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Review by neilswolf 
Posted: 264 days ago
member for 4.8 years, 107 visits, last login: 26 days ago
 West Hills,Los Angeles,CA
 Contract price not specified.
 "Excellent service and technical support"
 "None"
 "Recommended to all my friends - and they are still my friend"
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Excellent service and technical support - quick response time - very happy with the service for well over a year now.
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 Review by TJ_in_IL
UPDATED: 273 days ago
member for 3.4 years, 1116 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Winthrop Harbor,Lake,IL
$10 per month (24 month contract)
"The People- Customer Service, Tech Support..... everybody!!"
"None, as of yet"
"Great service for the price! Really have come a long way!"
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UPDATE- 2/27/2009----
It has been a while since my review, and I have not been very active in the Forum discussions lately, so I figured I would update my review here.
I was very fortunate to try one of the new GrandStream HT502's from ViaTalk, and have it in front of my router. Since that move, and the updates of their servers, my service has been rock solid. So solid that my wife asked if I had changed providers. No more echo, one way communications, or lost service that had worked it's way into weekly occurrences. The whole team at ViaTalk has been responsive to issues, and supportive to concerns. I am very pleased with the service, and hope that the future remains the same. The only thing that will get me to change at this point, is if the price jumps when my contract is up.
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I thought about making the move to ViaTalk back in July of 2007, when the Sun went down. I was a bit hesitant because of the large influx of people for the same reason as myself, and my feelings were right. ViaTalk suffered a major blow to their system, and their reliability and customer service levels showed. I don't find much fault with them, it was a very tough position to be in. They were at that point what might have been the 3rd most popular VoIP provider here at BBR, behind Vonage and SunRocket. Well, the Sun set, and Vonage was faced with several patent lawsuits.... so ViaTalk was a very popular option. That, coupled with the presence of their CEO and several other people from their company in the Forums here, made them an open company. ViaTalk bounced back, and working hard to keep their customers happy.
I finally made the move to ViaTalk on Saturday February 2, 2008, after a few days of no inbound service from TeleBlend, SunRocket's replacement. The online sign up procedure was easy. I asked in the Forums here if anybody knew how long the turnaround was for BYOD service, and I was contacted by a VT rep, who expedited my request. Within 2 hours of sign up, I was making and receiving calls on a temp number. I initiated my port request, and on Tuesday, my old company was still jerking me around. I reached out to VT to see if they could expedite the port, and 5 minutes later it was done. Unfortunately, the old company slammed it back within an hour. VT worked very hard to get it back from them, and Thursday it was complete. Now, I am not saying that everybody will have the same experience, I was lucky, and things worked out for me. But I was also lucky that I had a fine team of dedicated individuals working hard to help me out. Bottom line, I was very pleased I made the move.
Price wise, I did pretty good. $199.00 for 2 years. That works out to $8.29/mo. plus the 911/fees of $2.50 = $10.79/mo.... not bad, compared to $15.79 for a slapped together shell of what they called service. Any time I did have to call VT, the wait time was short, or the callback feature was AWESOME!. If the wait time was like 2 people or more, you put in a callback number, and they will call you back when your are next in line. Online tickets also were handled very quickly.
Overall... very happy with the move. VT's presence here shows a high level of commitment to customer satisfaction and service. They know they have had their problems, and are working very hard to overcome them. Unlike other providers that have failed in the VoIP market, VT's problems existed because of an extreme influx of new customers. That is something the nobody could have predicted.
Well done..... and keep up the great work.
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 Review by pende_tim
UPDATED: 275 days ago
member for 5.9 years, 3263 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Andover,Sussex,NJ
$14 per month (15 month contract)
 about 4 days
"Voice Quality, Reliability, Price"
"15 day trial policy. Lack of User Guide"
"Good Solid Service"
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2/25/2009 Update
ViaTalk continues to perform well for me. Audio is clear, one way problems seem gone, and service is always there when I need it.
Keep up the good work, Brendan.
Tim
7/13/2008 Update
Service continues to work fairly well. I have had occasional troubles with dropped calls, one-way audio and calls going to my fail-over number randomly.
Second line feature is something I did not think had any use for ( only 2 of us in the house) but I have used it several times, Most handy.
Tech support is "OK". The problems I report usually get fixed. Sometimes it is a hassle as the stock fix is to put the PAP2 in the DMZ, it must be your setup as no one else is having these problems, etc.
They do seem to have some repeat issues mentioned on the ViaTalk forum but they are changing their call routing method, which may help.
I would recommend as long as 99% reliability is acceptable. It is not"five nines" like my land line but works for me when I need it.
I am up for renewal in a couple of months and probably will re-up for the 12+6 price plan.
Original Review:
Ordered the 12(+3) month package at end of June. PAP2 adapter arrived 3 days after order was confirmed and CC billed. Plugged into a LAN port on the Linksys WRT54G router and in a minute, the proper blue lights were on and I had dial tone.
Call quality has been excllent: no static, clicks, echo etc that I can hear. Other party reports excellent voice quality. Voice connection is solid. I am using Verizon DSl provisioned for the 3.0 service tier .Have not had any dropped calls except, strangely enough, when calling VT sales about a second order on Tuesday afternoon 8/1/2006.. Go figure.
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Features are very nice. Best ones are simultaneous ring and failover.
Voice mail could use some work. Personal greetings are appended to the standard system greeting which can't be changed. E-mailing the VM message to me is a nice touch. Voice mail notification light for phones that support this feature is turned off by default, you must request support to enable. Seems strange it would be off by default.
Some have reported that DTMF tones do not work. I have had no issues accessing Voiced mail or calling banks so tjey may have that sorted out.
The 15 day trial policy is a bit short to form a true evaluation from but I understand that they do not want to be taken advantage of by having trials drag on forever. That is why I only gave them a 4 on "value for $". It is a risk.
One thing that is missing is an instruction guide explaining the features and what they do and how to use them. I can go on the website and poke around but my wife does not want to spend the time. She wants a "manual" in front of her explaining what features are avaiable ( in non technical terms and how to make it happen : example: to make several phones ring at the same time do this...,, to call you voice mail, dial ... and then press... to change the voice mail greeting press.. etc, to conference call press... to transfer a call press..)
When I ported my old VoIP carrier's number to ViaTalk, process took exactly 20 days.
Liked service so much that I ordered again for one of my kids who will be going off to school. I was able to have it setup with a local number to the school's area but sent to my home. ( Yes I did update the E-911 information to reflect the appartment they will be moving into)
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Review by thefoxbox
UPDATED: 276 days ago
member for 5.1 years, 43 visits, last login: 140 days ago
Irving,Dallas,TX
$9 per month
about 14 days
"It's cheap... $199 for two years (promo rate for 2lines plus $3 a month for federal charges)... Quality is good, when it works."
"Blinking VM light on Uniden phones and SUPER LONG DELAY before connection unless you dial 1"
"It works when it works, and it works well. Tech support is a massive joke."
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UPDATED 2/24/2009: There may be a sudden influx of renewed 'satisfaction' with ViaTalk over the coming days. They just sent out a nice, long e-mail about how they have upgraded their networks, and wow! The response time is sick (as in amazingly good) in relation to response time over the phone (the time it takes for the other person to hear you and vice-versa). It used to lag and I used to be extremely hesitant to use the home phone. Now it's no problem.
BUT
If you don't dial "1" before a number, be prepared to wait for 10-15 seconds before it even starts ringing... This is a severe annoyance since day one. They explained it to me a while back and it's ridiculous that no other company has this horrid delay, but the price is amazing.
Tech support (avg hold time) is supposedly now three minutes. I wouldn't hold my breath... Maybe 5-10.
Amazing price, though. Huge abundance of features... way more than the other three providers I've been with, including Vonage.
-----------Previous Review-----------
These guy's tech support is as bad as Verizon's... but they aren't nearly as massive.
I have had this service since 3Q 2007.
The service is all right. I searched and have had at least three other companies, but this one was the best value. You get two phone lines for the price of one. That's pretty amazing in my book, considering that some companies charge the full price for another line even if you are already a customer.
The VM doesn't work right with Uniden phones and they are "aware" of this issue as of April 2008 (when I last spoke to them about it). They were nice enough to give me the password to check the settings in the box that I got when I signed up to see if I could adjust the settings. It didn't really help. It is working better than before. It just seems that at times, the voice mail light will not turn off even after new messages have been deleted. Sometimes, it's delayed.
I'm glad I got this service, and the international rates are pretty low as well. I wouldn't go back to POTS anyday, and the discount far outweighs the disadvantages of this service.
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Review by degauss1
UPDATED: 276 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 1514 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Hillsboro,Washington,OR
$16 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
"Lots of features. BYOD friendly"
"Long hold time to speak to them. Can't handle large influx of new subscribers easily."
"Good value. Good quality."
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SR refugee. Signed up online 7/24/2007 for regular plan. Called same day and switched it to BYOD. They were friendly and professional. 7/26/2007 got temp number and credentials. Was getting call within 48hrs of signup. Call quality is good. Forwarded inbound calls take a few seconds to connect but that's pretty normal for call forwarding. I have problems with conference calls I dial in to where inbound sound cuts out for like 5 seconds. hitting mute and unmute on my phone resolves instantly so not sure what the real issue is. Will work with support after the influx related delays calm down a bit more.
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Update - 11/15/2007
Over 3 month now and the service is still good. I replaced my Innomedia device inherited from SunRocket with a Linksys device from Earthlink (unlocked). It seems to have resolve the odd issues I had in the beginning. I've adjusted my numbers to reflect the further experience.
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Update - 2/24/2009
So, I renewed and went for a provisioned ATA from VT. Second line works flawlessly and porter my Axvoice line to a virtual number for an additional $3.95/mo.
The service is still excellent and the switch from BYOD to provisioned account was simple and straight forward. The LNP process from Axvoice to VT took all of about 14 days total.
I'm STILL happy with VT. I've adjusted my numbers to reflect the further experience.
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 Review by jmelcher
UPDATED: 277 days ago
member for 3.8 years, 407 visits, last login: 24 days ago
Evansville,Vanderburgh,IN
$18 per month (month by month)
about 3 days
"Inexpensive, Good Control Panel, Full of Features, Good Tech Support"
"None"
"Good quality for a good price. Reliable."
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2/24/09
I decided to switch to another provider after reading great reviews about them. I was able to test the new provider alongside ViaTalk and compare voice quality and Control Panels, Customer Service, etc.
For me, it came down to better voice quality with the new provider and I was able to cut my monthly expense in half. I got tired of the nickel and diming by ViaTalk. For the past 6 months my charges were not consistent and had to ask for credit one month when they mysteriously charged me 200% more sales tax than they should have.
ViaTalk's service was good overall, but VOIPo is better for me.
Update 10/24/08 - Continue to experience great service... no outages experienced at all. e911 now works in my area - have already had to use it once and verified with the dispatcher that all pertinent information was being sent by the adapter/ViaTalk.
Update 8/7/08 - Continue to experience good service. Have only had 1 instance where the service did not work and that was due to being placed onto a "new" server, but after changing back to the original server, "central", service was re-established and no issues since then. People continue to report problems on the forum, but it also appears the majority - if not all - of them, are BYOD customers. I have a Viatalk supplied adapter and couldn't be happier.
Original Post - Great service, reliable and fast tech support. Rec'd adapter 3 days after ordering service, plugged it into my router and began making/receiving calls. Ported my number from AT&T in 1 week after submitting the paperwork.
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 Review by dkennedy
Posted: 279 days ago
member for 2.2 years, 2 visits, last login: 279 days ago
Schenectady,Schenectady,NY
$14 per month (18 month contract)
about 3 days
"can't beat the value for the money plus the great service"
"monthly regulatory fee and e911 (although still cheaper than most with great call quality)"
"yes, they had their hiccups, but they keep going and going like the energizer bunny....great service...no complaints!"
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From verizon freedom $69/month to time warner digital phone $39/month to sunrocket $16/month to vonage $24/month and now with ViaTalk for $15/month. I paid $199 for 18 months plus the E911 and regulatory fee of $62.10 for 18 months for a grand total of $261.10 for 18 months or $14.50 a month.
For everything that you would want in a phone, I fine viatalk a great value for the money, plus great call quality and support. Their customer service is the best of all the previous services I had. Yes they had their moments when you couldn't reach customer service because of all the calls they get, specially, on days when they run their promotions...but nothing out there can beat their serivice in value for your money.
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Review by vhm_14u2c
UPDATED: 279 days ago
member for 3.4 years, 26 visits, last login: 257 days ago
East Mc Keesport,Allegheny,PA
$17 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
"cost efficient, good call blocking features"
"monthly regulatory and e911 fee even though annual+ contract"
"has improved greatly since I started with them"
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ViaTalk has greatly improved since I have started with them a few years back. They have robust call blocking features including anonymous call block (something I requested from Vonage when I had them before my current voip but was never able to add).
I am also able to use phone during holdays now which is a plus and was not able to do during 2006 and 2007 holiday season.
Something to be aware of, but is not a problem with ViaTalk or any other voip service: If you have a low cost DSL service, (ex: lowest tier with Verizon), you will have voice issues if you are doing any type of data activity on the PC. Good examples of data activity, anti-virus/windows updates, downloading files, loading webpages, etc.
They also have some specials they run every now and then which is a plus, example would be $199 for 18 months of service.
Only quirk on this though is you will stll be charged each month for a regulatory and e911 recovery fee, but good thing is, it is low cost, aprox $2.50/month.
If you are looking for a decent voip provider, give ViaTalk a try. I am glad I am still with them.
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Review by bubbanc
UPDATED: 283 days ago
member for 2.5 years, 267 visits, last login: 55 days ago
Garner,Wake,NC
$11 per month (24 month contract)
about 10 days
"Great features, good initial price"
"Unreliable quality, dead air during calls, difficult to decipher fees"
"Used to be the best, but has gone downhill"
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Initial price was great ($199 for 2 years + $3.50/mo). Service was rocky the first 3-6 months or so, then we were great for about another year. They recently had some upgrades in late 2008 which, for me, caused the reliability to go down hill. The WAF finally got to the point where she preferred using her cell phone instead of VT and even talked about switching back to POTS. We both experienced dead air during when being the calling party and being on the receiving end. Tech support was little help in resolving the issue and never suggested changing serves which ended up (at least temporarily) resolving our issues. I am up for renewal for and chose to go with another provider based on price (VT would cost me $15 a month to renew) and reviews. Thus far, I'm happy with the new provider and most happy that they were completely upfront about their fees (taxes/911/etc).
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 Review by n1zuk
UPDATED: 285 days ago
member for 8.1 years, 3138 visits, last login: a few hours ago
South Burlington,Chittenden,VT
$16 per month (24 month contract)
about 10 days
"Great sound quality, BYOD option, Low cost"
"Excuses, no resolutions. Glad I've bailed out when my term was up."
"Stay away. There are better options out there."
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Update 2/16/2009
Today is a new day. One without ViaTalk. And the sun is shining.
My two year experiment with ViaTalk is over. The only reason I lived with it this long is that we (my family) just don't use the "home" line enough for it to become an unbearable problem. Just a constant nuisance.
On the plus side, the phone usually worked. Sometimes it would take a second try to get a connection to go through (be it inbound or outbound), but you could make and receive calls. The main problem was that *EVERY* call, over the past few months, would have a 5 second audio drop out. Very annoying.
Those who follow the VOIP forums here know me as a contributor, and I have a decent knowledge of how to make a home VOIP system work. I have watched, again and again, people come to the forums with similar problems, and I have tried all of the recommendations. But the problems never get fully resolved. But then, why should a working system need constant attention?
ViaTalk seems to make too many changes on their end. Some work, some don't. But many seem to break things while fixing others. Knowledgeable people point out problems, yet the feedback from ViaTalk seems to remind me of my 10 year old son. "Well, it is not our fault." Always quick to defend their position, instead of looking to find what really is going on.
To paraphrase what I said in an earlier update: It is a phone. It should work.
It doesn't. Well sometimes. But not as it should. The "Maybe Phone"
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Update 10/22/2007 --
OK, everyone by now knows of the Sunrocket collapse, and the problems ViaTalk had handling the large number of new subscribers that flocked over from them.
As my service was up and running, I never had any issues that needed resolving. It just keeps on running. My service has remained rock solid, I have had little or no problems with system reliability. Most of my earlier issues were self inflicted, but switching from DD-WRT to Tomato firmware on my router has eliminated 99.9% of my problems (even with Comcast as my ISP).
It's a telephone. It is cheap, and it works.
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Original review 3/2007
I signed up on one of the last days the $199/yr with the second year free pricing was available. I initially went with the VT supplied PAP2T, as I could not tell from their web site if the 2-for-1 was also valid for BYOD. I've since decided that my needs for using a SPA-1001 instead are too great, so the PAP2T that I paid $40+ to get is sitting in the box under the desk.
I had hoped that the DSLREPORT coupon would had offset the expense of the VT supplied PAP2T, but found out after ordering that the coupon does not apply, due to the poor storefront interface that doesn't show your billed amount (and allow you to confirm) before charging your credit card. Several emails with billing support people gave conflicting (and sometimes incorrect) responses.
My dealings with the actual technical support folks have been great -- fast and knowledgeable.
My current setup is a BYOD SPA-1001, with VT on line 1. Sound quality is excellent, especially after coming from Packet8. I'm on a 4000/386 Comcast line (Adelphia legacy), and a WRT54GL w/DD-WRT firmware. So far, my wife is happy...
I'll report again in a few months to update any reliability issue.
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