Review by NoVaVoiper 
UPDATED: 70 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 1492 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Arlington,Arlington,VA
 $8 per month (24 month contract)
 about 16 days
 "Voice quality, feature set, price"
 "Arbitrary policies"
 "Decent service with some poor policy implementation"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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FINAL UPDATE 5/16/07:
Dropped the service this week to switch everything over to FiOS. I was having some quality issue at the end which very possibly could have been network related. However, with my bundle discount it only costs me about $10 more for the landline now and the overally package is right in line with what it would have been with Comcast/ViaTalk so I'm happy with the switch. It was a good two years with VT, but all things must come to an end.
UPDATE 11/4/07:
I've updated my review to increase the rating since ViaTalk has agreed to make good for users who felt deceived by the regulatory and E-911 fees. The service is still good, but I will have to think long and hard before renewing. Management seems to make policy decisions on a whim. Too often (regulatory fees, referral discounts) these policies work against the loyal customer.
This company is an example of how entrepreneurial spirit can take a company so far, but the CEO would benefit from bringing in a business professional to take things to the next level.
UPDATE 10/16/07:
VT is now charging all customers a regulatory recovery fee and E-911 fee even when we pre-paid and it was not part of the deal wehn we signed up. They have been doing as much for a year now, but always waived it for pre-paid customers prior to renewal. What they are doing is changing the terms of the contract for customers who are no longer generating revenue, figuring we'll either leave with no refund (because we are in our "free" year) or start paying the fee. If they can do this, who knows what else they will do. When I paid $199 up front I took a risk that the service would work out and still be around and that nothing cheaper would come along. They took a risk that their fees would not increase. It may be that they lost that bet, but that's the essence of a long-term contract.
I have referred numerous customers but can no longer recommend this company. The $3 a month really isn't a major problem at all given the low cost of the service, but the fact that this company has a history of changing the rules whenever it's convenient for them to do so should give anyone caution.
UPDATE 10/8/07:
Well after the SunRocket fiasco, customer service is still trying to catch up. The ticket service is useless -- they don't respond even if you mark the ticket urgent. Phone support has imporoved because they will not call you back when you're next in line. However, when I leave my ViaTalk line as the callback number I don't hear anything one the other line when they call me.
The call quality and features are still good, but hopefully they'll get the customer support back where it was soon. I chose not to renew during the last sale to see if things will improve before giving them another $150.
UPDATE 4/20/07
Service has been consistently strong and I have refered a few friends who are all pleased with their service.
UPDATE 7/24/2006
ViaTalk has finally gotten to the bottom of the DTMF issue. In the meantime they continue to roll out a remarkable feature list. I couldn't be happier to be with this company.
UPDATE 6/1/2006
As I begin my second month with ViaTalk, I can no longer recommend them without a major caveat. There appears to be a network problem with DTMF where it is impossible to use touch tones to access VT voicemail and outside IVR systems (support can adjust the settings to work for one or the other, but not both). Tier two support has been working on this problem for three weeks now without an adequate, reliable solution. From this forum, this does not appear to be an isolated issue.
If you can live with that, the service has been just fine -- great for the price.
Still waiting on my number port as well, but it's only been about three weeks.
An explanation of my ratings:
Web site - 5: Intuitive and feature filled. My only suggestion would be to add a way to save my password so I don't have to keep looking up my temporary phone number!
Ease of installation - 3: This might be a bit deceiving. I was able to make calls within a couple minutes of plugging in the adapter. But getting the details to work hasn't been as smooth. The DTMF is my main outstanding issue.
Call quality - 3: Not as good as it was with Broadvox, but still quite good. Occasional echo or dropouts, but those are few and far between and probably caused in part by my ISP.
Reliability - 3: Haven't lost dial-tone yet, but the features have not worked smoothly at all times. Calls have gone straight to VM when I'm on the phone, the DTMF problem above, and issues with VM notification.
Tech Support - 3: Support reps I've spoken with know what they are doing. However, hold times or ticket response times can be relatively slow and they have not been able to solve all my issues. With regard to DTMF, I feel like a Beta tester as they make changes and keep having me try them only to fail.
Value - 4:Things aren't perfect, but for $8 a month, I'm still doing quite well.
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ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I ordered during the infamous two-day three-day sale (three day sale that lasted only two days). VT's founder and CEO Brendan has admitted that they mishandled the execution of this sale. I placed my order on Tuesday and it was not even processed until two weeks later. Fortunately, I was fairly happy with my current provider, so it wasn't a major problem.
The PAP2 device was essentially plug-and-play and took a few minutes to first register. I've had two problems since signing up:
1) Incorrect renewal date -- my account was created with a renewal date that credited me for one, not two years and renewed based upon my order date, not my order fulfilment date. I opened a ticket and the problem has since been corrected (about a week later).
2) DTMF tones -- The original settings allowed me to access my voicemail but not my work voicemail or my remote entry system for my building. I opened a ticket and they fixed the latter problems at the expense of my ViaTalk voicemail. I've spoken with them by phone and two competant sounding representatives were not able to resolve both. It has been escalated to tier 2, but despite a promise of next day response I have not heard back. Fortunately I can still access ViaTalk voicemail through the web, so it's not an urgent concern.
Call quality has been good, but not quite as good as Broadvox. Voices occasionally break up just a bit which never happened with Broadvox. This has happened at night though, so it may be an ISP issue.
Also, I've faxed in a port request and opened a ticket to confirm, but they still have not responded to my ticket.
Followup comments:  kieranmullen
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR | Do they deserve 100% if their service is slipping? No text | |
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