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Review by seezar 
UPDATED: 1.3 years ago
member for 8.3 years, 1297 visits, last login: 96 days ago
 Rochester,Monroe,NY
 Contract price not specified.
 about 4 days
 "usually works fine"
 "Changing TOS, new charges after prepaying for length of time, not really unlimited"
 "Price changes and is raised after prepaying"
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Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
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Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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This is my first experience with VOIP. About a year ago I wanted to try out sunrocket with their $199 deal but it wasnt available in my area. It has since become available.
I then read about Viatalk and they had simialr pricing though with Viatalk I also got an additional 3 months free. The deciding factor was that Viatalk had numbers available in an area that I wanted a virtual number and Sunrocket did not.
I dont plan to completely replace my POTS line at least for now. Main reasons are I work for the local phone company and get my POTS line with all features for about $15 a month. Only downside is I dont get any long distance discounts and am required to use them for long distance in order to get the employee benefit. Also I have DSL and need the line for that anyway.
So in my case my viatalk line is more of a second phone line and will be used for long distance.
I have had service for about 3 weeks now. I placed my order on a Monday night and the PAP2 arrived in the mail on that Friday. I plugged it in and immediately had dialtone and could make and receive calls. I then wired it into my 66-block on line 2 and now all phones in my home have service on the second line.
99% of the time I cant tell a difference between that line and my POTS line as far as sound quality goes. If I am doing some heavy downloading I can notice a few cutouts but nothing that is overly bothersome. I run my internet connection through a m0n0wall and have setup traffic shaping on the upload so I'm sure that helps.
I'm very happy with the call features I get with Viatalk. I have been using simultaneous ring and customer caller ID and both work without a hitch. I also tested the network failover and it fails over to my POTS line immediately.
I ordered about a week before the $199 2-year deal and was a little disappointed I missed out but thats the way it goes. I was able to use the DSLREPORTS coupon to receive $35 off so all in all I spent about $175 for 15 months of service. As long as service remains at the level it is now, I consider that a great bargain.
I've used their online ticketing system quite a few times and have always received a response. Response time has varied from within 15 minutes to 24 hours. The issues that have taken longer to respond to werent critical so I have no issue with that.
Update: 7/25/2006:
Just to update as I've had the service for a few months now. Still happy with the service. Had a few hiccups here and there thought alot of it had to do with my DSL service which I've been able to resolve.
My GF uses it much more than I do and she is generally happy with it. Sometimes she complains of a few dropped calls or some echo. I consider this minor.
I love the fact that ViaTalk gives out the admin password for the PAP2 so we have the option of tweaking any settings we would like. Also able to put in a support ticket for them to update your configuration so any custom settings you changed dont get wiped out by auto-provisioning.
Many new features are being implemented and the fact that Viatalk is active on these forums and listens to customers wants/needs is a big plus.
Update 1/19/2008
My term is up in March and cant wait to leave for another VOIP provider. I prepaid for 2 years of service up front and since then they have added extra monthly charges. Over the holidays we used alot of minutes and now they tell me I'm going to be billed for minutes over 5100 minutes because it doesnt fit THEIR definition of residential use. I was notiified this only 2 days before the billing cycle ended and now I have to pay overages. So for prepaid service I am now paying an extra $20+ a month. Horrible way to operate company. I'm looking elsewhere, even if I have to pay a bit more at least I understand those terms upfront.
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