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Review by merc669 
member for 11.4 years, 2112 visits, last login: 310 days ago
updated 6 years ago
 Lexington Park,Saint Marys,MD
 $27 per month about 3 days "Ease Of Installation, No Echo's, Prompt Voice Support, Web Voice Mail" "Occasional Dropouts or Brain-Loss on the ATA Device" "Very Good Experience So Far"
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I went thru several sites looking at the different providers and reviewing the reviews including here at "DSL Reports". After reviewing and speaking to the VelocityTel Sales Rep I decided to take the plunge and sign-up Online at the site "http://www.velocitytel.com". Cost is $24.95 Plus Tax). This was Wed Dec 21st. The ATA (HandyTone286) arrived via Fed-Ex from the company who is out of Plano, TX. I connected the ATA as directed to my router (Linksys WRT54GS) as directed and applied power. I was rewarded with a Dial-Tone right away. I did not even configure the router. I did afterwards go back in to the router setting and and check the Port Forwarding and put the port in the DMZ. Call quality was excellent. I passed the word to family members and contacted them in N.C., Indiana, and Hawaii. All calls were great! However, Incoming from the family was for the first day intermittent. I assume this is due to still setting up the account with the servers. After that there have been no major problems. Main problem for me which as far as I can tell not with "VelocityTel" is that the setup uses DHCP. When the router reassigns the lease the ATA failed to see this and Dial-Tone was lost until I did a Hard-Reset on the device (Pulled The Plug). I talked to a couple of members from DSL Reports Linksys Forum who recommended changing the Lease Time to 99999 to keep the lease longer. This I have done and so far so good. I did contact via phone the Tech Support who is located in the U.S. (A Plus For Me!!) and they were very responsive after talking to them about the problem. They recommended that I switch the ATA to a "Static IP" vice "DHCP". This way there would be no need to worry about IP Renewals. Problem has been that whoever programmed the ATA put in a different Password for the device than what Tech Support has had. I am awaiting a response from the Admin Folks there to come up with the right password to give this a whirl. There is a limited Web Page for Online Support and Phone and Web Mail Usage. Currently I cannot delete messages left by callers from the Web Page. I have entered a ticket for this but they have not responded to this so far. Not a real problem for me since its on their server and not mine. I have not tried out all the features yet but so far I am pleased. I am planning on reducing my Verizon down to just DSL and a very limited Local Calling in the near future if this continues to work good. VelocityTel does support E911 but I will keep a Local line for the time-being more as a Security Blanket. It appears that "Area Code 808", I get a busy signal all the time but from another Cell or Verizon its fine. Submitted ticket and advise as to what they say. I have had VelocityTel for about ten days so the jury is still out but VelocityTel does look promising. Thanks!!
Update; Area Code 808 Problem Corrected. DHCP problem also corrected, was able to go setup the Handy-Tone for a Static IP which has helped. Service via voice (Calling Is Great) but via their Web Based Trouble Ticket is not the way to go. That has been very unresponsive unless I ping on them via E-Mail or mention the subject when I am on the phone with them. Once I make contact then the responses have been above average and very good. My wife is still not convinced and there are occasional hang-ups with the ATA but overall its still going pretty smooth. Call quality is the only thing that has improved. Tech-Support has told me that I can use alternative ATAs like the Linksys ATA that is UNLOCKED! These can be bought on Ebay and have been thinking about getting that and then using the Handy-Tone as a backup. First Bill Total;
Premium Residential Plan $24.95 $0.00 $24.95
Regulatory Recovery Fee $1.50 $0.00 $26.45
Federal Excise Tax $0.75 $0.00 $27.20
Total = $27.20
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