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Review by byron See Profile

  • Location: New York, New York, NY, USA
  • Cost: $26 per month
  • Install: about 3 days
Full set of features, fantastic tech support, great call quality
DTMF translation (see below)
Best VOIP provider out there.. hands down.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Certain female voices seem to cause the service to falsely detect a DTMF tone and thus you hear a loud DTMF tone on your end. The other party doesn't hear the tone, so thats a good thing. I have called tech support and they are aware its a problem but say that it affects everyone and there is nothing they can do. I have had this problem with other VoIP providers, so it's not a deal breaker... especially considering the fantastic feature set that Voicepulse offers.

I would recommend Voicepulse over any and all other VoIP companies hands down. They are fantastic.

member for 19.7 years, 1687 visits, last login: 3 years ago
lodged 16.8 years ago


Review by net616 See Profile

  • Location: Holland, Ottawa, MI, USA
  • Cost: $14 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Excellent tech support, voice quality top notch.
So far, none
Wow.
Web-site:
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Value for money:

I signed up for VoicePulse last week, and thus far everything has been great.

I bought a Linksys PAP2T VoIP adapter from a third party to use with the service. Had a minor issue getting the adapter to synchronize with the new settings. A call to their tech support resolved the issue quickly and effectively. A few days later, I had a minor issue with my phone adapter's time zone was set incorrectly, thus causing my caller-id display to display GMT instead of EST. This time I contacted them Friday by e-mail, and I was surprised to have it resolved by Saturday. They even called me on Monday to make sure everything was working the way it was supposed to. That being said, so far, their support has been surprisingly fantastic. No outsourced Indian tech support here. Also, the call quality has been top notch so far.

If you're looking for a local calling plan with some long distance minutes included per month, their $14.99/mo plan for Local Unlimited +200 LD minutes is not a bad deal at all.

member for 21.8 years, 574 visits, last login: 10.4 years ago
lodged 17 years ago

Lenagainster
join:2005-01-07
Silver Spring, MD

Lenagainster

Member

Filters

The filters! You forgot to mention the filters. They give you so much control over your phone; who can call, who gets re-routed to vicemail, who gets a "not in service" message; the Do Not Disturb.....
That, in addition to voice quality, makes VoicePulse an even better deal than other cheaper yet highly rated VoIPs.

Review by mglunt See Profile

  • Location: Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, VA, USA
  • Cost: $26 per month
  • Install: about 3 days
Cheap, lots of features, excellant quality
None so far
Get it
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
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Tech Support:
Value for money:

I have had VoicePulse for a couple weeks now, and just initiated the process to port my number over from Verizon. I ordered it to replace the Verizon Freedom package which was just increased $5 to around $58 a month after taxes / fees.

Call quality is very good, and reliability has not been an issue either. So far I am very happy with the service. All the features I have used have worked as advertised. The Call Waiting Caller ID that never worked with Verizon POTS, works with VoicePulse. Pretty much everything about the service is either equal to or better than the old land line.

Install was a breeze. They sent me the Linksys PAP2T-NA box. I literally took it out of the box, plugged it into my router, phone, and power, and made a phone call immediately. No configuration of the Linksys device or my FIOS provided Actiontec router was needed. Time from order to live was just the amount of time it took UPS to deliver the package - they had it shipped the day after I ordered.

Tech support has not been needed other than to begin the porting of my phone number, but I did call once and received a message that phone support was not available at that time. The porting was handled through email.

UPDATE (3/9/07) - My phone number has been ported to VoicePulse as of today. I began that process on 2/15, so it took about 3 weeks. Everything went smoothly, and I received a phone call and email from VoicePulse when it was complete.

member for 22.5 years, 1090 visits, last login: 11.5 years ago
updated 17 years ago


Review by chalzr See Profile

  • Location: Gainesville, Alachua, FL, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Cheap, easy, great customer service
A good value
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
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Value for money:

I'm still minutely troubled by the idea of "power out, phone out", since the phone lines around here are almost all completely buried. But I have a prepaid cell phone, so who cares?

BellSouth had me by the short and curlies - only phone operator in town, and $56/mo after fees and taxes for local calling, voice mail, caller ID, etc - NO long distance! I also had dialup at the time, so of course, I needed the phone line.

Once Cox HSI speeds went up and prices came down (was $50/mo for 3Mbps down!), I ran to them for cable service (now $42/mo for 7Mbps down). That, of course, opened up the world of VoIP to me.

VoicePulse took a little longer than light-speed to get me set up, because of the 911 address verification issue. However, my customer support rep at VoicePulse - yes, you get your OWN rep, who handles all your issues! Not a call center in another country! - was with me the whole way. A couple times, I got phone calls after sending in emails, to explain what's going on, see if I had any other questions, and so on. Heck, I even got an email response on a Sunday afternoon, before I was signed up. How cool is that? So I didn't chew my nails in worry over the address issue.

Set up was too easy. Cable modem, router, phone adapter, telephone... ring ring, Hi, I'm on my new VoIP line, how are you? So long as you don't use USB to connect to your router, you don't even need to run any software at all during the whole setup. I'm borrowing the phone adapter from VoicePulse, a Linksys PAP2T, which was a $30 one-time fee. It was that, or buy my own for $70-80. I can live with sending it back when I'm done.

If you want to keep your old phone number, you have to get it ported, and that - I'm told - will take at a bare minimum 30 days, so start the port ASAP. This isn't anything specific to VoicePulse, though. They'll send you a PDF that you print out, fill in, and fax to them with a portion of your regular phone service's bill - so don't cancel your landline yet, if you want to save the number!

I've got 200 minutes of free long distance every month, with each minute extra at $0.039, a steal compared to Cox's digital telephone - $30+ for 100 minutes, $0.12/min after. Fun and cool features come with VoicePulse, too. Within just minutes of opening up the digital phone adapter, I was making and receiving calls, with EXCELLENT voice quality. I'm loving it!

Oh, and did I mention you get a personal support rep who handles all your issues? Sweet.

member for 17.1 years, 11 visits, last login: 16.7 years ago
lodged 17.1 years ago


PCInTech
keeping art alive since 1953
Premium Member
join:2004-06-07
Massena, NY

PCInTech

Premium Member

Agreed

Some of us have been with VP for YEARS, now, and can assure you that it only gets better! There's cheaper services out there, but as I've said MANY times... "cheap ya pay, cheap ya get".
Lenagainster
join:2005-01-07
Silver Spring, MD

Lenagainster

Member

Porting may be quicker

I got the notice saying porting takes a minimum of 30 business days and it actually took ten. Went from CallVantage to VoicePulse. During the day that the porting happens (VP will notify you by email), some callers may go to your old service and some may go to your VP service. (Happened to me). By the end of the next day, all calls should go to VP.

I've only had VP for one month, and already I'm convinced it's the best deal out there.

Lena

digiblur
Premium Member
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana

digiblur

Premium Member

VoicePulse is the true winner in the VoIP arena.

I've also been using VP for almost 3 years. Haven't regretted it one bit! Awesome service!

I've tried and tested all the big VoIP players and no one else compares in voice quality, reliability, customer service, price, and feature set.
nycityny
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
New York, NY

nycityny

Premium Member

Porting

My number port also took only about 10 days even though I was told it would take a minimum of 30. I guess VP just tries to cover themselves by giving a longer estimate.

Enjoy VoicePulse - I've been enjoying it since August 2005.
chalzr
join:2007-02-02
Gainesville, FL

chalzr

Member

Update on VP

So far, so good. VP is working fine, though my mother says she sometimes hears sounds, as if I were pressing buttons on the phone, though I'm not... Going to have to check this with other phones besides hers, maybe ditch this old cordless...

LNP started on Feb 12, and was finished on Mar 6. I blame BellSouth more than VP, based on what I've heard from other customers. But hey, I'm free of BS -- err, BellSouth.

Sorry, not BellSouth anymore, it's The New AT&T - aka Zombie Bell: Ma Bell risen from the dead!

Until I talked to VoicePulse and told them which phone number I wanted to keep, I technically had 2 numbers. It was just my luck that the billing cycle struck on that exact day, so I got charged an extra $4.99 for the second number. I called them up, though, and Martin took care of it, crediting my account for next month. No run-around, no hassles. Yay!

Here's to hoping I can keep having cable wherever I go, so I can keep VoicePulse!

Review by nyount See Profile

  • Location: Lexington, Lexington, SC, USA
  • Cost: $21 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Great local calling package, responsive support
Recent frequent outages and call quality issues
Still waiting to see if quality improves
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

We have the VoicePulse Local Unlimited + 200 plan ($14.99/month), which gives us unlimited calling in our local area, plus 200 minutes of outbound calls per month outside of that area. The local calling area is defined as our entire local area code, plus the adjacent area codes in our state. This effectively covers the entire state for us, which is fantastic. We also have a virtual number ($4.99/month) that is local to our families in another state, allowing them to call us for free as well. All of that for $21 per month (including tax) with no long-term commitment seems like a great deal to me.

We've had the service since early December, and for the first month or so, everything was great. Unfortunately, we've been experiencing a lot of intermittent call quality issues and partial or complete outages over the past few weeks. Those have included being unable to hear the calling party on incoming calls, static or even loud roaring on some calls, and periods in which either incoming calls or both incoming and outgoing calls could not be completed. The most recent outage was yesterday afternoon, and lasted for about 4 hours. That one was blamed on a problem with an upstream provider.

They really do seem to be trying to troubleshoot and figure out the quality issues, and I'm still holding out hope that they will, because I really like the calling package and features. A just-completed call today was crystal clear, so they certainly are capable of POTS quality or better. I just need it to be more consistent in order to stay with them for the long term.

member for 20.8 years, 153 visits, last login: 16.4 years ago
lodged 17.1 years ago


PCInTech
keeping art alive since 1953
Premium Member
join:2004-06-07
Massena, NY

PCInTech

Premium Member

Outages?

I'm not aware of any system outages. I'm glad you've been working with support on this, though. It appears the problem is unique to you and your ISP, and those can be difficult to diagnose. I'm sure they're doing what they can. My VP lines are humming along flawlessly, just like they've done for the last 2 or 3 yrs or more... I forget. It's been SO long.
Lenagainster
join:2005-01-07
Silver Spring, MD

Lenagainster

Member

Re: Outages?

We had a brief VP outage yesterday afternoon, and since I have two VoIPs running (CallVantage and VoicePulse), with all calls to CV forwarded to VP, I knew the outage was in VP's court as my CV worked at that time while VP did not. A call to the CV number went to CV voicemail since it could not be forwarded to VP. Could not make an outgoing call on VP. CV worked fine. Tonight we noticed some unusual noise (clicking) on the VP line during a call. I certainly hope these problems are temporary, as I am in the process of porting my number over to VP and intend to cancel CV. Up until this point, VP service has been excellent.
A few days ago, we had the opposite problem where CV was down and VP was working fine. A call came in to our CV number that should have been forwarded to VP, but instead was forwarded to my cell phone.
I guess none of the VoIPs are perfect.
rosh400
join:2004-01-14
Potomac, MD

rosh400

Member

Sounds like ISP problem

We haven't had any problems at all but my ISP (Verizon FIOS) is rock solid.

ga2522
join:2005-08-18
Ravena, NY

ga2522

Member

Did you run speed tests before deciding to go VOIP?

I think the biggest culprit with call quality issues is inadequate speed. If your connection cannot support VOIP you will have trouble with any VOIP provider you go with. VoicePulse will have you run a series of tests that will let you and them know about the quality of your connection. Hope it is just a fluke and works out for you.

Review by lbvt See Profile

  • Location: Essex Junction, Chittenden, VT, USA
  • Cost: $25 per month
Good call quality; Human Tech Support; Cheap!
User to User minutes not recognized
Great service if you don't care about free user to user calls
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I've had Voicepulse for about a year now and I've been mostly pleased with the service. I was a Vonage refugee and VoicePulse is a major departure from that poor product.

Their website isn't flashy and needs to be updated to remain competitive.

The install process went smoothly and simply, though it took a long time for my adapter to ship.

Call quality has been excellent and the offered features are great. I have not personally ported over a land line number to VP, but relatives have from BellSouth with success.

One feature that has never worked for me is free User to User calls. Calls show up as long distance minutes, forcing you to either call support every month for a credit or to get the unlimited LD plan. This supposedly will be fixed in early 2007.

Tech support is mixed. The best feature is that you get to speak with a helpful person at their New Jersey headquarters every time you call. However, issues (like the above) sometimes never get resolved fully even after multiple requests over months.

Overall, I've had a good experience with their service. However, I cannot fully recommend it until all advertised features are operational.

member for 17.2 years, 9 visits, last login: 15 years ago
lodged 17.2 years ago


Review by najames See Profile

  • Location: Boca Raton, Palm Beach, FL, USA
  • Cost: $14 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 5 days
Easy install, large local area, 200 minutes L.D., inexpensive, works well
minor echo on first call - only I could hear it
Thumbs up
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

We want to replace Bellsouth. They charge almost $50 per month and calls to the west side of town are considered long distance in a city of 26,000 people. I complained to Bellsouth about the extremely limited area and got no response.

We received the "kit" from Voicepulse in about 5 days UPS. It consisted of a Sipura 2000 box (2 phone ports, one ethernet port, electronic plug in). Instructions are on one page with your phone number voice mail etc.

Voicepulse local unlimited calling area is basically the southeastern 1/4 of Florida, Orlando to Key West. :>))

I spent about 10 minutes connecting, checked wireless router for DHCP address provided to the Sipura, checked dial tone, and called a buddy in KC. EASY. This maiden call had a little echo that only I could hear. Not bad, but slightly distracting. My wife then made call to Iowa. I also talked in the conversation and there was absolutely no echo, clarity greater than or equal to standard phone line. I have not set up any of the additional features of this service yet.

We don't make a lot of long distance calls. This $14.95 service should be perfect for us. If we go over the limit, it's 3.9 cents per minute as I recall. I can deal with that. I hope the Voicepulse service continues this well. I have not yet tried calling card calls overseas with this service yet either. I will report back.

Update -

So far I am very pleased with the service. The calls have been perfect only a slight echo on the first call. ALL others crystal clear. Updated call quality rating based on use.

I tested it with a "local call" to Key West and it worked fine, just dialed the number with area code, verified it was billed as a local call. No confusion how to dial locals, I just used the area code plus number and it worked fine.

My wife has used it to make a calling card calls to Thailand and it worked fine also. No different than regular phone line.

Update 12/26/2007

We have had VoicePulse for a couple years now. Their service has been extremely good. The only failures we have incurred were (a) entended power outages from hurricanes (b) user error when knocking the power supply partially out of the power strip without realizing it (c) the splitter coming out of the SIP box had become unplugged somehow by the users. We make a fair amount of calls to the west coast, many to Thailand, and they always are clear. We have gone over the alloted 200 minutes a few times, the recent bill was $19.50 instead of the normal $14.99ish. Not a big deal though, auto billing has been ok.

member for 19.2 years, 26 visits, last login: 11.6 years ago
updated 17.2 years ago


Review by rayethan See Profile

  • Location: Rockford, Kent, MI, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
Good quality, cheap, good support
none so far...
Definately give them consideration for VoIP
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

December 15, 2006 update.

Still very good service. We are pleased with VP. Some initial trouble with E911 service, but it is working now. I highly recommend you place a test call to 911. You have to identify that you are doing a test or call the non-emergency number first and ask them if it is ok for you to make the test 911 call.

I've got my Linksys adapter in a DMZ and it works fine.

Original review:

I ordered through the website and it was pretty easy. The online form could not verify my address for 911, but was processed a day or two later once my address was verified.
I got the unlimited local, 200 long distance plan. Can't beat 15 bucks a month.
Lots of features, I like having the voicemail emailed. You do get large files, but that's ok. Being able to listen to the voicemail through the website would be a nice feature.
I got the Linksys phone adapter and it setup fine. Just plugged it in.
The call quality has been good, so far. I was also able to port my local number so that was a nice touch. Nothing like calling ATT and telling them I don't need phone service.
I've found the customer support to be very helpful. Heck, they even call you. How's that for service.
Bottom line: I'm very happy with VP. They have lots of features that make it a very good value.

member for 20.7 years, 38 visits, last login: 11.2 years ago
updated 17.2 years ago


Review by rosh400 See Profile

  • Location: Potomac, Montgomery, MD, USA
  • Cost: $24 per month
  • Install: about 30 days
Great Call Quality, Great Features
Lack of 24/7 Tech Support
So far a great leap forward from QuantumVoice
Web-site:
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Call Quality:
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Tech Support:
Value for money:

12/12/06 Update

So far continued smooth sailing for the most part. The only problem I am having is if I am on the internet, there is a degradation of call quality at times. Still trying to troubleshoot that one. I am told that the best option is a router that has a quality of service feature on it to manage my bandwidth. I have FIOS internet with bandwidth to spare but my internet apps may be trying to hog all they can get.

The commenter right before me has had problems with incoming calls. I think it has to do with the number he was assigned. I have no problems because my number was ported over from my previous VOIP provider which was ported over from Verizon. So It's been my number for 6+ years.

12/1/06 Update

So far I am very impressed. The call quality is excellent and none of the problems I had with Quantumvoice. I like the distinctive ring option. Now I know when my mother is calling without even having to look at caller id. Also to clarify. 30 days was time from order to existing number port. I could have been live in 24 hours if I used the number assigned by Voicepulse.

Original Post

I've been a VOIP user for about a year and a half. Until yesterday my only experience was with Quantumvoice. Overall QV's service was okay but I did have some issues that would not go away and their switch to new ownership was lead to a major decline in customer service. My major complaints were occasional echoes in calls, unexplained failures to receive incoming calls, and random phone ringing when a voicemail was left. This last was most annoying. Orignally, QV's tech support was very personal and quite attentive, even if they could not solve the problem but under new ownership, that personal attention disappeared. Due to this, the ongoing problems, and the truly atrocious web portal, I decided to switch to a new provider. Checking this site's ratings, I first called ATT because they have a rich feature set and a really good web portal. But ATT could not port my phone number from another VOIP provider. I then read up about Voicepulse. They had the features I needed, a good price (less than QV), and good ratings. They could also port over my number.

I signed up a month ago and my number ported over yesterday. The delay was QV's fault. There database did not have my correct address (somehow they had it correct for billing). I swapped out the ata and everything worked fine. The call quality seems great and I really like the features such as distinctive ring so I know when my mother is calling without even having to look at caller id. The web portal is great but could use some improvements (click to dial, phone book, voicemail access and management on the web). Hope these features will be added but they are far from deal breakers.

Anyway, I just wanted to give my first impression which is very positive. I will try to remember and update in a month.

member for 20.2 years, 187 visits, last login: 13 years ago
updated 17.3 years ago


Review by ga2522 See Profile

  • Location: Ravena, Albany, NY, USA
  • Cost: $24 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 7 days
Lots of features, great quality, refined!
Would love to see fax to email!
Great all around VOIP provider!!
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

--02/18/07--

The best part about VoicePulse is that I don't even have to think about it. It just works all the time. Great features, great price, great quality = Highly recommended!

--12/27/06--

I'm still very happy with VP. I continue to be impressed at the quick response time whenever there is an issue. Unfortunately, and to no fault of VP's but FCC has required an added tax onto the service of 6% per month.

--11/15/06--

VP has been fantastic! Flat rate fee with all these features and best reliability record of all the competition. I'm very happy!

--10/16/06--

No news is good news, as the saying goes. Smooth sailing since my last entry. Everything just works! Love this service!

--8/26/06--

My port completed earlier this week, that makes it just 2 weeks from filling out the paperwork to completion! However, earlier this week there was an outage which caused busy signals or no dial tone on outgoing calls. Also noticed some calls were choppy. I'm hoping this is resolved and I can continue enjoying great quality voice from VP.

--8/10/06--

Just an update, VoicePulse called to let me know that they fixed my callerid timestamp. It was a fix that the engineers had to do because although it was correct on the website account edit screen it was wrong on the adapter interface screen. I am absolutely THRILLED that this has been resolved and everything is going smoothly. I'm very happy with VP and would highly recommend it to anyone considering them! I have started the process this week of porting my QV number to VP. I'll update when that is complete.

--7/27/06--

I had VP before for a day and my old review is below. However, after waiting for a second phone line from QV for two weeks I decided to give VP a second chance (especially since I've read so many good reviews for them). Second time around has been a charm. I am very happy, and I think my previous issues were due to the ATA they sent me. Voice quality has been great, just as good as QV this time around. The only issue I had was the long wait time for my ATA to be delivered which was odd because I only waited 2 days the previous time. I found out it was due to problems with setting up the E911. Also I noticed that on my phone callerid timestamp is off (displays GMT time). The call logs show the correct time. I put in a trouble ticket, engineers are working to resolve this. I love the ability to get tech support so quickly and how they follow up on everything. Everyone at VP is pleasant to deal with. I will give it a couple weeks and then probably moving my QV number over too.

--Old Review-- 6/06

After getting frustrated about the lack of features/upgrades with Quantum Voice I decided to try out Voice Pulse. I ordered my new phone line via their website but noticed after running the phone number (reverse phone lookup) they gave me that it belonged to someone else! I called their support line and was told to call back when the ATA arrived and request a new number. The ATA arrived today, I called and received my new number, no problem. What I noticed immediately was that the voice quality was poor and my callers noticed this as well. There was echoing, and static and these are things that I never experienced with QV. It was a no brainer for me, I want quality over features so I called up VP and asked them to cancel my account. Unfortunately for me I will have to eat the shipping costs to send the ATA back. However, I must say that the VP support was friendly and when I called to cancel there was no pressure involved, which to me is a big stress relief!

member for 18.6 years, 223 visits, last login: 16.3 years ago
updated 17.3 years ago


swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Voice Quality

Have you ruled out internet connection issues? Did you try different quality settings by switching codecs, perhaps to the one Quantum Voice uses. Sorry you had such a bad experience with Voicepulse. I experienced a slight issue this morning (6-14), where there was Voice issues and my caller ID wasnt getting passed on, so if you tested the service out for the first time during this, don't believe this to be the norm. Voicepuls ehas one of the better track records here on this site. Anyhow, good luck.

ga2522
join:2005-08-18
Ravena, NY

1 edit

ga2522

Member

Re: Voice Quality

The reason why I did not try to mess with anything on my end is because I can successfully use QV with excellent voice quality. When I experienced the poor quality from the Voice Pulse ATA I simply switched back to my QV ATA and instantly I had that POTS like quality back! That is why I seriously doubt it has to do with my end. I suppose it's different for different people and maybe location has to do with how good the quality is too. I know for me there was clearly a big difference between the two. Also, worth mentioning that issue VP was having that you mentioned.. that is something I never had to worry about with QV.. I can't remember any down time with QV since I've had service, nor any time when the voice quality was less then perfect.