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Review by moyeti 
UPDATED: 1 days ago
member for 4 years, 24 visits, last login: a few hours 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:
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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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.
6/12/2009 update >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
all i well and the service is really stable, Only time an issue has been w/ cable conn is poor.
11/21/2009 update >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Service flawless, really. Looking at uverse replacement because of deals and tv logistics.
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 Review by marcusj3000
UPDATED: 61 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 1228 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Alexandria,Rapides,LA
$28 per month (24 month contract)
about 14 days
"Great call quality, features, and price"
"CALL do not email for support!!!"
"Great value for phone service!!!"
| Web-site:
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(ratings above consensus)
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September 22, 2009
All is well only needed one reboot because router went down and didn't give VOIP adapter a IP address(I have it set as a static one now). plan keeps getting better with adding free calling to more countries. rates are cheap for even those that they don't agreements for. I see a lot of complaints that are mainly internet issues, equipment setup problems, general lack of knowledge, and congestion. A lot of people are not internet and technological savvy when it comes to dealing with stuff like this and it shows in their post. You can't have the cheapest internet plan and expect this to work with it because these adapters require a somewhat speedy and stable internet connection. If you already have problems with disconnects, slowdowns in speed,throttling, packet loss, or really low upload speeds from your internet provider, VOIP use is probably not your best bet. Be smart and do your research before you just order service for VOIP. Another warning is to check and see if you will have 911 service before you buy otherwise you might have an emergency and that's the wrong time to find out your VOIP is not 911 or E911 compatible. Lucky for me i checked and lingo had E911 access for my area. Might take them a week or two to get it setup. Your mileage may vary.
Feb. 2009
I came from being charged extraordinary amounts from AT&T having phone service through them but thought it was time to shop around. Tried Vonage but they didn't provide numbers for my area and I'm glad they didn't because Lingo is amazing unlimited to common countries like US/Canada/Mexico but having unlimited calling to 22 other countries like Western Europe is something the others don't have. One tip though is if you get VOIP you need to have enough bandwidth otherwise you will have call quality problems.
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Review by AndyCLT
Posted: 64 days ago
member for 242 days, 2 visits, last login: 64 days ago
Charlotte,Mecklenburg,NC
$21 per month
about 3 days
"Excellent call quality, reliable, Lingo routes calls around local telco's downed switching buildings (great during/after storms)"
"Not a single one!"
"I wish Lingo had always been around!"
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I've had Lingo for a bit over 4 years. The service is exceptional although the last time I called their technical support department (about three years ago) it was a miserable experience. But then again, calling AT&T's customer service is horrible as well. So here's why I like Lingo:
1) Great price! You just can't beat the price and Lingo offers so much more than Vonage. Lingo's FREE international long distance is the icing on the cake for me.
2) Excellent features. Once I locked myself out of my home (I left the keys inside) but I could open the door via my phone. I used my cell phone and call forwarded Lingo to my cell so that when the door would ring the home phone I could open it from my cell. Only Lingo could do that!
3) Most reliable service ever! Lingo worked great during both hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. When AT&T's switching offices went down and land line calls and even cell phone calls could not get through, Lingo routed calls around those switching offices and I was able to reach family and friends. Only Lingo could do that!
4) Detailed and accurate billing. I get more detail than I really want but I am not complaining. The whole thing is paperless and effortless. I can download PDF's of my bills and file them away on my PC.
5) Awesome call quality. Lingo sounds much better than AT&T's network. With Lingo I do not hear the persistent hissing that is ever present on modern land lines.
6) Do you travel internationally? Well, take Lingo's box with you! I took mine when I was in Paris and plugged it into my hotel room's internet jack. I was able to receive and make calls as if I was back in the states. I even sold my home in Florida while I was in Paris without incurring outrageous international call fees. All thanks to Lingo!
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Review by docmonkey
UPDATED: 293 days ago
member for 4.6 years, 38 visits, last login: 293 days ago
Columbus,Franklin,OH
$28 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:
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(ratings match consensus)
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2 Feb 09 UPDATE _________________________________________________
Wow has it really been that long... coming up on 4 years with Lingo. Still going strong.
In fact since our Europe options have expanded our bill is down to the standard $27.95 a month (or what ever it is now).
I have had zero problems, in fact since I have put it on a battery back up with the cable modem and the router I havent had to reboot it in several months. My inferance from that is that it was those little power flickers that were causing the equipment to malfunction.
Im still using the same box I got back in April of 2005 and other than having little user fix items I have to say that the amount of money Im saving is AWESOME!!!
There are absolutely tons of VoIP providers that can give you free calling in the US/Mexico/Canada. I still have yet to see any one that gives unlimited calling to Europe and other overseas venues, I look periodically to make sure Im getting the best deal.
In closing there isnt much to add to this update, we have Lingo as our only house phone, we love it, and if you need to call overseas I dont think there is any cheaper solution.... or any more effective one. Im an almost 4 year subscriber and Im still a customer, if you knew me that would mean alot more to you. Just know when it comes to goods and services there is almost nothing that Im loyal to if there is a better deal somewhere. Show me the service!!! then you get my money.
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 consitancy is more important to me. Ive gotten very used to the email notification of voicemails and Im not sure I'll ever be happy if I lose that feature. Caller ID still doesnt work it only displays the number.... which is ok but I could wish for it to work right someday soon.
Giving some serious thought to getting a "virtual number" so my daughter can call me on a local number from a different state.
Oh and I have a Primus Model iAN-02EX Rev 1.0 interface box. Just incase people want to make comparisons of hardware.
Still havent had to interact with customer support (billing) ... the tech support guys were competent when I spoke with them, helpful and very easy to work with once you make them understand that you are competent with networking gear (I moonlight as a LAN analyst).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------
15 April 05 Update-----
Been using the box for makeing calls to germany (logged at least 3 hours a day) for the first week.
Had a few line problems, little echo, noise on the line etc... just hung up and redialed fixed most. Speaker phone isnt always dependable, echo and noise seem to multiply.
Had to reboot the ATA once with a lost dial tone.
For the most part its operating just like my old phone, oh ya and I have mine wired to my house phones (which might be some of the noise, line loss and all).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------
11 April 2005 The beginning.......
I signed up on a Wednesday evening, recieved the box on Monday afternoon, today, (not bad for ground shipping).
Got on the site here and ran some line tests to evaluate my speed up and down (approx 4500/490 average) with just PC running.
Connected the box to my Netgear router and let it do its update thing, attached a phone after 5 or so minutes and started using it.
Called some friends and ran line tests while we were on the phone talking... had music loud in the background to make sure I was getting constant transmission and started running line tests again. Averaged out around 1700/470 which really surprised me I figured I was gonna get hit on the upload not the download speeds.
There was a touch of choppieness in the line every once in a while while I did large file downloads and uploads but honestly nothing that cause the conversation/music to become hard to understand (once in a while a "sounds like" word had to be repeated).
Wife started calling Germany this morning and the line quality was excellent. Had a 15-20 min convo with father-in-law and I dont think we dropped 1 word (wasnt running UL/DL stuff at the time though).
Caller ID thing would be nice but the honest truth is that we only get calls that I either want to, or have to take, so caller ID is just an early warning. Havent played with Voicemail or other advanced funcitions cause I couldnt access my menus. Will try to sort this out today with Lingo.
All in all out of the box Im seeing a very positive result so far.
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 Review by KDaver
UPDATED: 352 days ago
member for 9.3 years, 3367 visits, last login: a few hours ago
New Haven,New Haven,CT
$19 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"Great Price"
"Tech. Support, and quality of Documentation"
"Great for what you pay for"
| Web-site:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Well It took me about an hour of playing with how to connect, and waiting for things to boot.
But it finally came up. and there are no problems.
Didnt have to call tech support. but the person that took the information on the phone. A complete fool.
Could not even type my name right. Even after Spelling it for him. and him re-reading it back. Put a F everywhere a S was suppose to be.
EDIT: Has been great for a very long time..
Has not dropped or glitched in over a year. (Watch tomorrow I will be posting it has crashed. because of this review.)
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Review by scordo17
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 4.6 years, 936 visits, last login: 19 days ago
Cromwell,Middlesex,CT
$25 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"Pretty inexpensive for what you get, good features"
"Price has gone up, box resets more than I would like"
"Overall good for the money-Vonage customers should check out"
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Update - 8/20/2008
Service has been pretty good since my last review. Despite what others have said, I had a good experience with tech support. Over the last couple months, I was experiencing background noise that sounded like a high pitched tone. I was intermittent at first, but then it became more consistent and annoying. I don't think callers could hear it-it was only in my ear. I replaced my phone, but that confirmed that it was definitely the service.
I called tech support and they tried to re-configure some things on their end, including switching from the Phone 1 jack to Phone 2. Unfortunately, this made the problem worse and made the phone unusable. After talking with support again, and then with a supervisor, they determined that my box was faulty (one of the old Lingo branded boxes) and decided to send me a new one. I received a new Linksys box via UPS overnight. After a 2 minute setup, I was up and running and the quality has been outstanding. I can't be happier with the service again now that the audio quality is back. The features and quality for the price are fantastic, and while I know there have been some bad reviews, I would definitely recommend them-especially if you make a lot of calls to Europe.
________________________________________________________-
Have had Lingo service since August 2004. Pretty easy install. Had some major problems with service around September and October of 2004. After badgering customer service for weeks, I finally got a new box and all has been good since then. Moved in Jan 2006 and got a new local number and had no problems with that.
Price is good for all the features. I especially like the free western europe calls. I don't have to think twice about calling co-workers in the UK and the connection is great. The price has gone up since I first started the service. It was $19.95 (without fees) for unlimited minutes. The starting passing on the fees in early 2005, and then raised the price to $21.95. Overall, I think it's still a good value.
The service his been pretty reliable since my issues in 2004. I'd say 1 out of 50 calls dialed doesn't go through on the first try. Also, I do get an echo at time, but it's usually just me. The person on the other end can't hear it.
I'm curious to see what effect the Vonage/Verizon patent decision will have on the other small VOIP providers like Lingo. I hope it won't extend to Lingo, but I have a funny feeling that it will. I'm surprised they don't have more users, but they don't do much advertising other than banner ads online.
Overall I would recommend them for people looking to replace a landline or people looking for an alternative to Vonage.
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Review by champion
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 2.8 years, 12 visits, last login: 358 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:
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Reliability:
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(ratings match consensus)
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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 pbp776
Posted: 1.7 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 494 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Piscataway,Middlesex,NJ
$22 per month (12 month contract)
about 210 days
"Good price, reliability, voice quality, features, International Rate, referral credit."
"Newly increase fees, needs more features like other VOIP has."
"Half the price of landline, cheper rate for international calls"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
I was former Sunrocket user before I sing up for Lingo.
I did lots of research for other VOIP and compare their price and features.
I decided to sign up with Lingo for Talk 365 after Sunrocket when down the drain.
Cost:
Place order on 07/17/07 for $195+ $29.99 Activation Fee and $9.99 S&H fee and $12 other regulatory fee that is total of $247. I was like WOW $47 dollar more than Sunrocket. However, Lingo had a deal that if you stay for more than 90 days you get credit back of 29.99 and 9.99 S&H. I did get the credit back after 90 days.
I received the UTStarcom iAN-02EX ATA adapter in next day later. It was fast because it was shipped form VA and I live in NJ base on the Shipping location label.
Setup:
Optimum Online Modem Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router (with Tomato Firmware) UTStarcom iAN-02EX ATA.
Within a minute I was up with dial tone.
Lingo sends their ATA adapter preconfigured with G729 Codec. At first I didn’t change the Codec to G711 Codec for few days. I wanted to test the quality of the call and it was good like Sunrocket. However, after four days later I changed my codec to G711 because the bandwidth speeds I get from Optimum Online I rather use no compression call than compression.
Port Number:
I didn’t want to loose my number from Sunrocket so I send my LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION with the same day I got my ATA. It took Lingo at least 15 days for Lingo to port my number over to Lingo which I believe their normal process time.
Call Quality:
So far the call quality has been good to excellent. Calls to international cities has been excellent for my wife no problem or break up. There were few times I got echoes which I was able fix it by lowering my phone volume or ask the person on the other side to do the same if they have the option. When there was poor call quality and I have done test by ping the Lingo SIP address and trace the route to see if the latency where high. Some times poor quality can be by ISP routing and some time it can be related to VOIP servers.
Reliability:
I would say reliability of the service is 99% excellent. I don’t have people complaining that I don’t answer my phone or it goes to voicemail. The connection is always there. I don’t have to reboot the ATA, Router or Linksys every day. However, I always recycle my stuff at every 30 days from my Modem to PC. The other 1% you can figure it out nothing is perfect in this world.
Support Person:
I called their Tech Support three times. First time was regarding my port issue as I didn’t want to loose my number. Second time was my ATA would not register with their servers. Reboot didn’t fixed the problem so placed a called to the teach support he had to me move the ATA front of the router so he can remote control the box and he was able to resolved the issue. I moved it back behind the router while he was on the line to see if the problem would not persist and there was no glitch. Last time was when they had a few hours outage a month ago not sure what that outage for but all my incoming calls were breaking up on my side but when I place outgoing call to same number it was good. I place a called to their tech support and he was able fixed the issue. These called were for minor/ major issues but base on the teach support person and time frame I would say my problem were resolved in timely manner.
Referral Credit:
I refer my families and friends to Lingo. Two people signed up and they are happy with the service. Plus, I got both my referral credit. Lingo split the credit out base on your monthly bill instead of Credit back to your Credit card or check. Other members that I refer didn’t sign up with Lingo. I didn’t ask because everyone has their own choice.
There are many other VOIP companies. I would recommend Lingo to anyone who would like to save money and make lots of calls. This review is on my own experience with Lingo. Other may have issue with Lingo with Support, Call Quality and so on with their experiences. For me it has been smooth ride since Sunrocket went down. I had Sunrocket since the company started and it was a smooth ride as well.
Other VOIP I currently have account with:
AT&T CallVantage- I used mainly for Business Line.
VoiceStick – I used mainly for I2bridge feature and cheap rate for international rate.
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Review by ychampaneri
Posted: 1.7 years ago
(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
Iselin,Middlesex,NJ
$26 per month (12 month contract)
"So far it has been good, voice quality good us and international calls"
"none so far"
"They give you free trial I think it is worth it .. if not sure don't port the number first try it"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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After reading so many negative and positve reviews on line about lingo I
figure I post my exp to the list.
My setup
Motorolla cable modem than
Trendnet router
than linksys voip adapter
After musch hesitation I ordered lingo on Sunday 02/10/08 adapter arrived
today 02/14/08 ( they charged $ 14.00 for ups ground which I know would have
been $10
hooked it up waited 10 min like it said in installation picked up the phone
and started calling and needless to say working fine call quality is good...
I will post more as I use my phone day to day.
02/17/08
so it is the weekend I wanted to test call quality to overseas india and uk over the weekend to see how it hold up .. and need less to say so far it is good can not tell diffreance between regualr phone line and lingo. I did not port my number yet just wanted to give lingo a try... I have changed my codec settings to use 60 kpbs for call quality ... keeps you posted
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 Review by JTRockville
UPDATED: 1.9 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 2480 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Rockville,Montgomery,MD
$26 per month
"Outstanding Price, Calling Area, and Website"
"None so far"
"I Recommend Lingo to Friends!"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Update: December 18, 2007
Over the years, I've had only one problem with Lingo - my ATA died. After running through a few trouble-shooting steps, they immediately sent a new one. I no longer use the ATA as a pass-through - it hangs off one of my routers and works just fine like that. The problems I originally mentioned (inability to dial toll-free numbers and echo) seem to have disappeared over time.
Over the years, the price has increased from $20 to $26 (including fees). It's still a good value, so I'll keep it.
Original review: November 2004
I've had Lingo for two months now (signed up mid-August 2004), and am pleased with the service.
I had some trouble setting it up at first. I didn't have a free port on my router, so I tried using the ATA's as a passthrough. Unfortunately, the computer connected behind the ATA could no longer browse my home network. I'm sure there's a way to configure the ATA so it will work in this setup, but I gave up and put the ATA in front of my router. It's not an ideal setup since I am no longer "stealth", but it works for now.
Once it was set up, I tried making a few calls, but nothing worked. At the time, Lingo required you to dial 1 before any number. My phone has the caller IQ feature, so it didn't send the "1" through. After turning off caller IQ, everything worked fine. Lingo has since changed the procedure and you no longer need to dial 1 first.
Occasionally I have trouble dialing toll free numbers, or experience pauses after I dial and before the number rings, but these problems seem to be getting less frequent. Call quality is usually good. Occasionally I get complaints about "echo", but hanging up and calling back usually resolves it, and again, it's becoming less frequent. I regularly participate in lengthy voice conference calls, and have not experienced any problems whatsoever during the conferences.
My line number port went fairly smoothly, and was completed in around a month. It required several calls to Lingo, because my temporary number continued to be used as my caller ID. I requested that my ported number be used as my caller ID, and the temporary number be removed. Lingo made the change immediately, but then billed me for having a 2nd number. I'm still trying to get the charge removed from my bill.
Lingo's customer support is somewhat adequate, which is high praise by today's standards (where companies are ranked as "better" or "worse" than others because if "good" or "bad" were the benchmarks, they'd all be indistinguishable as "bad"). On the other hand, Lingo's technical support is better than adequate, and at times has even been good/great.
Given that VoIP is still in its infancy, and relies on power/broadband connection, I wouldn't recommend anyone give up their only landline for VoIP service, even though I've never experienced any VoIP "outages". But I highly recommend Lingo to folks who make lots of long-distance calls or who need a 2nd line.
Lingo's price is outstanding. The local calling area for my plan ($20/mo) includes unlimited calling with no "toll" charges to the entire US, Canada, and Western Europe. Most calling plan features are configurable through the cleanly designed and easy to navigate web interface.
Good job, Lingo!
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LINGO
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Lingo is still going strong ..signup through voiprebates.org
02/19/08
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