Review by bmize13 
UPDATED: 210 days ago
member for 3.6 years, 963 visits, last login: 17 days ago
 Dallas,Paulding,GA
 $8 per month (36 month contract)
 about 3 days
 "Price, Website, etc..."
 "At this point, all is grand"
 "Excellent VoIP Provider..."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I feel guilty, as I've not updated this review in quite some time. The reason for my lack of update is that things have been so uneventful with VT, that I've simply forgotten!
For quite some time now, I've had phone service that works... Very few down times. In fact, the most recent outage that I was aware of was a result of two thing; I switched ISP to AT&T, and they don't play well with two lines, and I bought a faulty router.
VT has become a solid performer for me, and I'm finding myself quite sad that my contract is expiring. Given the current economy, it behooves me to search out the best deal on VoIP, and VT just isn't the best deal now. If they get smart and lower their fees in the next two weeks, I'll happily keep my service with them. Otherwise, I fear, it'll be time to start over with a new company.
Bottom line for this review: If you really want a high-quality VoIP provider with decent customer service and an expansive list of features that are sure to tickle your fancy in some way or another... Then ViaTalk is a perfect fit. A solid, dependable phone company that has exceeded my expectations for most of three years.
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Update: 10 AUG 2007
Another update... And a piece of advice. If you are looking for VoiP, stay away from ViaTalk. I've been with this company for about 16 months now, and haven't had a two-month stretch without major problems. With the recent SR fiasco, VT has been nearly killed. Tech Support lines that are 4 hours long (then you get hung up on, I'm told), zero response to tickets... No incoming calls, no outgoing calls... Incoming, but no outgoing, then outgoing but no incoming.
Even with the price being what is was ($199 / 2 years), it's hardly worth it if the phone *doesn't* work. I can pay anyone $9 / month and get nothing in return. That doesn't make it a good value.
I had high hopes that VT would right the ship, but it seems to be gaining more and more water. Might be time to bail out very soon.
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Update: 13 JUN 2007
I'm updating this simply to state that the service is having loads of hiccups. At one time, it was a service that I could feel good about recommending to friends and family, but not any more. I am simply losing my confidence in the company.
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Updated 8/07/2006
In the months following the infamous "sale," I have seen a calming down of many issues. Tech Support has returned to normal, quick service. I am able to reach a live person within just a couple of minutes on most calls. Resolutions has been more than adequate, with ViaTalk seeming to reach the extra mile to ensure that my phone service is top-notch. This is the company I signed up with! I should have updated this sooner, but I wanted to make sure the changes were going to last... I'm a happy dude!
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Update 5/09/2006
Tech Support levels have dropped drastically. I have been waiting 10 days now for ticket resolution regarding dropped calls and poor audio. It seems that response times are sporadic at best. One ticket may get a response in 45 minutes, while a higher-rated ticket might take 3 days. I have found no rhyme or reason to the delays other than their continued backlog brought about by total lack of preparedness from their recent sale.
At this point, I wouldn't recommend friends or family to this company. Perhaps later, after they have had a chance to straighten matters out. But certainly not right now.
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Update 5/01/2006
Service has been off-and-on. Sometimes, we are able to receive calls, but other times require two or three attempts to actually make the connection. I've also noticed ticket response time via Internet has dropped drastically... I do understand the backlog of trying to sign up so many new users as a result of the recent sell, but should that impact the quality of service that I expect to receive?
I have ordered Sunrocket, and will be comparing the two side-by-side for a while. I'm hopeful that VT will be able to resolve their issues and get back on track rather soon...
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Purchased Viatalk last week after a nightmare adventure with a company called VoiceEclipse nearly left me completely out of the VoIP world. Initially, I had selected Vonage as my provider, and was very satisifed with them... until I had to call Tech Support. During a recent storm through the southeast, my Vonage PAP2 was hit by a power surge. Having no phone, I had to wait until I returned to work on Monday to order a new box. The tech rep at Vonage by way of Bombay could not understand that I needed a box. I understand they have a script they must go by, but I was actually trying to PURCHASE a box! After getting nowhere with Vonage, I decided to find a company whose tech support people spoke and understood English. This led me to VoiceEclipse. Signed up with them on Monday, signed up with Viatalk on Wednesday. VoiceEclipse couldn't provide what their sales staff (and website) promised. I happened upon this site (www.dslreports.com) during the course of my frustration with VoiceEclipse, and began to read about ViaTalk. Then I followed a link to their website and began researching price and features. Here is a sample of that thought process...
"Hmmm... tech support based in New York. That's an English-speaking place. And they offer all the features of Vonage? Wow. And I can use a softphone for free?" It went on and on from there. To clear up a few items, I actually called them and spoke with a member of ViaTalk's staff. All my questions were answered well beyond what I expected. I went for it... Signed up for the 12 month plan and used DSLREPORTS as a coupon code. Life was grand...
Then I saw my invoice. No coupon applied. So, I picked up the phone and called 'em. Took about 4 minutes, and then I had an email in my inbox telling me that they were correcting the problem and would be crediting my card $35. Oh, and it also said, "We are sorry." Wow!
I received the box on Saturday, hooked it up, and... IT WORKED. We had quality phone service again! And my wife was very happy with this company. She liked the email response to the coupon code, as well as a couple of other email responses to questions I had asked. We were in VoIP Heaven...
Until Saturday night. There was a brief outage at the exact moment I needed my phone to work. Trying to plan family events for Easter is difficult at best when the phone DOES work. Wife and I talked about it and decided to see how long it took to get service back on line. We submitted a ticket and sat back to wait. About 20 minutes later, I was making my calls. Then it happened... We received another email apologizing for the failure of our service! I mean, when did actual Customer Service come back in style?
Though we have only been active with them for a few days, we are pleased beyond our expectations with the features, quality, customer service, and price of ViaTalk. If you are looking for a high-quality company to provide you with VoIP service, then look no further. I sincerely believe this is the best of the best.
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UPDATE 04/18/2006
We used several of the "neat" features yesterday while my Bride was sick in bed. Do Not Disturb was perfect to insure that she was able to get the sleep she needed without telemarketers calling and disturbing her. Also, we were able to place a few 800 numbers in the call block section, and it seems to be working as well.
Two annoyances noticed: When placing a call, we occassionaly have to wait maybe 5 to 10 seconds before it actually places the call. Not sure what this is about, but it is mildly annoying.
#2: We signed up to have our number ported from Vonage. Used a home fax machine to send in the LOA authorizing transfer. First attempt: Didn't connect. Second attempt: Connection succeeded and fax sent (or so I thought). Received message the next day to send in the LOA, as all they received was the bill from Vonage. Resent from my office on a regular line, and it seems to have gone through perfectly. Not sure if the fax feature works as advertised, but I can live with as I do very minimal faxing from home.
Still loving the service overall. We signed up to have our number ported from Vonage yesterday. Hopefully, everything will go smooth with that transfer.
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UPDATE 4/20/2006
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Today is my first day of disappointments with ViaTalk. For starters, they did some server work that knocked out my incoming and outgoing call logs. I can deal with that... I think. When I came home from work, I found that I had NO phone service. That one is a bit tougher to swallow. Less than a week on ViaTalk, and already TWO outages. No problems, though... I just need to call the 24-Hour Tech Support line. So I did. And it isn't 24 hour tech support. "Phone support is currently unavailable." does that mean their phones are down, or just mine?
I submitted a ticket with the hopes that all would be back up and running within just a few minutes. No such luck. Here I sit, 4 hours after getting home, and still no service. In addition, I'm still unable to reach the 24-hour tech support.
NEXT DAY: I will now say that I do not believe their tech support is, indeed, 24/7 on the telephone. I was unable to access help from them until after 8:00 AM, which would lead me to believe that they work in shifts. This is a big downer for me. I was finally able to restore service, but only after they sent my information and I noticed that they had changed my password. They (apparently) were unaware that they had changed it.
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