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Review by cb14 See Profile

  • Location: Miami Beach, Miami-Dade, FL, USA
  • Cost: $3 per month
great web site, excellent features, variety of plans
somewhat pricey, some reliability questions.
strongly recommended
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Edited 2017/09/02

Callcentric has probably the best web site so far and setting up the service was really easy ( even with some changes which had to be done later). Perfect for a VOIP newbie.The call quality is excellent on domestic calls, pretty good on international calls with some hick ups on certain destinations.
Features are amazing excellent and plentiful. Callcentric keeps on introducing and improving features.
There is a variety of plans,. Very interesting is the Basic plan, with NYC DID, e911 and 120 minutes outgoing for 2.95/month
Tech support/customer service are generally good and fast.
The domestic calling costs are relatively high and some of the international rates are not very competitive, but, like with many providers, you can cherry pick a bit.
The costs of DIDs are high as well. The "dirt cheap DIDs" are better priced however you cannot port in to them. The free NYC DID provides a solution for budget minded and an excellent incoming call quality.
Some questions about their geographic redundancy remain.
A great secondary provider for me and for those of us who do not mind to pay up for premium service certainly the best primary provider. Strongly recommended, especially for small businesses.

I wish there was a way to delete the outdated comments below.

Update : After 2019/05/1o this review will not be updated any more. Reason: DSL forum account closing

member for 11.1 years, 3071 visits, last login: 4.8 years ago
updated 4.8 years ago


XANAVirus
Premium Member
join:2012-03-03
Lavalette, WV

XANAVirus

Premium Member

Tech Support

While I agree with tech support being great, I would have to disagree with you about the lower cost customers getting lower-quality service.

Last year, I would open tickets maybe once a month, because of my being new to VoIP and its particular feature set (I'd make a ticket about asking for explanation for a feature choice, mainly).

Frequently, I would get my desired explanation within 1 hour, and almost always near or less than 30 minutes. It would be easily understandable as well, and not filled with jargon.

Of course there were a few times where due to user error I'd have some issue, but again that was always resolved quickly.

My costs are probably the lowest of the low, given my low usage pattern.
I pay the $1.95/month for the phone number, I make lots of 1-minute calls, but I might go nearly a week without making or receiving a phone call.
For my phone usage, I pay usually less than a dollar a month.

So, I respectfully disagree with your assessment of tech support value-for-cost.
However, this is only my experience, you may take it as you see it.

For everything else, I'm in full agreement (aside from the whole trust thing).

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

cb14

Member

Re: Tech Support

These things are always very individual, that's why we need MANY reviews!

N9MD
Too busy to chat
Premium Member
join:2005-10-08
Boca Raton, FL

1 recommendation

N9MD

Premium Member

Re: Tech Support

said by cb14:

These things are always very individual, that's why we need MANY reviews!

Apparently we don't need "many reviews" when the top right of this page shows: Reviews: ... (148 good) (0 bad)

Those numbers would appear to say it all!

May I strongly disagree with your assessment of CC's technical support (50% ?!?!) based on your unsupported suspicions of lesser support for lower priced (or free) accounts ... and some "minor issues"? Have you actually interacted with CC's support folks ... and, if so, were you unhappy with their responses?

As so many others have reported, the ability to enter an online Trouble Ticket with a concise description of one's problem always gets a timely response from CC ... a response with a clearly presented solution or, at the very least, a request for additional relevant information. The absence of telephone support is a plus, in my view, because a written ticket can be read by a Level 1 CSR and, if necessary, promptly elevated to Level 2 or Level 3 for an intelligent appraisal and appropriate response from CC.

Most people are poorly prepared to discuss their problems in a succinct, organized manner when orally communicating via telephone contacts.  And Level 1 telephone support may yield inane and irrelevant responses such as "Bypass your router by plugging your adapter directly into your toaster oven." -- or -- "It's not our problem; your microwave is too close to your D-block."

A written request (Trouble Ticket) allows one to provide support with a clear, concise, well thought out plea for help.
said by cb14:

The call quality is generally pretty good, however I experienced some issues lately. I will monitor it and may adjust my rating downward.

So let me understand this! Call quality is "pretty good" ... and indeed you rated it at 100%. But, as I suspect, without making any changes to the setup at your end you have "experienced some issues lately." Why would you blame CC ... rather than consider the blame may lie with others, such as your connection to your ISP or line overload in your area or atmospheric conditions related to solar flares.
said by cb14:

With the hassle around the DDOS attack and Sandy and the way the company handled it, some time will have to pass before I start fully trusting Callcentric again.

... "the way the company handled it"?!?!

How does one handle a DDos attack from "foreign soil" combined with the "storm of the century" (this century and the last one) with 12 feet of water flooding sub-sub-sub-sub basements of buildings in the Wall Street area of NYC ... the same flooding that brought down just about all PSTN service from Verizon to the financial hub of the United States? How long are you going to carry a grudge against a company that has a practically unblemished record for the years before and for the period since the totally devastating and unpredictable results of a simultaneous DDoS attack and major major hurricane?

Apologies, cb14, for the possibly harsh tone of my post ... not meant to demean your right to an opinion nor as an attack on you as a person ... but rather reflecting my strong feelings for seeking fairness in reviews posted in the BBR Forums. But the 50% rating for Technical Support would likely be seen as reflecting "half-a$$ed" customer support ... with little rationale provided in your review.

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

cb14

Member

Re: Tech Support

oops. posting did not come through.
Anyway, I do not feel like replying to this ( ) , just to remind you that I rated the technical support at 75% not 50 %.