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Review by dipdewdog 
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 6 years, 427 visits, last login: 88 days ago
 Washington,District Of Columbia,DC
 $24 per month
 about 15 days
 "Superb call quality, Tech and Billing support have been flawless, Full-Featured router"
 "Call filtering $1.99 extra, can't combine billing with wireless"
 "Great value for money, especially AT&T Mobility customers"
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I've had a pretty rocky few months with Comcast in DC. The $129.99 triple-play was consistently $170+, missed and canceled appointments, the whole gamut. But this review isn't about them--so let's just say I was fed up in a big way, and looking to get out.
I had originally fled to Comcast from Vonage, and due to their uncertain financial state, wanted to avoid them. I looked into CallVantage, and was impressed with their positive reviews and relatively quiet support forum here on BBR.
I placed my order for the $24.99 unlimited package with the first month free on October 21. I decided just to bite the bullet and port my Comcast number over so that I wouldn't have to do it later. A few days later, the TA (D-Link DVG-5102S) showed up via FedEx and I got an e-mail confirming my port for November 5. I set up the TA, made a few test calls with excellent quality and forgot about it until the port date.
AT&T's web site says that ports usually happen around 9:00 AM EST, but I found that mine wasn't complete until about 1:00 PM. Your mileage may vary here, but the process itself was seamless.
Once Comcast had disconnected my phone line, I noticed the quality on CallVantage had diminished. Callers could hear me fine, but every 20 seconds or so the incoming audio would click and turn to white noise for about 2 seconds, then click back to the caller. I called AT&T, and they put me in a different QoS "bucket" and told me to monitor the line. Turns out the problem wasn't on their end, but something was up with the Comcast VoIP modem. Apparently it was dropping packets whenever it tried to register the voice side, which it could never do because service was disconnected. I pulled it out and replaced it with my old Motorola SB5100 and it's been smooth sailing ever since. The AT&T rep did mention that they monitor our line quality monthly and make adjustments to our "buckets" accordingly, which is pretty impressive if you ask me.
The D-Link router/TA they supply is almost as full-featured as my trusty Linksys WRT54G router that runs the open source Tomato firmware. I currently have the TA in front of my Linksys router, but plan to put it behind the router once I have the time to set up the QoS settings on it.
The only negative experience I've had thus far is with billing. I signed up for the $24.99 plan with the first month free. When I realized I qualified for $5 AT&T Mobility customer discount, I called in to have it applied. The rep assured me I would still get that first month free, but I was billed for it. I couldn't seem to get my point across to e-mail support, and the rep took a bit of an attitude with me when I insisted I get a credit. Ultimately, he told me that he wouldn't help me and I was free to call their billing department to sort it out. I did that, and the rep I dealt with there was much more pleasant and immediately issued me a credit for that first month. I had already been billed, so my 2nd month will be free, but whatever.
Bottom line--CallVantage is a very flexible product with a solid corporate backing. AT&T is far from my favorite company, but I've been incredibly impressed with CallVantage so far.
Followup comments:  
Jeffneedshelp
@rr.com | help You have the same type of equipment that I have, and I just wanted to know how your connecting them, because I'm having troubles with mine?
Thanx | |
| | dipdewdog
join:2003-11-07
Washington, DC
| Re: help My TA works equally well both in front of my router and behind. I would give AT&T CallVantage Tech Support a call at (866) 596-8464, or check out the forum here on BBR (»AT&T CallVantage) They should be able to assist you better than I can. | |
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Review by larrykz
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 8 years, 200 visits, last login: 287 days ago
Rancho Cucamonga,San Bernardino,CA
$25 per month
about 14 days
"Best VoIP voice quality period, Good pricing and features"
"Being asked almost daily if you have moved for 911 purposes"
"Affordable, best sounding VoIP, and slightly annoying"
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Sound quality was my number one reason for choosing AT&T CallVantage as my VoIP provider. It was priced $5 a month higher than Vonage but was rated the best in sound quality and so I chose it. There was no contract to sign, I could keep my old phone numbers, the VoIP modem was free after rebate, and setup for me was a no-brainer. After signing up I found that you could get the price reduced by $5 per line per month just by going to the AT&T website and choosing an identical plan that cost $5 less per month and no features are lost by doing that.
The AT&T feature set for their VoIP was the best that I'd seen. The Find Me feature allows all my VoIP incoming calls to be routed to me via my cell phone when I'm not at home. If I do miss a call for any reason, I have AT&T CallVantage configured to email me a copy of my voicemail message so can listen to it on any computer by logging into Gmail.
The equipment provided was a D-Link VoIP gateway and is installed between my cable modem and my network's router. Setup took all of five minutes, and if you physically disconnect your phone line from your old phone company first, you're able to just plug the VoIP into one of your old phone jacks and all the phone jacks in your house will work as they did with the POTS install.
The only annoying thing about AT&T CallVantage is being asked almost daily if I've moved for 911 purposes. My cable broadband company tends to reset their connection most nights and once the D-Link VoIP Gateway detects it has lost contact with the AT&T CallVantage servers it asks you to press 1 on your phone if you have not moved it to another location the next time you try to make a call. I know it is doing that for my own good, but it tends to get a little old after awhile.
All in all I like AT&T CallVantage a lot. I have two lines using it and it saves me $50 to $75 a month over what the phone company charged.
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Review by mbowling
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 3.4 years, 478 visits, last login: 171 days ago
Bend,Deschutes,OR
$27 per month
about 5 days
"Always works. Good voice quality."
"Extra charge for call blocking."
"Great service if you want VoIP cost savings and the reliability typically associated with a landline."
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I switched to CallVantage from Viatalk after Viatalk had reliability issues because all of the ex-Sunrocket customers joining ViaTalk.
I must say that CallVantage is very boring. It simply works. I don't need to change servers or tweak settings in the adapter. All I do is pick up the phone and talk. Boring is great!
Call quality is very good. It is similar to a landline.
The service is a little more expensive than some of the other VoIP providers, but I guess you get what you pay for. My cost is around $27 per month.
After two months of using the service I am a happy camper.
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Review by tac11tac
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 2.1 years, 2 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
Ann Arbor,Washtenaw,MI
$30 per month
about 3 days
"Solid as a rock."
"Had to teach my family to use all 10 digits. (no big deal)"
"I recommend it highly."
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Currently using two lines with free long distance and inexpensive global calling for $61/month. That is less than what my connect charges with Verizon were. When ever I've had questions or issues, the website or phone support has been great.
Things are and have been good since Fall 2005.
Setup as...
Cable Modem --> Router --> TA
Cheers.
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Review by sibyl9
Posted: 2.1 years ago
member for 3 years, 39 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Easton,Fairfield,CT
$24 per month (month by month)
about 4 days
"Call quality compared to Sunrocket at the end."
"ADS! Went for my voicemail and had an ad dropped off! Wouldn't port my Sunrocket number."
"Don't go there. This is just a placeholder to move you back to ma bell."
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I tried Callvantage with the idea they would be professional. Avoid them. They/ATT note that they could cancel voip at any time. Callvantage was too lazy to even try to port my number - said to call the ATT landline group. And to make things even more gross, picking up my voicemail got me Advertising! Ick. I don't want to hear anything other than my messages and sure as hell not some dumb ad. The Ads happened a couple of times. I contacted them and said no more. But, I am out of there anyway, as I want to be with a Telco that cares about me having my number.
Their website is set up so you have to pass through all their ads to get to your account information, another negative.
Followup comments: 
NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | What the @#$%& are you talking about? I have had CallVantage for 4 years and have never heard nor seen 1 advertisement for anything. | |
| mbowling
join:2006-06-21 | Comment I have never experienced any form of advertising when using voicemail. | |
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PoitNarf
@rr.com | Ads? Never had ads, either in VM on the website. | |
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 Review by schweb
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 1410 visits, last login: 7 days ago
Lakewood,Cuyahoga,OH
$24 per month
about 5 days
"Outstanding Call Quality, Great Features"
"Call filtering costs an exta 1.99"
"CallVantage is an outstanding, quality VoIP option"
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I switched to CallVantage from Vonage after the customer service and number porting nightmare I had there. The signup process online when extremely smoothly and I shortly received an e-mail telling me my number would be ported in approximately 9 days.
After receiving my TA, I plugged it into my network and it just worked. For the first 2 days there was a slow down in the network speed while I was on the phone, but that quickly cleared up and now I barely notice a difference after the TA "training" process. A little annoying at first, but as I said, it cleared up.
Some strong points:
- Outstanding Call Quality. CallVantage call quality is just simply the most amazing feature of the service. It is so far above the VoIP providers I've tried, and at times it's even better than POTS
- Powerful Features. I really couldn't get by without Locate Me or Do Not Disturb. 10 person conference calling is also a pretty cool feature to have although now it costs $0.35 minute.
- Control by Phone. I love the power and control of being able to completely change service features over the phone in addition to the web. You can also place outgoing calls using your CallVantage service from any phone, anywhere. It's like having a free calling card for long distance and all you need to do is make a local call.
- Simple Reach virtual numbers
- Safe number - when the system is down, it will route calls to another number
- Call Filtering including anonymous call rejection (does have an extra cost $1.99/month so you'll need to weigh whether it's worth it to you).
- Powerful online phonebook with click-to-dial.
Weak Points:
- I personally haven't had any issues yet, but I'll post here when I do. The only thing that ma be a down side is that some people are having an issue with putting the TA behind the router. I don't do that so I can't speak to it.
Overall, I don't think AT&T CallVantage can be beat for VoIP service!
UPDATE 3/4/05:
- Recently switched to the Centillium TA. Great options including DMZ built in so there are no issues placing this in front of the router. Also works perfectly behind the router. Ran into a little trouble switching from the old DLink. Called customer service, spoke to someone in 3 minutes who quickly fixed the problem.
UPDATE 10/09/2005:
I've had CallVantage for well over a year now and am still extremely happy with the service. They recently just pushed through an update to the Centillium that fixes all the little remaining issues. I couldn't be happier with a VoIP provider.
UPDATE 9/29/2007:
After a brief hiatus from CallVantage because I decided to only use my cell, I went back when I bought my house in April. I'm using the original DLink device behind my Airport Extreme base station and it's working flawlessly as always. Wiring my house with CV was extremely simple and it's working as expected. I couldn't be happier.
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Review by rufus279
Posted: 2.1 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 211 visits, last login: 17 days ago
Tonawanda,Erie,NY
$26 per month (12 month contract)
about 16 days
"Excellent Voice Quality"
"Taxes, 10 digit dial"
"You get what you pay for and a company that won't shut it's doors overnight."
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As a former SunRocket customer, I was not going with another VOIP provider where you pay upfront for 1 or 2 years of service and not know if the company will be in business in 6 months. Like others have said, the voice quality is great. I've got the ATA behind a router running tomato with QOS and I can complain. The wife loves the quality as well but is learning to deal with the 10 digit dialing.
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 Review by Pizz
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 9 years, 2278 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Astoria,Queens,NY
$29 per month
about 7 days
"Great Voice Quality, Fast Call Connects, Do Not Disturb Me!"
"Installation Of Telephone Adapter Behind Router, Price"
"Expensive product, but great call quality, great features!"
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When i ordered this service last month ATT told me it will take 2-8 business days to port my number over. My telephone adapter which was a centillium came within 2 business days. The delay was my number being ported over from IDT, they tried to delay it but one call to ATT and my number was switched over.
I activated the TA and i was pretty damn amazed how quickly calls can get recieved or placed. Call quality is amazing sounds crisp, smooth. The only real issue i had, was connecting my telephone adapter to my router. Just so much work to get it done easy.
Price is expensive compared to other VOIP providers, but i'd rather pay for a name like ATT then a company that i dont even know will exist tomorrow. Nothing personal, just that's how i feel buying services.
1st Month Free
Telephone Adapter Free
No setup fee
29.95 will be my exact monthly bill
1/9/07 - the bill has dropped to 24.95 a month, before taxes. i pay roughly between $31-$32 a month! service has been great, but at times my linksys router gives me static on the line. i think timewarner doesn't like the fact i'm using att and not them.
7/3/07 - Changed out the old Centillium MTA-1 for a Linksys all in 1 Router/VOIP/Wireless TA. Fixed my static on the line and it was just plug and play. Great product, will be keeping for a long time.
9/21/07 - TimeWarner Cable gave me a offer i couldnt refuse. 195.00 a month for 4 cable boxes, 4 movie channels, with digital phone. No promo, thats my total cost. I liked ATT alot, just gotta go where i get cheaper services.
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Review by djw3798
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 314 visits, last login: 40 days ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$26 per month
about 7 days
"GREAT sound quality, established & stable company"
"A little more expensive than Sunrocket (RIP), some standard features lacking"
"Stable and Rock Solid, from a company that won't disappear in 3 years!!!"
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Needed to replace Sunrocket, and traditional POTS is NOT an option... Cincinnati Bell is outrageously expensive!
Opted not to even try to port my old SR number. So few people actually had the number, it's not too hard to convey my new phone # to them.
Ordered on Tues 7/17, after SR went down in flames. New TA, a Dlink DVG-5102S, was delivered by Fedex within a week.
Took all of 2 minutes to install the TA and make a call. The sound quality is SUPERB, just as clear as POTS.
No problems so far...
...to be continued!
UPDATE - 8/22/07
Still working great! Tried putting the TA in front of my home router to take advantage of the QOS properties built in to this particular TA, but was less than satisfied. The TA wanted to throttle down my network connection ALL OF THE TIME, not just when on a call. So, I moved it back behind the router, everything OK!
Their 911 Confirmation routine, whenever the TA loses power, is somewhat annoying, but I can live with it!
Overall, a great experience so far!
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Review by mmclaren
Posted: 2.3 years ago
member for 3.9 years, 235 visits, last login: 28 days ago
Richboro,Bucks,PA
$23 per month
about 14 days
"Sound quality is fine, customer service has been EXCELLENT"
"Slightly higher priced than my last provider (SunRocket). Call filtering costs extra."
"Good balance of functionality and price and backed by a name that won't disappear overnight"
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As a SunRocket refugee, I was looking for a company that would be in it for the long-haul, but still allow me to keep my old phone number. As I had taken my phone number with me after a previous move, I wasn't able to port back to POTS.
Luckily my number wasn't with Global Crossing, so AT&T was able to port my number from SunRocket to their service. This took 14 business days.
Calls to customer service have been handled by a domestic call center and all folks have been able to answer the questions that I have asked and are very clear.
I'd like to see them waive the fee for call filtering, but I'm happy I get a $5 month discount for being an AT&T Wireless customer.
Followup comments: joe77
join:2007-08-11
Laurel, MD
| questions... Does it work with the FiOS Actiontec router with FiOS TV?
Do you have to be a genius in order to get it to do so?
What about outgoing caller ID? Does it still show up even if I choose the "nonpublished" option? I want it to show on caller ID but not in any directory.
I don't have any non-cell phone service now, so there's no number to port. | |
| | mmclaren
join:2005-12-30
Richboro, PA | Re: questions... Don't have FIOS TV so I'm using my own router - sorry! | |
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AT&T CallVantage
(14)
911 repeat ask
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Of course, a UPS doesn't help when you have to reboot it to have it update its config for a public vs private IP.