how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
 Review by spm9999 
UPDATED: 4 days ago
member for 6 years, 2768 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Imperial,Jefferson,MO
 $16 per month
 about 3 days
 "Call quality, web site, nice options"
 "None really"
 "Works great and byod is easy to setup."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
8/23/07 After 2 1/2 years with Sunrocket, I was forced to change. I thought about changing to viatalk at last renewal. It seemed things were on the downfall a year ago. Took about 3 weeks to port my number over and byod works great. So far I haven't noticed any downtime. CS is lacking due to all the refugees like me but I am sure it will return to normal soon. Allthough I really wish they would answer thier tickets. They don't seem to be answering them at all right now.
04/03/08 Things seem to be just fine after 8 or so months now with Viatalk. My service is nearly rock solid and tech support has caught up with the wave of people from Sunrocket (ME Too).
11/16/09 Getting dropped calls after 10 or 15 minute calls. Nobody seems to know how to fix it. Guess it's good enough for the money.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
Review by jandy
UPDATED: 8 days ago
member for 2.9 years, 250 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Fort Wayne,Allen,IN
$16 per month (18 month contract)
about 13 days
"Great customer service, great user forums, great call quality"
"installation was hard for me, product is maturing"
"Very solid service; few quirks here and there; WAY better (and cheaper) than POTS."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
UPDATE 11.12.09
Just a quick note to say that I did decide to renew last month. The quality has been very consistent, reliable, and strong for me. The only way I see myself switching is if I ultimately succumb to the allure of a triple play deal (I don't have cable TV--just an antenna) or if the service really changes for the worse. I don't see those scenarios happening in the short or longer term, so I signed up for their 18-month renewal deal. The monthly fees don't bother me, as I calculate those into my average monthly cost, and it is still one heck of a value in my book.
UPDATE 07.13.09
Over two years, and ViaTalk keeps working. I've had ZERO problems with outages over the last year--just some minor issues like the VMWI light not going off (which seems fixed now). Call quality has always been very clear. I enjoy the features--particularly Do Not Disturb, Anonymous Call Rejection, Voicemails to e-mail, etc. I was considering the cable company's triple play, but my wife and I decided against it. We don't watch much TV (so our antenna is working just fine), and VT has provided us with good, consistent service. So why rock the boat? My package is up until Dec. 2009, but we will probably renew. Maybe a nice renewal special will come along between now and then! (hint, hint, VT, if you are reading!)
UPDATE 01.02.08
It's been over a year, and I continue to have no problems with ViaTalk. Looks like a lot of folks are, judging from the forum here. But I am happy with over a year of reliable, crystal clear call quality and great features.
UPDATE 09.03.07
VT is great. I've had very few problems since my last update. VT is getting a bad rap from all of the former SR customers who are overloading the system and (perhaps understandably) are very impatient and want things to work as of yesterday. I've been nervous, but happy to report that my service continues to be great in spite of the surge in VT usage.
UPDATE 05.22.07
I just upgraded my "reliability" rating. I continue to have zero problems with this service. Excellent call quality, astounding features, and all-around fantastic value. I'm so happy with my choice.
UPDATE 03.20.07
I have had zero problems since the last update. The service has been very dependable. I've even noticed that fewer people seem to be reporting problems on the VT forum here. Voice quality has been excellent--I'm very happy with the service. I think that I will stop updating this review unless I experience any major problems or changes in service.
UPDATE 02.26.07
Service has been excellent since the last update. Unfortunately, we had a death in the family which necessitated lots of phone calls in and out. VT quality was perfect during this time of hectic and increased phone use. I'm definitely feeling better about the reliability and service.
UPDATE 02.10.07
I've had rock-solid service and call quality since my last update. I've left my setup alone, except for updating the firmware on the Actiontec router. I'm very happy with the service, and am starting to gain more confidence in the reliability.
UPDATE 01.31.07
I feel like things are beginning to "settle down" for my service. I've been tweaking things, and now I am going to leave my settings alone for as long as possible to try to get a better feel for stability over a larger chunk of time with my current setup.
Customer service has been much more responsive and helpful this week. I still think that, overall, VT is a great service. Voice quality since the last update has been excellent.
UPDATE 01.26.07
VT could be experiencing growing pains, as there have been more complaints about customer service in the last week. The problem is that it's really hard to pin down where problems in call quality come from and also hard to figure out how to fix them.
I've had some problems with the service, but nothing that I would describe as major, catastrophic, or unfixable. The service presents a good value. I love getting my voicemail messages on e-mail. But I also realize now that I am constantly concerned about the reliability of my phone service whereas as a POTS customer I never had to question it. I knew that coming into this experience, but living it is different than thinking about it.
Overall, I'm sticking with VT, but am starting to become a little concerned about the quality of the CS. I just want problems clearly communicated as quickly as possible, and transparency regarding where the problems are coming from and what is being done to fix them.
UPDATE 01.11.07
Just had the porting of my number completed. Pros/Cons regarding this process:
PROS: Faxed my paperwork on 01.03.07. Porting process complete on 01.11.07. That's pretty quick. From the reviews I've read, VT generally completes the process much more quickly than the competition.
CONS: VT really needs to improve the knowledgebase and FAQ so that a consumer knows what to expect with this process. From reading the forums, I assumed my number would be inactive for a "few hours." My dial tone on my POTS line was dead when I woke up at 7 a.m. I didn't receive the "porting is complete" e-mail until 5 p.m.
Evidently, the porting team at VT doesn't start working on porting numbers until 1 p.m. EST. Would have been nice to know this upfront.
After receiving the e-mail, my phone didn't work. My cell phone wouldn't dial the 866 support #, leaving e-mail support as my only option. I sent an "urgent" e-mail to support, and they replied with instructed on how to log into my PAP2 and reset some settings. They got back to me in an hour, which is pretty good.
Unfortunately, though, part of the instructions were incorrect. I was able to recognize the error and had the service back up and running by 7 p.m. After the number is ported, you have to go back to the control panel and reset things to the way you had them with the temporary number. Again, would have been nice to have had a "heads up" on this.
Overall, I'm still happy with ViaTalk and still feel the customer service is pretty darn good . They need to develop the knowledgebase and FAQ to better prepare customers for what happens during the porting process.
--------------------------------------------------
I will update this review, as I have only had full functionality of VT for the last couple of days. I had a few kinks in the installation process, but I am happy to say that VT customer support has been excellent. I am impressed with the company, and I think that they are going about VOIP in the right way. I get the feeling that the company is interested in long-term success as opposed to making a quick buck, which is a good feeling.
Call quality is excellent. You can read about my installation problems with incoming calls in the VT forum on this site.
»No incoming calls--do I need port forwarding?
Overall, I feel like I am going to be a long-term customer. I think, though, that a person switching to VT needs to understand that he/she will have to be patient with the process. So long as a person is willing to work with the company and understanding of "kinks" in the process, I think that VT is an excellent value. The features are fantastic. And I think that the service is just going to get better and better. Time will tell if this is just initial excitement/idealism, and I will update in the coming months after I've had time to really fully test things.
I am going to port my number within the next month after I get my next phone invoice. I will let you know how that goes.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by unknvoip
UPDATED: 8 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 1505 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Rochester,Monroe,NY
$16 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
"Price, Features"
"Speed that tickets are ignored."
"Mostly reliable service, great price and good features."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Update 11/12/09 - It has been a smooth summer for my service. Just works. Call logs have been improved and a few other features have been upgraded in recent months. Decided to renew in Sept. I would still like to see the Contacts section of the CP improved. Overall a very good value for me, so I choose not to pursue switching to a competing service. I have a lot of configuration set to filter calls that I did not want to reproduce and I did not want to risk having to go through the tweaks sometimes necessary with a new provider.
Update 3/10/09 - Made it through the DST change just fine. That had been an issue with my service in the past. While mine was fine, I know some other DSL users had some issues. Insist support sets correct time zone and applies the right DST rule to you adapter and you should be fine.
------------ Original review with updates appended to end below -------------------------
Have had several months of flawless service, while a few on the forums here have had other experiences. As things stand right now, will probably stay with the service when my current term is up next spring. My favorite feature is custom call routing. Love to forward telemarketers to my cell so I yell at them a few times before forwarding them to the 'Blacklisted' list.
Customer Service can be hit or miss on their helpfulness as some reps are much more capable than others. Some who answer my tickets on-line are completely clueless - sometimes giving me answers that could not remotely apply to my issue.
On the up side, I have only had very few occasional outages for short periods of time.
Update 10/3/06 - Server upgrades are done and my intermittent outages have ended. Network Down Forward worked great when my cable modem froze up last week. Becoming more satisfied again.
Update 8/10/07 - In the midst of all the Sunrocket users coming over and bogging down Customer Service with install/port/technical issues, the service has been fine for me.
Update 10/16/07 - Very upset over changing the rules of E911 charges after public statement they would not charge for those on pre-paid plans until after renewal. CS rep said they would honor that, but only after my insistence. There needs to be a category for Integrity for the ranking. I would give them a 2/5 on that right now! Lowered other ratings over this issue. This is just plan wrong - what will they do next????
Update 11/28/07 - They have reversed the 911 charges for those prepaid before 10/06 if they contact VT. Better than not honoring prior statements. They seem to have stabilized from the SR debacle. Made a positive change to their TOS to make cancellation less painful. Current thought is to go month-to-month when pre-paid terms are up in 04/09.
Updated 6/23/08 - Working so well for me last few months, forgot to come back and update my review. Happy customer at the moment.
Update 7/29/08 - Recently had my VT supplied adapter blow out in an electrical storm. VT was good and sent out a replacement the next day. Only problem was they did not set up my provisioning of the new adapter to match the old one. I have not been able to get them to respond to tickets to update my provisioning file or to the ones to fix the things that don't work properly because of it (Time and VMWI, specifically). Other than that, service for me has been VERY reliable.
Update 1/23/09 - Through migration to new infrastructure all has been well. No problems ever on calls. CS has become more responsive to my tickets. Others seem to have some issues, but I don't experience any of those things. Added a beta area of CP for new features and feedback. Contacts working better than when first implemented. Ratings increased as a result.
Followup comments:  sneumann55
join:2002-07-27
Yonkers, NY
| Well........ Haveing moved from Vonage, ( i was one of the first 10,000) Vonage customers back in the day) Yes we had some issues with Via Talk after the sunrocket fiasco, when i finally reached Tech Support, my issues we resolved, however it took me abt a total of 5 hours to do it,not happy with the 2.50 a month even though I pre Paid, but other than that, its a good service, i think once the rush is over we will be ok, Cross Our Fingures.
--
SNeumann, Southern NYS,Fios 20/5,Optimum Cable 30/5,Sprint Mobile Broadband.Via Talk, MagicJack | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by dcurrey
UPDATED: 22 days ago
member for 5.3 years, 1563 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Lebanon,Warren,OH
$8 per month (24 month contract)
about 10 days
"Very reliable low cost service."
"Prepay not locked in due to monthly fees."
"Blows POTS service out of water."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
10-29-09
Service continues to run smoothly.
Viatalk keeps adding new features such as Callerid Name block. The ability to set forwards, DND, simultaneous ring, etc directly from the phone without having to log into the Control Panel. Outgoing number routing. Now have international plans! The list goes on and on!
Went ahead and upped the value for money. I am done complaining about bogus fees since this is now becoming the norm with voip. Its still not right but what can you do?
02-16-09
Not much has changed since last review.
Service for me is still stable. Tech support is responsive if I do have a trouble ticket issued. Usually 2 a year when time changes. Once in awhile something odd may come up.
Billing is still crazy. Prepay is not truly prepay, prices are not locked in for term, you get almost random taxes and fees billed monthly. Taxes varies greatly depending on location, time of day, phase of moon, weather, mood of CEO, who knows what else they take into account.
11-20-07
As far a reliability goes for the past couple months things have been running very smoothly.
They did update the TOS. VT now has a $49.95 early termination fee. This is an improvement over the %50 early termination fee.
They also from time to time offer current users special 1 year deals. Not as good as the Buy One Get One deal for $199+ but not bad for another years service if you want to risk it.
Due to the massive complaints and bad PR about the fees being added to contracts that have already been paid for the company has been crediting the accounts if you complain about it. And only if you complain about it.
10-16-07
It appears the CEO (VTBrendan) has lied to us. He promised after the bogus fees where added to new accounts that all existing contracts will be honored. (Original thread.»[ViaTalk] ViaTalk TOS Change October 4 2006) We find out today that is not so. They are now only waiving the fees for 1 year.
10-6-06
Viatalk recently added extra fees to cover the cost of doing business expenses.
We already had e-911 as a standard feature. Now we need to pay extra per month for it.
Also added the Regulatory Recover Fee. A total BS fee so they can make more profit and still advertise a lower rate.
People on prepay still have to keep a credit card on file so Viatalk can bill you monthly for the additional fees. This also gives them the ability to raise the rates mid term. Since you are locked in for the term you have no options unless you want to pay a 50% early termination fee.
Its an interesting concept don't you think? A prepay plan that is not prepaid nor locked in.
09-15-06
Signed up on April 25, 2006 during one of the $199 buy 1 year get 1 year free deals. Took longer than usual to get the adapter but once it arrived it was plug and play.
Service for the most part has been pretty good. Sound quality is excellent. Some interruptions when they tried to get server fallover working correctly. For the most part we seem past that, I hope.
Viatalk will give you the admin password for the furnished pap2 if you ask. Great for testing different settings, and general troubleshooting. When you get them they way you like simple submit a trouble ticket and they make the changes permanent. At most trouble tickets have only taken a couple hours. (As far as remember anyway.)
Never had to call customer service so no comment on that. The CEO does post in the voip forum that is a big plus.
They seem interested on what customers have to say. Implement new features all the time. Sometimes without adequately testing them it seems.
Website Control Panel. Layout is a little clumsy. Some feature sets should be combined into single area. Custom Callerid, Call Routing, and Whitelist to name a few.
I will continue to update as needed.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by cowsr4eating
UPDATED: 22 days ago
member for 8.6 years, 35 visits, last login: 16 days ago
Keller,Tarrant,TX
$12 per month (24 month contract)
about 5 days
"Features, quality, support, price, LNP (I ported home # and replaced phone company)"
"web site/plans a bit confusing. Had to call to get"
"glad I made the move. Had Vonage ... as good of quality, better service, better features, cheaper"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
The BAD. I’ll start with this. These are the potholes I have found.
1) The plans are confusing and it is not readily clear what you get and for how long. For example, the “special” right now is if you purchase the “Viatalk Unlimited” plan (unlimited calls in US/Canada for one year, you get a second year “free”. So in reality, the plan is two years the price of one, $189. These details are not clear. Although it says my billing cycle is “annual”, my plan does not need to renew until 2011, in two years.
2) When you purchase the VT Unlimited plan for one year in advance, you receive a 2nd year for free … so 24 months for $189 … sort of. There is also a setup fee, shipping fee, taxes, etc for a one-time, up-front cost of $269.42. You then will have a monthly charge of $0.65 for FCC Regulatory fees and $0.20 for E911 Fees for a total of $0.85 monthly charges additional. Not a big deal, but when you buy the VT Unlimited package for $189 for “one year” it’s really for two years and there are other fees (that are clearly listed will occur) but this shows exactly what they are (tax will vary by location I assume). It costs me $12.07/month taking into account ALL costs. I could not find the total costs anywhere ... it's nice to know up front what you're signing up for ... $12.07 for those who want to know.
3) When I initially purchased the plan, it did show I had a 2-year plan. I called the toll-free number provided with the PAP2 and the issue was corrected within minutes while I was on the phone with them. Check the account status and call if it does not show your 2nd “free” year in your account.
The GOOD
1) Features. See the website, there are lots. I have not seen better from any VOIP provider. I guess there can be at some point, but it’s a really nice list. The 2-line feature was the “clincher” for me.
2) Support. I had an issue with my phone within the first week. I submitted a “ticket”, the VT tech support mechanism. Within 10 minutes I received a response, stating they had made adjustments to my account (assuming the pap2 phone adapter), to try the phone, and respond if the problem is better or not. The problem was indeed fixed. GREAT tech support … for the one time I had to use it, but the web sites with reviews mirror my experience.
3) Quality. Sounds just like a real phone. I have great broadband so that may play a part, but even with using both lines at the same time my wife does not realize it is not a “real” phone.
4) Price. Not as cheap as MagicJack but one of the cheapest VOIP solutions, especially for the quality.
5) No PC required. Viatalk supplies a Linksys PAP2 adapter for the VOIP device. No PC is required and the PAP2 is effectively an appliance that you plug in and forget about. It’s the same brand/model device Vonage uses. I had great quality with Vonage, I canceled 6 months ago due to the cost/month.
6) Viatalk supports LNP (Local Number Portability). I was able to port my AT&T home number to VT. I purchased VT, they shipped my PAP2, I completed the LOA form and within 5 days they transferred my phone number from AT&T. Now my old home number is what is used by Viatalk.
Edit: 5 days order to live time was due to shipping to get my adapter. Plug in and it works. You probably need to set up port forwarding on your router, but a quick search of this forum/Google will direct you how to port forward SIP 5060 and 5061 (UDP) for your particular router. Had my call issue initially and tech support fixed within 10 minutes. Working great now. No issues.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by dplantz
UPDATED: 43 days ago
member for 9.3 years, 3603 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Roslindale,Suffolk,MA
$50 per month (3 month contract)
about 5 days
"Caller ID with Name incomming and outgoing, great call quality, awsome tech support"
"none"
"An awsome deal with an innovative company"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
I have had this line now since 2005. It still works great and has features that most voip providers have. I love the fact I can block callers that won't stop calling. Sound quality is equal to my Comcast CDV lines with more fetures. I would pay close to twice as much if I used Verizon Business phone service.
Followup comments: 
v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY | What kind of company is VT? incative = innovative?
Not meaning to be a smarta$$, but instead I am trying to figure out what adjective you really wanted to use in your "bottom line" text. | |
| 
lchiorazzi
@verizon.net | VT Number Porting I had a good experience with VT number porting. They were able to fix a weird situation i had with Time Warner. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by chas3
UPDATED: 45 days ago
member for 4.9 years, 781 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Dallastown,York,PA
$14 per month (12 month contract)
about 6 days
"good tech help, good call quality, great value"
"your router can make or break your experience, see update 12/27"
"get it.. company is stable unlike the big guy."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Only had the adapter one day so far, but going good so far. Will update when I have more talk time, but here's my experience so far....
Researched various providers for a few days during which I contacted VT a couple times by email (ticket) and once by phone. First email ticket was answered in just 4 minutes on a Sunday night. Second ticket took 4 hours. I did mark these as low priority. My phone call was answered in about 2 minutes. The responses were intelligent and the person on the phone could give real answers.
I signed up for the service Friday morning 12/8 for the $199/year + free year, with activation/shipping total bill about $239. [update: On 12/16 I got billed for E911 fee and reg fee $2.50 addition/month.] I wasn't ready to trust to port my number yet, so I asked for a new number. They don't offer new numbers in my area, so I signed up for a number out of my area for now. I will be able to port my number for free later, then that will give me "local" service in my city. (note for VT...I initially wrote you off because your site said you don't offer service in my area, which is not true if I port my number.)
Now I waited, apparently its taking a couple days to process orders because the free year is keeping them busy. On Monday 12/11 a friend wanted to sign up for viatalk and asked me for a referral. I didn't have my account processed yet, so I submitted a low priority ticket to ask if I could get my customer number to do a referral. Within 35 minutes I was completely setup and had a tracking number and did my referral.
Now, I did notice a bug in the link for the tracking number, so I went direct to USPS to track. Not VT's fault, but USPS does not seem to tell you that they even received the package until it is delivered.
While I was waiting, I logged into the account and setup a softphone to play with a little. I setup the xten x-lite phone a made a few test calls. Pretty good calls, but I was using beta software which had a mic gain problem.
Received adapter Thursday 12/12. Plugged it in and nothing happened. Found out I had a bad port on my belkin f5d7230-4 router. Switched to a different port and lights came on but not the phone. Browsed to the PAP2 and found it was never configured. No problem, around midnight, I called tech support waited 3 minutes. Knowledgeable tech stepped me through the setup in a couple minutes and suddenly I had dialtone.
I made some calls for a day now and so far so good. One call this evening had slight echo for the first few seconds, but then it disappeared.
I have v3.1.9 in my PAP2T and there is a V5 available. Need to determine what has changed and if it is worth flashing. The tech said it will work fine with the standard firmware. Linksys does not say what the firmware changes.
ratings: The website (4) is a bit weak, but adequate. More extensive descriptions of features would be nice. Perhaps all the features put into a pdf in a manual format would be helpful.
Installation (5) even though I had to configure my pap2, it was easy and my having a bad router port is not their fault.
Quality (4) I did have a brief echo, but it corrected itself unlike other voip calling cards and softphones I've used. I expect to bump it up after a little more testing.
Reliability (4) Just trying to stay realistic that voip may never be perfect, but expect to bump it up after more testing.
Tech Support (5) I have been amazed at the top notch help.
Value (5) Price, features are great.
update 12/18: increasing quality and reliability...while i am not saying it will be perfect, it has been great over the last few days. Had an issue with my cordless phone not ringing. Submitted a ticket and it was fixed by changing to trapezoid ringing.
update 12/20: changed PAP2T firmware to 5.1.1 and now the original ring voltages work. Found outgoing voice breaking up during an extreme condition of doing a dslreports speedtest during a call. Clearly a router issue (not VT) and looking for a better router to eliminate this possibility. Started a separate thread to figure out what to get.
update 12/27: Flashed my Belkin with dd-wrt firmware. The software QoS helped some with outgoing voice during speed tests, but bricked my router during a setting tweak. So I temporarily used a dlink DI-524 router that made viatalk completely unusable. Dlink would drop connections or reboot every few minutes. Used the dlink while waiting for a Zyxel X-550 router to be delivered ($30 after rebates-rebate until 12/31). Installed and configured Zyxel X-550, giving Viatalk adapter ip address a #1 priority. Ran dslreports speed tests during a phone call to my POTS. Only brief blips of breakup on the voice during the upload test. Blips so minor that it did not interfere with understanding words. As a double check, gave my pc top priority and then disabled QoS. Both cases, outgoing voice quality had long durations of silence during upload test. Restored viatalk to top priority and all is great!!! A little more testing time and I dump the POTS.
update 12/29: faxed form to port my phone number. Bummer...fax had to retry several times to go through. Kept getting communication errors. Even got errors when turning off error correction. I was faxing thru VT line. Usable, but annoying. Sent faxes to other locations was much easier.
Voice calls sounding good and staying connected---since replacing the router.
update 1/11/07: I didn't have proper info on the port form and had to re-fax it last week. Got confirmation email saying port is processing and checked on the POTS website and found POTS scheduled disconnect for 1/24 
Quality has remained great. I bumped up the website rating, since they more than make up for any weak website info by being able to ask questions quickly and directly with VT. Also, the CEO gives feedback on this forum and VT's own forum. If you have a quality issue, VT is quick to find a solution as evidenced on the forums. VT has so many features, I keep learning how to take more and more advantage of them.
Faxing is still a bit weak. I have sent some 14400 baud faxes successfully, with error correction on. But, still have to expect retries. I just got a 5$ DSL filter to see if that helps.
update 2/1/07: Porting my number completed last week. There were a few hours on the day of the port where my number was in transition and could not get calls on the porting number. Guess that is to be expected. Anyway, since then, service has been great. Think we had one call where the audio didn't start for a few seconds at the beginning of a call, and think we had made a call to a cell phone and didn't here the ring tone. Tried to duplicate these things, but worked each time. I have read that these are fixable by sending a ticket, but waiting to see if I can duplicate.
Just starting to discover how to use all the features. I really like the custom caller-id so I can put names with cell phone numbers.
Faxing going ok, but still inconsistent. The DSL filter I bought was broken, so didn't get to try that. I turned on FAX ECAN on the pap2t, which seemed to help. Also, forcing fax to 9600 helps some, although I sometimes think that since it takes longer to transfer, there is a larger possibility of taking a hit.
Have used the service for hundreds of perfect calling minutes including calls to Africa. Don't notice any delay.
Setting up distinctive ring to ring in morse code to identify the caller.
update 2/9/07: Used VT for over 1300 minutes now and going great.
Faxing now working very well. Changes needed were updated PAP2T firmware, setting FAX DISABLE ECAN to yes, lowering the in and out gain to -6dm, telling the fax to do 9600 baud. I did a bunch of test faxes at 9600.
I have the VT voice mail send an SMS to my cell phone when there is a message. That way I can see who left the message and decide if I need to retrieve it.
Update 2/28/07: Now over 2100 minutes of usage and still great. Normally can't tell a difference from POTS.
Update 4/18/07: Have used over 4600 minutes on Viatalk and still great. I use the softphone on my PC when away from home and that works well also.
Update 5/17/07: Still going great. I stand behind the statement, that your router makes or breaks your experience. I upgrade firmware on the router and didn't have all the settings right, and experienced a partial lockup in the router that blocked my internet and phone use. Anyway, I fixed the setting and rebooted the router and all is well.
Update 7/16/2007 Now over 10,000 minutes of use since sign-up and still impressed. A call today went to voice mail when it shouldn't have, but that doesn't happen often. Now, the offer to signup is even better now that they give you 2 lines. I don't have that option.
8/8/07 Even with all the sunrocket folks signing up with Viatalk, everything still working great. see »c3.mine.nu/bsafehome.html
8/30/07 been having some trouble the last couple weeks. When making an outgoing call, sometimes the first dial attempt doesn't go through. 2nd dialing usually goes thru. Looking at the forums, it might be related to the sunrocket surge. Anyway, I called tech support, they told me to try several things. That didn't help, so I called back. They changed something at their end and while too soon to be sure, I think it might be fixed. I bumped down reliability a notch. But, I am confident that things will be good as the sunrocket surge smooths out.
11/07/07 been going good. I've been on the beta server for a while now. I've bounced over to standard servers occasionally when the beta was being worked on which is the nature of beta's.
12/3/07 Have made/received about 17,985 minutes of calls in the past year. Last several months I've been on their beta server and switched back to a normal server because of some troubles a couple days ago. Overall calls are great.
12/27/07 Been a full year, still have the free year to go yet. Having two phone lines has been really neat. While not perfect, faxing has been going well, a couple pages per week.
6/27/08 going good. Just used VT to call home from France/Ireland for free.  I renewed for another 1.5 years (special during memorial day), so I'm set until June 2010. I updated the monthly cost to indicate the renewal price, including the monthly "gov't" fees.
10/6/09 overall, very good. great flexibility and features. SMS text messaging for VM has been customizable for a few months now so I can pick what I want to see in my 150 character SMS limit (cell phone limit, not VT). Second phone line has been so useful. A few connection problems because comcrap isn't supplying a strong enough signal to my modem, but that isn't Viatalk's fault.
Followup comments: kieranmullen
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR
clubs: | Strang rating If they had problems how can you rate them 100% on everything? | |
| | chas3
join:2004-12-03
Dallastown, PA | Re: Strang rating see below. | |
| josh28
join:2007-11-11 | New Number in Philadelphia Area I'm a Boston-area ViaTalk user who is moving to Cheltenham, PA in January. Were you able to get a local PA number when you ported your old number?
I, too, was told that ViaTalk is not issuing new numbers in that area.
Thanks. | |
| | chas3
join:2004-12-03
Dallastown, PA
 ·Comcast
 ·ViaTalk
1 edit | Re: New Number in Philadelphia Area They couldn't issue me a viatalk number in my area, but they were able to port my verizon pots number for me. Some smaller telephone companies do not offer porting of the local numbers to any VOIP, but verizon does (old GTE area). Neighbors can still call me for free.
You can take your current number with you, but your new neighbors will have to call you long distance. Check if viatalk offers numbers in your new city (I don't recognize the name). If they don't, you would have to sign up for local pots service, then port it. Which would cost you an install just to get a local #. Or, if GrandCentral.com offers a local # in your new area, you could forward it to your old VT #.
Edit...just noticed the topic is Philadelphia area. I think VT has local #s in many Phila areas. They might charge a small fee to change numbers?? Or, you could add the phila number if you want to keep the boston for folks there to be able to call you for free from boston. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by tferguson01
UPDATED: 70 days ago
member for 116 days, 82 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Newnan,Coweta,GA
$8 per month
"Tons of extras free. Like free second cloned line. NOONE CAN BEAT THIS PRICE!"
"Haven't found any as of yet."
"With the current BOGO deal @ $189.00 w/ NO CONTRACT and money refundability, makes this company a company not to pass up."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
This service is always on with no hiccups. I am a former VONAGE customer. When compared to the big names on the market this company sure competes. Seems like others don't agree. With a descent internet connection (I have 10mbps down / 1mbps up) this company will perform. I send faxes and run my home alarm off of this with no problems. Customer service is great and always there when you need them. They have a call back feature that can't be beat during high call volume days. Second free cloned line is a wonderful feature. Its like having a second phone line but with one number. You may be turned off when you see that to take advantage of the BOGO deal you have to fork out close to 200.00 up front but there is no contract and if you want to cancel anytime within the year you get your money back of the prorated months you didn't use. Give this company a try and you will not be disappointed.
Minimum connection is 69kpbs up and down. The connection speeds that I am running with is well more than enough to withstand this but I have tried it on 3.0mbps down and 128kbps up and it works great also.
If you are wondering how one comes up with $7.87 take $189.00 and divide by 24 because you are getting two years of service.
The fees everyone complains about are different if you pay for the BOGO deal, because you pay for them all up front but the 911 and taxes which amount to $2.45 for me.
UPDATE: Close to six months later and still a head strong company. Not a lick of problems. Sure Vonages new world plan is appealing but unless you call out side of america (Mexico, Europe, Asia) the plan serves no purpose and is still $24.99 plus taxes and fees. Viatalk still has them beat. Number porting can't be easier and I even ported my number from Vonage. No problem. I love ya Viatalk.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by Techie714
UPDATED: 77 days ago
member for 4.3 years, 1213 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Anaheim,Orange,CA
$16 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"Price, Call Quality, Features"
"Tech Support, Billing Support"
"As a former Sun Rocket customer so far I'm happy"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've used the service for about a month and so far it's been rock solid with no issues. Now getting it all set up was a bit of a problem because something was wrong with my provisioning as well as the phone adapter they sent me. But after that was all fixed my phone has been good to go. So far coming from Sun Rocket this has not been bad at all. And porting my number from SR was a very smooth transition.
UPDATE: Been using Via Talk for a year now & so far I have been VERY happy with there service. There tech support is still pretty bad though.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
| »next page (previous review)
Review by DHM1956
Posted: 87 days ago
member for 93 days, 4 visits, last login: 46 days ago
undisclosed location
$189 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"Great Price, Great Features, reliable so far"
"Don't have any so far..."
"Great service for the price."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I recently signed up for the promotion of $189 for 2 years of service. So far things have been great. The two line feature has come in handy on more than several occasions as well. When researching, I saw a lot of complaints regarding the extra taxes. When I received my total invoice at sign-up, I can honestly say that these weren't shocking. They all appeared to legitimate taxes, and seemed even to be lower than what I was paying with my old landline provider. I am in the process of porting my number over to ViaTalk, and will update my review as to how that goes. I wouldn't hesitate recommending trying ViaTalk to anyone after my initial and current experience with the service.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of ViaTalk |
|
|
(39)
(39)
(63)
(109)
(62)
·
·
·
