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Review by dev_null See Profile

  • Location: New England
  • Cost: $7 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
All you can eat, one price
Issues developed over course of business relationship; moved on
Good value for cost; expect limitations
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Recent residential move led to need for something other than a pay per minute approach (which I have for several other providers). After researching, selected VOIPO for it's $149 (+ taxes) for 2 year promo. For the price you get "unlimited" residential calling, porting, LIDB, CNAM and 911.

The only snafu was the porting. We were porting a GV number in the new area (one that we had for some time), and got the FOC date from VOIPO. But on the day after the FOC, callers were getting a "not in service" message. VOIPO claimed the number was released too early by GV, but this was the day after the FOC, so I called BS.

Tim and his team did sort it out that same day (in a matter of hours) and service since has been very good. I'm using a combo of their Grandstream device and BYOD service via my OBI-110. I actually find the call quality a little bit better on the OBI than on the GS, but I get a slight bit of latency on the OBI that doesn't seem to happen on the GS from VOIPO. So the jury is out on which approach I will take going forward.

The family doesn't notice any difference from VOIPO and their old POTS service, so that's good, really all that matters.

Now I wish that VOIPO had a way to test 911 so I could have some confidence it's set up correctly...

Update Aug 2013:

Running smoothly, updated my router which removed any connection glitches that might occur.

Still getting the occasional drop at 18 minutes (this seems to be a VOIPO thing... see other internet comments on drops between 15-19 minutes), but since this is in a non-business setting, and I am only paying 7 bucks, I'm willing to tolerate a few drops.

Still no way to test E911, hope I don't need to anytime soon.

If the renew for 2 years at the price of one is offered again, might re-up for another couple, it's been that stable.

Updated and increased my scores based on 5+ months of service.

--UPDATED JAN-2014--

As noted above, the quality and stability has been great. The occasional mysterious call drops at 18 mins have all but disappeared.

The wife and kids don't detect any difference from our old landline and we're saving a boatload of money every month.

Re-upped with the early renewal offer back in 4Q2013, I'm very satisfied, now locking in until 2017.

-- UPDATED DEC-2014 --

Still going strong. A few weeks back (Nov-2014) had a little blip that we would get a couple of rings and then dead air, while at the other end it would ring and they would answer it and get dead air. It was intermittent, so really couldn't open a ticket. But it resolved itself after about 3 days. Since this is a personal account, it was an inconvenience, nothing more. Other than that blip, no other issues to report. Trying to get my parents to drop FIOS phone and save about $30/month (mostly taxes).

-- UPDATED AUG-2015 --

It turns out the "blip" above continued and worsened to the point where reliability was in question using the Voipo-supplied ATA. I spent hours and hours trouble shooting with them, only to find out that the problem was in their configuration (the way they treat busy or non-connected calls and the way their ATA processes the messages associated with the disposition - e.g., "busy here"). It was never resolved, despite repeated reprogramming of the ATA (note: it had the current firmware).

I ended up routing most of my routine calls via an alternate Voipo server, through my OBI110. I asked to have a new Voipo ATA but was rebuffed. The alternate routing, in retrospect an absurd solution when I should have insisted on a new ATA, worked for a few months. Then we started having issues again.

Tired of committing my time to solving a provider issue, I have instead opted to move on. Initially told that I would be charged $18/mo for the service months under my new contract, Tim has intervened and promised to refund based on the contract price. We'll see, but I appreciate his good will gesture.

Bottom line: expect to do more self service and self advocacy when you go inexpensive all you can eat.

In the end, I move this service to voip.ms (where I have several other numbers already). A bit more net cost per month, but I've had good luck with them.

Notes: I have received confirmation that they have refunded my 17 months remaining at the contract price, so they did fulfill that commitment.

I also want to be clear that, if I had not had the issues I encountered, I would have remained a customer. I want to make it clear that I wish to have a "good review" of them, rather than a "bad review". In the right situation I would recommend their services.

member for 21.6 years, 3498 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 8.6 years ago