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Review by gredzok  - Location: Topeka,Shawnee,KS
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Overall "Nice, mostly reliable service"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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What I like about cc is that it is a nice, steady, mostly reliable service.
But for what you get the prices are a little high at least if you are using pay-as-you-go. I miss most an IVR. If they put that in as they say they are going to, I will have a higher opinion of the company.
Like other users I cant forget the hurricane disaster with them going down because their servers are all sitting together in some building in New York without even electrical backup. There are no plans to fix that gaping hole as far as I know from reading here.
member for 25 days, 2 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged a few hours ago
Comments:
| Review by garys_2k - Location: Farmington,Oakland,MI
- Cost: $12 per month (month by month)
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Call quality, service response, prices, call treatments"
Bad "None so far"
Overall "Way to go! Still thumbs up after DDoS and Sandy."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Update Sep-2013
Excellent service, as expected, ever since the Hurricane Sandy incident. They've added some major new features, no cost increases, and reliability has been back to 100%. It's been many months since they've had problems and I don't even give my phone service a second thought. I still continue to HIGHLY recommend them!
Update Nov-2012:
Callcentric withstood some major challenges over the past 60 days, a blistering DDoS attack on their border controllers and a complete loss of power at their data center as a result of hurricane Sandy's flooding.
They managed the DDoS attack by adding hardware and new gateways (based on ports communicated via SRV records) as the attack proceeded. I was able to maintain service by registering with Callwithus, a competitor, and having inbound calls sip-forwarded there. I used Callwithus as an outbound provider during that time, as they allow the user to set their outbound CID. I set mine to my number registered as my DID line at Callcentric and inbound and outbound calling was back to normal.
The data center power outage was more problematic. Service and their websites were down for about four days -- I could still make calls via Callwithus but no incoming calls could be received. I'm willing to cut them slack from this 100 year event (more likely a 200+ year event), so while inconvenient (this is a home phone, backed up with cell phones) it didn't cause any lasting issues.
Update May-2012:
Still the very best choice (IMHO) for home VOIP I've heard of. I wish I'd started with CC to begin with, no regrets at all. Crystal clear, totally reliable and plenty of flexibility.
Update 1-Aug-2011:
This is getting boring, but that's in a really good way! I recently used the call treatments (sort of a small scale PBX-ish thing) to reroute some incoming calls from a particular number -- it worked great! This also diverts all incoming toll-free calls to voice mail.
So, another bunch of months and still nothing ugly. The 5/5 rating remains...
Update 10-March-2011:
Awesome provider, that's all I can say. NO issues,ever, improved features and totally reliable. Again, the wife no longer has to wonder how the calls will go through, they just DO. I have honestly forgotten that, when the phone rings, that the Internet is involved.
Still impressed with their almost complete lack of "issues" entries in the VOIP Tech Chat forum. Some providers seem to make up most of the posts dealing with "Incoming Calls Ring Busy" or "Which Server Should I Use Now?" type of issues. We needed a no-drama, will work like a telephone provider and absolutely have that with Callcentric.
Update 9-Dec-2010:
Still no issues, Wife Acceptance Factor is high. She has reported OCCASIONAL audio glitches but nothing that has interrupted a conversation. The phone just works, no drama, and we're enjoying the quality. I did drop the Dirt Cheap DID I'd kept as a backup incoming number, but not because of service issues. It's still GREAT!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------
My port out from Future Nine was scheduled for 1-Nov-10 and it took place right on schedule. Call treatments have been great to cut out most all of the political BS calls we've been getting, and the phone book feature allows me to CNAM to the cell phone calls we get.
CC's reputation is about the best there is, it's not THE least expensive but certainly in the running (top few). For my use, about 400 minutes in and out per month, it's a wonderful deal.
I'll be back with an update after a few more weeks, but having seen all of the other reviews and forum posts about CC I strongly suspect I'll have a very smooth ride.
member for 9.4 years, 3307 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated a few hours ago
Comments:
| Review by slyphoxj - Location: Brook Park,Cuyahoga,OH
- Cost: $13 per month (month by month)
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Lots of call routing/blocking and calling features, easy website, responsive support, no tax & fees BS, OK call quality"
Bad "Unlimited calling is pricey (for VoIP anyways), setup fees to switch plans, porting process kind of a pain"
Overall "OK so far. Better deal than a $28-$29/month AT&T landline"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Back in May 2013, I got an Obihai Obi110 device with the thought of using Google Voice to replace our AT&T landline. We were getting fed up with the spam calls, sometimes 2 or 3 a day, and wanted some means to filter them out. A couple months later, I finally got around to setting it up and rearranging my phone wiring. I initially set it up to use Google Voice for outgoing calls and the landline for incoming calls, but there were complaints about the call quality on GV. So I setup a Callcentric account on my Obi110 (I'd need to anyway, even I used GV for all my calls, since GV doesn't provide E911 service) and started using Callcentric for outgoing calls.
I opted to port my decades-old home number to Callcentric and use Callcentric instead of Google Voice for all my calling because:
- Callcentric's Personal Unlimited plan is only $5.95/month (plus $1.50 E911 fee if you don't have one of the North America 500/1000/Residential plans).
- Almost total lack of customer support with Google Voice. If you run into any issues porting into GV or other issues, good luck! I had no issues porting in my cell phone, but I got lucky I guess.
- Google Voice seems like it's about to be orphaned by Google. They haven't added any new features or improved anything in a while and still haven't added direct porting to POTS or VoIP lines
- Privacy concerns with Google Voice. I believe that Google listens in on GV calls (or at least GV voicemails?). I think I can trust Callcentric more than Google.
Porting the AT&T landline at my house to Callcentric took 13 days and cost $25. The submission of the initial porting info was a pain, compared to starting the porting process with a cellular carrier/MVNO. I had to scan and upload a copy of the last AT&T bill and some other paperwork, then mess with converting the scanned files to PDF (1 MB limit on attachments to Callcentric tickets). But it went through without any issues to speak of on the promised date with good communication from Callcentric during that time. Even porting a landline to Google Voice is faster, but there would be a service disruption since porting a POTS or VoIP line to GV is a two-stage process requiring activation of a cell phone and having to mess with using a cell phone for a day.
I'm currently on the Personal Unlimited for incoming calls and North America 500 for outgoing calls for a total of $12.90/month.
Since I ported my number to Callcentric about a month ago, the spam calls have really dropped off, thanks to the caller ID (I can report them to donotcall.gov) and Call Treatments.
The only real downer with Callcentric is that unlimited calling (Personal Unlimited + North America Residential plan) is $25.90 (combined cost of these two plans), which is only a couple bucks less than what my landline cost. I still have my Obi110 setup to use Google Voice if we ever run out of the 500 outgoing minutes.
member for 11.2 years, 3612 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1 days ago
Comments:
| Review by filostrato - Location: Sacramento,Sacramento,CA
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Overall "Avoid"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
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Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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Sep 29
I have Callcentric as a second line, using it occasionally for
outgoing calls to use up the few dollars I have in it.
Their servers are in one place, and a problem with that, which they found
out about during the hurricane, is that if they lose power or
have some other disaster, their entire company is offline.
Not forgotten either was their spokesman's insistence that their
single server location, and no generator backup, was perfectly ok
and people had no business complaining about it. I feel uncomfortable
relying on such a company.
Another potential problem for them, at least from what I read here,
is that it is difficult to accommodate the equipment they use to
useful new features or to making their servers geographically
redundant.
They need to mature in terms of equipment allowing them to be more
flexible - and in their attitude.
In a word: if you can find something equivalent or better (and it
is easy to do that), avoid Callcentric until they have grown up a
bit.
member for 333 days, 4 visits, last login: 3 days ago
updated 6 days ago
Comments:
 Reviews:
 ·Comcast
 ·Callcentric
 ·AT&T Wireless Br..
·Suddenlink
| Technically... All those natural things you listed that could happen to Callcentric (burst water pipes, fire, power problems), they could still happen to a provider even if they have geographically diverse servers.
Sure, the chance is much much lower, but you can't say for *sure* that nothing could go wrong at all those data centers owned by the same company.
Different disasters at all those data centers could come together to bring down a diversely-hosted provider (fires at one center, burst water pipe at another, etc.).
Not to mention just general overload of the servers and random glitches that can happen sometimes.
It doesn't matter how many differently-located data centers you've got, you would know that nothing is fool-proof and everything fails eventually. You would not be saying you're immune to being taken offline, because the Universe loves a challenge.
This is just another of those posts decrying Callcentric for being hosted in one place, which I'm sure you would have noticed before since you are obviously concerned about them going down. | |
| | nitzanPremium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
kudos:2
1 recommendation | Re: Technically... said by XANAVirus:Different disasters at all those data centers could come together to bring down a diversely-hosted provider (fires at one center, burst water pipe at another, etc.). The chance of a disaster bringing down two completely different data centers at two completely different geographic locations at the same time is almost none. | |
|
Reviews:
·callwithus
·Callcentric
| Beating a dead horse.... Oh, me, oh, my.
Yet another "paired" review in which one person posts a very positive review of Voip.MS and a very negative review of CallCentric, as though those are the only two companies out there.
Actually, over the past year, CallCentric has been rock-solid, whereas it is Voip.MS that has had to reinvigorate much of its basic underpinnings.
Regarding Hurricane Sandy, that's beating such a dead horse, how multiple backup measures failed in that superstorm.
But since you bring it up again, be advised that CallCentric [is] enhancing its offsite backup and its onsite power supply even further:
»www.myvoipnews.com/4/post/2013/0···ion.html
As far as features, CallCentric is quite good there, having added subaccounts this year. Final development proceeds on IVR as well.
The lack of credibility of the review is shown by the low scores for website, ease of installation, call quality, etc. That shows to longtime readers of this site what this "review" is all about, because the reviewer did not even otherwise comment on those areas (and indeed cannot without looking silly).
Some Voip.MS enthusiasts like to post gratuitously negative reviews of CallCentric.
CallCentric enthusiasts are courteous enough to refrain from trashing Voip.MS, thus far. | |
| |  Arne BolenHappy Anveo customerPremium
join:2009-06-21
Planet Earth
kudos:4
·voip.ms
·Anveo
·callwithus
·Callcentric
| Re: Beating a dead horse.... said by Gershom 1624:Actually, over the past year, CallCentric has been rock-solid, whereas it is Voip.MS that has had to reinvigorate much of its basic underpinnings. +1
said by Gershom 1624:Regarding Hurricane Sandy, that's beating such a dead horse, how multiple backup measures failed in that superstorm. It's amazing that Hurricane Sandy still is used to bash Callcentric. My ISP was offline for less than a couple of days due to Hurricane Sandy and I see no reason to complain about that. Same with Callcentric, being offline for less than a couple of days during the hurricane is no reason for complaining.
--
My VoIP News | |
| | | |
| cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL | I actually agree on the redundancy issue that's why I am giving them 50% on reliability too for the time being but the rest of the rating is completely out of line and an obvious attempt to tear down a competitor. | |
|
| | | | |  NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
·Comcast
·ooma
·Callcentric
 ·Site5.com
| Re: Another misleading review said by cb14:said by Nightfall:If there is anything that needs to be fixed when it comes to ISP reviews, it is misleading or bad reviews.
There is also a very significant number of misleading positive reviews. Unfortunately, that's a problem not confined just to this web site.  Two wrongs don't make a right. In most cases, the misleading positive reviews are trashed. Just like reviews like this should be trashed. I guess it takes talent to write an informative review.
I am just saying that the OP could have made this review a lot better. In fact this seems like a shill review if anything.
--
My domain - Nightfall.net | |
| | | | | | | | | | Why isn't anyone allowed to give a true opinion about callcentric? I Remember when I did, I got messages that wanted me to change my ratings and comments and such. Don't forget about the issues before the hurricane thing. | |
| | | | | IscreamPremium
join:2009-02-17
New York, NY
kudos:5 Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
1 recommendation | Re: Another misleading review Dear "nonamesleft" below is my highly emotional answer to your obviously good question.
Well, how about some details of OP's record:
The member "filostrato":
Joined: 2012-11-06
(1st year!)
email: Not public.
Membership: Regular
Location: Sacramento, CA
Reviews:
·Callcentric
·voip.ms
Posts: 2
Last seen: 2013-10-02 14:46:41
Visits: 4
Is it correct to say that the OP has joined the DSLRs, posted "perfect" review for Voip.MS (1st visit), then posted a trashing review about Callcentric (next day - 2nd visit), then 10 months later has again visited (3rd time) the DSLRs to leave (update) already perfect review for Voip.MS and then next day (4th visit) - came here again and trashed Callcentric again.
Anybody to say I'm wrong, am I?
Speaking of yourself - you've actually been a customer of Callcentric, you've not liked _what_ your experienced during last October's DDoS, well - you didn't want to recognize that sometimes some countries, lands as well as companies/businesses are at war and must protect themselves while being under heavy fire and pressure... Well - it's up to you.
BUT (and my BIG THANKs to YOU), you have had NO trashing or vendetta plans regarding your provider - you simply moved away while left a short message in place of your former review!
Another reason - Callcentric, as the company who provides public service during last 12 years is highly visible Internet target. And sure - during these years there were not only friends around it...
But being a small company with a very good reliability/service record prior Oct. 2012 and the same good record (just search those boards) after that, and knowing that there are LIVE people inside it, who love their job and who is committed to excellence in providing their service - is it a good idea to leave/support a review which says in BOLD letters "AVOID"? Huh?
Is it in general good, for your own sake, to have a choice when it comes to telephone service - to say "AVOID" about some one company while saying "BEST" regarding some other one?
There was a recently completed very serious investigation (and a related sentence) of a group of "PR" companies whose only business was to increase Google's ratings of some companies while trashing their competitors...
Thank you. | |
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| Review by fragonard - Location: Evansville,Vanderburgh,IN
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Overall "All in all, a puffed up but still not bad voip provider."
| Web-site:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
Updated on 2013-08-25
To be fair to cc, it delivers good sound and has a kind of clumsy but workable interface that lets you forward calls, do this or that on certain days and hours, etc.
It has also been reliable except for occasional loss of registration (never happens with my other voip provider) and for the unfortunate hurricane problem last year, and I guess that remains in the back of my mind as I picture all those servers in their HQ in New York, and nowhere else.
2012 11 03
They got caught with their pants down when power in NYC went out. Redundancy that was not redundant. No effective disaster plan. They need to fix that but it sounds like they are satisfied with what they have.
It works ok but so do 50 other voip providers. It has little to distinguish it from cheaper alternatives, and for the same price, or even less, you can get a truly full-featured provider - see anveo, voip.ms, voipo to name three.
member for 1.2 years, 11 visits, last login: 41 days ago
updated 41 days ago
Comments:
PX EliezerPremium
join:2008-08-09
Hutt River
kudos:13 Reviews:
·callwithus
·voip.ms
·Optimum Voice
·Vitelity VOIP
1 edit | Well, I'm sure that.... Well, I'm sure that you'll call [me] a Fanboy. Yes, I use CC at home and at my office. Can't be a bigger fan than that.
But it's strange that whenever some people tell of their good experiences with CallCentric, the Haters appear.
And are you serious?
Voipo as a feature-rich provider? They barely support any BYOD, and by their own recent statement Voipo has a clunky website that they want to improve. Voipo also says that they will be re-doing their fee structure, to something more like CallCentric's it appears.
Voip.MS as a reliable provider? After their most important US server crashed 3 times in a few weeks, and increasing customer dissatisfaction?
Anveo has a lot of advanced features but has a long way to go in the usability side.
Have you actually experienced all those providers? I have, and several more besides.
BTW, CallCentric has outbound calling packages. Voip.MS does not. (Yes, Voip.MS is unbeatable in the Canadian market, but that's only 10 percent of the North American market.)
So:
Regarding cost:
CallCentric has [lots] of value opportunities.
Inbound:
a) Free inbound phone numbers available in many areas of NY.
b) Personal Unlimited residential at 5.95 is a good value because it is truly unlimited minutes---no numeric caps.
c) Same applies to Dirt Cheap Unlimited residential at 2.95 which are available in many states. Main restriction is that a number can't be ported in to this plan.
d) Office Unlimited is a great value at 8.95 because that's unlimited incoming service for Business use---3 channels included!
e) For small users, PAYG inbound is at 1.5 cents which is comparable to many other providers. (Monthly fee of 1.95 for the DID). But most folks would do even better to go with one of the choices above.
Outbound:
CallCentric has flat-rate outbound plans. Voip.MS and many others do NOT !
1) NorthAm 500 plan at 6.95 (US and Canada)---including the 911 cost. So about a penny a minute considering that.
2) NorthAm 1,000 plan at 12.95 including 911. So again, about a penny a minute.
3) NorthAm Residential at 19.95 including 911. Yeah, that's a number that one takes note of---BUT this plan has no numeric caps. Some people use this for [thousands] of minutes a month. If their needs are smaller, they can go with either (1) or (2).
4) PAYG outbound is at 1.98 cents with separate 911 fee. Yup, that's higher than many others, lower than a few. But now that CallCentric has introduced (1) and (2) as options [they already had (3)] relatively few customers will choose this option. It's becoming a moot point.
More to come, I gotta go poop.
BTW: Why the poor numbers for Call Quality, Reliability, etc? You do realize that this indicates where you are coming from? | |
| Mangowww.toao.net
join:2008-12-25
Alberta
kudos:11
1 recommendation | We'd love to help. Hey,
I see you've rated Call Quality and Reliability at 50%. Are you having audio or uptime issues? If so please let us know what problems you are having and what equipment you use and we would be delighted to help you fix it.
m. | |
| PX EliezerPremium
join:2008-08-09
Hutt River
kudos:13 Reviews:
·callwithus
·voip.ms
·Optimum Voice
·Vitelity VOIP
| Well, I'm sure that.... (Part 2) As far as CallCentric's service itself, here are some of the many positives:
Excellent customer support. Ticket system based, and almost always very quick even on evenings and weekends. Never a charge for service, even on free (IP Freedom) accounts.
Great reliability, consistent track record.
Free inbound CNAM, excellent voicemail with notification by both SMS and e-mail, advanced versions of Simulring, Find-Me Hunting, and more.
Excellent Call Treatments (such as Call Blocking) and PhoneBook features.
Unlike other providers, by going to the list of Received Calls on the dashboard, with one click you can create a Phonebook entry prepopulated with the number, or a Call Treatment prepopulated with the number.
Good billing system, very efficient and clear, with some unique fraud safeguards. I have used several providers and they have the best billing system that I've ever seen. And billing reminders are sent out several days before the month ends.
The FIRST provider to allow enabling/disabling of calls on a country-by-country basis.
Good peering capabilities and SipBroker and iNum support, and URI calling. This allows you to make and receive free calls from many other Voip networks. SipBroker support is the best around. Major sponsors of iNum and SipBroker.
911 address on file is always displayed on the dashboard. A unique feature, and important for those users who shift their location.
Unsurpassed reliability by operating their OWN secure and monitored data center, by being their own ISP, operating their own TDM/SS7 network. They don't rent remote servers from Frank's DesMoines Server Farm.
Their *67 outbound CID block is the most comprehensive around. It actually displays a different outbound number when you want to block your outbound CID. With other companies, *67 just appends a privacy tag which may or may not be honored by the phone provider of the person you are calling. This is especially true if you are calling a toll-free number: ONLY CallCentric's *67 will block your identity in that case.
Unsurpassed support for ATA's and IP phones. Extensive website documentation of all services and features.
They are just an excellent company overall. The main two things they don't have at present are IVR and subaccounts. If someone needs those, they would have to use a different provider. But aside from that, I don't think that any other single provider offers a better total experience.
BTW, when you talk about [50] VoIP companies, I suspect that you really don't know the market that well. | |
| | | | | In reply: .
It is not bad just overhyped. | |
| | | |
2 recommendations | It just works... PX was very eloquent and verbose above extolling all of the swell features of Callcentric, but IMHO, he missed one:
It just freakin' works.
All the time I have played with CC, I've never had to jack with STUN servers, SIP ALG, NAT, DNS SRV or anything else that plagues other VSP's.
To be fair, I do hold active accounts with Voip.ms, Voipo, F9, & CWU as well. But I have never had a registration or connection problem with CC. | |
| | Reviews:
·Comcast
·Callcentric
·AT&T Wireless Br..
·Suddenlink
1 recommendation | Re: It just works... Agreed.
This 'review' is in the same vein as the last one.
I hope no one takes this person on their word, and hopefully considers Callcentric at least as an option for VoIP.
The reviewer lost all credibility once they mentioned the word 'fanboy'.
There are so many other ways to word the review in a way that does not degrade yourself and yet they chose to word it that way?
I'm sorry, but keep the insults to other people out of the review - you're supposed to be reviewing your provider, not the users of DSLReports. | |
|
nitzanPremium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
kudos:2 | What the hell. This review is a deliberate attempt at lowering CallCentric's rating on the GBU. The ratings don't reflect the user's experience - he just lowered them on purpose. 50% for call quality and reliability yet he says it works - if it works then it's not 50%. Would not be surprised if this is a shill from another company. | |
| | |
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| Review by Mango - Location: Alberta
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Overall "Callcentric's support and dependable service gives them an excellent reputation."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Callcentric is one of the more popular VoIP providers on this forum, in part due to their technical support which is arguably the best in the industry. Their techs are famous for responding to questions in minutes.
I would like to mention some of Callcentric's features rarely found on other VoIP providers. (This is not an exhaustive list of all of their features, just the ones I find particularly useful.)
Extensions - Callcentric now offers extensions which makes it very easy to use multiple devices with their service.
Free Phone Number - Callcentric's free New York phone numbers fall into the category of "too good to be true", but it's true. I'm delighted to say that as per Callcentric's usual excellence, the Free phone number works just as well as a non-free phone number.
Calling Card - you may route a DID to the Calling Card feature or use one of Callcentric's local access numbers and make calls at Callcentric rates. You may set up multiple passwords of up to 10 digits and view reports of DISA usage for each password.
Call treatments - you may route specific calls to a variety of locations based on incoming Caller ID (wildcards are accepted), called number, or status. What is especially useful is that you may adjust the order with which treatments are applied. If a number could match a couple of rules, you can specify which rule should take priority.
Outgoing caller id number - Callcentric allows you to configure outgoing Caller ID to be some number not in your Callcentric account, but only if they have already verified that you are the owner of this number. While this no doubt requires extra staff time, I applaud them for preventing Caller ID spoofing.
IP Freedom account - Callcentric very kindly offers their "IP Freedom" account at no charge. It allows you to place calls to SIP URIs or other Callcentric customers, for free. One reason this is very useful is that it can be difficult to set up SIP-to-SIP calls if both users are behind NAT. Placing Callcentric in the middle makes it much easier.
SIP 486 "Busy Here" - Callcentric correctly reports this when you call a number that is busy. Many other VoIP providers I have tried do not. I find this useful in making my PBX respond correctly to such calls.
T.38 - Callcentric is one of the few VoIP providers that support T.38, which allows you to send and receive faxes with great reliability. T.38 is not always available on all of their routes, so you should configure G.711 fallback just in case. I wish that one day I could pay an extra fee for guaranteed T.38 support.
Callcentric has a feature that will convert incoming faxes to PDF. They will email you the PDF, or for higher security, email you a notification and you may download it from their website over SSL. Of all the (many!) fax-to-PDF services I've tried, Callcentric has my favourite user interface. This feature supports ECM.
member for 4.7 years, 2825 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 41 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Gershom 1624 - Location: BriscoCounty
- Cost: $10 per month
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Great reliability, usability, flexibility, quality, and value."
Bad "Some Voip.MS users are obsessed with hating CallCentric, and will probably post in a couple minutes."
Overall "Nobody does it better...."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've been using CallCentric for both my home and business for several years.
The darn thing just works, I never have to think about it.
It is very easy to set up, has great customer support, highly usable website with extensive documentation, excellent billing software, and good customer security.
I use one line with their inbound fax server, and that works very well too.
Security measures include (among others) the ability to enable/disable outbound calls by country (they were first with that), and the option of IP address whitelist verification for your equipment.
There is a wide variety of inbound and outbound calling options (chosen individually) including both flat-rate and PAYG plans each way. Free unlimited DID's are even available for metro NY areas.
There are no extra fees other than NY sales tax for NY residents, and 911 fee (but with a flat-rate outbound calling plan 911 is bundled in)
Extensive support is provided for SIP URI calling, iNum, and SipBroker.
Call Treatments are easy to use and very flexible.
One limiting factor had been the lack of subaccounts, but CallCentric introduced this functionality (which they call Extensions) in May 2013. This will be useful for many subscribers.
Multiple mailboxes per account were introduced in August 2013, and automated attendant functions ("IVR") are under active development now for later this year.
CallCentric has extensive switches and interconnect facilities which they own and manage, based in New York. That's why they are so good and so reliable over the long term. However, this did lead to a series of events which caused 2 days of failure in the 2012 Hurricane Sandy disaster as multiple backup measures did not work. There are some customers who prefer good providers with multi-city remote servers instead, and certainly those customers will likely choose such providers.
My experience with CallCentric has been excellent and I highly recommend them.
member for 208 days, 348 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 41 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Rendering - Location: Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Good "A mediocre effort"
Bad "Behind the times"
Overall "Clunks along, melting into the pack"
| Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
2013 08 24
Callcentric continues to trudge along, offering good enough
sound and reliability. The thing is though, most of the residential
vosps here offer the same good sound and reliability.
Callcentric gets a lot of praise from its fans, but the truth is
that it is a pretty ordinary vosp and not worth the adulation. It
has little or nothing to separate it from the pack. It is more like
a boutique voip service than one you would think of as full-featured.
It will supposedly have an IVR some day. I have not heard
there are any plans to have additional servers that are not in its
building in New York, so users have to hope for the best in regard
to loss of power or a fire.
2013 04 20
Callcentric seems to be waking up with the addition of sub-accounts. It is good to see that they are no longer resting on their laurels. If they ever get around to adding SMS, an IVR, and setting up geographically dispersed servers, they could become an excellent outfit.
Initial Review
I love callcentric. It is reliable and sounds good.
But I have to give it tough love - no IVR means it is not a top-tier residential voip provider.
But - the cc rep has said they plan to add some kind of IVR - not an IVR exactly but something along those lines. Even that sounds like a big improvement, and I have upgraded their rating (the old review was deleted for some reason, so the original rating is gone, but is is upgraded from what it was).
I look forward to this IVR-like feature and hope it will become a real IVR.
member for 266 days, 18 visits, last login: 42 days ago
updated 41 days ago
Comments:
 VexorgTR
join:2012-08-27
Sheffield Lake, OH
kudos:1 | IVR isn't all that common........ There's only a handful of Voip providers that DO have IVR... IVR was never really considered something for a residence.....
I can see that they may benefit from having it, but I'm glad that what their system DOES do, it does quite well. | |
| | Reviews:
·Callcentric
·voip.ms
| Re: IVR isn't all that common........ said by VexorgTR:There's only a handful of Voip providers that DO have IVR... IVR was never really considered something for a residence.....
I can see that they may benefit from having it, but I'm glad that what their system DOES do, it does quite well.
CC does a good job. If they added nothing to their existing setup,
they would deserve a high rating.
As you point out, like every other residential voip provider
except voip.ms and anveo (as far as I know) they did not consider,
it seems, that an IVR for residential service made any sense.
To me, that is a sad lack of vision.
That is from my perspective, and maybe most people don't care, but
I remember how, in my pre-voip days, I was irritated to no end by
the cranks and weirdos, and, in the last 10 years or so, by the
telemarketers.
I was lucky to stumble onto voip.ms, which has the most flexible
and easy to learn setup for ridding myself of the pests.
It is hard for me to understand how other voip outfits could not
have seen how useful an IVR would be, not only in pest-control but
in gracefully moving calls to the desired destination.
Maybe it is also difficult to implement, which, if that is the case,
is another feather in the cap of voip.ms. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·Callcentric
·voip.ms
1 edit | Re: IVR said by Gershom :But taking your points to their logical conclusion, once CallCentric has their IVR up and running, then what reason will VoIP.MS have to stay in business?
I don't see how one follows from the other. Voip.ms is a top-notch outfit, and would have every reason to stay in business whether or not its competitors add IVRs.
Because you seem to be saying that the prime directive of VoIP is having an IVR, and that little else matters.
For example, if I want relatives to be able to dial my number and get free calls to other relatives, I want them to hear a menu of choices: 1 for joe, 2 for mary, etc.
Or, as someone else mentioned, if you want a message to callers that says: enter 1 to ring through, enter 2 to go to voicemail, then you need an IVR.
How do you do those things without an IVR? You can not, as far as I can tell, or can only do it in a very kludgy sort of way. That is how powerful it is.
Yes, if you don't need it and can do with a simple callerid system, fine; but if I review a voip outfit, I will surely bear down heavily on their lack of an IVR.
If that makes me eccentric, other people can disregard my opinion. | |
|
Reviews:
·callwithus
·Callcentric
| Struck a nerve, I guess. CallCentric must be pretty threatening to some of their competitors to engender this level of vituperation from someone who may not even be a current customer.
I've used many services including also Voip.MS, Vitelity, CWU, and others.
CallCentric is [way] ahead except for the IVR (and most others don't have that either). And that's coming. | |
| | Reviews:
·Callcentric
·voip.ms
| Re: Struck a nerve, I guess. CallCentric must be pretty threatening to some of their competitors to engender this level of vituperation | |
| | | | | Re: Struck a nerve, I guess. I leave it to the community at large to decide who is more credible. | |
| | | | cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL | Re: Struck a nerve, I guess. It seems to be a lot of proxy sparring between Voip.ms and Callcentric on this forum.
Good to be on the side line ...  | |
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| |
| Review by Nightfall - Location: Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
- Cost: $12 per month
- Install: about 1 days
Good "Superior call quality, uptime, web portal, and customer service."
Bad "A little expensive."
Overall "For my first VOIP provider, I think I chose the best one out there."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I was using a POTS line like every other basic home owner. The pain of it was that I was spending $46 a month for a landline + features + taxes. That was only for about 300 minutes outbound and 100 inbound per month, at the most. After hearing about VOIP, I decided to look into it further.
Overall, I wanted something that was going to be easy to use, very reliable, excellent customer service, and that had an excellent online presence. I am a self-starter kind of person, and I don't need a lot of hand holding. If the website has all the information, I will find it and do it myself. At the same time though, I want a customer service team on the other end that is fast to respond and eager to help.
At first, I investigated Viatalk but I was turned off by the monthly plan. I wanted something I could pay as you go (PAYG). I looked at a lot of VOIP providers but I just didn't know which one to try. After posting some questions in the VOIP forum here, I was contacted by a few people who said to try out CallCentric. I never heard of them before, but a visit to their website quickly answered all my questions.
I signed up for an account on CallCentric and hooked up my Linksys PAP2T. Within 5 minutes of reading the instructions, I was up and running. I was making outgoing calls and everything was working fine. The voice quality was awesome to say the least. Just as good as a landline, but I know a lot of that has to do with the quality of my ISP which is through Comcast. For those who haven't read my Comcast review, its a great ISP in my area.
After running with CallCentric for a few weeks using it for all my outgoing calls, I made the decision to port my landline number over for $25. I filed the request to port my number over, filled out all the forms, and in about 3 weeks my number came over. Customer care was filling me in on all the details through the porting process. They even got me a date when I could expect my port. After the port was completed, I updated the ticket because the number wasn't working properly on the CallCentric network. Within an hour of me updating the help desk ticket, they had everything working.
My only complaint is that I wish I could get a outbound calling plan that was a little cheaper. The PAYG option is the best for me for outgoing calls, but the next option up is a $20 a month unlimited plan. I would have to talk for about 1000 minutes at .0198 cents a minute to just break even on that kind of plan. I wish they would offer like $5 for 600 minutes or something. In the end though, I don't mind paying more for quality service which is why I assume that they don't make changes to their pricing structure. Their incoming plan is excellent. For $1.95 a month you can pay as you go at .015 cents per minute or you can get unlimited for $5.95 a month. With a difference of $4, you can take about 265 minutes of incoming calls through PAYG before it gets cheaper to just get the unlimited. If you don't have your own number you are porting over, look into their dirt cheap DID. Its $3 a month for unlimited with no setup fee if there is a number in your area.
Here I am a few days after the port is complete reporting in on a very happy converted customer. Before this whole process started, I was very hesitant about moving away from my landline. In the end though, I will be saving $30-$35 a month by using CallCentric PAYG and I will be getting more features than I had before.
Overall, I am extremely satisfied with the service and support.
---
EDIT 12/29/2009 - I have went the extra mile and added a bunch of numbers to my call treatments list. It seems that everyone that calls me from a 800, 888, 877, or 866 toll free number is a solicitor. So I set those up to go straight to voicemail. I also setup a few other numbers from companies that call us to go straight to voicemail. The phone doesn't even ring now when someone from those numbers call. I love it! I still have some work to do on this, but I anticipate that my new service will be better than the "AT&T Privacy Manager" in no time. AT&T Privacy Manager is a service that blocks telemarketer calls and did a good job of it, but the rates on it were rather expensive.
I have also started adding phone numbers to my phonebook so they come up automatically on the caller ID.
EDIT 10/21/2010 - I have now been on Callcentric for about 11 months. Quite simply, it is awesome. Yes, its not the cheapest, but I am willing to pay for some quality and Callcentric brings it. At $12 per month on average, its a heck of a lot better than my POTS line was priced and with more features. No down time, excellent support, excellent self-help guides, and crystal clear call quality are all reasons why I am still with Callcentric. Solicitors have fun hitting my voicemail without the phone even ringing. I love the call treatments that Callcentric has. Quite simply, if you don't mind paying a little more for quality and feature rich VOIP service, get Callcentric.
4/14/2011 - Callcentric continues to work like a champ. No downtime and the service is rock solid. New features are released a couple times a year, but so far I am just happy with what I got. The voicemail to email service is great. The call treatments stop telemarketer calls so they hit voice mail directly. Callcentric is getting my business for a long time to come.
11/30/2011 - I can't say enough great things about Callcentric. The service is always up and running. I haven't had to contact tech support in a long time. I pretty much have had my service setup with all the call treatments and I haven't had to touch it since. This is what hassle free VOIP service is all about. My phone bill has unlimited incoming and pay as you go outgoing. We pay about $10-$12 a month depending on the amount of calling we do. I have been tempted to go with Ooma and buy a core for $150 on sale, then I could save $7-$9 a month. At the same time though, Callcentric has features you can't get with the Ooma without paying for the "Premier" tier. I have no plans to move away from Callcentric anytime soon.
7/9/2012 - Callcentric is still rock solid for me. No problems with the service at all. Callcentric did listen to my request and add some lower tier price points for outgoing minutes. It still isn't worth it to me to get them yet. According to my reports, we have more calls coming in than going out. I am on the unlimited plan for incoming calls already. It just makes sense to pay as I go for outgoing calls. The total cost is still around $10-$11 a month on average, which is great for me. Could I spend less and go with another provider? Probably, but there comes a point when I could spend $6 a month and get a provider like VOIPO, and then have more issues. The money I spend with Callcentric is great because I get what I pay for, have ZERO issues, and superior customer service for all those questions I want to ask. Go Callcentric!
12/24/12 - Callcentric went through a very hard time in Q3 of 2012. They had a very serious DDOS attack put on them that really affected their service. Thankfully, I only have a home phone line with them so the effect on me was very minor. Still, there were periods of time where my service was not working. I have adjusted my review down a little bit on reliability as a result. While all these problems were really annoying, I can tell you that they stepped up to the plate to make things right with their customers. They offered credits for affected clients, which I applied to get. They also kept me informed during the whole ordeal. I can say that their customer service is probably the best I have seen from a VOIP provider. The only way they could improve is by offering some kind of reliability measure. Either another hot site so if a natural disaster tears up their facility again, then they can come up quickly or if someone DDOS' them again, then they can bring up the secondary site and keep on working.
8/24/12 - After a great run with Callcentric, I have decided to move to Ooma. For the same price I am paying Callcentric, I will get a 2nd phone number, unlimited minutes, and other capabilities with Ooma. Callcentric remains one of the best VOIP providers that I have used. I got a refund for the funds left in my account shortly after porting my number. Thanks again Callcentric, you guys have been great!
member for 12.1 years, 5433 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 42 days ago
Comments:
| Review by adibazz - Location: Jacksonville,Duval,FL
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Good "Good Rates, Good Tech Support"
Bad "Nothing that I came across"
Overall "Value for money"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've been using CC for almost three years now for all my calling needs. I used it on trial basis for few months first and then once satisfied I got my DID ported over to CC. The setup experience was a breeze and so was Line portability.
Initially, I had couple of issues with something related to configuration (that I don't remember now) with my PAP2T device but customer support was very quick and helpful resolving the issue through their online support system. After that there is no single issue with either call quality or service in any way except of course those DoS attacks and hurricane Sandy last year. IMO CC handled both the situation well but there is definitely a scope of improvement re:Sandy like situation and that's where I knocked off one star from reliability. Otherwise its rock solid. 5 star.
I've decided to go with CC three years back, based on this forum and now realized I didn't review the service until I came back to this forum to search for some help. That shows how good their service is.
Update - 08/09/2013
Used CallCentric service with SIP client on my iPhone throughout Europe without any issue. This was good compare to my experience few years back when at&t screwed me with international roaming.
member for 12 years, 277 visits, last login: 29 days ago
updated 57 days ago
Comments:
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