how-to block ads
|
next review in page
Review by dicodread 
member for 4.5 years, 627 visits, last login: 19 days ago
updated 3.8 years ago
 Miami,Miami-Dade,FL
 Contract price not specified.  "good price,very flexible" "have to look for them now." "ok for residential use and backup trunk"
| |
I have been using Callwithus for a little over a year now and havent found any real problem with them when my call connects. My problem however is sometimes I try to make calls and it takes a very long time or it just doesnt connect any at all. This is the main reason I dont use them for any of my pbx installations.
I use it on my own pbx however as a backup trunk and to test any issues I am having with callcentric or inphonex.
28/07/2009 update.
I have to be fair to callwithus on the call delays. I revisited my spa9000 trunks and and asterisks and realised it was my dial plan mostly that was causing the delays. When I removed the choice of trunks and force each route with its own steering code, the call went through right away with reasonable quality. Based on this discovery I will be putting Callwithus further up on my trunk list and pass some reasonable traffic. I will come back with an update after a few weeks of this.
Comments:
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by mrsam
member for 3.8 years, 3 visits, last login: 147 days ago
lodged 3.8 years ago
- Metuchen,Middlesex,NJ
- $5 per month
- "Cheap, reliable, call termination."
- "They no longer sell DIDs"
- "Bring your own device"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've been using Callwithus for about a year now, for both call termination and DID. Their call termination rates are very competitive. Currently they accept Google Checkout, and Paypal, for payment. They no longer sell new DIDs for some reason (I'm grandfathered), which is a shame -- their DID rates were also very cheap. I was hoping to use Google Voice for my DID (I finally got one), since I read somewhere that GV was going to be able to forward calls to a SIP number, but it turns out that, right now, GV will forward only to one SIP provider, not Callwithus. If GV ever opens up to any SIP provider, the combination of GV+Callwithus would be an ultra-cheap combination.
But, back to Callwithus. Call quality is probably as good as one can expect from a VOIP provider. Once in a while, an international call gets messed up somewhere, I can hear the other party, but they can't hear me. I just hang up and try again, a couple of times, until we can hear each other. Occasionally someone's having a bad hair day, and I just have to give up and whip out my backup calling card. This does not happen very often, approximately once in about a hundred calls, I'd estimate. 99 out of 100 times the call goes through, and there's never any issue with call quality, otherwise.
I've had fairly good success rate with sending and receiving faxes. Faxing is generally iffy over VOIP. Usually I am able to send or receive a couple of pages without any issues. Longer faxes, 5+ pages, are more difficult. On a couple of occasions I could not fax to a specific fax machine, no matter what I tried. It may or may not be just my fax machine, and not related to VOIP.
Callwithus offers support via email only. Over the last year there were about four or five times I needed to reach them, they always answered my email in a couple of hours, and were very responsive. Callwithus does not sell telephone adapters, you BYOD, Bring Your Own Device -- so you do have to have enough technical know-how to be able to configure your own settings. I set myself up without needing any help, I don't know how much help they would provide in setting up your telephone adapter, but it'll probably be a bit cumbersome, going back and forth by email. However you can try setting everything up without buying or paying anything, and test your device with SIP-only incoming calls, and an echo test, and buy credits only after you have a working connection.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by slicemaster
member for 11.4 years, 166 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
updated 3.9 years ago
- Newbury Park,Ventura,CA
- $8 per month
- "Pay-As-You-GO, DIDs available, EXCELLENT Call rates, Standard and Premium call routes"
- "Absolutely NONE for and experienced VoIP user"
- "Wonderful services with flexible options"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I decided to give Call With Us a try after getting fed up with the flat rate phone bills regardless of usage that most VoIP providers offer. I have used services like ViaTalk and BroadVoice in the past but have decided to get away from monthly billing plans in favor of Pay-As-You-Go because my calling patterns can’t justify the monthly expense. I have been using Call-With-Us for a few weeks now and have been extremely satisfied with the quality of service and quality of support. I also feel it is note worthy to mention their extremely informational FAQ that more of less provides every detail of their service and its advanced call routing options. Their services are bare bones but for an advanced user like my self, this is exactly what I’m looking for. Call rates are second to none.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by voiplover
member for 8.9 years, 2402 visits, last login: 83 days ago
updated 4 years ago
- Portsmouth,Rockingham,NH
- Contract price not specified.
- "Easy to program, No lattency, great voice quality, $.01.1 per minute"
- "No incoming DIDs if needed + now they offer DIDs"
- "Spend $5 for ~450 minutes and easy to recharge or open a new account"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
If you are just looking for quality out going and you can connect multiple ATA's it's a great service. Setup was easy and the web account is simple. I've connect many people up with them and have never had an issue with voice quality.
If you are looking for incoming DIDs then look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a voip account that is cheap to call out on; then give them a try.
I don't think they offer live support, but the FAQs have the info needed and we don't have to pay a monthly just to know that someone in India will answer a question with an answer that maybe 100% correct but totally useless...
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by ptlake
member for 6.6 years, 45 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
updated 4 years ago
- Charlotte,Mecklenburg,NC
- Contract price not specified.
 about 1 days- "cheap!! - reliable"
- "no longer provides DID (phone number) - no e911 (FREE #'s available elsewhere)"
- "Awsome service"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
this is a 'pay-as-you-go' service - you only pay for the minutes you use on outgoing calls
this is a 'bring-your-own-device' service - you need to figure out how to configure the ATA device. the ATA cost about $70, and is my responsibility.
I've been using this service for 1 year - i've been amazed at the technical support - email are replied to within a half hour - once you have their attention - the replies are within 5 minutes.
there is a learning curve if you've never set up an ATA device.
call rates are currently 1.1cents per minute domestically (there are a lot of pennies in $19/month) - i signed up with them for the phone number (out of toledo, oh) for $2.10/month with 3000 inbound minutes - in the first year i've paid $45 for this service. local call routing is handled via google voice.
I've had more problems with my ISP failing than with this service failing.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by global_dev
member for 7.6 years, 1065 visits, last login: 286 days ago
lodged 4 years ago
- Woodbridge,Prince William,VA
- $10 per month
- "great service, easy to use, responsive support, competitive prices"
- "some of the grey routes CWU uses weren't so hot, but a quick message and its resolved."
- "great service"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Been using CWU with DID since 7/2007. reliable, consistent, and responsive service.
Its really low maintenance and no games, contracts, payment issues.
This is a top notch provider.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by smoked_2na
member for 4.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 4 years ago
lodged 4.1 years ago
- Hudson,Middlesex,MA
- Contract price not specified.
- "If you use A2BILLING there is nothing new here as an end user."
- "A simple CSV rate sheet instead of a simulator would be welcome."
- "I am very pleased with the voice quality and response to problems."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Only a few items would make ( CallWithUs ) perfect.
a. Buff up the home page when you navigate away from A2BILLING. The home page is a little difficult to navigate and keeps you looping back to your starting point.
b. If their rates were downloadable as a CSV file, it would make looking up rates and reselling easier. The rate simulator is nice for a few numbers but wholesale use is impossible.
Overall I am very pleased with this service. I would and have recommended it to others.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by dahan
member for 12.5 years, 670 visits, last login: 36 days ago
lodged 4.1 years ago
- Leander,Williamson,TX
- Contract price not specified.
- "No maintenance fees, great rates to Thailand"
- "None that I've seen"
- "Excellent service!"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I often call friends and family in Thailand, and had been using prepaid calling cards, but the ones with good per-minute rates had fairly steep weekly maintenance fees, and the ones with low maintenance fees were relatively expensive per-minute. Looking for alternatives, I found CallWithUs, and their combination of no maintenance fees plus low rates to Thailand (currently about 1.5¢/min) sounded perfect for me.
I was pretty much a newbie to VoIP (and basically still am), so I started out using their service as a calling card—using my POTS line to call their access number, then entering a PIN, etc. Later, I decided to try a softphone (X-Lite), followed their configuration instructions, and got it up and working without a hitch. I've since gotten an ATA, and am using that for all calls.
I never used their DIDs (which they no longer offer, in any case), so I can't comment on that. I have, however, used their callback service, which was great when my mother went on vacation in Thailand. She could call the US without having to pay anything over there; the only charges were for CallWithUs, at around 2.5¢/min.
While testing out the callback service, I did run into a problem. I emailed support and got a reply (from the owner, I think) in about 15 minutes. After another exchange or two, we got it working. Total time: an hour. I haven't needed any support since then, but from what I've seen, support is quick and knowledgeable.
So all in all, I think they're great and don't have any complaints 
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by priller
member for 12.5 years, 3879 visits, last login: 3.3 years ago
updated 4.6 years ago
- Gainesville,Prince William,VA
- Contract price not specified.
- about 1 days
- "Inexpensive quality calling; Small company relationship"
- "What happens if Sergey gets sick?"
- "Worth a try ... won't cost you anything"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
CallWithUs promotes itself as a family-owned and operated service. If you contact support, you get a reply from the owner/operator himself. CallWithUs is strictly a BYOA and PAYG provider. Why would you want a provider with some monthly plan, where you're paying for minutes you don't use?!
When you create an account, CWU will give you some free minutes to test the service before you pay anything. If you don't like it, nothing lost!
I originally intended CWU to be a backup provider. I got it working and pretty much left it sit for a couple of months. During some initial testing, I experienced post-dial-delay with a few calls and slight audio breakup once or twice. I was browsing around the CWU FAQ's and noticed the reference to SIP REINVITEs delivering the best quality calls. I enabled this on the website; my firewall is SIP friendly and has no issues. I really feel there is an improved audio quality and I have not experienced post-dial-delay. Watching this on a sniffer, you see that your RTP voice stream goes directly to CWU' wholesale providers, instead of being proxied via CWU in Lansing, MI or their west coast server. The providers I saw my calls going to include XO in Mass., Broadvox in TX, and Eurorings somewhere in Europe. I am now sending CallWithUs the majority of my calls.
I only use CWU for outgoing calls. You can set your outgoing CID number directly in the user portal. The minutes you buy do not expire.
Overall, I really like the simple and complete design of the website and user portal.
Be sure to read the Fine Print at the bottom of the web pages!
-------
Update 9/29/2008: I have stopped using CWU due to misrouted calls. The number I dialed and the number that showed in the CDR was right, but that's not who I got. This only happened 2 or 3 times and I did not report the problem, but my expectation is no misrouted calls.
While very very rare, they did experience an extended outage ....
»CallWithUs: Is CallWithUs.com Down?
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
Review by hwittenb
member for 9.4 years, 3933 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 4.6 years ago
- Moraga,Contra Costa,CA
- Contract price not specified.
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Callwithus has a nice feature where you can specify different routes for an outgoing call. I find this is very useful for international calls to certain countries where the call quality can suffer at certain busy times during the day. Generally, though, callwithus call quality is excellent.
Comments:
|
|
·