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Review by denzel 
UPDATED: 37 days ago
member for 3.5 years, 114 visits, last login: 22 days ago
 Lincoln,Lancaster,NE
 $24 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Excellent price, reliability, voice quality, great features + Free Western Europe :-)"
 "Some small, newly added fees."
 "Superb! To prove I will refer you (you get $25) & help you with tech questions"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Help Track:
Is the way to keep track of the number of people I have successfully helped since I started this review.
As of June 19, 2008: 142 people have been helped!
If you need help or a referral in order to receive $25 Lingo credit please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM. I usually respond within 24 hours!
Do not forget to read my review. It is a summary of my own VoIP experience and people find it a helpful tool when deciding to switch to VoIP:
I have had Lingo service for about 9 months now. From day one when I received my ATA and since the easy instalation experience I have been a happy customer. Not a single glitch with the service. Everything works like a charm. Not even with my analog landline phone have I had such a voice and service quality without any glitches.
And oh my goodness is it cheap! $19.95 covers everything...unlimited minutes to US, Canada and Western European countries. Awesome.
I have read some negative reports about Lingo on this website mainly complaining about the voice quality. Being an electronic technician I know that it can only be either their setups or their ISP's connection quality. People do not understand that VoIP companies really do not have anything to do with voice and service quality. The ATA device given by all of the major VoIP companies are basically all the same with a very small quality difference since they all have similar circuitries. From that point on they do not and cannot control the quality of the service since it completely depends on their customer's ISP connection quality. Plain and simple. No matter how much these people have to say about it they are barking at a wrong tree. They should be talking to their ISPs.
I have Road Runner with down 6Mbps and up 564kbps. It's basically smooth sailing!
People have been complaining about regulatory fees. Well they all charge them even Vonage. So before they complain they should first investigate.
Like I said I am extremely happy with Lingo. Not only that they are the cheapest, but they are backed by Primus, the third largest communication company in the world. They own more fiber optic cable than any communication company in the US, which enables them to offer unlimited calling minutes to western Europe! I love that. Especially because when the VoIP bloodbath begins, being backed by a large Telecom will matter allot! The only ones left standing, by my opinion will be ATT, Callvantage and Lingo.
I wholeheartedly recommend this company to everyone.
Anyone who wants to take advantage of Lingo's referral deal and get $25 for it, please feel free to use me as your referral. Send me an e-mail to LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM and I will send you my referral info of how to get the $25.
Update:
It has been more than a year now since I signed up with Lingo. So far I have had no problems. The calls are still crystal clear. Road Runner just updated their speed to down 8Mbps. The up rate is still 564Kbps. This has not made Lingo any better since it was already better than Alltel in many instances. Basically Lingo operating at 128Kbps down has almost the CD quality sound. That is all speed they need to achieve the sound quality. As I have read in the adapter's firmware info, the adapter automatically adjusts to the available broadband speed, so that if for any reason 128Kbps is not available for the highest sound quality, the adapter switches automatically to a bandwidth saver mode and stars operating at 90Kbps, which is almost impossible to distinguish during everyday usage, even if one tried.
Lingo, or Primus also claim that they reserve the right to outsource the adapter production as they will. But so far all off the adapters were ordered from a renowned modem maker TOSHIBA, which is known for their quality (Made in Japan). I do not think that Primus will ever allow any low quality company to produce adapters for them, even though it sounds like that in their disclaimer.
I have also decided to get another line from Lingo, since it is so cheap (only $4.95). This will enable me to use their distinguished ring feature, where I will be able to set up different rings for each line, always knowing approximately who is calling even before I look at the caller ID.
One more time, based on my experience, I wholeheartedly recommend this company to everyone.
To prove this, please use me as you referral, which will allow you to collect $25 from them. Send me an e-mail to LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM and I will send you my referral information which you will be able to enter during your sign-up.
If you have any other specific questions, especially regarding the electronics specifics or my experience, just e-mail me. Again it is LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 2:
I have finally persuaded my girlfriend to switch to Lingo. Her sister is in Germany as we speak and she has been using my Lingo phone to talk to her allot. She said that talking to her sister on my phone took away the worries she had about what might the call quality be when using VoIP. Usually we talk to each other on our cellphones (unlimited mobile-to-mobile with Cingular). You need to understand, my girlfriend is known by her skepticism regarding new technology. She needs allot of time to get acquainted with the new gadgets. It took me like a year to persuade her to go with Dell when she wanted a new computer ( I am avid Dell consumer, I believe that they have the highest quality for the money).
She got her ATA today. She placed her order five days ago. I have set it up for her in her living room, where she keeps her computer. It took me less than 6 minutes, since she does not have any router. The setup was the basic one: Cable modem (Earthlink)-ATA-analog phone-computer. I rebooted everything per instruction and she obtained a phone signal right away. The first person she called was her sister. 
Since I referred her she is gonna be getting the $25!
She plans to cancel Alltel also. Good bye high bills!
Our next plan is to talk to her family about the Lingo service.
If you have any questions please e-mail at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 3:
To answer some of the questions that other people have on this forum I would like to first start with saying that I cannot do anything against the fact that, so far, when it comes to Lingo, basically everything worked well. Please, when you compare reviews like mine with other reviews consider that I am well versed in electronics, like I have stated before. Many people (no offense) do not quite understand how VoIP works and what all the variables are. This is understandable since it is a relatively new product/service that has not been talked much about, well at least not in detailed technical terms.
Second, some are bringing up issues like whether I work for Lingo. Although, I would probably like to work for such a large international conglomerate like Primus, I unfortunately am not an employee og theirs. I have no affiliation with the company, except being their customer. I write about my experience, which happens to be a positive one. I will not come up with lies about Lingo, just to make sure that somebody does not think that I "work" for them. I have posted my opinion on this forum after reading many misleading and inaccurate reports, especially about the tech specs of the VoIP service. I felt that if I write about my experience with VoIP, it will help people understand better. And it did. I have had many people thanking me for this review, but also many people asking more questions. It is a new gadget on the block VoIP.
So, please if you do have any issues, do not even post them here, but e-mail me at my private address that I have stated many times
LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Good luck to all!
A helpful article that found on the web:
As consumer-level Voice over IP (VoIP) becomes more firmly entrenched in the mainstream of telecommunications, VoIP services have become fertile ground for the type of comparison reviews — complete with "Editor's choices" and star ratings — more typical of computer hardware devices such as monitors, printers and routers.
Service comparisons have come from the usual suspects — Cnet, PC Magazine (in August 2004 and again in January 2005), PC World and the highly respected Tom's Networking — and traditional media such as the New York Times (subscription required) and BusinessWeek. There have been so many VoIP reviews that Consumer Search has even come up with a review of the VoIP reviewers, assigning a “credibility rating” to each of the comparisons (PC World was deemed most “credible”).
Comparing VoIP services, however, is not easy — some would say impossible. The results are too tainted by subjective standards and by factors that VoIP service providers have no control over — for example, differing levels of network latency caused by Internet service providers.
Predictably, there is no consensus — not even a clear leader — among the reviewers as to which service provider is best. VoicePulse, AT&T CallVantage, Vonage, Packet8, Skype, take your pick: Each has won a coveted top-choice from a comparison reviewer.
To make matters worse, these evaluations are too severely limited in scope to be considered authoritative. Usually, only four or five of the several hundred service providers operating in the US are covered, and even major providers like iConnectHere and BroadVoice — among the more established VoIP companies — are often ignored.
Even grading service providers based on calling plans and on the features they offer is a bit of a crap shoot. VoIP services are offered with dozens of features — such as online call and voice mail management “dashboards,” “point-and-click” dialing, geographically dispersed virtual numbers, and many others — that are not available with traditional land line telephone service. Still, a feature is meaningless if not used by a customer, and some VoIP calling niceties are too new or too esoteric to get much use. Grading providers on the calling plans they offer is equally difficult simply because there is no calling plan that fits every consumer's needs.
Some question whether VoIP services can even be compared in side-by-side tests like servers or routers. While it's easy to check off laundry lists of features and pricing, reviews of service quality are likely to be determined by a variety of factors that service providers have no control over — one possible explanation for the scatter shot of ratings.
First, results are affected by the underlying network, says Laura Holly, Brix Networks market development manager and author of “Measuring Voice Quality in VoIP Networks: Going Beyond 'Can You Hear Me Now?'”
“It's hard to compare two services without knowing what kind of access network you're riding over,” says Holly. “For example, you and I both subscribe to Vonage but you are on a satellite connection and I'm on a 3Mb cable connection. We're unlikely to see the same quality of performance.”
Brix Networks, which supplies commercial network test products to service providers, also provides a free portal that evaluates the performance of a VoIP call going through a residential broadband connection.
“We routinely get email from people who have used our service and say 'I'm having trouble with service provider X,'” Holly reports. “We have to tell them that it's not the service provider, it's the broadband connection.”
Second, because calls take different routes to the same point, changing network conditions affect test results.
“Very few network providers use the same topology,” says Broadvoice CEO David Epstein. “A tester from location A will get a different result from testers at locations B and C.”
And third, unless these reviews are done over an extended period of time it's impossible to fairly measure performance.
“Vonage might sound great on Monday at noon,” says Epstein. “But that doesn't mean it will sound great on Tuesday at 1:00 pm from exactly the same place.”
Validating Epstein's concern are the conflicting results derived by PC Magazine when it compared VoIP providers in two separate issues, five months apart. In August 2004, the magazine compared AT&T CallVantage, VoicePulse and Vonage, with VoicePulse coming out on top. In January 2005, Broadvox, Lingo and Verizon VoiceWing were added to the chosen companies. This time, AT&T won the magazine's “Editor's Choice.”
Still, some think these reviews have value, despite their limitations.
“Services can for the most part be compared,” says VoicePulse CEO Ravi Sakaria. “What we found after two years of experience in this area that the part that is beyond is beyond our control very seldom has a negative impact on customer's experience.”
“When we first started I thought we would have a high rate of cancellations — 25 percent — because the Internet connection couldn't handle the calls,” Sakaria continues. “In fact, we have less than 1 percent of cancellations because of the connection.”
Sakaria says that there are tools out there that can accurately evaluate customer experience and cites Minacom's VoIP monitoring tool, used in a recent review by PC Magazine. “That kind of test is very accurate as far as what the customer's perception is,” according to Sakaria.
But can these reviews have merit if they only evaluate a tiny fraction of the rapidly growing number of VoIP providers in the world? Sakaria says 'yes.'
“Even if we're not included in the review,” says Sakaria, “we can still learn from the results and use that information to improve our service.”
By CAROLYN SCHUK
for VOXILLA.COM
Update 4:
Ladies and Gentlemen Lingo now has a web based "Connection enhancer". It allows you to increase the quality of your calls by switching to highest quality. Also, MEXICO is included into the monthly fee, so anybody calling Mexico can talk unlimited for free! Awesome!
Update 5:
I have looked at all of my previous Lingo bills that I have saved electronically on my computer in order to see if I can come up with the dollar number of approximately how much I had saved over a period of one year. For comparison purposes and to make everything fair I have used the pricing of our local POTS carrier Alltel, including taxes and charges for long distance and international calls.
First I had summed up the minutes in following categories: local, long distance, international Germany, international Sweden, international UK, international Canada. The international minutes are divided on a country by country basis since Alltel charges different rates for each of them. Alltel also charges different rates according to what time of day the numbers were dialed. This might have complicated the whole matter considerably, therefore I took the average price Alltel charges. Also, I took the local minutes out of the equation, since Alltel does not charge anything extra for them (unlimited).
The layout looks like this:
1) Total minutes spent for 12 months 27604
2) Local minutes 7202
3) Long distance minutes 4046
4) International minutes:
a) Canada 1507
b) Germany 14202
c) Sweden 396
d) UK 251
All of these minutes were included in the Lingo Unlimited Plan that costs $19.95.
After calculating all of the rates it looks like I have saved more than $2400. I know, I was shocked also when I saw the number. It doesn't seem that way once you get used to Lingo and talking without having to worry about cost, but once you put it on paper, WOW!
I would also like to remind you that this does not include all the taxes and regulatory fees that Alltel charges which were approximately around $20 for me every month.
Therefore, my friends, VoIP has been a bliss for me. And it is not only the money it saves me, which is substantial, but also the amount of time I spend with my family on the phone. I used to miss everybody, since it was expensive to call. Mow everybody, especially my grandmother is telling me how nice it is to hear my voice so often. I just feel closer to them!
Until next time.
Update 6:
I have been reading some of the reviews that Review Lingo. Some people claim that $25 referral credits are a scam from Lingo just to get people refer other for free. Well, not true. I have recommended several people and each one of them, including my girlfriend, have received the $25 as promised in the referral e-mail. What Lingo does is actually not send the money, but count it against your current month bill. So if your bill is supposed to be $20 they deduct $25 and you owe nothing for the month. The extra $5 gets transferred into the next month and deducted from that bill.
Once again if anybody need a referral, I will be glad to refer you. E-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
I have been testing the "connection enhancer" for a while now, switching from the normal setting to the highest setting and back and forth several times. While there is a slight improvement for me listening to a person I am talking to, I have been asking my friends to tell me if there is any difference for them to hear me. They said it was much better in the highest setting, which seems to remove that slight background noise that appears sometimes (during a download for example). Overall it is much better to keep your Lingo in the highest setting for both you and the people who call you.
Update 7:
E-mails regarding number availability have been coming into my inbox. As far as I know, for all those living in Nebraska, Vonage as well as ATTCallVantage cover only the city of Omaha. No other provider, except Lingo, cover so many cities in Nebraska. Lingo covers Lincoln, Omaha,Columbus, Emerson, Grand Island, Lexington, MInden,Norfolk, Osceola, and Plattsmouth. Most of the cities are towns actually with no more than 3000 people living there. It is just amazing to me that Lingo covers them all.
Update 8: Just to inform everybody using Lingo, if you haven't yet been contacted by Lingo, to log into your account and read through the 911 statement and acknowledge that you have read it. This is an FCC (Federal Communication Commission) requirement involving the pursuit for VoIP's to better inform their users of difference regarding the traditional 911 and the VoIP 911. You must do it by August 26, otherwise Lingo will stop your service until you do.
Good Luck.
Update 9:
I am thinking of installing a second Lingo line. What happens is, since it is free to call Europe, sometimes, especially on weekends, members of my family talk with Europe for hours. If I want to call someone they tell me to hold on and I do FOR HOURS! Also if someone is trying to reach me, unfortunately, call waiting beep gets ignored to many times. ARGH...
I want to order a new ATA and hook it up to the Linksys adapter, just like my first one. For now I will go with the $7.95 plan and work my way up as I decide that I need more minutes. I will keep you posted about the quality of the connection once I install another line.
Until next time.
Update 10:
I have installed a second Lingo line a few weeks ago. I ordered it on their web site just like the first one and even recommended myself (let's see if that is going to work). I do not like the fact that I could not order another line without having to open a brand new account. Tracking of my seconds spent is not as easy now, since, I have to log in and out of each account to do so. It would be nice if they allowed people to order as many lines as they wish under the same account. Makes life easier. But, anyways, I am very pleased with the overall setup. I have connected the other ATA to the same Linksys router and allowed higher QoS for this ATA also. Very often we find ourselves using both lines at the same time noticing that there is no drop in call quality, even while downloading movies from Movielink at the same time. It is a sweet deal, since now my other family members can talk as much as they want, without having me interrupting in order to make my calls. If they are on the phone and I need to use it, which by the way happens very often, I just use my other Lingo line. Both lines together cost me less than $30 a month (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT), so I 'm a happy camper!
As I explained above, if anyone has any specific questions or would like a referral, e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM. I check my e-mail on a daily basis.
Update 11:
D-Link has a brand new wireless G router, which is made just for Lingo. Amazingly enough, you cannot find it on their web site, but if you Froogle it, you will find it available for purchase in at least four on-line stores. It is similar to it's Lingo Ethernet hub router, but the availability of the wireless capability is really tempting. It's average cost is around $100. I am considering buying it. The only thing that I do not know is would it be worth it $100 to uncluttter my desktop and get rid of the Lingo ATA and some wires related to it. Now I have a Linksys wireless G router and two Lingo adapters and a computer connected to it by wire. I also have several computers, including a laptop, connected to it wirelessly. If I buy the D-Link router, which I heard is of a lower quality than the Linksys one, I could just have that router with only one computer connected to it by wire.
*** Interupdate:
I just had a conversation with a Lingo salesperson. He told me that there is no way to switch devices for already existing Lingo lines that are connected to their ATA. My understanding was that they only need to switch the serial numbers around, but he said that they do not do that. His explanation is that it might cause technical glitches to do it. So if anybody is considering doing this, please know before you buy the equipment that you wont be able to switch your existing lines to the D-Link device. For all the others wanting to sign up for a new number, in that case you will be able to use your D-Link. Another thing, the salesperson said that I could sign up for a new number and just cancel my numbers related to the ATAs. I do not want to do that, therefore I will stick to the wire clutter.
Update 11:
There are several features that I would like to see Lingo offer soon, which I have noticed on other company's plans. The first feature that I would like to see implemented is the Wi-Fi phone support. We would get rid of the the ugly ATA, since it would be integrated in the phone. Since most people I know already have a Wi-Fi hot spot in their houses, it would be remarkably easy to use Lingo. Plus, whenever you travel, just take your Wi-Fi phone with you and you'll have your home phone wherever you are as long as you are in a hot spot like Hotels, airports, etc. Think of the cell phone savings.
The second feature that I would like to see is directory listing. I would like to see a directory listing for all VoIP phones, regardless of which company they belong to. Also, there should be an opt-out option for people who would not like to be listed in the directory.
I hope Lingo listens. I have not seen many changes on their web site or any features added lately.
Update12:
I was reading a few reviews that claim that you are not able to use Lingo for faxing. I am not sure whether they have Lingo home or Lingo business service. As far as I understand, one needs a Lingo business service to have the fax feature enabled. Otherwise, you only get to use the voice feature.
Also, it is not true that Lingo does not work with satellite providers. My girlfriend has a Dish Network satellite and has her receiver hooked up to the Lingo adapter. She needed to get a regular phone connector splitter. That is because she has a Lingo home plan, which means that only port1(on the adapter) works for voice/phone features. She inserted the phone splitter into port1 and then she connected her phone and the Dish receiver to the same splitter (effectively connecting both into port1). It only works this way. She tried connecting it to port two (which if she had a business plan would be used for a fax machine), but it did not work since it is disabled on a Lingo home plan.
I hope this helps those of you who are trying to use Lingo with your satellite receivers.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM.
Update 13:
I just received some unsettling news in a form of an e-mail from Lingo. It looks like that, for their home unlimited plans, they will be raising their rates by two dollars. Now, while it is true, as they state in that e-mail that their price is still lower than their competitors' (especially considering how much Europe they cover for free), raising their prices during the VoIP consolidation times might prove unwise. I am afraid that many customers who do not call Europe much but perceive Lingo inferior to other VoIP providers will switch away. As far as I am concerned, I call Europe everyday and $21.95 is still lower than $24.95 or even $39.00 that Time Warner charges for their "Digital Phone". Hence, I am not going to switch, not even if Lingo all of the sudden went crazy and charged more than Vonage (which I do not think will ever happen). The price increase is supposed to happen on June 1.
Anyways, as always if you have any questions regarding Lingo or any other specific VoIP question or you would like to be referred to get the $25from Lingo please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 14:
Lingo finally has Caller ID with Name, even when you receive a call from a party not affiliated with Lingo. I noticed that they've started advertising it quietly on their web page.
At first, I had some difficulties with it. A few calls would display a name and a few after that would not. Anyways, I e-mailed the customer service and, 24 hours later, a Lingo representative tells me that they will have Caller ID with name rolled out completely by the beginning of September. By then, according to that person, the service is bound to have a few glitches. Lo and behold, this week all my received calls displayed a name of the caller with their number. So it works.
If you have any questions or if you would like me to recommend you so you can receive $25 from Lingo, please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 15:
I decided to change my credit card information on Lingo, so that they could charge me on my MC on which I get some cash back. Low and behold, when I got my last month's statement, the credit card company charged me 2% of foreign transaction fee.
I called them and they explained that Lingo charges are coming from Canada, therefore it is a foreign transaction. I asked to talk to the supervisor, and she explained that Lingo charges from Great Britain, hence why the charges. Well.... something smells funny. I will change the Lingo credit card back to my check card, where I never got charged a foreign fee (Visa). Did anyone else have the same experience?
If you have any questions or if you would like me to recommend you so you can receive $25 from Lingo, please e-mail me at LINGOPHONE@GMAIL.COM
Update 16:
Lingo has changed the names of its plans. I guess my plan is now called "Chatter Box". The prices have not changed as of last increase, which happened several months ago. I am still enjoying the service and have not had a single interruption in years.
Update 17:
A peculiar thing started happening. My Lingo bill increased by a few dollars in the past several months. I looked into my recent bills and there was a shocker: Lingo has started charging the regulatory recovery fee and the emergency fee, and my long distance, which is over and above what Lingo's unlimited plan covers, is being taxed now too. My bills are now close to $29 altogether. Nevertheless compared to other VoIP companies, Lingo is still the king of cheap.
Lingo also has a new plan, in which you are allowed to prepay for the year ($195) and have unlimited minutes in US and Canada, without ever receiving a bill. That is about $16.25 per month to get the unlimited plan. Granted Europe is not included, but compared to Vonage or Packet 8, that rate is really, really low.
Update 18:
First of all happy new 2008 to everyone reading this review! I just got an e-mail from Lingo shocking me again. They are saying that, starting February of 2008, they will increase the Regulatory Recovery Fee from $0.99 to $1.99. I find it a bit excessive in all honesty, so I compared my Lingo plan with the rest of the competition, just to see if it is still a great value as it was before. Now, with all the fees, the $21.95 unlimited plan ends up costing around $24-25. The plan has not changed and its still unlimited for most of Europe, all the US and Canada. I could not find a plan that offers all that for less money, so guess what, I am sticking with Lingo!
Again, I wish you all a happy and prosperous new 2008!
Update 19:
On my last Lingo bill I discovered my first error charge. Namely, I called my cousin who lives in Paris a couple of times to his landline. However, Lingo recognized his landline number as a mobile phone number and charged me a couple of dollars for those calls.
It was not a lot of money, but out of principal, I decided to call the Lingo customer number and request a refund. A guy with an accent answered a phone and asked how he could be of help. I calmly explained the situation and he asked me if he could put me on hold to access my information. Less than a minute later he said that Lingo charged me because, apparently, I called a mobile phone in France, which is not covered by the unlimited minutes agreement.
I told him that the phone was a landline. Without putting any fight he apologized for the inconvenience and told me that Lingo will credit the wrongly charged funds on my next month's bill. I will be looking for the next bill to see if it really is true.
The phone call went amazingly well aside from the fact that the guy had an accent. If I get the money back, Lingo will have scored another good point in my book.
Followup comments:  lakeratbbq
join:2004-11-10
Lees Summit, MO
 ·Packet8
|  Lingo Rocks
We have only had two small call quality problems in year we have been on Lingo. Both I can blame on speed issues from my ISP (a large cable company). Once I got online with the ISPs tech people and resolved the speed issues the problems disappeared.
All in all I give lingo a thumbs up. I have saved $720.00 over my old wireline provider in the last year. | |
| marie11
join:2006-01-02
Decatur, AL
| Wireless Lingo Router QUOTE: "I just had a conversation with a Lingo salesperson. He told me that there is no way to switch devices for already existing Lingo lines that are connected to their ATA. My understanding was that they only need to switch the serial numbers arround, but he said that they do not do that. His explanation is that it might cause technical glitches to do it. So if anybody is concidering doing this, please know before you buy the equipment that you wont be able to switch your existing lines to the D-Link device. For al the others wanting to sign up for a new number, in that case you will be able to use your D-Link. Another thing, the salesperson said that I could sign up for a new number and just cancel my numbers related to the ATAs. I do not want to do that, therefore I will stick to the wire clutter."
*** I have had Lingo for about eight months, and I absolutely love it. The call quality has been consistently excellent, and I have saved a ton of money. It's so nice to not have to worry about minutes.
I did not buy the ATA device, because I didn't want to have to pay the disconnection fee if I didn't like it. I have been using the Wired D-Link Lingo Router instead. A few months ago, I had an ISP outage, and when the service went back up, calls could no longer be placed through the router. D-Link tried to diagnosis it through the net, but was unable to determine the problem. I had to send it back for a replacement.
D-Link shipped the replacement which had a different serial number. The Lingo technician I spoke with made the neccessary adjustments so that I could use the new router with my old number.
Perhaps you spoke with someone who wasn't aware it was possible to change the device and keep the same number. It seems if I was able to change my device and keep my same number, you should be able to do the same with the D-Link Wireless Router.
By the way, thanks for that information. I didn't realize they had come out with a wireless version. I had been thinking of hooking up a wireless router to my wired Lingo router, so that would really simplify things.
For me, customer service/tech service has been excellent! | |
| | serg_leo
join:2001-11-28
Germantown, MD | Faxes works for Home Faxes works for Lingo Home without any problems. Just select high quality codec. | |
| | RichieVega
join:2005-05-04
New York, NY
·LINGO
| Re: Faxes works for Home Yeah, I do faxing from my computer all of the time without any problems. Check out my review, which I updated on 4-25-06. And if you are interested in a $25.00 Credit Referral, please don't hesitate to contact me at "RVLingoReferrals@Yahoo.com" and I will be more than happy to help you out.
So far I've saved over $950.00 by using Lingo versus Verizon/ATT phone service combo I had before, not to mention that I used to have to use my Cingular Cellular Phone Service to call Puerto Rico, and now I don't have to use my cell minutes, I can call directly from home. What a pleasure! | |
| sds8081
join:2006-04-24
New Hyde Park, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| lingo service comments hey, my name is steve,
i have been a lingo customer for over 2 years now and i can tell you the following,
The first major problem with lingo is that they have different levels of tech support,
yes i know this is normal, but they have it set up different,
Even if you reboot your ata box 50 times, they will make you do it again, they tried pinging my modem and stuff, but there was no loss and low ping times.. I worked for the cable company, so i have an idea of how that works. They claimed once that my ping times are to high, 6ms is not high under any circumstances.
they refuse to transfer you to level 2 tech even if you have dealt with level 1 in the previous call before being disconnected.
The reason i called is becuase i have been trough 2 ata boxes. Very strange. Now, dont get me wrong, level 1 should be able to get rid of basic stuff, but here they really suck. Level 2 is diferently like upgrading from a 14.1kbps modem to 13mb download (which i currently have).
as far as the service quality goes, its not good, its always low, i get rapid busy signals and have to attempt multiple time to dail the same number, primus has nothing to do with anything in any of the conversations, the person here is defenetly trying to advertise or promote. The tech support is horrible, they need to get rid of level1.
second thing, they always look for something to bullshit you with, for example. i have my modem hooked up to my ata device, which is hooked up to a pc. the pc is off, no os installed, and they tech guy keeps insisting that thas causing problems because i might have software using up bandwith. morons.
anyway, let me know what you think, I still use them, becuase i can port my number from a voip to another voip.
prices are excelent, but why pay 20 bucks and get 150 worth of headaches.
i recommended1 person 1 year ago, i still havent received my 30 bucks or whatever. | |
| | RichieVega
join:2005-05-04
New York, NY
·LINGO
| Re: lingo service comments Hey Steve,
Check out my review, especially for the connections of your ATA box to the Router, rather than directly to the modem. This took care of 90% of the problems, then, I set my "Connection Enhancer" to "Highest Call Connection Speed" which then uses more of your broadband connection for calls, but should not affect browsing the internet. This setting is recommended if you have cable internet service or use Lingo for faxing frequently. Each call uses approximately 90Kbps.
These changes made a heck of a diferrence.
If anybody has any questions or would like a $25.00 Credit towards their account, please CONTACT me at: "RVLingoReferrals@Yahoo.com" and I will be more than happy to answer your questions and give you or somebody you know a referral!
Rich. | |
| | 
somitho
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Richmond, VA
| Well great, you've worked for the cable company; that makes you an expert on ICMP.
Obviously being a cable company employee, you would know that they ask you to reboot the ata because there may be something that you missed or your hardware didn't grab the first time. Second, you should further know that if one tech couldn't help; maybe this second tech is just a bit more knowledgeable than that first tech and wants to help you as much as s/he can before forwarding you to level 2.
Which cable company did you work for?
Might be best to mention, that Primus carried VZ's long distance service to international nodes prior to the buy out of MCI. Primus is one of the leading carriers for voice out there, while VoIP technology isn't perfect I certainly would doubt of issues within Primus causing your problems.
You get a 6ms ping to the voice node? I highly doubt that, who is your ISP?
Try contacting sales/marketing for the referral payment.
This site has spell check, please use it.
--
"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking." General George Patton Jr | |
| | | sds8081
join:2006-04-24
New Hyde Park, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: lingo service comments wow,
we obviously have someone from lingo down in VA reading this.
First of all, i worked for cablevision as a level 2 tech, i know more then enough about tcp/ip and routing as needed.
since you seem so offended because you prob work at their shipping department that took years to ship out my replacements, let me ease your mind.
Ping times refers to the time it took your rep, to ping my modem. The ping times were excellent. Second of all, i have tried contacting them about the credit, nobody knows anything , but they do see the person i recommended. Third, The first level of support is there just to reboot, get a dail-tone back by any routers that have lost their ip since it is DHCP. so as far as you feeling all suicidal and shit because of your company ,too bad, head to the nearest bridge and do us a favor, jump..
to all other readers,
Lingo is a good service provider with excellent prices. They are unbeatable,
i would recommend it to everyone, except i would let you know to expect crap from level1 support.
(or crybabies like this guy)!
and primus, i know nothing about them, never heard of them, don't care who they are. I am only focusing on my service with lingo. | |
| Erinys
join:2007-07-12
Terre Haute, IN
·LINGO
| For those that have said this person works for Lingo... I don't believe so. It looks more like he's working for himself.
I didn't read every last word of lengthy update after update, but I did see several plugs telling people if they wanted in on the $25 credit for using a referral from an existing customer to email him. What he never mentioned anywhere near the numerous plugs was that he also gets a $25 credit for every new customer that signs up and remains a customer for three months. If he did mention it, my apologies (It must have been buried in a sea of repetitive remarks and I missed it).
I've been a Lingo customer for about three years now. My ATA device is not made by Toshiba (No clue where he got that tripe). According to FCC laws any number can be transferred to any new service (Number Portability), so the statement about having to get a new number if you get a new ATA device is pretty laughable. They claim that there's no need to upgrade your adapter because all of their adapters are of equal quality. That doesn't change the fact that equipment has to be replaced from time to time because it eventually wears out... or gets hit in a lightning storm.
The sound quality is not always crystal clear for me and I'm quite certain it has nothing to do with my ISP, especially since Lingo's tech support reps have acknowledged the issue. In the instances I have had trouble Lingo's tech support has been decent and sorted the issues in a timely manner.
I'll post a proper review regarding my experiences with Lingo. I just wanted to mention that this guy is only trying to shove Lingo down your throats so people will contact him for the referral email so he can get his $25 per new account. If it's working for him, spiffy. | |
| | denzel
join:2005-01-02
Lincoln, NE
·LINGO
edit:
July 29th, @03:11PM
| Re: For those that have said this person works for Lingo... With all due respect, there is no reason to post insulting comments. When people ask me for a referral, I send them the official Lingo Member invitation, which explains that both parties get $25 each.
I certainly am not trying to "shove" the Lingo service down anybody's throat. I am willing and able to help with any technical questions, including people that have not used me as a referral. I have done it for a long time now, never charged anyone a single cent.
Anyways, I have read your posting and it does not seem to differ from mine. You must be a happy Lingo camper after all!
Thanks,
Denzel | |
| robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL | Never heard of them Are they reliable? I'm looking for a long distance carrier that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for 100 or so minutes. My Cable company charges $40 a month for 100 minutes and, that's a rip off.
-Rob | |
| | | |
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Review by champion
UPDATED: 44 days ago
member for 1.4 years, 10 visits, last login: 44 days ago
Westerville,Franklin,OH
$19 per month
about 3 days
"Excellent Plan - Unlimited Calling to Western Europe"
"None actually except that the modem requires to be reset once in two months or so"
"Decent service for residential use"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
I signed up with Lingo in July 2005 in spite of mixed reviews.
>> Reasons I Chose Lingo:
- Excellent plan for 19.95 (now 21.95) for unlimited calls within US and Western Europe (I have friends in Europe)
- Free Modem (D-Link had a mail-in rebate offer for model DVG-1402S)
- My friend's experience with Vonage (not regarding call quality) when he cancelled the service. Though they advertised "free modem" the modem had to be returned if the service was cancelled within 12 months.
>> Installation:
I ordered the modem from D-Link and signed up for Lingo service online. The modem arrived in 3 days and the phone was up and running in a few minutes. The only problem I had was that the phone was not ringing for my chosen number and when I placed a call to my cell phone it showed some different number. Called the tech support and after a modem reset on my end I was all set with my new home phone.
>> Modem Connection:
Connected the ISP modem to a router. My computer and the phone modem connect independently to the router.
>> Call Quality Issues:
Call quality is not great but decent. Once in a while I hear echoes when I call home from my cell phone. Until now I never had to disconnect and call again due to call quality. Nobody who calls me on my Lingo number ever complained.
>> Connectivity Issues:
In the last 16 months I never had serious issues with connectivity. Once in a while the modem had to be reset. There were phases (about three times) in between where we had to reset the modem frequently for two or three days. The problem might have also been due to the ISP.
I had an exasperating experience once before my wife got her cell phone. I was trying to call my wife and there was a modem outage and I could not get to her until she realized and reset the modem.
>> Tech Support:
I called the Tech Support only twice and both the times they resolved my issues. They were minor issues so I do not know how (in)capable they are as other reviewers seem to say.
>> Other Comments:
I have used this service in Detroit suburbs, MI with Comcast for nearly an year and am currently using the service in Columbus, OH with Road Runner cable for the last 8 months WITHOUT any issues.
I don't have a fax.
Over all - I am very happy and I would recommend Lingo for a normal residential use. Excellent plan and decent call quality.
All the best!
Update: June 12, 2008
My Lingo service continues to be the same. I don't have any issues. In the last few months I did not have to reset the modem due to connectivity issues.
Followup comments: 
Bumski
@charter.com
| I would not use Lingo, the company ripped me off! 
I contacted Lingo to sign up for their service. They took my credit card info and signed me up for an account. I never received their product to connect up to their network. They have been charging my credit card since 2004 until Jan 2007. I could not use their service because I had no means to connect to it: they had to provide the box, they never did. I escalated my complaint the the executive level, they cited their contract that said billing starts 3 weeks after signing up. A company that bills it's customers, does not provide the product required to use their service, and then will not do ANYTHING to compensate is not a company that I would want to do business with. My email is posted (john.govern@gmail.com) and I will be happy to forward my email correspondence to anyone to prove what I am saying is true. I cannot comment on their service because I was NEVER able to use it. My question to you is: Is this the kind of company that you want to do business with? I cannot recommend anyone else because I have never used their services, I just know that Lingo ripped me off. | |
| | champion
join:2007-01-28
Westerville, OH | Re: I would not use Lingo, the company ripped me off! Did you say you let them charge your credit card for three years when they never even sent you the modem? | |
| | | Cogdis
join:2007-03-26
Floral Park, NY |  Re: I would not use Lingo, the company ripped me off!
 | |
| | | |
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Review by webpc
UPDATED: 47 days ago
member for 7.1 years, 443 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Bridgewater,Somerset,NJ
$24 per month
"International Numbers and International Call Quality"
"Customer support and 1st tier tech support terrible"
"Great if everything works and there are no problems"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
Update 2008
Well after using the service for 3+ years we moved the US business lines to Vonage (who we have been using since 2001). We picked up an Australian number through an Australian provider.
Our home number? Well we are now using Skype we have tested it for 6 months now and it has been rock steady. its also HEAPs cheaper
The reason we left Lingo? The last straw was when the lines stopped recognising DTMF tones and Lingo said they NEVER did, which isn't correct because the Lingo business lines had been hooked up to a PABX and except for the last couple of months you could navigate the system via DTMF. Lingo support were definite they never supported up. We also had ongoing issues with the Lingo ATA locking up when it was behind a NAT router and the time it took to troubleshoot just got out of hand.
The one redeeming feature for Lingo was the voice quality.
Original
To get going it took 2 ata's and 3 weeks of talking to tech support. Luckily 2nd tier know something and are helpful, 1st tier appear to know nothing and just follow scripts that definitely require reworking.
Customer support are great for providing disinformation. We took advantage of getting an Australian phone number, Initially as our primary number and was told by CS rep that all calls we made to other Australian numbers would be treated as local. Also was told by rep that the deal (3 months free) at the time applied to all plans. Have found out since that calls to Australia are charged at international rates, you cannot have an International number as your primary number, and the deal didn't apply to the basic plan!!
Have been trying to resolve the above for nearly a month have only received 1 email stating the position about the deal. Replied to the email asking about the wrong info provided by the CS rep and about not having the service for nearly a month, received no reply followed up still no reply. It appears silence is the name of the game!
when trying to get a copy of an invoice from the web site we just receive a message saying it's not available, when reporting outage to support we just get told its for our plan and calls (obviously!!). No details and no reply to emails asking when system will be back up and running. Also no opportunity to check the calls, especially as the charge is over $10 more than plan price and our Long Distance/ International calls over the past few years has averaged less than $3per month using Lingo's parent Primus.
The good side... the call quality is on par to Vonage (who we have used for last 2 years) for calls within the US but is much better Internationally (at least to Australia and UK). Call quality has also been steady since the connection problems were resolved.
End result get everything in writing and do not rely on what you are told by a CS rep and hope you do not need to interact with customer support. If you get technical issues get your case escalated to tier 2 support ASAP .
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 Review by HomeLvr
UPDATED: 87 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 1996 visits, last login: 15 days ago
Atlanta,Fulton,GA
$21 per month
about 3 days
"Price, Call Quality, Reliability"
"Everything now, had problem with box, refused to replace"
"Should have took a second chance on VoIP sooner"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
|
Hey,
Well lets see I dropped Vonage over a year ago because it was just horrible. Mostly because of my internet connection (Adelphia Cable), but those times when my connection was rock solid my connection overseas was not. Since then I dropped Vonage and Adelphia, got Bellsouth and Bellsouth DSL. Well I started to get sick of paying out the rear. My phone bills tripled (probably more). Then up pops the news that AT&T is now offering naked dsl. I said ok lets try VoIP again. I decided to go with my Long Distance provider, Primus' VoIP offering. Primus has been the only cheap international long distance I have never had troubles with in all the years one time or another of using POTS. Lingo has been excellent. I have used it all last night and today like crazy calling everyone. Better than my POTS line which is just amazing. And at last my overseas calls don't have issues as they did with Vonage! Lingo also offers a whole lot of free countries to call. If I use as much minutes as I have with POTS that right there will save me over a $100 by itself. Now that it's free I'll be using it even more! Im not going to budget my European calls.
Honestly Lingo I think is the best choice if you want POTS like service. It comes from a great company, Primus and hands down the best deal. Whenever I hear about free country calling I am worried, but I wasn't this time around since Primus has been around forever offering great international long distance. Quality free international calls to so many countries!
Thank You AT&T for naked DSL!
Thanks to you Lingo! for making the world a smaller place. I don't have to worry about calling internationally (all the ones I call are on the free country list!). Its now second nature to pick up the phone and call thousands of miles away! without a second thought.
One more thing, I rated the ease of installation a 3 because the box came before they registered it on the network. So I think. The way it seems was I hooked it up before their servers actually put my box online. I called tech support (5 minute wait or so) and they got me all setup real quick. Very Courteous. I know they were Indian, but his English and his control of the language was great. I could have sworn he was a car salesman at the local Mercedes Benz dealer.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!! :
Have had problem with Lingo Box, no service for a month. Gave them a month to try and repair it. Still wouldn't allow a new box to be sent out. Canceled my card, canceled service. Good thing I canceled the card too because they tried to charge the card next months service and now send me emails saying I need to pay and if I don't my service may be suspended (should already be! considering I canceled it)
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Review by bluediemond
UPDATED: 117 days ago
member for 117 days, 0 visits, last login: 117 days ago
Pensacola,Escambia,FL
$23 per month
about 4 days
"Great value and good quality service"
"horrible tech support and customer support"
"If you can do it yourself, this is the best value offered. Less than 1/2 the price of my ISP's (Cox) IP phone plan."
| |
Considered a few others but after reading reviews I narrowed it down to Vonage or Lingo. Vonage (at the time) did not offer a local phone number to my area, and they cost $5 a month more.
When I signed up the unlimited phone service was $19.95 a month. That has increased to $23.95 but I'm still very satisfied.
The adapter was not free but is now to new customers. No brand name on the adapter, just a Lingo logo.
Calling tech support was a miserable experience. When they ask you to reboot your computer (not adapter) which is not attached to the adapter in any way, they are obviously not familiar with their own product. Their tech support is obviously outsourced as well as every "tech" I've spoken to sounded like he was from India.
You will probably need to call tech support when you first establish service. I had horrible call clarity and simply calling any number may have resulted in no connection at all. Tech support routed my connection through a more local server in my area and I've had no problems since. (about 2 years)
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Review by moyeti
UPDATED: 134 days ago
member for 2.6 years, 21 visits, last login: 24 days ago
Spring,Montgomery,TX
$30 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
"Low cost and high features are really, really cool"
"Calls dropped / last yr maybe 6 days unuseable"
"Just finished 1 yr Starting to Look around again..."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Got Lingoed Aug '05 thru a referral. My friend never got his $25 either. He is w/ SuperiorVOIP now. Wants me to follow him there, says its' got better quality. Who knows.
Back to Lingo. Overall it has been OK, but there are times where the service is ether not useable, or poor. Not very often, but there are times. Like all day today. My idea to switch, so I get blamed each time and reminded of it. That is a drag, but I've learned to say use your cell in the interim.
I like the savings and features, but want better phone quality. I'm going to try and resolve a problem I am having right now with incoming phone calls that after 1 or 2 rings drop. If that gets resolved quickly and a good explanation as to why I get charged over 30 when I signed up for 19.95, I'll stay. I believe it has something to do w/ my "extra" line, but I did ask them to switch it over using my existing line. I'll update when I get the poop in. Looking at ViaTalk, however...
Update 8/28/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My problems with the dropped calls have been resolved somehow. Just a 1 day occurenc for some reason. Could have been my ISP, Lingo, don't know. At any rate I still need to find out about the charges and some other features before deciding to stay or go. I don't think there are too many that much better though. Seems all of them have had about the same amount/type of problems I've had.
Update 8/28/2006 PM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Looks like I've been charged 4.95 all along for using my old # instead of the Lingo assigned one. I wonder if Vonage would charge me for that, and they seem (according to the boards) have better voice quality. Hmm....
Update 8/30/2006 PM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Calls are dropping again. I'll have to get w/ Lingo to see if this can be rectified. Will post at that time.
Update 9/2/2006 AM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It was the simultaneous ring back to my 2 cell phones. Each one costs an additiona 128K upload width and apparently my drops (earthlink cable 5M) to a point where this doesn't work. I turned off the simulatenous ring. Recycled and will turn back on and report back.
Updated 9/3/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It appears that was the problem. I reduced the simulataneous ring back to just one cell phone and there hasn't been a problem. The customer care was very curtious and prompt. I'm going to stay with lingo. It is working for me. I have upgraded their review settings, but if it heads south, I'll be back. Best of luck. If you want to contact me as a referral feel free thru the site here.
Updated 11/4/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I've given up using any simultaneous ring back function. No calls getting thru again, so i turned off the remaining one. Upload speeds were OK too, but as soon as I turned it off at the lingo website, I started getting my calls thru. Turned on, no calls, then turned off. Haven't looked back at this funciton. It was pretty cool when it worked though. I'll have to get a lingo cust rep on it and see why none of it is working.
Updated 11/14/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well, the more you think you know. Got this reponse:
Simultaneous Ring feature is nothing to do much about bandwidth. It just needs proper configrations and also all the numbers which you have configured should be active and working. When you have one of the phone numbers are switched off or not working may cause problems recieving calls.
So I guess I'll try it one more time.
Updated 2/10/2007 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I haven't turned on the simultaneous ring feature, but all else is extremely well. I wish I could crack this not (simult ring) and use the feature. I'll try again and let everyone know. Who knows, they have gotten better and better over the last yr so maybe this quirk will work out.
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Review by docmonkey
UPDATED: 137 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 37 visits, last login: 136 days ago
Columbus,Franklin,OH
$26 per month (month by month)
about 3 days
"Western Europe calling, overall price, speed of delivery, THREE YEAR CUSTOMER HERE!!"
"line noise and echo rarely, occasional reset of ATA box"
"This review will be updated as I use the service more. A+++ for europe calling"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
11 March 08 Update __________________________________________________
Well I have been a customer for coming up on 3 years now.
I have to say that I have continued to have a VERY good experience with Lingo.
The 3 people that I have reccomended it to in the past are still using it and aside from things mentioned in my review already (from a 2 years ago) no real complaints from any of them.
Having to power cycle the ATA is still an uncommon but not abnormal occurance (Im still using the same one they sent me all those years ago). I would say maybe twice a month at most and Im pretty sure I have gone several months in a row with never touching it.
The wife logs 35+ HOURS a month !!! thats right more than an hour a day to Germany!!! This set up has saved us quite literally thousands of dollars if you simply convert the time into our old MCI fee scale (and that at 3 years ago with no inflation).
I still continue to tell people about my great experiences and I have to say that I would tell anyone that was looking for a VoIP provider Lingo has certainly done right by me!!
04 May 06 Update__________________________________________________
Over a year come and gone. Had an issue last night where the router had to be bounced and then had to bounce the ATA but thats not really Lingos fault. The issue just prompted me to come and update my review here.
Im seeing more people saying that putting the ATA infront of the router is the "Best thing" I dont disagree that it seems to work for them, but its not always the best solution. There are other ways of doing this and I have had mine behind the router (and the firewall) for over a year now and I have had great service!
Iv only used Tech support once recently and I got a good one so the problem was resolved in about 3 min, so I guess its still hit or miss.
I see alot of people trolling for referals which I guess is ok, but I always have to wonder why is it that you only see people 2 weeks after they get the system and they post a few reviews to stay on top but then disappear for ever? You can choose to dislike Denzel for his "pro Lingo" posts but at least hes been around for a long time constantly updating his reviews and responding to peoples questions.
Yes there is a way to contact me for a referal but you have to read through my review to find it. Im not gonna bother spamming it every 2 weeks, this is supposed to be informative not a free advertisment.
13 March 06 Update _______________________________________________
Well we are nearing our 1 year anniversary and we havent even considered switching service. Our call quality is still good (Im not really an audiophile so as far as Im concerned if I can hear the other end clearly thats plenty for me). We havent had any billing issues, or tech support issues. Have added a switch and 2 more PCs to our network brining the grand total to 1 2Nic Server, 3 PCs, 1 Lingo ATA, 1 network connected printer, 1 multimedia box (for surfing on the bigscreen) and 1 switch to add the ports I needed when we passed the 4 ports the router had.
I wish there was better caller ID, but thats about all Id ask for if some one really made me pick something to "fix".
Our friend in Germany thats using the box we sent him is absolutely ecstatic about it!!!!! He RAVES about being able to call his family and have his family call him without having to deal with extra line charges or special numbers. He even took the box with him when he deployed (outside of west europe is all Im allowed to post about the location) but he talked one of the local national school Directors into letting him use thier internet connection in trade for volunteer time helping around the school. So all his guys were able to call home twice a week for 2 hours per call at no charge to anyone. Thats win win people!! One thing that was a little tricky was making sure he had the right power so he didnt mess up the ATA (he solverd this buy using a small standard UPS (250 watt) hooked up to a voltage convertion transformer.
There is talk about his unit taking up a collection to order a few of these boxes (with numbers in different major cities) so more people can take advantage of this when they deploy.
Even if you dont like Lingo as a company, I highly reccomend keeping an idea like this in mind if you know any Military people that are overseas or heading overseas to a place where they will have access (even if its only a couple times a week) to a connection that will allow Internet access. Believe me when I say that being able to talk to loved ones is SO important to our military members when they are seperated from thier loved ones.
Toujours Pret!!
5 Dec 05 Update------------------------------------------------
Well, Merry Xmas and all the other holidays, just posting an update that the systems has been working well thought Id post a quick summary of all this stuff in my log below so you dont have to read through it all to get the jist. Yes I have bought this for a friend as a Xmas gift and I consider it money well spent (hes stationed in Germany and now his folks can call him with a local number)
This marks about 9 months of use and we are very VERY happy with Lingo.
We use it for mostly Germany calling, and calling state to state (just dont have many in state calls to make).
We have the ATA hooked up to the house wiring and run 2 phones (4 total- 1 old corded phone in bedroom and 1 cordless with 2 expansion phones).
We did have some mild problems with echo, static, and garbled conversations but cant say thats very common any more as long as I dont have alot of uploading going on (torrent stuff set at max upload of 60k/sec doesnt cause any issue but bumping to 100k+ causes really bad PL and garbled convo).
We also took the advise of another poster and looked into the cordless phones and found that they are also part of the problem, when we use the corded phone in the bedroom most issues clear right up (if they are happening). We havent been able to afford a new cordless phone set up so we are stuck with this for the time being.
My setup is Wide Open West cable (4.8+MB down 300+K up speed), Cable modem, Netgear router, then ATA hanging off the router. No special port forwarding or firewalling was needed infact the more I played with it the worse it usually got.
I would say it has definatly been at least Cell phone quality at all times, and most of the time I cant really tell the difference between landline (PoTs) and the Lingo line.
SUPER SUPER service for people calling overseas to the "Unlimited calling areas"!!
As always I caution anyone to make sure you have:
A. Solid Broadband connection with at least a 150K/sec upload speed
B. Good reliable power (or make sure all your setup is on a UPS)
C. Backup landline or cell phone (if you live in a power loss area or your ISP isnt dependable you dont want to get stuck without communication abilities). Many phone companies have very very cheap line fees if you want to just have 911 and emergency outgoing calls and unlimited incoming calls (outgoing are usually on a per minute basis but incoming is still unlimited). In my area I have a $12 "backup" POTs line
D. Dont be afraid to post if you are having issues and expect a day or 2 of "growing pains" while you tweak and figure out what works best for you.
It will likely take you a week or so to figure out the best settings and setup. So be prepared to work with it a little before getting frustrated that it doesnt work perfectly "out of the box".
Yes I think this would be a great gift for friends and family, and even soldiers in bases overseas where they have steady broadband access (this isnt guys in Iraq unfortunately but established bases in friendly countries).
10 Oct 05 Update ----------------------
Getting the box for my friend took longer than we would have liked, but it wasnt really a customer service issue, just took a while to ship it/recieve it. Would like to see a more streamlined process for getting a replacment ATA (maybe make the bar where they finally acknowledge that the ATA is most likely the cause and send a replacement easier to get past).
Service still isnt an issue from lingo, due to occassional Cable issues (I believe I just need to upgrade my cable modem) Im still holding onto a PoTs line that is downgraded to pretty much Incoming calls only, no long distance, no local calling, no 800 etc... basically its an incoming line with any outgoing local calls paid per minute and no long distance at all (its our failsafe).
30 Aug 05 Update ----------------------
Well we have been with them since middle April and Im sorry to say we continue to have excellent service and calling experiences. We are logging consistantly over 800 minutes a month to germany and 300+ to US calling. Once in a while we do have to hang up and call right back due to line noise, maybe 1 in 15 calls to germany, but calls in the US remain at least POTs quality.
I have done more tweaking and playing with my router, because of games and other applications, and although I did manage to screw up the service once when I was messing with some port forwarding I fixed it right away and really have yet to have an issue thats actually not user caused.
There have been some isolated instances of calls being connected but no voice either way, and a couple calls saying the number isnt in service when you hang up and redial it works fine, I even remember one "all lines are busy" thing on a sunday afternoon to NC, but my cell didnt get though either so I assume that was at the destination not the source.
The guy in my office, who I signed up (and yes the $25 credits did go in properly), had an issue this weekend where his ATA box just died, Was showing power light only and no traffic or indicater lights otherwise. Took him over 2 hours on cell (was dropped the first time at 45 min cause battery died), on hold, to get to Customer support. They diagnosed it after some discussion (as a tech my partner says thier understanding of the equipment is less than desirable) and shipped him a new one to arrive in 4 business days. Not to bad but Id think they would use the same shipping they do for new customers to get replacements out (if not have strategically stationed depots where there would be spares for just such occasions). Its only day 2 of the wait but as with my family they use it for international calling and there just is no way to touch the cash advantage of LINGO over any traditional international long distance. **update** took 4 business days to get the new ATA, worked out of the box ***
All told I have enjoyed the heck out of telling MCI exactly why they arent getting my business back, and I have even had them hang up on me when I tell them they will have to beat $22 a month for unlimited calling to all the areas and voicemail etc... that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
After almost 6 months, I cant believe it took me so long to get to this... please make sure you read all of my post as I have learned a fair bit about how this service works and how to make it work well for you in the past half year. There is more to this than just plugging it in, as a responsible consumer you owe it to yourself to know the shortcomings of this product and how to provide it with the best possible platform to serve you.
I will happily give recommendations, hey I can use a free month as much as the next guy. Send requests to docmonkey at rocketmail com.
9 June 05 Update --------------------
On the second month now and the service has been EXCELLENT!!! I hate to rave after seeing the experiences of other people but we have been using the unlimited package to call Germany and all over the US (and a couple to canada) and if anything the quality has gotten better.
Call quality is very solid and reliable, havent had a real issue with calls dropping (my cell drops more calls than the VoIP does), line quality is good and echo isnt really an issue any more than maybe 3-4% of the time.
Im afraid I dont know what issues people are having but we sure arent having them here. My comfort lvl still isnt high enough to drop the POTs line yet, but if we keep having this lvl of success I will have to seriously consider it.
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13 May Update--------
We are past the one month mark, have logged well over 200 hours of calling to germany and at least 100 hours in the US (local and long distance).
Germany calls are fairly clear, occasionally we have a static heavy connection, Echo or get weird issues where we dont hear incoming traffic (including the ring when its ringing the destination phone). This is always cleared up by hanging up and just calling back. People from germany say that we dont always get a ring on our end when they call us but it does route them to voicemail when that happens.
Local calls arent so good Id say about 75% of the clarity you get with a standard POTs line. This doesnt clear up, but we believe that it may be related to the type of switch the destination is connected directly to..... IE people on copper switches in older areas have the degraded connections but people on fibre have a fairly clear connection (very much like a normal phone or better).
Long distance runs into a "cant complete this connection" thing occasionally on holiday weekends but the calls average about the same quality as a standard phone.
My setup is still Cable modem into Netgear router with the Lingo box hanging off just like any other network device. I tried putting the Lingo in front of the router and it was horrible as a phone (I didnt even worry about the router). I tried the DMZ suggestions and port forwarding with it back behind the router, that was horrible (dropped calls, bad echo and constantly rebooting the lingo)... for us we get the best service with a straight from the box standard hook-up. Just plugged it into our router (without making special port changes), made the cable connections and powered it up.
We are running the whole house off the box, just disconnected the outside line from the house wiring and patched the lingo stright to it (3 physical phone connections). No issues with this so far.
On the whole I dont know if I would be *as* happy if my reason for getting this wasnt the unlimited Germany calling..... but since it is Im absolutly pleased and I would heardily reccommend this to people that need to call the "free" Western europe countries alot.
Oh ya and I upgraded my connection to 8MB and I play online games down load video on a different PC and talk on the phone with no effect to the line quality.... that also means it doesnt get better when Im not doing these things and on the phone, but consit |
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Question about occupied bandwidth