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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 9 days ago
 Wyckoff,Bergen,NJ
 $13 per month "voice quality, no contract" "startup technical issues" "Overall good value"
| Web-site:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Been using ViaTalk for 4 weeks. So far, so good. Installation was easy
using the Linksys PAP2 adapter. Had some issues at first which required
calls to tech support. Voice quality was bad, was unable to connect to toll
free numbers. These problems were resolved quickly by ViaTalk support.
Since then I had some other minor issues but it seems everything is now
working as it should be. I have 2 lines hooked up to the inside wiring of
my home. Once everything was working properly I ported my phone number.
Number porting took 2 weeks. The features are very good. I have several
numbers blocked, telemarketers, robo calls, etc. Can also block by caller
ID name. Pricing is reasonable.
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Review by dipswich 
member for 8.6 years, 2847 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 35 days ago
- Raleigh,Wake,NC
- $18 per month
- (24 month contract)
 about 1 days- "Strong feature set"
- "Does not honor its contracts; pads with junk fees; feature-happiness affects stability"
- "Cannot support an ethically challenged service"
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Signed up July 28, 2006 on a BYOD plan to give service as a gift for 2 years to a college student ($199 buy one/get one year free plan, everything included (including E911)). This was advertised as a "buy it and forget it" plan, and I turned off international dialing to ensure that it would be.
However, on October 16, 2007, a mysterious invoice appeared for a $2.50 "E-911 & Regulatory Recovery Fee." This fee has been invoiced monthly since and attempted to be debited as an unauthorized charge. It leaves a very sour taste in the mouth as an obvious tactic to pad the bill and not in the agreement I made with Viatalk.
Luckily, the credit card I signed up with is no longer active and the accumulating charges have been declined. By continuing to bill, Viatalk has declined to perform on the contract; I plan on testing the arbitration clause at this point.
When service was used, it performed well. Rarely a complaint, although without a provisioned adapter I had to bump servers around occasionally to keep stable service. Based on this, I wouldn't recommend nor would I sign up with Viatalk as BYOD again (or at least, I would let them provision it). I assume stability would be better that way.
I've contacted support twice--
On 7/30/06, I asked about Viatalk provisioning the adapter. A complete response was received 5.5 hours later.
On 10/16/07, I contacted them regarding the mysterious invoice. A canned response was received 672 hours later (that's 28 days).
In the year, the level of support obviously went south.
About the ratings--
Web-site: The control panel is decently designed and covers all the features. I do find myself going in circles every once in a while between billing, support, and call feature management. Due to the daily morning outage and its current unavailability, as well as the too-frequently changing deals on the front page that make shopping the service difficult (and can't be trusted to be honored, anyway), I award 3 out of 5 stars.
Ease of Installation: Within 15 minutes, I had the necessary credentials to begin using the BYOD service. Top rating, here.
Call quality: Not perfect, but far better than a mobile phone. Probably deserving of a 4+, I'm giving it a 4 of 5 as the closest available mark.
Reliability: I'm giving 3 of 5 here due to a couple of outages that I've noticed with Viatalk. Often, changing servers gets it back quickly, but that's a hassle. Again, I think a provisioned device might offer a little better reliability, but I'm rating the service as sold and received.
Tech support: 28 days to answer a billing question is excessive, pure & simple. And, tickets are not answered in the order they were received. 2 out of 5.
Value for money: This is a hard one to rate. Assigning value purely on service and price, Viatalk is probably a 4. However, I'm bundling in the bumbled ethics of changing contract prices here. And, being an honor question, it weights heavily. I am giving 3 of 5, and stretching to do that. 2 of 5 after a second junk fee increase announced three months later.
***6/18/2008 Update***
Nothing's changed, except I can confirm that service is suspended due to disputing the E911 and "Regulatory Recovery" fees. Real telecom companies don't suspend service while hashing out a dispute. Adjusting "value" accordingly.
Luckily, I can't use Viatalk, as I'm sure I'd notice, based on the forum complaints, sub-par reliability and call quality. Since I'm not, I can't reduce the ratings on those components.
I cannot recommend this service.
***7/22/2008 Update***
I've had a pretty simple request in with support. They aren't responding. That's "worst."
I've also lowered the web-site rating, as the information in the most important page, the Terms of Service, is pretty bad. You'll want to read it before signing up, especially the part about
"ViaTalk LLC may update this agreement at any time without notice and you are agreeing to such changes in advance."
***1/7/2012 Update***
In response to a complaint I filed with the NY Attorney General's office, Viatalk responded with outright incorrect information. They refuted independent, third-party snapshots of their website and terms of service. They also failed to respond to arbitration-- the same arbitration they require in their terms. The amounts involved were too small to justify taking this to the Halfmoon Justice Court, this was put to bed long ago.
The best way to protect your consumer rights is to avoid companies like this.
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 Review by DaveDude
member for 12.4 years, 4080 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 60 days ago
- New Jersey
- $24 per month
- about 15 days
- "Price is good, lots of features"
- "caller id doesnt work consistently"
- "Good, but features sometimes dont work"
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Overall happy, but the loss of caller-id is really making considering moving to another voip company. The whole signup was painless and quick. I would completely recommend.
Comments:
  unknvoipRIP goosePremium
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY
kudos:1 | Ticket Did you submit a ticket on your caller ID issue? Mine was flakey a long time back, but tweaking some settings and I has worked reliably for years. | |
| | DaveDudeNo Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
kudos:1 | Re: Ticket yes and they fixed it in like 2 days. | |
|
| |
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Review by unknvoip
member for 5.5 years, 2606 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 61 days ago
- Rochester,Monroe,NY
- $12 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- "Features & Price"
- "None"
- "Reliable service, great features and a great price ."
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12/12/11 - Same thing with the switch to standard time. Servers have been solid for me and twice yearly adjustment of my DND settings is not a big deal.
8/3/11 - It just works. Worst thing that happened to me is I noticed my DND settings did not adjust with DST. Submitted a ticket and CS cheerfully moved them all for me. Also let me know they are working on having that be automatic. The best compliment I can give them is: they save me money and I seldom have to think about them.
------------ Original review with older updates appended to end below -------------------------
Have had several months of flawless service, while a few on the forums here have had other experiences. As things stand right now, will probably stay with the service when my current term is up next spring. My favorite feature is custom call routing. Love to forward telemarketers to my cell so I yell at them a few times before forwarding them to the 'Blacklisted' list.
Customer Service can be hit or miss on their helpfulness as some reps are much more capable than others. Some who answer my tickets on-line are completely clueless - sometimes giving me answers that could not remotely apply to my issue.
On the up side, I have only had very few occasional outages for short periods of time.
-- Update history --
Update 10/3/06 - Server upgrades are done and my intermittent outages have ended. Network Down Forward worked great when my cable modem froze up last week. Becoming more satisfied again.
Update 8/10/07 - In the midst of all the Sunrocket users coming over and bogging down Customer Service with install/port/technical issues, the service has been fine for me.
Update 10/16/07 - Very upset over changing the rules of E911 charges after public statement they would not charge for those on pre-paid plans until after renewal. CS rep said they would honor that, but only after my insistence. There needs to be a category for Integrity for the ranking. I would give them a 2/5 on that right now! Lowered other ratings over this issue. This is just plan wrong - what will they do next????
Update 11/28/07 - They have reversed the 911 charges for those prepaid before 10/06 if they contact VT. Better than not honoring prior statements. They seem to have stabilized from the SR debacle. Made a positive change to their TOS to make cancellation less painful. Current thought is to go month-to-month when pre-paid terms are up in 04/09.
Updated 6/23/08 - Working so well for me last few months, forgot to come back and update my review. Happy customer at the moment.
Update 7/29/08 - Recently had my VT supplied adapter blow out in an electrical storm. VT was good and sent out a replacement the next day. Only problem was they did not set up my provisioning of the new adapter to match the old one. I have not been able to get them to respond to tickets to update my provisioning file or to the ones to fix the things that don't work properly because of it (Time and VMWI, specifically). Other than that, service for me has been VERY reliable.
Update 1/23/09 - Through migration to new infrastructure all has been well. No problems ever on calls. CS has become more responsive to my tickets. Others seem to have some issues, but I don't experience any of those things. Added a beta area of CP for new features and feedback. Contacts working better than when first implemented. Ratings increased as a result.
Update 3/10/09 - Made it through the DST change just fine. That had been an issue with my service in the past. While mine was fine, I know some other DSL users had some issues. Insist support sets correct time zone and applies the right DST rule to you adapter and you should be fine.
Update 11/12/09 - It has been a smooth summer for my service. Just works. Call logs have been improved and a few other features have been upgraded in recent months. Decided to renew in Sept. I would still like to see the Contacts section of the CP improved. Overall a very good value for me, so I choose not to pursue switching to a competing service. I have a lot of configuration set to filter calls that I did not want to reproduce and I did not want to risk having to go through the tweaks sometimes necessary with a new provider.
Update 3/30/10 - They continue to develop and enhance features and I recently noticed and issue with how DND feature handled time periods that wrapped the day boundary. Issue was resolved within a couple days and I was provided with a work-around until the fix was implemented. To me, Tech Support now seems that it is where it should be. Very satisfied at the moment.
Update 10/27/10 - Just learned that pre-pay is gone. Now the plans are $17/mo, take it or leave it. I guess I will be looking for another lower cost, but still quality provider that matches my low volume calling needs.
11/8/10 - Pre-pay is gone, but now they have added a light usage plan. $10.95 + tax/fees for 2000 minutes outgoing a month. It takes me 2 years for 2000 outgoing. This will be a great deal for me and keep me from having to uproot and move on. I have adjusted my ratings back appropriately to reflect an improved value for the money.
2/22/11 - last week pulled trigger on the BOGO @ $189. Good with VT for two more years. Been with them almost 5 now. Still working well for me, although I would love to see that Android app come out.
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Review by mogulman
member for 9.4 years, 1945 visits, last login: 10 days ago
updated 75 days ago
- Parker,Douglas,CO
- $13 per month
- (18 month contract)
- about 14 days
- "Tech Support US Based, Good. Ticket Tracking System. Web interface. Inexpensive. Pretty reliable VoIP service"
- "PAP2 devices come pre-configured with generic settings (Dialplan, etc)"
- "Good Telephone service for the money. Lots of features. Mostly Reliable. Not for a newbie."
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update: 11/2011
Service has been really good since last review. No real issues. I think MWI (Message Waiting) is still slow to get cleared, but otherwise service has been really good.
update: 9/2010
For the past year..everything was working great until a few weeks ago. MWI light and a few dialing problems. I called a support ticket and I think it has been fixed. I renewed my service.
I'm considering adding another line, but want to try some more next week and see if everything is resolved.
Update 7/2009
Haven't updated in a while so I thought I'd give it a go. I had some intermittent issues with Voicemail waiting indicators about 2 months ago. Otherwise, call quality and features have been good for me for the last 6+ months. Voicemail waiting indicator problem hasn't resurfaced either.
When the problem was happening with VMWI, I believe it was something with VT or with my ISP. I was never able to nail it down. I changed a bunch of settings and talked to tech support and magically things got fixed. Hopefully the issue won't come back. Either way it wasn't a major issue.
Features/quality for price is still great for Viatalk for me and my family. I still wish the service was more of a plug and play without needing to call support. If this was the case it would be more suited for non-techie people.
Update: 3/26/08
VT is still really good. I got moved to their new control panel. It is pretty nice after getting used to it. There are a couple of features I wish they would bring over from the old one.
Reliability has still been pretty good for me over the last few months. The main issue people seem to have is with certain servers, and then having to be switched to different servers. I haven't experienced this though.
I believe VT is still not the best for non-technical users.
I think if VT did the following:
-Increased their reliability/handling of Proxy Servers
-Made it easier for people to join with hardware that is pre-configured for what users want most (VMWI, Better Dialplan).
-Maybe provide an ATA that can sit in front of a home router...
-Made some minor tweaks to their control panel
They would be able to get more novice users onboard without as much problems.
Update: 2/11/08
Viatalk Customer Service has improved greatly. I've had great response lately. As good or better then any services I have (Internet, Phone, etc). Call quality is still very good. VT has made a very good effort at improving their image and quality. My service current 2 year term is expiring in April. I've signed up for an additional year.
Updated: 1/22/08
Service has been pretty reliable for me for that last 6 months. Support has been good too. My contract will be running out in about 3 months. I'm trying to decide if I want to renew or not.
The only issue is that now Viatalk is adding about $3.50 per line/month for fees. So this brings their price up a little higher. I really need to either pay a single yearly fee or pay monthly. I can't pay both. I'm considering trying other providers like Voicepulse.
------------------------------------------------------------
I've had Viatalk service for approximately a year. I had Vonage server for a few years before that. I have 2 lines with Viatalk.
When I first signed up for Viatalk the sign-up process was pretty easy. I signed up on the web. I got my account information and devices within a few weeks of signing up. I understand that this period is normally quicker, but I signed up when there was a big promotion going on, so they were extremely busy.
I received 2 Linksys PAP2 devices for my phone lines. One for each line. The service didn't work immediately with me just hooking up the devices. On Vonage, the devices worked out-of-the-box. I called Viatalk tech support and they helped me through some configuration changes and I was up and running. This took less then an hour. During my number porting, one line ported quickly and easily. The other line was stuck for a little while. I had to make numerous calls to Vonage to get the port to be finalized. Vonage hadn't completely released my line from their system so my 911 service was messed up on that line. This was a Vonage problem and not Viatalk.
For the first 3-4 months I had phone service with Viatalk, the service was a little flaky. I would say I ran about 85% of the time without any issues. The issues that I did have were not severe, most of the time. I did have a couple of times where call forwarding wasn't working correctly. I also lost some calls. To be honest, I was almost ready to ditch the service, except the price and tech support at Viatalk was really good. All the tech support people have been really good at Viatalk.
Anyway... about 4 months into my service they added redundant servers into their system. This helped greatly with the uptime/quality of my service. They also added options and fixed some options on their site. For the last 8 months my service has been really great. I've had maybe 5 times over the last 8 months where I have had any type of downtime. They have all been for less then a few minutes.
Viatalk has listened to its users and added features. They have also modified existing features and made them better. There are tons of features with Viatalk service. The price is right. They also give you complete access (username/password) to your phone devices if you want it. I'm a geek so I enjoy looking at that stuff. Vonage would never give users access to their devices.
I'd say the best things about Viatalk right now:
1. Value
2. Tech Support - and the ability to track any tickets that you create
3. Call Quality/Reliability
4 Features
Things that could be improved on Viatalk (not much):
1. PAP2 devices are still provisioned and sent to users with pretty generic settings. Viatalk should come up with a better pre-set profile on their devices so users don't have to tweek as much. This includes timezone settings, Dialplans, and Ringer settings.
2. Some parts of the web-interface could use some improvement. Maybe a little extra speed in the web-interface and voicemail
My whole household uses the Viatalk service and my wife (non-geek) has been pretty happy with the service.
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Review by sparky007
member for 171 days, 3 visits, last login: 94 days ago
updated 94 days ago
- Avondale,Maricopa,AZ
- $13 per month
- about 1 days
- "I made a call and I heard hello and they heard me say hello. It works."
- "Since I did a BYOD account the setup wasn't too bad, but not for the beginner."
- "So far so good."
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So far so good. Since I understand the 101's of TCP/IP networking, set up wasn't too bad for a BYOD account.
If your thinking about going with any voip and you don't understand the first thing to networking, you better use a VOIP ATA device they give to you.
All you have to do is plug it in and start calling.
I made my first call to my parents and I was quiet surprise at the call quality. It was better sounding that century link.
I'm going to use it throughout the weekend and see how it goes. I want to stress it during peak internet usage to see if the sound breaks up or if any other issues show up.
UPDATE...........
Ok I've had it for about 4 weeks now and still so far so good. I've done some "tweaking" to my linksys pap2t voip box to help improve the service and faxing. I've had a few problems I had to call them with, but it's still working.
I'm having my home number port over to them.
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Review by poolek
member for 8.2 years, 1934 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 103 days ago
- Austin,Travis,TX
- $15 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 6 days
- "Lots of features, great price, responsive tech support"
- "None"
- "Great Service, Crappy referral rewards program"
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**10-31-2011**
Still working fine, though I have had a couple of occasions where the DTMF tones were not being recognized, prompting a ticket submission for resolution. The price is reasonable and I love the routing options.
**9-14-2010**
Still working fine. We're not heavy users, but I've noticed no down time and the feature set is more than comprehensive enough to cover my needs. Will be extending my service when my current plan is up.
**4-19-2009**
All continues to work well. No real complaints. The service is stable, the feature set is rich and the price is more than fair. I've been a VT customer for 3 years now and am quite pleased.
**9-21-2008**
Viatalk continues to work well for me. I'm not a big fan of the 'extra' charges that keep popping up, but can't complain about the service otherwise. We're back in the US now and the phone service continues to work well.
**2/4/2008**
Viatalk continues to work well. I took a long-term business assignment overseas, and took the adapter with me. It has worked perfectly and saved myself and my family tons on international long distance calls. Features like programmable Do-not-disturb allowed me to work around the time-zone differences to ensure my phone wasn't ringing at 2:00 am. I just recently added another year of service.
That said, I'm tempted to remove my review. Viatalk has had a 'Get Free Service' promo where you get a discount on service based on referring new customers. Only problem is, they won't let you use that discount on renewal offers - only on list-price stuff. So, the end result is that the thing is worthless. Since Viatalk doesn't value my recommendations, I figure I should delete my positive review. However, I like DSLReports and hopefully my content will be useful for them.
So, in short - good VOIP service, crappy referral rewards program.
**3/5/2007**
I've had Viatalk for over a year now, and it's as close to perfect as I can expect from voip. The phone works every time I pick it up, sound quality is great, they keep adding features and my bill is stupid cheap. I don't know what else to ask for. It's been one of the better purchase decisions I've made in the last year.
We had our first child last year and I decided to switch back to DSL with the mandatory basic landline for use as a 911 outlet for additional peace-of-mind whenever we have baby sitters. It makes me smile each time I recieve my ATT bill and see that I'm paying more each month for 20 local calls with zero features than I do for unlimited calls with more features than I can think of with Viatalk.
**7/25/2006**
I've had Viatalk for about 6 months now. The stability has been fine - I don't recall a time the phone didn't work. Viatalk has continued to add features and has addressed all of the 'rough edges' I'd mentioned in my first review - I can access VM by dialing my home number, the call logs have been reformatted, DTMF issues have been addressed, and they've added more and more new features. I almost miss the old voicemail lady now!
I have absolutely no complaints. The service has been stable, the feature set covers every need I have (and then some) and the price is 1/8th of what I was paying on average for POTS. Keep up the good work!
**5/1/2006**
My number port went through a few days ago without any issue (22 calendar days after submitting the request), though porting numbers does require you to re-enter all of your settings (Voicemail prompts, Custom CallerID settings, ACR settings, etc), which is a pain.
Call quality continues to be pretty good. Possbly more inconsistent than Vonage, with a little more static - though I may just be listening for problems more attently now.
Viatalk added new regional servers recently. My ping times dropped by ~50%. I haven't noticed any change in call quality due to this, but it should help maintain quality in times of net congestion.
Customer Services seems overwhelmed right now. When my number ported, the configuration for VMWI got wiped from my adaptor. I submitted a TT to have the setting updated again and it's been open for 4 days now. I ended up chaging the setting myself and disabling provisioning to make it 'stick'. I'll re-enable provisioning when the ticket is finally closed. Not a big issue because the problem isn't a big deal - but I'd be upset if I were having real problems and had to wait 4 days for response.
Reliability seems ok. Calls continue work inbound and out. I've seen a few notices on BBR of Viatalk downtime, but either they've been on different servers, or were fixed prior to me testing the phone.
The 'Rough Edges' I mentioned in my prior review are still there, though the lady on the voicemail is starting to grow on me. Still wish I could access VM by dialing my home number. Still wish I could see how many minutes I've used against my 500 not counting outbound Toll Free.
Bottom line : It seems to work as well as Vonage, with all the features I need. The price is a bit cheaper, too. If they can get caught up on Customer Service issues, and maintain the level or reliability I've experienced, I'll be a happy customer.
**4/17/2006**
I'd used Vonage for a few months, but lack of name on outbound callerID became an issue, so I decided to search for a new provider. I ended up going with ViaTalk based on the price of their 500 minute plan, availability of the feature set I wanted and overall positive feedback I'd seen on this site.
I signed up for the 12 month 500 minute plan, got 2 months free and used the DSLREPORTS coupon. Add in the $10 shipping charge, and that comes to about $8.50 a month - about half of what I'm paying for a similar Vonage plan.
I ordered late on a Tuesday, had the account set up and number assigned on Friday and the adaptor was here on Monday. I plugged in the adaptor and had dial tone in less than a minute. Inbound and outbound calling worked just fine. I forwarded my Vonage number to the Viatalk account and spent a couple of weeks evaluating the service.
The Good Stuff:
Call Quality: Call quality is the same as Vonage - which means it's as good as or better than the POTS line it replaced. I've also never experienced any of the nagging little issues that I occasionally had on Vonage - such as not hearing the called party for the first couple of seconds of the call, voicemail indicator getting out of sync, etc. The service just works.
Features: Name on Outbound callerID works as it should. I notice more people answering my calls now. Custom CallerID is an excellent feature that I never thought I'd use. ACR falls into that category as well.
Tech Support: My VMWI light wasn't working when I first installed the adaptor. I submitted a ticket to Tech Support and the issue was fixed within an hour. They also provided me with the admin password for the PAP2. I don't really need it, but it is nice to have.
Presence on BBR: I love that Viatalk maintains an active presence on BBR to facilitate feedback on their product. It's also awesome to see that they actually take that feedback and improve their product based on it. I can only hope they can maintain such a 'grassroots' feel as they grow.
The Rough Edges :
Voicemail: It's completely functional, but seems a step behind Vonage and other VM systems I've used. The voice prompts are very computerized and mechanical, some prompts suggest actions that don't work (ex: pressing '#' when leaving a message does nothing, though the IVR instructs you to do that), and you can't access your VM by dialing your home number.
Web Site: Works well, but some things could be improved. Call logs are all based on EST time. If you're not on the east coast, everything will be off. Time used on outbound calls doesn't account for usage of toll free numbers not counting against your 500 minutes, so if you call toll-free often, the total time used feature isn't very useful. You log in using your phone number, so when you port a number, you have to set everything up again.
Features: I haven't been able to get Call Recording or Call Transfer to work. I don't use the features, so I haven't bothered to submit a trouble ticket to see if I can get them to work.
Still to be seen :
Reliability: So far the service seems pretty stable. I had one time where I tried to call and the call didn't seem to go through. I made the call using my Vonage account and everything worked. I tried again a few minutes later on Viatalk and it worked there too. May just be coincidence, but I have been spoiled by the stability of my Vonage account, so I'm sensitive to things not working. Otherwise, things have worked as expected and I've had no known downtime.
My Bottom Line:
I'm quite pleased. The things that I listed as 'Rough Edges' are relatively small issues to me and don't diminish from the usability of the service as a landline replacement (though I would like to see them addressed one day). Add in the additional features, strong tech support, willingness to improve service based on feedback and better price and I find Viatalk to be a better choice for me than Vonage - assuming the reliability is similar. Time will tell on that, but it looks promising so far. I’ll follow up in a couple of months.
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Review by shealyse
member for 7.8 years, 989 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 107 days ago
- Lexington,Lexington,SC
- $16 per month
- about 3 days
- "Constantly improving service and adding/tweaking features."
- "Not for the plug and go user. Beware of the buried monthly fees that tend to increase with little notice!!!"
- "Goog value and good service for me. Would recommend for a VOIP guru who likes to tinker."
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10/2011- Still with ViaTalk. Overall, service has been very reliable. Great features.
Well, I have been and extremely happy VoicePulse user for three years. Their service was very good, but they had become a litle stagnant for me. No new features/bells/whistles in quite a while (although their feature set was quite extensive to begin with). I was ready for something with a little more excitement!
I started watching the forums here at BBR and was impressed at the active involvement of the staff at ViaTalk (from the CEO on down). They seemed to be listening to their users about improving features and service. This really impressed me. VT started running a 2/year promo for $199 and threw in a second line as well (although it is not what most people consider to be a second line in that it does not have a separate phone number assigned). The deal was too good to pass up, so I made the order.
-It was not clear to me that the two lines would only work with their provisioned device. My initial order was placed for service with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). When I learned that I could not get the second line with BYOD, I requested a VT adapter and received it in two days.
-One of my first calls to VT tech support was to get the admin password for the adapter. This was a BIG selling point for me as most providers will not do this. I turned off auto provisioning and made several tweaks (things like RTP packet size, network jitter level and dial plan to name a few). When I had things like I wanted, I called tech support and had them add the changes to my device provisioning config on their end. If you don't do this, then the settings will be overwritten should you re-enable auto provisioning.
-There we a couple of issues with the second line related to outgoing caller id, checking voice mail and E-911. Tech support quickly resolved the issues. I learned that the second line was a new offering (with a few bugs). Things have been smooth since.
-For my first month now, call quality and service has been great. The two lines have been a nice feature as well. It is very convenient to be able to answer or make a second call if the wife or son is on the phone.
I would highly recommend giving VT a try. If you are a techie, you will certainly enjoy the flexibility with this service. The team at ViaTalk seems to listen to customers and strives to improve features. They actively participate in the VT forum here on BBR and do things like host live chats for questions and suggestions.
1/2008- Viatalk has remained very stable for me. I do not to try anything fancy with my PAP2T. I have been on Chicago-1f for quite a while now and it has been stable.Quality has been good. I have tried various VT servers before settling on this box. The two VT lines for the VT supplied adapter has been very helpful.
With all in all being well. I still have my VP line as I want to hang on just in case (at least for a little more time).
UPDATED 9/2008
Still rolling with ViaTalk. Like most, service was a rollercoaster for a while. VT has implemented new servers and a better way of processing the voice traffic. My call quality has been stable since the upgrade. I did have to slightly modify my DSL connectivity to eliminate a router double-NAT scenario.
VT implemented a new and improved Control Panel for account and feature management. There were a few glitches out of the gate, but it is working well.
I still say that VT is not for the average plug and go user. If you are a bit technical, then go for it. Also, beware of the buried monthly fees (subject to change at any time) that get tacked on the pre-paid plans. For this, my "Value for the money" rating has dropped one notch.
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Review by im_chandave
member for 6.5 years, 1669 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 128 days ago
- Cleveland,Cuyahoga,OH
- $8 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 1 days
- "Strong presence at BBR, willing to listen to customer base, knowledgeable staff"
- "feature creep without root-cause diag of previous problems (DTMF is a major one)"
- "Well worth the effort in researching and evaluating the company before signing with one of their Special Deals"
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Been with ViaTalk for more than a month now. Joined during their Birthday special. As a result, I signed on for 1 year @ $199 with an additional year for free. As a BYOD, I didn't have any other charges except the $199.
The SIP credentials came within 8 hours of my signup. Had no problems setting up my Asterisk box to use their service. The only problem was DTMF for inbound calls. My Asterisk system pops callers into an IVRS menu system. I've had to switch from rfc2833 to inbound DTMF signaling. This made my system much less reliable for my inbound callers.
Ultimately, I think I'll have to tweak the DTMF recognition system on Asterisk to get it to work better with ViaTalk.
I do have hiccups during some SIP REGISTERs. Sometimes, their system would return "503 Server error". But, upon next scheduled SIP REGISTER, all is fine.
They've had one breakdown during my first month. It appeared that eastern/neptune.vtnoc.net and several of the servers around it became isolated from the production network. As a result, no REGISTERations to the SIP proxy and no access to my account information via their web-based user interface. That was resolved within an 8 hour timeframe.
[2007-08-17]
Just wanted to update my review of ViaTalk. Despite the avalanche of new subscribers due to the demise of Sun Rocket, ViaTalk has been consistently reliable TO MY STANDARD. That means my phone service has not been down for more than 30 minutes since I joined.
I have had problems: clicking noises (but that was isolated to a single day); dropped calls; static on the line (at that time, I was using a Cisco hardphone routed through an Asterisk server); missing ringing tone while waiting for the remote end to answer; DTMF tone not being recognized (now fixed by sending DTMF using SIP INFO and receiving DTMF as inband), and customer portal not working properly with SeaMonkey (fixed now). Most have been resolved.
Overall, I would still recommend them for BYOD people that KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING and UNDERSTAND HOW TO SETUP THEIR OWN DEVICES (ATA and Router). If you are not a knowledgeable BYODer, then get the ATA from them.
[2010-12-15]
Just renewed for another 2 years with a buy-one-get-one-free package. Occasionally have some call quality problems but not so annoying that it would push me to another VOIP provider just yet.
But, Viatalk's internal groups should communicate with each other better. I found out about the 12+12 deal via DSLReports instead of directly from Viatalk...EVEN THOUGH I ASKED VIATALK 2 DAYS EARLIER ABOUT RENEWAL PACKAGES!!!
[2011-10-07]
Short update on my service. Nothing new to report. It works. I have not had any problems. It is acting like an appliance. When I need it to work, it just works. Re-upped back in Dec 2010 for another 2 years. Will not need to think about the service until January 2013. When that happens, I hope to be able to re-subscribe for another 2 years (pre-paid) like I did this time. If not, then I'll start looking for another option.
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Review by Spartos
member for 5.3 years, 152 visits, last login: 133 days ago
updated 133 days ago
- Prospect Park,Delaware,PA
- $15 per month
- (18 month contract)
- about 2 days
- "Price, Excellent Call Quality!"
- "None at this point--Still none almost 5 years later!"
- "So Far I'm very impressed!--Still Impressed almost 5 years later!"
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Update on 10/01/2011 It's been almost five years now since I signed up with ViaTalk--A couple of weeks ago I renewed for a third time for 18 months. In that five years I have only had to submit one support ticket--and that was when I had a problem renewing online a year and a half ago! Call quality has consistently remained excellent with no problems. Extremely reliable service.
Update on 9/30/2008
I just signed up for 18 more months with ViaTalk (Buy 1 year get 6 months free). After almost two years with the service I'm still as happy with it as I was when I last updated this review. No major problems with the phone service. Only minor problems that went away on the next call. I've never had to make a call to customer service even once. Never even had to make any adjustments. Some have complained about the monthly fee of 3.45. Even with that added fee I calculate that with the buy 1 year get 6 months free deal, my service will average out to around $14.50 per month total cost. My old pots line was $57.00 a month with only caller id and no other features. So I'm still saving $42.50 a month. ViaTalk is a great value for the money! I still rate it at 5/5 on everything!
Update on 11/28/2006 Last night I received the message that my number had been ported! No problems. That means it took 13 days to port from Verizon to ViaTalk and that included the Thanksgiving Holiday (so it was really only about 7 business days). I'm quite pleased with that and the quality of the service is still excellent!
I signed up in the evening on Nov. 14 as soon as I saw that ViaTalk was offering the buy one year/get one free offer again ($229 for the first year, second year free). Price with setup package and shipping came to 268.90. That comes out to about $11.21 a month which is $46 a month cheaper than I've been paying for my traditional phone line! Received my temporary phone number and instructions the next morning. Faxed my authorization to port my old number that afternoon (the 15th). Received my PAP in the mail two days later on the 17th. Also on the 17th I received an email message from ViaTalk's number porting dept. confirming reception of my fax information and working to process my request.
Setup worked perfectly. Plug the PAP into my router-connect the power cord and connect my phone. Phone worked immediately. Sound quality was crystal clear--as good or better than my Verizon POTS line. Definitely better than my cell phone (and I'm pleased with the quality of my cell phone). For reference my ISP is Comcast 6/384.
Just waiting for my number to port now. I'll add to this entry when it does.
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CARD
get a can and drill a hole at the bottom and stick a internet card in there and i did and i had 1 bar with out a can and when i put it on i got 5
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