Review by bmize13 
Posted: 156 days ago
member for 3.6 years, 963 visits, last login: 16 days ago
 Dallas,Paulding,GA
 $23 per month (month by month)
 about 5 days
 "Great documentation, responsive Customer Service"
 "Lack of features"
 "A few-frills phone company that seems to offer solid voice service"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've just gotten off the ground with Phone Power, so the review will be short. Lots of good with them so far, though I did have to contact Customer Support to help set up the modem off the bat. Not sure what the problem was, but they were able to get the issue corrected in short order. I did find it annoying that I typed in my question (for virtual chat), only to have the rep's first response be, "Hi. What's your issue?" A very small bother, but still... On the flip side, the virtual tech support was quite impressive.
I am disappointed with the feature set of Phone Power, though I certainly knew what they offered going in. There are only a couple of features that I use regularly, and would like to see them replicated on the PhonePower plan. For example, wild-card call blocking is great (I block all 800, 866, 877, and 888 incoming calls... Can't do that on Phone Power). Also, Emergency Failover is missing from this service.
Overall, I have to give good marks for the first day. They sent a nice looking box, sent in a timely manner, and the service does seem to work quite well so far. Were the feature set slightly richer, I think this service may be the one to beat. As it is, Emergency Failover is too important to dismiss...
If you want a good second phone, DO consider Phone Power.
Followup comments:  |  | 
ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Re: Features Simple-should the power go out or your ISP have an outage do you really want callers to hear "the number is not in service" etc or would you rather get the call on your cell phone or an alternate number? | |
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44402812
Hack The Planet
Premium
join:2006-08-28
Plattsburgh, NY
| Re: Features said by bmize13 :I'm assuming you read the whole review, including the part that says plainly, "though I certainly knew what they offered going in?" I want to be honest in the review, rather than simply cheer on / bash a service. This is just an honest view of the service so far. If they are as good as you believe them to be, it'll rise to the surface. Well then why did you give call quality and reliability only a 60 without explaining why? Same with installation unless plugging in a box and waiting 10 minutes caused you to break a sweat, what gives?  | |
| | | | bmize13
join:2006-04-17
Dallas, GA
 ·VOIPo
·PHONE POWER
·ViaTalk
| Re: Features I'm sorry, Mr. Helper. I'll do my best to ensure all reviews meet with your stringent expectations in the future, rather than communicating the actual experiences of any given user. Perhaps an Approval Committee would be in order? 
Call Quality has been rated an 80... Never was a 60. Why 80 rather than 100? Simple... Some choppiness. Not as much as other providers, but present none the less. There's not a "90" selection, so it gets 80.
Reliability at 60? That would be because I have reached 'dead air' on a couple of occasions. Not much, and very possibly related to initial setup. HOWEVER, THIS IS A REVIEW OF MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE SERVICE, and not a grandstand by which to elevate or trash any service unduly.
Do note the beginning of the review that stated I'm just starting out with them. Should the service continue to work as it should, the values will change. Should it go south, they'll also change accordingly. Frankly, I feel the review was quite generous in putting Phone Power in a positive light. | |
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44402812
Hack The Planet
Premium
join:2006-08-28
Plattsburgh, NY
2 edits | Re: Features said by bmize13 :I'm sorry, Mr. Helper. I'll do my best to ensure all reviews meet with your stringent expectations in the future, rather than communicating the actual experiences of any given user. Perhaps an Approval Committee would be in order? Call Quality has been rated an 80... Never was a 60. Why 80 rather than 100? Simple... Some choppiness. Not as much as other providers, but present none the less. There's not a "90" selection, so it gets 80. Reliability at 60? That would be because I have reached 'dead air' on a couple of occasions. Not much, and very possibly related to initial setup. HOWEVER, THIS IS A REVIEW OF MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE SERVICE, and not a grandstand by which to elevate or trash any service unduly. Do note the beginning of the review that stated I'm just starting out with them. Should the service continue to work as it should, the values will change. Should it go south, they'll also change accordingly. Frankly, I feel the review was quite generous in putting Phone Power in a positive light. Thanks Much better! I was just curious, and no you don't need an approval committee although since the RIAA feels they are the majority ya might want to consult with them, lol.
Run this test during and\or shortly after to find out what is really going on when you have choppiness. It could very well be you ISP.
»speedtest.phonepower.com/repeat.html
I have the same problem with dead air every so often 1 call every (4-5) days with Verizon DSL. Do you have a dynamic or static IP and is your device before or after the router.
Support has concluded it is because my ht-502 is before the router and is not being sent a keep alive because of this. With Verizon DSL the IP changes every few days and when the public IP address changes it seems PhonePower won't pull the updated IP until I try making a phone call or someone calls me?
---Email From PP support--------------------------------------
The keep alive is invoked when my network sees the registration traffic request coming from a private IP. With the device in front, no keep alive is sent, so if your IP changes, then the Grandstream will have no way of relaying the IP address update to my network.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Let me know as I'm sure PhonePower would like to have more data on this. Thanks | |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Re: Features Simple speedtests are not really a good indicator of line quality. RockyBB turned me on to one from Nuvio that I think is WAY better...
»voiptest.nuvio.com/ | |
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44402812
Hack The Planet
Premium
join:2006-08-28
Plattsburgh, NY
| Re: Features said by ptrowski :Simple speedtests are not really a good indicator of line quality. RockyBB turned me on to one from Nuvio that I think is WAY better... » voiptest.nuvio.com/ Only problem with nuvio is no max pause or jitter? | |
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44402812
Hack The Planet
Premium
join:2006-08-28
Plattsburgh, NY
| Re: Features said by ptrowski :said by 44402812 :said by ptrowski :Simple speedtests are not really a good indicator of line quality. RockyBB turned me on to one from Nuvio that I think is WAY better... » voiptest.nuvio.com/ Only problem with nuvio is no max pause or jitter? Sure it shows them. Audio and video jitter. Can you attach a screen shot? Thanks | |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Re: Features Run the test, it's all there. | |
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44402812
Hack The Planet
Premium
join:2006-08-28
Plattsburgh, NY
| Re: Features said by ptrowski :Run the test, it's all there. Problem with that is your not testing the route to PP but instead to Nuvio. As you can see the results are not consistent. | |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Re: Features When you start you can put in whatever website or IP address you chose. | |
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