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Review by SpacecaTed 
Posted: 3.3 years ago
member for 3.3 years, 3 visits, last login: 2 years ago
 Big Flats,Chemung,NY
 $21 per month (12 month contract)
 about 3 days
 "Cheap! Easy to install. Unlimited US and West Europe (land line)"
 "Had bad growing pains and Tech Support near impossible to reach."
 "Depsite a rough start, still the best "bang for your buck" VOIP!!!"
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I signed up for Lingo on Nov. 2004. ATA arrived pretty quickly and got it installed in 10 minutes. Call clarity was great and Lingo ported my phone number over in 2 weeks. Plugged the ATA direct to a wall jack and got dial tone to all the phones in the house. I’m thinking “Geez…this is too easy.” Then, I sat back enjoyed the savings offered by switching over to VOIP. I was paying $60/month with MCI and $16 of that were taxes!!!
I made numerous phone calls to friends in Shanghai, China (7 cents/min. Cheap!). I thought the call quality would be bad, but if anything, it was too loud! I had to hold the receiver away from my ear!
About a month later problems began creeping in. There were numerous dropped calls, ATA losing connection to Lingo, really long post dial delays, echoes, etc. After 6 weeks of this, my wife was ready to cancel Lingo and run over the ATA with the minivan! Called tech support (had to wait on hold forever!) and was escalated to Tier 2. The support guy I got ran some tests, and after a lengthy session, determined that my ATA was going funny. He sent me a new one right away. I asked why the service had gone down hill so fast, and he replied that Lingo was not expecting this kind of growth/take rate, and their infrastructure was having a tough time keeping up, but they were adding capacity as fast as they could. Sounded like a credible reason to me, so I decided to keep the service and give Lingo a chance to iron out the rough spots.
New ATA arrives 2 days later and got it hooked up with no problems. Another 6 months roll by I noticed that the service/up time was slowly improving. In the meantime, I also had my cable provider (RoadRunner) swap my old Motorola cable modem with a newer model (per Lingo Tech Support, some older Motorola cable modems and the Lingo ATA just don’t like each other) and Lingo has been rock solid ever since. The only time I lose service is when RoadRunner goes down. Lingo comes right back when RoadRunner recovers. Don’t have to re-boot the ATA. My current setup is cable modem-->router-->Lingo ATA and PC. Didn't have to create a DMZ for the Lingo ATA.
I ordered a 2nd ATA and sent it to my mom in the Philippines. She plugged it into her DSL and Voila! She has a US number (Yes, it was that easy!). Now she can talk to her grandkids any time and not have to worry about overseas charges! I’ve also referred about 10 people over to Lingo and Lingo has always come through with referral credits.
Overall, I’d say my experience with Lingo had a real rough patch in the beginning, but it smoothed out real nicely.
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Review by badsky2k
Posted: 3.4 years ago
member for 9 years, 314 visits, last login: 4 days ago
Austin,Travis,TX
Contract price not specified.
"NONE"
"NUMEROUS"
"RUN DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THESE GUYS"
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Tried them about a year ago. Kept dropping the line, incoming calls would not come through on a fairly regular basis. Out going would drop calls (my cell dropped calls with less freq). Called tech support several times, no joy here either. Totally clueless! After three months and two modems (not to mention these schmucks equipment fried my wireless router) I gave it back. Last note, customer service rep promised me a return pre-paid label, never received it. They made the threat of charging me for the modem but I turned it over to the Texas PUC and they finally sent me a pre-paid shipping label. VoIP has a long way to go if this is what is considered a "silver star" provider.
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Review by tchen
Posted: 3.4 years ago
member for 6.8 years, 1066 visits, last login: 3 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$17 per month (month by month)
about 1 days
"Good price and voice quality"
"Virtually there is no support"
"If you don't need support then go for it"
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I have been using Lingo for a year and I'm not a heavy user. The overall service is fine and I don't really have any downtime. Price is cheap comparing to other providers. Voice quality is also good. I used a D-Link DGL-4300 router to take advantage of the voice QoS and it is great. I had some billing issues and it took me a few days with many trys to get to a support person to correct the issues since their web site was also down that I couldn't correct it from the web site. It was a nightmare. I even thought Lingo was going out of business at that time. 
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Review by kimosaki
Posted: 3.4 years ago
member for 3.4 years, 0 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
Centreville,Fairfax,VA
$21 per month (24 month contract)
about 30 days
"avg. features, price"
"TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BILLING!!!"
"FIND ANOTHER VOIP SERVICE THAT DOES CARE ABOUT THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS!!!"
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they care more about getting paid then your service. you can't dispute or negotiate with them even if you have been a paying customer for a few yrs. when there's a dispute your out of luck because they just want you money and your 2nd to that.
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Review by tchen
Posted: 3.4 years ago
member for 6.8 years, 1066 visits, last login: 3 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$17 per month (month by month)
about 1 days
"Good price and voice quality"
"Virtually there is no support"
"If you don't need support then go for it"
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I have been using Lingo for a year and I'm not a heavy user. The overall service is fine and I don't really have any downtime. Price is cheap comparing to other providers. Voice quality is also good. I used a D-Link DGL-4300 router to take advantage of the voice QoS and it is great. I had some billing issues and it took me a few days with many trys to get to a support person to correct the issues since their web site was also down that I couldn't correct it from the web site. It was a nightmare. I even thought Lingo was going out of business at that time.
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Review by fakanov
Posted: 3.4 years ago
member for 3.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
Brooklyn,Kings,NY
$23 per month
about 7 days
"cheap, no other good points"
"bad, very bad quality service"
"Stay away"
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Cheap but you pay for the price dearly:
Bad call quality.
So many dropped calls.
Fax won't work even on a dedicated second line.
Tech support level: Primary school student.
Also with sales and tech support, non native English speakers causing big communication problems.
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 Review by LilYoda
UPDATED: 3.5 years ago
member for 5.2 years, 1892 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Smyrna,Cobb,GA
$25 per month
"Cheap if you call Europe a lot, reliability is okay"
"Not really plug and play if you have to plug it behind a router"
"Was good, until something better for me came along."
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*** UPDATE *** May 28 2006
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Well, after over 2 years as a lingo subscriber, I'm out
The service is sound, and if you call a lot of European countries, and know a bit how to configure your router and LAN, this is still a good value.
However, since 99% of my calls are to the US and to France, I have switched to www.wengo.com. 7 euros a month, they give you unlimited calls to France (not mobiles, though). They also give you a french phone #, so you can have people call you and pay only local charges. Then to get a US phone number, go to www.libretel.fr, and get a US number in any city you want, for an additional 6 euros/month. And to call the US, only 1 euro-cent per minute.
For me, it beats the $25 that my Lingo bill was going to be, now that they switched me from $19.95 to $21.95 before all the taxes...
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*** UPDATE *** Dec 30 2004
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Well, Here's technical data I have so far:
I'm using Charter HighSpeed Internet -> Cable Modem -> Cisco 4500 router -> Lingo box
- Every call takes from 20 to 40 Kbps of upstream bandwidth.
- If your internet connection dies for any reason, then there is a 50/50 chance that you'll have to reboot the ATA, or wait a long time (1 hour) for the ATA to re-sync.
- if your connection dies, but you get the same IP address back, then most of the time, the ATA doesn't require a reboot. I'd say 1 out of 5 times, it requires reboot.
- it works a lot better after you forward UDP ports 69, 5060 and 13456 to the ATA IP address. It's even better if you set it as a DMZ host on your router (just make sure you block incoming web requests, so that someone can't login to your ATA)
- there are scripts you can find on those forums that monitor the ATA and reboot it if needed. It's a must download if you have a computer running 24/7
I'm polishing up my Cisco settings then I'll post a link to a template for cisco config adapted to Lingo
On the service itself, well, you can't beat $20 for unlimited calls to US + Canada + eastern europe. So I'm willing to put up with the little inconveniences of VoIP with Lingo for the time being.
So far only problems are:
- lock up of the ATA every once in a while, requiring reboot. Will be solved by using the script that monitors your ATA
- sometimes poor quality upstream. Seems to be random. If that happens, hang up and try again
Next stop, hooking the ADT system to the lingo box... Will try that next month.
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*** UPDATE *** Sept 8 2004
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Well, for now call quality is OK, to the US, to cell phones, and to France.
I have noticed the VoIP loss a couple of times, but as the Cisco router isn't on yet, it's been hard to troubleshoot. The lingo box seems not to like when I try to do IP filtering though, so I suspect it to exchange a ton of ICMP sync messages with the server.
When my current router fails and reconnects, the VoIP light stays on, although as the IP address give by my provider has changed, I can't be called in. Placing an outgoing call resets that, and after you call out, I guess the lingo box updates the server with the new IP, and you can be called in again.
I haven't checked yet how long it takes for the box to update the server with the new IP when you do NOT place a call out. Will test that soon.
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*** ORIGINAL REVIEW ***
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Heya
Considering my wife calls her family overseas 6 hours or more a month, I can not tell you how happy I was when I stumbled my way on lingo's web page
It took me time to decide myself, but after a while, I figured that worst case scenario, I'd loose the $40 or so that you pay at first if I cancelled before i reach the 3rd month
Shipping was OK, ordered on Monday, got delivered on thursday.
Packaging is OK, looks like they included almost everything. I still had to pull a crossover cable from my 20 miles of cables stacked in the garage, but no biggie here
Here's my setup so far:
Bellsouth DSL line -> Speedstream 5660 (router mode) -> LAN (100Mbps switch) -> PCs
I simply tried to plug the lingo box on the LAN like the PCs, and find out if it was clever enough to learn it's things from DHCP and work straight out of the box.
Well, yes and no. Yes it does get all the relevant info from the DHCP server; and I was watching attemps from the Lingo box to connect to a device in Primus's network using TFTP. But I don't know why, this would fail and/or time out after a while, and the box would just sit there stupidly not doing anything
I tried resetting it a couple of times, connected to it using "user" and "ph3taswe" as described in a review below, and all looked OK, except that the damn box wasn't completely starting, and the VoIP service wasn't running
After trying out a couple of differetn settings on my router, I gave up, and decided to try out what the lingo box was worth if it was directly connected to the net. So I configured the Speedstream to act as a bridge, then put in all the Internet info in the lingo box, double reboot, then fix my screw up on the router, reboot the router again, and wow, that's an active DSL link I got here, and the lingo box is flashing like a christmas tree
So by that time, I realize I have to plug all my PCs behind the lingo box so here's what the setup was
Bellsouth DSL line -> Speedstream 5660 (bridge mode) -> LAN (old 10Mbps hub) -> Lingo box -> LAN (100Mbps swicth) -> PCs
By the time I had setup my PC and remembered what the IP address of the lingo box was, when I check it, it says "downloading firmware" on its web admin page
After a couple of minutes, I hear the box rebooting (it makes funny little clicks inside the box, like old relays are used or something) come back to check on it and YAY there's a VoIP light waiting for me.
I just plugged my phone on "phone1", and started calling my own cell phone, with my wife on the other end. There's a half a second delay between when I speak, and when it gets to my cell, which isn't bad considering my cell has miserable reception in the house. The call quality was OK. Not stellar, but hey, for $20 a month, I'm not expecting Audio CD quality
When the tests were done, I went back to my old design, to see why the Lingo box wouldn't work when sitting behind the router, and to my surprise, it now works without a problem. Either my router was for some reason not liking the lingo box and needed a factory reset, or the new firmware that the box downloaded works better than the one it's shipped with...
So bottom line is so far that it does seem to work, but may require some tweaking.
On a side note, I really like their customer website, really clean and clear IMHO. Plus you see the calls you just made on the website, which is cool (don't have to wait for days to see how much a call costed you)
I checked and called 2 different cell phones (1 AT&T and 1 Sprint) and both were in-plan, so no surprise here. Just thought I'd mention it as I saw a couple of ppl raising concerns on wether cell phones were considered in plan, or would be charged the 3 cents/mn out of plan rate.
I will receive a Cisco router tomorrow which I will use as the main router (the Speedstgream will be back as a bridge). This will allow me to do some serious monitoring in terms of how much bandwidth that thing is needing, etc... I will also check how it reacts to different types of failures, and last but not least, I will let my wife call her family in France, and I'll have real user feedback about call quality.
I will also try to call tech support, and we'll see how they can answer to some tech questions.
If Lingo makes it as a voice service, I will probably hook my ADT alarm system behind it, so that should be another funny adventure...
So stay tuned for more detailed review...
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Review by gakkuken
Posted: 3.5 years ago
member for 3.5 years, 1 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
Germantown,Montgomery,MD
$16 per month
"good quality"
"wait over 1 hour on the phone and still can't reach anyone"
"don't bother with company with no service."
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everything is fine when you sign up, activation is fast, and installation is easy just like every other voip company. don't really have any problem with lingo until i need to cancel my service, emailed them twice and i didn't get any response till my 3rd email. then they want me to call in for cancellation..... fine, called 3 straight days... and been on hold for little bit over 1 hour and i was still not able to get a hold of any rep... come on, i would be happy to hear they being honest and just flat out saying "there are no rep available to answer any call, hang up and don't bother waiting on the line"
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Review by jlb31
Posted: 3.5 years ago
member for 5.9 years, 1225 visits, last login: 46 days ago
Suffolk,Suffolk City,VA
$22 per month
about 3 days
"Good call quality, decent amount of features, price."
"No caller ID with name, website could use some work, tech support."
"A cost effective solution for telephone service."
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I ordered Lingo because of the great rate they were offering (unlimited calls to the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe). My wife calls home to Germany every weekend and the cost was killing us. Being able to make calls within the U.S. and to Germany under the same plan (not having to worry about added charges for international calls) is absolutely wonderful. We've only had the service for a little over a week, but so far, the call quality has been great. I really can't tell the difference between Lingo and POTS. I think the website needs a little work when it comes to account management. When accessing incoming and outgoing calls, it shows the time in GMT instead of my local time. It also shows the amount of minutes in my plan (even though I have the $19.99 unlimited plan) and the amount of minutes I have currently used. After looking at these amounts, I can't figure how Lingo came up with them.
There was also a minor glitch in the ordering process. I ordered the service through their website. After filling in the required information, I clicked on "submit". This promptly brought me to "Page Not Found". I decided to call them and find out if my order had been put through or not. After being on hold for about 5 minutes, billing told me it couldn't find my billing or account information even though my credit card had already been billed (but not cleared). I couldn't seem to make the person understand my situation. I eventually ordered through the website again and was successful. I then showed two billings to my credit card from Lingo, so I called billing again. This time, the person on the other end was very helpful and assured me that the first billing would not be processed. After everything cleared on my credit card, I only showed one billing from Lingo, which is what it should be.
I received the telephone adapter 3 days after placing my order. I followed the instructions that came with it to set it all up, and I had a dial tone within 15 minutes. Since then, I've had very good call quality, no dropped calls, and a happy wife. She really put it to the test this past weekend when calling her family in Germany. She spent about 3.5 hours making and receiving calls from home. As far as the 911 service is concerned, I will be using my traditional phone service for that. I have to keep the most basic of calling packages for my DSL service because I'm serviced through a remote terminal and I am unable to have dryloop (naked) DSL.
All in all, I would say it is worth the money to try Lingo.
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Review by lakeratbbq
Posted: 3.5 years ago
member for 5 years, 32 visits, last login: 2 years ago
Lees Summit,Jackson,MO
$23 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"better value than my previous landline by $55.00/month"
"New Credit Card processing -- 911 service"
"Good Value. no major glitches. Minor issues"
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I was coming back to update my previous review, but I can't seem to locate it. Re-reading the posting rules I don't think any were violated. It was more positive than negative, so I'm not sure why anyone would have complained about it...perhaps it expired or suffered it's demise after a system failure.
I installed Lingo in Oct 2004. The only major problem was call quality once and it really turned out NOT to be lingo's problem. Our cable provider was lagging speedwise.
Have had to call Tech support several times and really haven't had issues with that. I think once I hung up called back got a differnt rep and solved the problem.
that scenario can happan with any company today.
The reason I came back to update my review (that seems to have been deleted) was that Lingo has recently changed its payment processing to an office in London UK. As I result I now have an added international banking fee being subtracted each month ( I pay with Debit Card). I emailed Lingo on 4/30/06 and received an automated response that I would hear from someone within one business day. That has not happaned. I emailed the inquiry again today.
Also, I am considering changing to another VOIP carrier over the issue of 911 service. Lingo has 2 types of 911 service called ECS and E911. E911 being the real thing. ECS routes calls to administrative numbers without Calling Party Location Services. Our area apparently is not E911 compatible yet. I also emailed Lingo seperatly today asking the status of conversion to E911. This is a major issue for me. At the time we signed up only packet8 offered E911 services in our area. I orignally signed up with packet8 but found they did offer the call control options Lingo did. Cancelled packet8 in the 30 day period and decided to wait out the upgrade with Lingo because Lingo offered so many features. I asked Lingo in January to provide a timeline for conversion to E911 -- they could not provide any information. Now 4 months later it still has not happaned. This is a major issue to me because our ECS-911 calls are not even routed to the correct agency at this point (we have made test calls). If Lingo is not going to make E911 available to us soon we are going to switch as other carriers in the industry have made E911 service available.
I have not been following FCC mandates on the 911 issue. But 9 months ago my understanding was that we would have E911 by the end of last year. Lingo seems to have complied with the FCC order by making us understand the differnces between E911 and ECS. That however does not solve the problem of the calls being routed to the correct agency.
A footnote about the correct agency (this was contained in my original review): When we first installed Lingo I spent about 2 hours total talking to several Lingo techs. Apparently the routing is based on the exchange. We selected the nearest exchange for our number. While the City our number is based out of is nearby our calls should be routed to the local county Sherriff's office and not the nearby cities Police admin number. yes my address with Lingo is correct. No they can't change the agency of record. I wrote to alot of people at Lingo when I found this out and got nowhere. The number the call is routed to is based on WHERE the exchange is located not on your 911 service address.
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