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Review by Arne Bolen See Profile

  • Location: Utopia
  • Cost: $1 per month (month by month)
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

UPDATE September 21, 2013: I have closed my VoIP.ms account, so no more reviews.

UPDATE September 24, 2012: I now only use the Houston server for iNum and my US TF. My usage is low but the service seems to work well.

Update March, 2011:

The issues with the London server seem to have been fixed so I have updated the Reliability rating.

For several months I have been using a hosted PBX with VoIP.ms. Introducing a PBX may be a bit risky but it works like a charm. Because my PBX worked so good together with VoIP.ms I now use it with all my providers.

As it works so well with my PBX and VoIP.ms a few weeks ago I started to use SIP URI as the main routing option in all my VoIP.ms DIDs. Using SIP URI forwarding has the advantage I can route incoming calls to a specific PBX extension based on called DID and Caller ID number.

SIP URI routing worked so well with VoIP.ms I started to use it with all providers allowing SIP URI routing.

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Update July 31, 2010:

I have lowered the Reliability rating. Last years issues with the London server are back again.

Phone/ATA devices are registered with the London server and internal calls are working. The following are NOT working:
1. External calls to DID's on the London server fail
2. External calls to PSTN numbers from the London server fail
3. When dialling *97 or 097 the voice says "Comedian mail" instead of going directly into the mail.

The dates for the issues this year are:
Jan 1, 2010
July 12, 2010
July 31, 2010

This is getting very annoying. Calls to DIDs on the London server just get dead air and fail-over options to voice-mail don't work.

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Update May 5, 2010:

I have changed my Reliability rating from 80% to 100%. As I live in Europe I mostly use the London server.

During the second half of 2009 there were some problems with the London server so 1-2 times a month inbound and outbound calls failed despite the device continued to be registered. Calls to the Voicemail resulted in the "Comedian mail" voice. Every time I notified VoIP.ms the problem was fixed within 4-5 minutes. Due to those outages I rated "Reliability" to 80%.

The support staff promised to fix the problems permanently. It is now 4 months since the last outage so I think it is safe to assume the problems have been fixed permanently. Thus I have upgraded my Reliability rating to 100%.

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As I live in the European Union my experience with VoIP providers may be different from those living in USA and Canada. Most of my calls are to/from European phones and that makes it more difficult for a North American based VoIP provider to compete.

I found VoIP.ms when I started to read the Voip Tech Chat. For some years I have been using another good US provider as my primary provider but as the sound quality on outbound calls to European destinations has been poor I was looking for another provider for European destinations.

It was the Premium routing which made me to sign up with VoIP.ms. The sound quality on outbound calls to European PSTN destinations is excellent, so good it is actually better than using a POTS phone. Compared to the best VoIP provider in Denmark the sound quality on outbound calls to European destinations with VoIP.ms is a lot better.

For me the sound quality is the most important thing when making the decision which provider to use. Sadly too many providers are only competing on lowest price possible instead of the sound quality. I do not want lower sound quality just to save a half of a cent per minute. That is the reason I only use Premium routing with VoIP.ms. As I only use Premium routing I can't say anything how the Value routing is.

Inbound sound quality is very good but outbound sound quality is a lot better. Due to the good sound quality, server in Europe and the many features I now use VoIP.ms as my primary provider.

The live chat support is a feature I think all VoIP providers should use. The UK server has had problems a few times and I used the live chat support to report the problem. It was a pleasure to use the live chat support and the staff on duty fixed the problem within a few minutes.

I have used the ticket support system only once for a minor request and it took 76 minutes for my request to be handled. I think that was fast considering my request was very minor.

My experience with support has been very good. However I have never asked the support how to configure a device so I have no experience how VoIP.ms handle such support cases.

VoIP.ms has many valuable features, sub accounts and ring groups are features I can't be without now.

I have been using VoIP.ms for only 4 months but that is enough to recommend VoIP.ms for European voip users. IMO VoIP.ms is the best voip provider in Europe and I believe they will have success in Europe.

I know 4 months is a short time for a review but so far I have only good things to say about VoIP.ms. However I have a feeling that my experience with VoIP.ms will be good also in the future.

member for 14.7 years, 5097 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 10.5 years ago


Byzant
@colt.net

Byzant

Anon

Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

When you posted your final review yesterday, I noticed you gave them a 95 percent rating, but that it is now down to 70 percent.

Do you care to tell us what went wrong? It might help others.

Arne Bolen
User of Anveo Direct, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Utopia

Arne Bolen

Premium Member

Re: Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

The previous ratings were way too high and the new ratings are more fair when comparing with competitors like Anveo, Anveo Direct, Callcentric and CWU.

Basically, as Anveo, Anveo Direct, Callcentric and CWU are so much better on Call Quality, Reliability and Tech Support it's wrong to give VoIP.ms the same ratings as them.

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

cb14

Member

Re: Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

Yes should not overrate and should differentiate but then, it is a mystery to me why you give Callcentric a 100% rating for reliability after the disaster of last fall, which was by no means bad luck and rather a result of deliberate company policies; or why you give 100% for the Anveo web site which even Anveo fans admit needs some work. Wonder why you are so angry at voip.ms. BTW, I am not a voip.ms customer.

Arne Bolen
User of Anveo Direct, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Utopia

Arne Bolen

Premium Member

Re: Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

said by cb14:

Callcentric a 100% rating for reliability after the disaster of last fall

Callcentric did not cause the hurricane Sandy, so I see no reason why their rating should suffer.
said by cb14:

100% for the Anveo web site which even Anveo fans admit needs some work

The Anveo website is excellent and works very well, so it deserves a 100% rating. Please remember ratings should not be set based on what other people think.

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

cb14

Member

Re: Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

said by Arne Bolen:

Callcentric did not cause the hurricane Sandy, so I see no reason why their rating should suffer.

Callcentric did not cause" hurricane" Sandy nor the DDOS, but Callcentric caused , among others, lack of back up and redundancy and disaster preparation/handling other carriers have. Plus I had another smaller issue with them. I use and recommend them but I cannot give them 100 % reliability rating based on MY experience.

On the other hand, their web site is just about the industry standard , something hard to claim about Anveo's.But off course, there is always the possibility that you feel that they are both equally good.

Arne Bolen
User of Anveo Direct, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Utopia

Arne Bolen

Premium Member

Re: Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

said by cb14:

Callcentric caused , among others, lack of back up and redundancy and disaster preparation/handling other carriers have.

I disagree.
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1 to cb14

Premium Member

to cb14
[Replying to cb14]
said by cb14:

I use and recommend (CallCentric) but I cannot give them 100 % reliability rating based on MY experience.

Exactly.

That's why your reviews should reflect your experiences, and [Arne's] reviews should reflect [his] experiences.

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

1 edit

cb14

Member

Re: Final Rating Dropped to 70 percent

said by PX Eliezer1:

Exactly.

That's why your reviews should reflect your experiences, and [Arne's] reviews should reflect [his] experiences.

It was more the dramatic and sudden change of heart without explanation than anything else which made me look up.