone Service to call Puerto Rico, and now I don't have to use my cell minutes, I can call directly from home. What a pleasure! | |
| sds8081
join:2006-04-24
New Hyde Park, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| lingo service comments hey, my name is steve,
i have been a lingo customer for over 2 years now and i can tell you the following,
The first major problem with lingo is that they have different levels of tech support,
yes i know this is normal, but they have it set up different,
Even if you reboot your ata box 50 times, they will make you do it again, they tried pinging my modem and stuff, but there was no loss and low ping times.. I worked for the cable company, so i have an idea of how that works. They claimed once that my ping times are to high, 6ms is not high under any circumstances.
they refuse to transfer you to level 2 tech even if you have dealt with level 1 in the previous call before being disconnected.
The reason i called is becuase i have been trough 2 ata boxes. Very strange. Now, dont get me wrong, level 1 should be able to get rid of basic stuff, but here they really suck. Level 2 is diferently like upgrading from a 14.1kbps modem to 13mb download (which i currently have).
as far as the service quality goes, its not good, its always low, i get rapid busy signals and have to attempt multiple time to dail the same number, primus has nothing to do with anything in any of the conversations, the person here is defenetly trying to advertise or promote. The tech support is horrible, they need to get rid of level1.
second thing, they always look for something to bullshit you with, for example. i have my modem hooked up to my ata device, which is hooked up to a pc. the pc is off, no os installed, and they tech guy keeps insisting that thas causing problems because i might have software using up bandwith. morons.
anyway, let me know what you think, I still use them, becuase i can port my number from a voip to another voip.
prices are excelent, but why pay 20 bucks and get 150 worth of headaches.
i recommended1 person 1 year ago, i still havent received my 30 bucks or whatever. | |
| | RichieVega
join:2005-05-04
New York, NY
| Re: lingo service comments Hey Steve,
Check out my review, especially for the connections of your ATA box to the Router, rather than directly to the modem. This took care of 90% of the problems, then, I set my "Connection Enhancer" to "Highest Call Connection Speed" which then uses more of your broadband connection for calls, but should not affect browsing the internet. This setting is recommended if you have cable internet service or use Lingo for faxing frequently. Each call uses approximately 90Kbps.
These changes made a heck of a diferrence.
If anybody has any questions or would like a $25.00 Credit towards their account, please CONTACT me at: "RVLingoReferrals@Yahoo.com" and I will be more than happy to answer your questions and give you or somebody you know a referral!
Rich. | |
| | 
somitho
JNCIE
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Richmond, VA
| Well great, you've worked for the cable company; that makes you an expert on ICMP.
Obviously being a cable company employee, you would know that they ask you to reboot the ata because there may be something that you missed or your hardware didn't grab the first time. Second, you should further know that if one tech couldn't help; maybe this second tech is just a bit more knowledgeable than that first tech and wants to help you as much as s/he can before forwarding you to level 2.
Which cable company did you work for?
Might be best to mention, that Primus carried VZ's long distance service to international nodes prior to the buy out of MCI. Primus is one of the leading carriers for voice out there, while VoIP technology isn't perfect I certainly would doubt of issues within Primus causing your problems.
You get a 6ms ping to the voice node? I highly doubt that, who is your ISP?
Try contacting sales/marketing for the referral payment.
This site has spell check, please use it.
--
"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking." General George Patton Jr | |
| | | sds8081
join:2006-04-24
New Hyde Park, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: lingo service comments wow,
we obviously have someone from lingo down in VA reading this.
First of all, i worked for cablevision as a level 2 tech, i know more then enough about tcp/ip and routing as needed.
since you seem so offended because you prob work at their shipping department that took years to ship out my replacements, let me ease your mind.
Ping times refers to the time it took your rep, to ping my modem. The ping times were excellent. Second of all, i have tried contacting them about the credit, nobody knows anything , but they do see the person i recommended. Third, The first level of support is there just to reboot, get a dail-tone back by any routers that have lost their ip since it is DHCP. so as far as you feeling all suicidal and shit because of your company ,too bad, head to the nearest bridge and do us a favor, jump..
to all other readers,
Lingo is a good service provider with excellent prices. They are unbeatable,
i would recommend it to everyone, except i would let you know to expect crap from level1 support.
(or crybabies like this guy)!
and primus, i know nothing about them, never heard of them, don't care who they are. I am only focusing on my service with lingo. | |
| Erinys
join:2007-07-12
Terre Haute, IN
 ·LINGO
| For those that have said this person works for Lingo... I don't believe so. It looks more like he's working for himself.
I didn't read every last word of lengthy update after update, but I did see several plugs telling people if they wanted in on the $25 credit for using a referral from an existing customer to email him. What he never mentioned anywhere near the numerous plugs was that he also gets a $25 credit for every new customer that signs up and remains a customer for three months. If he did mention it, my apologies (It must have been buried in a sea of repetitive remarks and I missed it).
I've been a Lingo customer for about three years now. My ATA device is not made by Toshiba (No clue where he got that tripe). According to FCC laws any number can be transferred to any new service (Number Portability), so the statement about having to get a new number if you get a new ATA device is pretty laughable. They claim that there's no need to upgrade your adapter because all of their adapters are of equal quality. That doesn't change the fact that equipment has to be replaced from time to time because it eventually wears out... or gets hit in a lightning storm.
The sound quality is not always crystal clear for me and I'm quite certain it has nothing to do with my ISP, especially since Lingo's tech support reps have acknowledged the issue. In the instances I have had trouble Lingo's tech support has been decent and sorted the issues in a timely manner.
I'll post a proper review regarding my experiences with Lingo. I just wanted to mention that this guy is only trying to shove Lingo down your throats so people will contact him for the referral email so he can get his $25 per new account. If it's working for him, spiffy. | |
| | denzel
join:2005-01-02
Lincoln, NE
·LINGO
edit:
July 29th, @03:11PM
| Re: For those that have said this person works for Lingo... With all due respect, there is no reason to post insulting comments. When people ask me for a referral, I send them the official Lingo Member invitation, which explains that both parties get $25 each.
I certainly am not trying to "shove" the Lingo service down anybody's throat. I am willing and able to help with any technical questions, including people that have not used me as a referral. I have done it for a long time now, never charged anyone a single cent.
Anyways, I have read your posting and it does not seem to differ from mine. You must be a happy Lingo camper after all!
Thanks,
Denzel | |
| robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL | Never heard of them Are they reliable? I'm looking for a long distance carrier that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for 100 or so minutes. My Cable company charges $40 a month for 100 minutes and, that's a rip off.
-Rob | |
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