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Review by djrobx See Profile

  • Location: Valencia, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Cost: $6 per month (48 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Great value!
Website/UI is very primitive
Fantastic value, great call quality. Very happy!
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

5/20/2013 Update

I've lived with that call connection problem for a long time now. The most common mode of failure would be I'd answer the phone and hear dead air. I finally figured out that many of the failed connections were the result of the ATA crashing instead of completing the call.

I brought this to VOIPo's attention. They first tried updating to the latest firmware, then they agreed to ship me a new ATA. Plugged in the new ATA, and now all is well. Finally I'm getting the reliability that I'm supposed to get!

VOIPo appears to have issued me a service credit for my trouble. That was very nice of them. I'm changing my ratings now that I know most of my service issues were with the hardware, not actual service. Back to being happy!

7/3/2012 Update

Unfortunately, the 1 way calls have steadily gotten worse. It got to a point where I was only able to make or receive calls around 50% of the time. Once established calls are clear and stay connected, its just getting there that's been a problem. When it's acting up I'll miss inbound calls too - I'll just see voicemails from people, and the phone will not have rang.

It seems like a capacity issue of some sort, perhaps worse in the evenings. Fortunately I haven't had a lot of trouble getting though to work's teleconference number in the morning, which is what I need this service for the most.

I've created a support ticket. They said they switched me to a different network or something, but it hasn't had any effect.

I hope this is just a temporary growing pain because I'm otherwise happy with the service.

Previous update:

I was previously a happy PhonePower customer. PhonePower offered a great "second year free" promo, which I enjoyed for the full duration. When those two years were up, they wanted full price to continue service.

To me, that's just begging for customers to look at other options. And so I did. People around here seemed to like VOIPo, and the feature list seemed to meet my requirements. I also wasn't using the land line nearly as much, so I was willing to take a risk for some savings.

Turns out they use the exact same ATA as PhonePower. Call quality, like PhonePower, has been excellent. I was also very pleased to find that emailed voicemail attachments have the CALLER ID NAME in the email, something I had been complaining to PhonePower about for years.

On the negative, PhonePower was slightly more solid, at least while connected to AT&T's U-verse service. Every once in a great while (maybe 1 every 100 calls) something odd happens with the VOIPo service (caller can't hear me, failed call, etc). It always resolves itself upon a subsequent calls. PhonePower never did anything weird like that. Once connected though, the calls are always crisp and clear, and I have always been able to get through hour-plus conference calls without any hiccups or trouble.

Comparing BYOD credentials, PhonePower was using a SIP proxy. VOIPo seems to use a direct connection. It's quite possible that AT&T's gateway is responsible for these (VERY MINOR) glitches. I've just recently switched to Road Runner internet. It will be interesting to see what effects this has on my VOIPo service.

My favorite thing about VOIPo so far is that they offered their EXISTING CUSTOMERS a "Black friday" deal for $150 to extend their contract for another two years. FINALLY, a company that actually WANTS ME TO STAY WITH THEM. Bravo, VOIPo!

My monthly cost reflects my initial $185 for two years, plus my $150 to extend the contract. Extremely happy with them.

member for 23.8 years, 10545 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 10.8 years ago


FarmerBob
join:2000-12-21
Littleton, CO
Calix 716GE-I
Netgear Orbi RBK853
Netgear RAXE500

FarmerBob

Member

CID in eMailed messages.

Unless I misunderstood you, you get compete Name and Number on the eMailed messages? I never have. I just get the phone number twice in the subject. I have been reading of people complaining that CID is hit and more miss than anything on all levels. So I am surprised to see that you get proper and complete CID in the eMails.

Not happy that you are getting one-way calls. But am glad to see I am not the only one. I've had many today. Even with a new ATA. What kind is it that you have?

I hope you keep updating your review. I am seriously curious how things work for you here on out. Take Care.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx

Premium Member

Re: CID in eMailed messages.

Yes, the CID NAME in Email has worked 100% of the time over the last year for me. For example, today I received one with this subject:

Voicemail from "TIME WARNER " <8888922253> 00:00:19

My ATA is a Grandstream HT502. As previously mentioned, one way calls have been quite rare for me. I've never had it happen more than once in a day.

The only thing caller ID wise I seem to be missing is outbound name, so people sometimes don't take my calls. I was told their upstream provider couldn't do it.

Hope they resolve your issues!

FarmerBob
join:2000-12-21
Littleton, CO
Calix 716GE-I
Netgear Orbi RBK853
Netgear RAXE500

FarmerBob

Member

Re: CID in eMailed messages.

Wow! I resigned myself to guessing whose number that was every time that the mailing came in. I'll have to ask about that.

Thanks for the hope. We have been working on this for years. I just got a GS HT-502 last Friday and it worked great all weekend. Then . . .

Thanks for responding and so quickly. I'm updating a trouble ticket now. This will allow me to add to it.

Thanks again and I'll be watching your progress. Good luck.

ymhee_bcex
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Tarzana, CA
·AT&T Wireless Br..

ymhee_bcex

Premium Member

caller id name for incoming calls

me too... As long as I see the name during the call (which is in most cases), I get the name in the voicemail email.

And I also get occasionally one-way silence (it seems that it happens with just one recipient - but it's my in-laws, so it must work ). I forwarded port 5078 from the router to grandstream a few days ago, and it didn't happen yet. Hopefully, this fixes it - but the jury still out

And I also have road runner cable - so, may it's Time Warner misbehaving... don't know

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx

Premium Member

Re: caller id name for incoming calls

When I used this on AT&T U-verse I had to forward a whole bunch of ports or I couldn't dial out. See this post by Tim

»Re: [VOIPo.COM] Additional ports to forward fpr Voipo

I haven't done that yet with TWC (unlike U-verse calls are working in both directions without it so far), but I will get around to it.