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Review by unknvoip See Profile

  • Location: Rochester, Monroe, NY, USA
  • Cost: $12 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Features & Price
None
Reliable service, great features and a great price .
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

3/21/2021: Reminders to update reviews seem to have stopped. I cancelled my ViaTalk service last week. Not because of any issues with the service, but because we decided it was no longer worth the relatively small amount of money VT cost us since we do 99% of our calling on our cell phones. It is weird not having a home phone any more, but truth be told, I mostly leveraged the VT features to prevent telemarketer/scam artists from being able to ring my phone. We've parked our number with a service in case we decide that we've made a mistake, but I presume I'll cancel that too in a few months.

For anyone wondering, the cancellation process was simple and painless. I submitted a ticket a couple of weeks ahead of my cancellation date. They replied and reminded me I needed to port before the cancellation was processed to keep my number. I returned their adaptor and when they responded that it was received (and thus no deposit or charge), they asked if I wanted them to cancel the service a couple days early.

No issues and I wish the company well and I will likely contact them first should I want a home phone again some day.

------------ 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.

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.

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.

6/13/12 - I just got my 6-month nag from DSLReports to update my review. Not much has changed. Very rare cases of one-way audio from time to time, but otherwise very reliable service. Passed my 6 year anniversary in April.

2/25/13 - I just renewed for two more years. For me service has been rock solid. No issues during Sandy. No issues during Irene last year. No issues during Nemo. No issues any other time. Not a lot of new features, but the filter on incoming calls are so flexible that I almost never get telemarketer calls. If one slips through, they never do again. They don't have an Android app, but the mobile browser site works nicely. I am actually upping my Web-site rating. It works well, but is a little cluttered. I would give it a 9/10. I am marking it up from 75% because that is too low and my true evaluation is closer to the 5/5.

Update 2/6/14 - The DSLReports review reminder popped up. No changes in the service for me. Still happy with quality and features. Reliability has been great.

Update 9/4/14 - The DSLReports review reminder popped up. No changes in the service for me. Still happy with quality and features. Reliability has been great. Best features keep the telemarketers from actually being able to ring my phone. Those that do make it through, only do so once.



member for 17.6 years, 7276 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 years ago


sneumann55
join:2002-07-27
Hendersonville, NC

sneumann55

Member

Well........

Haveing moved from Vonage, ( i was one of the first 10,000) Vonage customers back in the day) Yes we had some issues with Via Talk after the sunrocket fiasco, when i finally reached Tech Support, my issues we resolved, however it took me abt a total of 5 hours to do it,not happy with the 2.50 a month even though I pre Paid, but other than that, its a good service, i think once the rush is over we will be ok, Cross Our Fingures.

SHELDON sand
@spcsdns.net

SHELDON sand

Anon

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

TRY IT

unknvoip
RIP goose
Premium Member
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY

unknvoip

Premium Member

Re: CARD

?

Review by alancats See Profile

  • Location: Washington, District Of Columbia, DC, USA
  • Cost: $11 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
Reliable call-making; Feature-rich Website; Excellent Call-Blocking Features
None That I've Encountered
Reliable VOIP Service at a Competitive Price
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Updated 12/21/18

I'm still a happy ViaTalk customer. All I can say is that their powerful call-blocking features (described in my previous reviews, below) are a GODSEND to allow the blocking of all manner of the ceaseless scam calls that hustlers domestic and foreign are making, these days.

Updated 4/30/16

Just wanted to give another brief update on my ViaTalk service. My condo building was wired for FIOS and I switched to that service (150/150) from Comcast (total no-brainer). FIOS is working well and ViaTalk continues to perform flawlessly for me. Call quality is great, and, as mentioned in my earlier reviews, the call-blocking features on the ViaTalk website are just superb, allowing me to block specific telephone numbers, entire area codes, calls that begin with "0," and calls that are designated as invalid numbers. I can also block a specific Caller ID word or words. Basically, I am never bothered by phone solicitors, and, on the rare occasion when I see that a phone solicitor has called (by checking call logs on the ViaTalk website, I simply add that number to the "blocked" list.

I've had nothing but good experiences with ViaTalk and continue to recommend them heartily.

Updated 11/18/14

I thought it was time to update my Viatalk review. I've been using Viatalk for seven years, in three locations (NY; VA; and D.C.) and with three ISP's (RCN; Verizon FIOS; and now Comcast). I'm still a very satisfied customer. Phone call quality is great and the call-blocking features are powerful and a godsend in terms of preventing annoying phone calls from con artists and phone solicitors. On the rare occasion (I'm talking maybe twice a year) when my Cisco PAP2T VOIP box has a dialtone or connectivity issue, I've called Viatalk customer service, gotten a helpful tech person on the line within a few minutes, and, had the problem resolved by a quick remote reset of the box. I'm very happy with Viatalk and would definitely heartily recommend it to a person looking for low-cost VOIP calling that offers powerful features.

Updated 3/17/13

I just thought it was time to update my original review to reflect an interstate move, to DC. Viatalk's service is still working well for me, and I heartily recommend it. When I reconnected my Linksys VOIP box after the move, an issue popped up with my wireless router's firewall blocking outgoing calls, but that was quickly resolved by helpful instructions provided from Viatalk's tech support team.

What I love about Viatalk is the wealth of privacy/call-blocking options. As soon as I see that weird con artists from out of state or phone solicitors have made calls when I check my call log on the Viatalk website, I either block that number specifically, or the entire area code. Being able to check voicemails online remains a nice and useful feature. The Viatalk team seems to perptually adding functionality to the service, which is always appreciated. The monthly taxes and fees for DC are a miniscule $3.25 a month, and the $189 charge for 24 months of service makes this the most reasonably priced phone service out there.

----------------

I've been with Viatalk for over three years, and I'm still very satisfied with their product. I'm one of the refugees from defunct VOIP company Sunrocket, who had to migrate to another VOIP provider when that company died in August, 2007. I switched to ViaTalk in 2007 and have been very happy since.

The best thing about Viatalk service is the feature-rich website, which allows you to listen to voicemail messages, view call logs of incoming and outgoing calls and take advantage of some very cool call-blocking features. For example, you can block all anonymous calls, block specific numbers, block numbers that begin with a certain prefix, block numbers by Caller ID words, or block numbers from an entire area code. Viatalk also just added the ability to block those weird con artist calls featuring non-standard phone numbers often beginning in "0." Very useful and much appreciated by me, as I have been harassed by these calls in the past.

Viatalk is based in upstate New York. The few times I've called customer service, I've managed to get a customer service rep fairly quickly, who A) spoke flawless English; B) was an American citizen (I assume); and C) was actually helpful. When I call my ISP customer service, I get routed to a call center halfway around the world and a barely intelligible rep of dubious helpfulness, so I do like the fact that one can still get customer service based on American soil, a rarity these days. That is not xenophobia speaking; merely my personal preference.

My experience is that, generally speaking, the quality of VOIP service largely depends on the speed of one's internet connection. I have a fairly mediocre download speed from my cable ISP of roughly 4.5 mb/s and .75 mb/s upload, and despite this, call quality has been consistently good. I do notice some slight deterioration in voice quality when I'm downloading a file, but it's not too bad, and I generally avoid downloading if I'm on a long call anyway.

One thing to be aware of -- if you sign up for a long-term contract, Viatalk does assess monthly E-911 and other charges. These are as follows for NY State: E-911 ($1.00); Regulatory Recovery Fee ($1.97); and E911 Cost Recovery Fee (48 cents), for a total of $3.45 monthly. I personally don't have an issue with this, because I'm satisfied with the service and even taking these fees into account, it is still a far better deal than paying for POTS phone service from Verizon or RCN. I am paying for an 18-month contract (not offered any longer) and my total monthly cost comes out to $13.95. Not bad at all in my book. The new package costs are slightly higher, as prices for service have risen across the VOIP industry, but I still think Viatalk is a great deal.

member for 23.5 years, 76 visits, last login: 5.2 years ago
updated 5.2 years ago


Review by dipswich See Profile

  • Location: Raleigh, Wake, NC, USA
  • Cost: $18 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: 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
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

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.

***1/29/2017 Update***

Never resolved.

member for 20.7 years, 5110 visits, last login: 274 days ago
updated 7.1 years ago


cash
@cox.net

cash

Anon

fees, fees, and more fees

The principle of adding more monthly fees on when you have an "annual contract" is despicable. I don't care if it is $5 or one penny, the principle leads me to suspect their business just based on ethics and principles. I then completely disconnect service? Come on. I refuse to continue to do business with viatalk.

ConfusedinNY
@verizon.net

ConfusedinNY

Anon

The taxes are everywhere

I don't defend them one bit but I will say that I asked thru the online rep if there were other charges to the annual plan and was told there is a e911 charge and regulatory fee. These were recently (within the last year) enforced by the government and the company's have no choice. Only one service has told me that they include all taxes and fees in the annual plan. However, with the 2 years I did the math and its still cheaper with these guys. It is the service quality that worries me though. I am still deciding.
dipswich
Premium Member
join:2003-06-27
Raleigh, NC

dipswich

Premium Member

Re: The taxes are everywhere

They do tell you about the fees now, but they are being deceptive about the "government enforced" part.

•The government does not require any fees to be passed onto the consumer.
•E911 was already offered by Viatalk without the extra fee, and it is still listed as an included feature (without mention of an extra fee) on the features page.
•"Regulatory recovery" is not a transparent disclosure of the source of the fees. These could be costs generally accepted as costs of doing business, although legal requirements, that are rightly built into product pricing.

Further,
•USF, the presumable primary source of "regulatory recovery fees," is paid based on a percentage of revenues (not net expenses). Viatalk gets its revenue up front on long-term commitments, so why charge a monthly recovery fee? The monthly collection problem on contracts is exacerbated since Viatalk charges the fee during "free" periods. Even in the accounting department there is no revenue during that time. Hence, Viatalk has a glaring disconnect between what's charged and what it's based upon. Yet another problem is that the fee is a fixed amount vs. a percentage of the equivalent monthly cost. This isn't how Viatalk is charged.
•Viatalk continued their offers after their USF liabilities were announced. That was the proper time to implement pass-through billing.

Review by dcurrey See Profile

  • Location: Mason, Warren, OH, USA
  • Cost: $13 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Very reliable low cost service.
Have to keep an eye out for renewal specials.
Blows POTS service out of water.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

1-4-2017 Final Review.

After about 10 years with Viatalk it time to move on. About mid-December I ported my number over to Callcentric. Viatalk line did remain active for outbound calls in case anyone was wondering. I was kind of planning on this.

About a week or so later I received an email from Viatalk informing me my number had ported out and wanted to know if I wanted to cancel or add a new number back in. I did have some questions about cancellation procedure so I just responded to ticket.

According to the ToS It seems you have to cancel within a 14 day window of your contract or you get slapped with a $49.95 early term penalty. They do prorate the rest of the term back to you. They informed me that since I was in my free year this didn’t apply. They did have me send my Pap2T back before they would close the account. This is different than the procedure in the TOS. You cancel then they charge your card $50 and credit it back once the ata is received. Oh well no worries sent the ATA back and a few days later I was informed they received everything and my account was officially closed.

As far as the service goes it remained solid. Still would recommend them to anyone that has moderate to high usage.

I am in the process of phasing out my landline and Callcentric with the free NY number + my ported line and the 120 minutes outbound seem to be what I need.

11-28-14 Just grabbed another 2 year deal.

Pap2 is starting to show its age. Line one has failed moved credentials to line two.

01-02-13

Recently was offered the $189 for 2 years deal. Looks like I am good until 2015.

Nothing else new to report.

05-02-11

April 25th was my 5 year point service continues to perform excellently.

12-31-10

Just recently renewed for another 2 years for $189 BOGO sale.

Nothing else really new to report everything just works.

Total monthly cost now shows included taxes.

10-29-09

Service continues to run smoothly.

Viatalk keeps adding new features such as Callerid Name block. The ability to set forwards, DND, simultaneous ring, etc directly from the phone without having to log into the Control Panel. Outgoing number routing. Now have international plans! The list goes on and on!

Went ahead and upped the value for money. I am done complaining about bogus fees since this is now becoming the norm with voip. Its still not right but what can you do?

02-16-09

Not much has changed since last review.

Service for me is still stable. Tech support is responsive if I do have a trouble ticket issued. Usually 2 a year when time changes. Once in awhile something odd may come up.

Billing is still crazy. Prepay is not truly prepay, prices are not locked in for term, you get almost random taxes and fees billed monthly. Taxes varies greatly depending on location, time of day, phase of moon, weather, mood of CEO, who knows what else they take into account.


11-20-07

As far a reliability goes for the past couple months things have been running very smoothly.

They did update the TOS. VT now has a $49.95 early termination fee. This is an improvement over the %50 early termination fee.

They also from time to time offer current users special 1 year deals. Not as good as the Buy One Get One deal for $199+ but not bad for another years service if you want to risk it.

Due to the massive complaints and bad PR about the fees being added to contracts that have already been paid for the company has been crediting the accounts if you complain about it. And only if you complain about it.

10-16-07
It appears the CEO (VTBrendan) has lied to us. He promised after the bogus fees where added to new accounts that all existing contracts will be honored. (Original thread.»[ViaTalk] ViaTalk TOS Change October 4 2006) We find out today that is not so. They are now only waiving the fees for 1 year.

10-6-06
Viatalk recently added extra fees to cover the cost of doing business expenses.

We already had e-911 as a standard feature. Now we need to pay extra per month for it.

Also added the Regulatory Recover Fee. A total BS fee so they can make more profit and still advertise a lower rate.

People on prepay still have to keep a credit card on file so Viatalk can bill you monthly for the additional fees. This also gives them the ability to raise the rates mid term. Since you are locked in for the term you have no options unless you want to pay a 50% early termination fee.

Its an interesting concept don't you think? A prepay plan that is not prepaid nor locked in.

09-15-06

Signed up on April 25, 2006 during one of the $199 buy 1 year get 1 year free deals. Took longer than usual to get the adapter but once it arrived it was plug and play.

Service for the most part has been pretty good. Sound quality is excellent. Some interruptions when they tried to get server fallover working correctly. For the most part we seem past that, I hope.

Viatalk will give you the admin password for the furnished pap2 if you ask. Great for testing different settings, and general troubleshooting. When you get them they way you like simple submit a trouble ticket and they make the changes permanent. At most trouble tickets have only taken a couple hours. (As far as remember anyway.)

Never had to call customer service so no comment on that. The CEO does post in the voip forum that is a big plus.

They seem interested on what customers have to say. Implement new features all the time. Sometimes without adequately testing them it seems.

Website Control Panel. Layout is a little clumsy. Some feature sets should be combined into single area. Custom Callerid, Call Routing, and Whitelist to name a few.

I will continue to update as needed.

member for 19.7 years, 8768 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 7.2 years ago


b-ellis
@220.165.x.x

b-ellis

Anon

Fees

I think these fees were implemented by congress on Oct.1 and are being charged to every VoIP customer now. Check it out for yourself, but you might want to contact your congressman instead of the phone company.

Review by FarmerBob See Profile

  • Location: Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Cost: $12 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Great Features and Toys! Other than that RUN!!!!!! Go to VOIPo.
EVERYTHING! Customer Service is Pathetic! Product Quality is . . . . AHHHHHHHHH!
If you need to use your phone, don't use ViaTalk. Go with VOIPo.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

03/16

Still with VOIPo and can't be happier. Have long since moved many people to them including my Mother and everyone is elated.

10/13

It's been a couple of years now and there have been a couple glitches that are expected with the newness of VoIP, but VOIPo has been GREAT!!! Just signed on for another two years. And I am in the process of moving several other lines over to them. The first tech company that I have seen where the CEO has racked up over a million posts taking care of things himself.

10/10

Have long since gone to VOIPo and have not regretted a moment of it. ViaTalk, at my leaving was a joke. VOIPo focused on actual phone service first, then is adding in all the joys. There have been hiccups and bugs, but their TS has been incredible. Tickets are answered in an insanely short amount of time by people that actually know what they ware talking about and that can get things taken care of.

1/09

As of Mid November I ran to VOIPo because ViaTalk just got to be too much of a fraud, nothing but lies and false promises that they did start to act, but seriously failed in continuing. I got tired of the lies, outrageously out of line CSR's, the bad calls always attributed to 1. My ISP, or 2. my network, or 3. Me. But never them. Tickets were taking so long to get acted upon, problems had time to resolve themselves before VT ever got to them. I still have tickets that I submitted months ago that were not answered before I left. I got Vonage for a couple of weeks on the same network with the same ISP and it was perfect. The reason I went with VOIPo was I was invited to join them and they have done a good job of starting up and all of my inquiries and "tickets" have been answered by the same people, if not 85% of the time the CEO, that have come to know my network and ISP and look at their end first and work towards me. The adapter, Grandstream HT502, that they use is the one that VIaTalk is moving to but never offered to me, when I have been telling them for the years of my contract that their Linksys gear was crap. Looks like they finally wised up. Too late for me.

Bottom line: STAY AWAY FROM VIATALK! There are too many other providers that you can get far better service from. Plus, at the rate VT is going, they can't be long for this world.

------------------------

After two years with Vonage I was tired of no contemporary market features and excuses as to why they weren't going to have them. But I had NO, ZERO call quality problems. When I first started having problems with ViaTalk, I called and got a TSR that was amazing. But as time went on and the problems went unresolved, increased and got more elaborate, you could tell that he was losing interest in helping. He went from calling me by my first name (he got so he would recognize my voice because I had to call so many times) to calling me Sir and pretending we had never spoken before. The other day I got a TSR that told me I didn't have a problem because everything was fine on their end and started to argue with me. I read him all the eMails that I had up to that point from people that could not get through and it didn't matter. All the while the call was breaking up and hissing, crackling, choppy and I was calling into their VoIP from a POTS line so they could make any changes to my adapter and not loose the call. They were even having problems. I then politely asked to speak with a supervisor and got a ton of really creative excuses why I couldn't. Then when I insisted I was connected to someones voicemail and have never heard back. I have found several recent threads here in DSLR and the VT Forums where others are having the same problems that I am with call quality and Tech Support, so it's not just me. I now eMail instead of calling on the phone when it is important.

I have since resorted to submitting Trouble Tickets through the website of which I can not check them other than a link sent in an eMail. I have performed a mountain of tests that they have requested that would over burden a cancer clinic and all the numbers on my end are great and theirs horrible. So . . . . ? No word from them since my numbers started looking good and theirs not.

I spent three months investigating, checking out every nook and cranny on all relevant forums; calling VT; gaining friends on the VT boards that were a great help, and all "looked" great. I really thought that I had stumbled on a life saving, too good to be true, greatest thing of all time. But within a week of being up and running things started to fall apart. I gave it time and the TSR's all the assistance they needed, put my adapter in the DMZ, rebuilt my network to favor the adapter (my Vonage adapter was buried on my network and NO problems); jumped through hoops and nothing has been accomplished. Now either I have no problems or it's all on my end as per VT TSR's. I have been moved to all servers in my "relative " area, they all have bad latency, but not moved to a server that has good numbers as I have found and requested. You use to be able to do it yourself in the control panel, but that feature has disappeared. The one real reason that I switched was all the great features/toys they have and they are always adding more, even to your line without your knowledge or permission. They did that to me and killed my line and it has never been the same since. Good intentions, bad execution. But as I have read it being said, "They need to knock off the creative stuff and focus on the recently emerging problems." I agree.

There is much more and I really don't want to go any further. Just take this as a friendly warning. If call quality is important to you, or for that matter a call at all - use Vonage. I don't believe I just said that, but sadly it's true.

This is the true sense of the phrase: "You get what you pay for!" And boy am I paying for it. Don't you.

member for 23.2 years, 2754 visits, last login: 33 days ago
updated 8 years ago


unknvoip
RIP goose
Premium Member
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY

unknvoip

Premium Member

When did you leave?

Do I read this right? You left a year ago, but came back 10/10 just to update your review? If that is correct, it seems like you are just trying to bring down the ranking of a provider that you have no current knowledge of how they are working.
unknvoip

unknvoip

Premium Member

Re: When did you leave?

I stand corrected, it looks like you moved on 2 years ago. Why would this review have any relevance now?
alancats
join:2000-09-20
New York, NY

alancats

Member

Sorry to Hear This

I've had a far different experience with ViaTalk. I've had Viatalk for over two years, and it's run pretty flawlessly for me. The few times that I've had issues, I put in tech support tickets that were promptly answered, and, when I called tech support, I got someone on the line within five minutes. The company is based in upstate New York and I've always found them to be responsive to my needs. The service has worked well for me, but, obviously, if you were dealing with unresolved issues, you're entitled to take your business elsewhere. I've never heard of Voipo; hope it works out for you.
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

3 recommendations

PX Eliezer1

Premium Member

Very misleading and unethical "review".

You left ViaTalk several years ago!

Therefore, you should no longer be updating the review. You are bringing down their current score, yet are no longer even a customer!

NOW you are using "Voipo" instead. Properly speaking you should make a review of THEM and keep updating it.

N9MD
Too busy to chat
Premium Member
join:2005-10-08
Boca Raton, FL

3 recommendations

N9MD

Premium Member

Ignorance is bliss

Farmer Bob seems to be following in the footsteps of Farmer Gray ... the eponymous cartoon character from the 1940s ... who today would be considered completely an anachronism.

After 15 years of being a DSL Reports member ... and 7 years after leaving ViaTalk ... the OP continues to spread manure and plant seeds of discontent.

Hey! I'm certainly not a ViaTalk fan (having left them long ago) ... but this type of review is beyond the pale.

Review by jorgend See Profile

  • Location: Reading, Berks, PA, USA
  • Cost: $16 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
Many Call blocking options, Cheap calls to indonesia
5 years ago there was call quality problems overseas, but fixed now.
Happy camper
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I have been with ViaTalk for over 7 years, the price was right, $189 a year with unlimited calls US and Canada, and discounted calls to Indonesia.

I brought my own VOIP adapter Linksys P2T, which gave me a discount.

The first year was a little shacky with call quality to Indonesia, but I would just put in a trouble ticket, with the number I was trying to call, and they would update a routing table, to put me on a better circuit the next time I called.

Today the call quality is great.

member for 13.9 years, 246 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago
lodged 8.5 years ago


Review by rolande See Profile

  • Location: Powell, Delaware, OH, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 9 days
Good pricing model with bundled features and SIP open access
Lack of order confirmation required me to continually contact support to verify order was actually placed
Best bang for the buck! Good call quality, decent set of features, and most importantly support SIP open access
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I did a lot of reading of reviews and comparing all the various VoIP provider service offerings out there. I wasn't looking for the cheapest service but something reasonable that offered good call quality (i.e. manage their network latency and jitter well) with a decent feature set and most importantly provide SIP open access to their service.

ViaTalk, in my opinion, has the best mix of call features, package pricing/variety, and call quality of all the providers I spent time reviewing.

I was looking for a provider to integrate into my existing Cisco CallManager Express installation at home as a second line initially for testing. Every other provider I was looking at either didn't offer open access to a SIP proxy or else they had strings or conditions attached to use of the SIP proxy like much higher cost etc. ViaTalk not only supports open access to their SIP proxies but practically encourages it. No matter what service you sign up for, all you have to do is send them an email requesting credentials for the SIP proxy and they will grant you access.

The only downside has been the ordering process/communication. They recently had a big sales promotion which increased their customer service request volume and slowed things down. Understandable. However, I placed an order for the vt_500 package with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) option online and got a response screen stating that I should receive confirmation within 24 to 48 hours via email. I never got a confirmation email. I watched other people posting in forum threads regarding the order slowdown and I put on my patience hat. However, I still had a nagging feeling that I needed to at least get some form of confirmation so that I made sure I wasn't wasting my time waiting for nothing. So, it took me several days of logging into their Live Online Chat option and asking questions before I got somewhere. A customer shouldn't have to do that just to get confirmation. I wasn't asking for service to be made available right away. I just wanted that warm fuzzy feeling that they were working on it. That's all!

Anyway, I finally got connected to a rep who checked the ordering system and found my order. She wasn't sure why I hadn't received a confirmation email. She pushed it through the system and I got an email within about 15 minutes with all of the info that I needed to get started and log in.

When I got home from work, I completed the SIP configuration on my router with the login credentials. I ended up making just over an hour call to a friend of mine out in San Jose, right after I got it working. I am definitely happy with the call quality. No pauses, distortion, echo, feedback or anything during the whole call. The only sound was the normal background noise generated automatically by my Cisco IP phone. It was much better than a cell phone call.

I ran quite a few tests at different times of the day for the providers who I could find a domain name for one of their SIP proxies. By far the best and most consistent latency was to the SIP proxy for ViaTalk in their Manhattan POP. Here is one set of results...

--- neptune.vtnoc.net ping statistics ---

33 packets transmitted, 33 received, 0% packet loss, time 32318ms

rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 26.106/27.317/28.899/0.645 ms

So, I average about 27.317 milliseconds to their SIP proxy with a median jitter of .645 milliseconds. That is pretty darn good for the Internet. I can not complain with that kind of performance. The good thing is I know that I get pretty consistent latency performance and uptime on my SBC DSL connection, so that will add to the quality and reliability.

Overall I am quite pleased so far with how it has turned out. If it goes well for the rest of the month, I am going to can my long distance service with the Incumbent LEC that they are swindling me with for close to $60/month. I have to keep the POTS line for my DSL service so I'll use it as my backup landline for 911 and other emergencies etc. as well as all my normal inbound calls.

I called my parents up in Ontario, a few hours north of Toronto, and the call quality was noticably lower than compared to the calls I have placed within the US. I would compare it to a choppy cell phone call with occasional echo, delays, and static. I can deal with that for now for the price. The good thing is I don't call all that often, so it doesn't bother me that much. I can also call them on their US based cell phone number and the call quality is much better.

Here is a link to my Call Manager Express Configuration for your reference:

»rolande.wordpress.com/20 ··· /#config

I'll update my review as we begin to use it more regularly and get a better feel for call quality/reliability throughout the day and week.

member for 21.8 years, 4943 visits, last login: 153 days ago
updated 9.7 years ago


Review by huntermcdole See Profile

  • Location: Tucson, Pima, AZ, USA
  • Cost: $9 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
Good Price, Good Sound Quality
Tech support a little swamped
Great price, tech support a little swamped
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:


--- Update Jan 2014 ---

Still no real issues with ViaTalk, every time I am up for renewal I wait until I get the 2 years for the price of one. Never switched to the Lite plan as they no longer offer it.

--- Update Aug 15 2011 ---

So far no issues with ViaTalk. Looking at switching to the lower Unlimited Lite plan as it's 2000 minutes per month, and that takes me over 6 months to reach....

---Original Review----

Signed up on July 13th 2007 for the BOGO deal. Figured I wouldn't need Rush Service since SunRocket was still up. Come Monday the 16th I realized that was wrong. Had them add rush service on 7/18/07 and it was processed that night. After a few days after my order had shipped I used my unlocked Innomedia with the soft phone settings to get myself up and running while the adapter was in route. Call quality is great, I have submitted a few tickets and they are a little slow on answering me, but most of them have been answered in about 3 - 7 days. I feel that the quality is good and expect support to get better after the influx of customers is dealt with. ATA they sent me was a new Linksys PAP2T.

member for 18.6 years, 3344 visits, last login: 3.3 years ago
updated 10.1 years ago


Review by im_chandave See Profile

  • Location: Cleveland, Cuyahoga, OH, USA
  • Cost: $8 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: 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
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

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.

[2014-01-23]

Another boring update. Again, nothing new to report. It has been working fine since my last update in 2011. Renewed for 2 more years back in Jan 2013. Was able to pre-pay the regulatory and E911 fees for the 2 years. I haven't needed to trouble-shoot it for problems. It works when ever I send a call to them or receive a call from them. My Asterisk server has had no problems connecting with their SIP servers. I pump through around 1500 minutes of use a month with no problems encountered. Overall, the service has been reliable, lacking in drama, and boring...exactly what I expect from a great telco service.

member for 18.6 years, 2360 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
updated 10.1 years ago


Review by jomobco See Profile

  • Location: Parker, Douglas, CO, USA
  • Cost: $12 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Easy to use, hardware provided, decent call quality
very rarely glitchy
great bang for the buck. 1 Year promos often under 10 bux per month
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I just recently left them when we decided we really use our mobiles more than home phones and decided to make our VOIP line a google voice number. We used Viatalk for over 6 years and at 2 different locations. They were easy to work with and had very little down time that we noticed. They definitely improved over the years we were with them. I loved the features on the website which allow you to customize incoming call routing. It was easy to tag a solicitor and even forward them somewhere else! I love sending all the political calls I got to their other parties donation line! If we went back to VOIP I would go back to Viatalk.

member for 10.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 10.1 years ago
updated 10.2 years ago