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Review by bubbanc 
UPDATED: 238 days ago
member for 2.5 years, 267 visits, last login: 58 days ago
 Garner,Wake,NC
 $8 per month (24 month contract)
 "Great price, no hidden fees, excellent tech support!"
 "vPanel is clunky, unable to use custom callerid with restricted/blocked callers"
 "Run into a few issues; at least tech support is willing to help."
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Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Update: 4/6/2009
No issues recently other than a bit of echo when calling to my Voipo line (notice it on my cell phone that I can hear myself when calling home). Didn't appear to lose connectivity the other night during the DC meltdown (at least my script didn't report losing registration).
Update: 3/28/2009
Support mentioned that other folks in the Voipo forum had had issues with Tomato 2.23, so I have reverted to version 1.19 (which I used to run problem free with my previous provider).
Still seeing a delay intermittently when answering calls and saying hello. Typically there is a 3-4 second delay in call setup that requires saying "hello" twice and the calling party only hears it the 2nd time.
We'll see if the firmware downgrade fixes either of these problems.
Update: 3/26/2009
Tried to call my Voipo line from my cell phone. Wife said that she picked up the phone and said hello but there was dead air. On my end, I got sent to voicemail. Called tech support (was NEVER on hold; immediately got a tech support representative) and they recommended me move my PAP2T from DMZ to non-DMZ and forward ports:
Registration: 5060 - 5080 (UDP)
Audio: 35000 - 65000 (UDP / TCP, random assignment)
Shortly after making this change I called my folks. During the call it went dead. I have inquired with Voipo to check and see if this drop occurred on our end or theirs. Will update when I hear something back.
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Update: 3/24/2009
Voipo resolved my outbound calling issue by forcing G711u codec for all calls. PAP2T was hanging up on certain calls is because of the codec being negotiated, usually G729a/etc and this is usually not an issue for the PAP2T's. Calls for the past 4 days have been great! No echo, no static. Still seeing some minor delay when answering the call and saying hello, but that may also be operator error.
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Update: 3/20/2009
I've had various issues over the past month: DTMF tones during phone calls heard by the other party, delay in hearing the other caller (or the other caller hearing us) when initially answering the phone. Those issues appeared to be resolved (and were perhaps my issues) once I upgraded code on my router and let Voipo provision my PAP2T. Now, as of yesterday, I'm having issues calling out to my area code. Needless to say the WAF has dropped significantly in the past month, so back to the dog house I go. Luckily, Voipo customer service is working with me to try and fix the issues. I have to give them more credit than my previous provider. Looks like I spoke too soon... the wife called me from Voipo and I had to say hello twice; she only heard it once. She still can't call her folks but she can call me. Calling her folks works fine on her cell phone. Ugh.
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Prior to ordering I emailed sales support with my questions and received and answer back from Tim almost instantly. He did a great job of answering my questions and sold me (along with the positive reviews on BBR) on Voipo.
Signup was a breeze and after signing up I opened up a ticket requesting SIP credentials and asked to be BYOD. They quickly provided me what I needed to get going and I was up and using their service about 3 hours after placing my order. Also, they configured the outgoing caller ID information to be the number that I will eventually port so no questions from folks we're calling about why we have a new number and which number they should use (like I had to deal with at my old provider).
Call quality has been very good and no dropouts or dead air like with previous provider. Tech support has been FANTASTIC! They are quick to answer questions and even quicker at routing to upper level support if they don't know the answer instead of keeping the customer guessing forever (like my previous provider).
Only issues thus far is the inability to create a custom caller ID entry for blocked/restricted phone numbers and have that information show when the caller calls. This worked with my previous provider, so I became spoiled when knowing when my in-laws were calling. Not a show stopper, but at least they provided a detailed explanation as to why it worked with my old provider and why it doesn't work with Voipo. Another issue (which may now be resolved!) is that custom caller ID entries names did not show in the voicemail email messages as being from that person. Instead, the phone number was listed twice.
Also, a few other features that I would like to have: Schedule/Calendar for setting up DND on a daily basis.
Will update once I've used the service a bit longer.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of VOIPo |
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VOIPo
(45)
Move from the DMZ?