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Review by sajer See Profile

  • Location: Sharon, Norfolk, MA, USA
  • Cost: $25 per month (12 month contract)
Excellent quality, features I'm looking for (7-digit dialing, anon call blocking)
Very happy; ported my primary line number and using it exclusively
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I had a Vonage service and switched to Alltalk from USA Datanet because I was having intermittent call connect problems. I have been extremely happy with the Alltalk service, to the point where I also pointed my Verizon landline number and have now been using Alltalk as my primary line service for the past two months.

PRICING: They offer a $24.95 unlimited domestic calling plan that I chose. The international rates seem ok, but a bit higher than some other Voip providers, but then I rarely have occasion to call internationally.

INSTALLATION: Alltalk shipped me a Cisco ATA device to plug in behind my Linksys router; in talking with the customer service agent during the ordering process she mentioned that for customers without a router they ship a Telco AC 211, for those with a router the Cisco ATA. The installation was no problem, but then I had been through the drill before with Vonage, after plugging in the ATA I was able to make and receive calls no problem. While they ported my number they gave me a temporary 866 number, which they offered to let me keep after the port was completed for an additional monthly cost (I declined). The port of my Verizon number took about 2 weeks. A nice feature was that during that period my outgoing calls showed that

porting number as my outgoing caller id, so that people receiving my calls weren't confused about who was calling them.

CALL QUALITY: Call quality has been quite good. Since it is now my primary line I use it exhaustively and it sounds as good as my old Verizon land line as far as I can tell. I did experience one problem early on where I got disconnected in the middle of a call, but when I reported it to their customer support they were quite helpful. I actually didn't expect much in the way of follow-up, but after a day or

so they got back to me and indicated it was a Cisco firmware issue and they remotely upgraded my ATA firmware and since then the service has been flawless.

FEATURES: The features include 7-digit calling, voicemail (with web access), message waiting indicator, anonymous call blocking, call hunting and simultaneous ring (up to 6 numbers searched), do not disturb, call waiting, caller id, caller id block outbound, international call block, 3-way calling, call transfer, call filtering

and blocking based on caller id, and E911. An interesting thing is that

I found that, although not advertised, 4-digit dialing actually works, when calling someone in my area code and exchange! I have tested all of the above features (except international call blocking, which as I said I don't have occasion to use), and found them all to work as advertised. After my Vonage experience with various voicemail problems I am happy to report that voicemail and message waiting indicator has been flawless.

WEB SITE: The web site includes feature to manage, listen to, and delete voicemail, as well as manage all of the features above. I found everything to be fairly easy to learn, with the exception of creating call filters which is a complicated, but useful features.

SERVICE: the few occasions I've had to call tech support I've been happy with the results. Wait times not long, US-based tech support that understands me and can talk knowledgeably about the product



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