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 Review by MyTechLife 
member for 12.3 years, 1556 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 6 days ago
 Reno,Washoe,NV
 $20 per month about 1 days "Web/Email support is fantastic. Web interface is feature-filled. Calls connect every time." "Only feature missing is a call screening /" "Perfect."
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AUGUST 2007:
I've had CallCentric for about 2 months now. I had been with SunRocket for 1-1/2 years previous, then about a month with Packet8.
The main "must have" features that I need and CallCentric has include:
• Local Numbers (though I still have to dial 11-digits to place calls - not sure if I had an ATA other than a AC-211-SR would let me use 7-digit dialing for local numbers).
• Flexible call forwarding and logging features (though Simulring is not an option)
• Number porting - I was able 2 port my 3 SunRocket numbers to CallCentric within about 10-days. $25 per line was a bit expensive, but at least they accomplished it - where Packet8 did not.
Call quality is good. After some testing and research I'm using G711U codec, which is supposed to be better than the recommended G729 codec. The codec requires more bandwidth, but that's not an issue on my 3000/512 DSL line. Calls will cut-out if I'm using the internet to download at the same time, but that's not a fault of CallCentric. After previous call connection and quality issues with Packet8 and SunRocket, CallCentric is a refreshing change.
Looking forward to more features in the future.
UPDATE MAY 2013:
A few months ago I transferred my main home and business lines from AT&T to Callcentric. Porting was advertised as taking up to 30 days, but it took only 10.
I use a Obihai OBi202 so I can use the Callcentric service with my home phones. My business line just forwards to my answering service. I'm saving a bundle over what AT&T charged me for the numbers. Call quality is great, and the service is reliable.
I've got several numbers for my business which I use in different advertisements. The detailed reports allow me to analyze which advertisements are working, and which aren't.
I added a free DID number which simultaneously rings my home number and wife's cell phone. This allows me to call one number to reach my wife and she can pick up the call on either phone since cell phone service at my house is spotty.
The only feature that I miss that I had with AT&T was "Privacy Manager", a call screening service that sends anonymous/blocked Caller ID calls to a prompt that allows them to unblock the call, announce their name, etc. »www.att.com/gen/general?pid=10211 Callcentric allows me to reject such calls or send them to voicemail, but no way to screen them.
Comments:
 IscreamPremium
join:2009-02-17
New York, NY
kudos:5 Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| AAA - automated account attendant This feature (related to automated account [and/or answering] attendant - AAA), is part of many other new features resulting from recent Callcentric unified (voice, video and data) switching platform upgrade; those features will be announced as released after stabilization period on our DEV network - to make sure they are fully backward compatible to our existing user and administrative interfaces.
Thank you very much for this exciting service review and for being our committed valued customer during almost 6 years! | |
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Review by Gershom 1624
member for 72 days, 120 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 6 days ago
- BriscoCounty
- $10 per month
- about 1 days
- "Great reliability, usability, flexibility, quality."
- "Nothing else in my life is as satisfying."
- "THIS is The Voice!"
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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, and automated attendant functions ("IVR") are under active development now.
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.
Comments:
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Review by steve1111
member for 3.6 years, 467 visits, last login: 12 days ago
updated 12 days ago
- New York,New York,NY
- $4 per month
- "Excellent handling of incoming calls"
- "Gold standard of Voip"
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NYC Aug 2012. This is a review of Callcentric (CC). CC's handling of incoming calls is terrific.
I have a PSTN phone but I have turned off the ringer and told everybody to call me on the CC phone. I have one of CC's free 646 NY area code DID's for all incoming calls. I have a second Voip phone with a Callwithus (CWU) account but it does not receive incoming calls.
I am happy with CC's reliability, technical support etc but what I like best is their "Call Treatments", a sophisticated facility which gives me full control to determine how an incoming call is treated. My PSTN provider could also provide these features but some features would each cost about $4 per month. With Call Treatments I have allowed friends listed in my CC phone book to call me. In the phone book I can associate a name with the number so when they do call, the system identifies the person's name. But everybody else gets a busy signal and the house is so peaceful without annoying calls from telemarketers. If the CC phone is not working, say an internet or power outage, then the call goes to voicemail. A call treatment ensures that no phones ring on the weekend.
My favorite call treatment is call forward busy line. When I am on a call with one person, then if somebody else calls at the same time the new call is Sip forwarded from the CC phone to the CWU phone. But this feature can only work so long as the phone with the call treatment is registered with CC.
I have three phones enabled to make outgoing calls; a PSTN phone and two Voip phones. One Voip phone is registered with CC and the other Voip phone is registered with CWU. Generally I use my PSTN phone for my outgoing calls and I do not make many outgoing Voip calls. CC charge 2 cents per minute for outgoing calls PAYG. CWU, however, charge only 1 cent per minute. The quality of outgoing CC calls and CWU calls are both good. With permission of my wife I may discontinue the PSTN phone and then I will think about switching to CC's North America 500. This plan costs $7 per month for 500 minutes and it includes 911 coverage. But I will still keep CWU service as backup.
So long as I have my PSTN phone I don't want or need 911 service from a Voip phone. Obviously CC have to abide by FCC regulations. But they are fastidious about 911 coverage even though they make no profit out of this. CWU, however, flatly do not provide 911 coverage.
I urge anybody new to Voip to check out CC. You can try out their Freedom plan which allows free calls to people within the CC network. If you have a relative overseas then you can both sign up to a free CC account and make free calls to each other. With two years' experience I can only repeat, which other DSLR reviewers say, that CC is the gold standard of Voip.
Dec 7 2012. Back to normal after DDOS attacks and Hurricane Sandy.
May 10 2013. Since Sandy, Callcentric service has been solid. They recently added sub accounts or extensions. Many DSLR readers have greeted this with enthusiasm. As for me, Simultaneous Ringing is all I need. What I am enthusiastic about is that Callcentric is in the process of installing its own natural gas based power generator. Which means that service will be even more reliable.
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Review by fizzboz
member for 1.2 years, 11 visits, last login: 10 days ago
lodged 26 days ago
- Park,Gove,KS
- Contract price not specified.
- "100-year storm, clumsy, reliable so far"
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Pretty good. The service seems solid. It is a clumsy, limited kind of
service as far as features go. Maybe the addition of sub-accounts
will make it more attractive.
I do not like the lack of redundant servers, geographically
separated, and really do not like the attitude that Callcentric
knows best that showed up after the hurricane in October.
It is not just that their setup is difficult, as I understand it, to replicate
at several locations, but that their attitude, as expressed on this forum,
is that such redundancy is not even needed.
The bit about 'such a storm will only happen once in 100 years'
does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about the resilience of
a voip provider with its servers in one place.
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Review by Rendering
member for 130 days, 15 visits, last login: 31 days ago
updated 31 days ago
- Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Reliable"
- "Behind the times"
- "Waking up! Adding sub-accounts"
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Update 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.
Original 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.
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. | |
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·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. | |
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Review by mrbadlans
member for 227 days, 6 visits, last login: 54 days ago
lodged 54 days ago
- Silver Spring,Montgomery,MD
- $7 per month
- about 1 days
- "Great online support!"
- "None"
- "Love These Guys!"
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I ported my home # from Verizon FiOS, and I'm very happy with the results. Great online support. Love the fax features. Works well for me. Highly recommended!
Comments:
VexorgTR
join:2012-08-27
Sheffield Lake, OH
kudos:1 | Agreed....... Post Hurricane/Superstorm, CallCentric has really been solid. No complaints here. | |
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Review by mikev
member for 11 years, 233 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 70 days ago
- Leesburg,Loudoun,VA
- $10 per month
- about 20 days
- "Great call quality and reliability!"
- "Poor CNAM, no IVR"
- "A reliable service, but somewhat no-frills compared to others"
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I ported my number to CallCentric from another service primarily to save money. I was stuck in an unlimited plan and spending more than I wanted for what I was using. My number was ported in ~3 weeks (on the next billing date for my previous service), and all was working well. I also took advantage of an unlimited "dirt cheap" line in another area, as well as a free number to use as a fax line. Three incoming numbers on this service for less than the price of one on the other. And great call quality. No jitter or problems hearing the other person, or with them hearing me.
However, a couple of things about their service are less than spectacular. Their Caller ID Name lookup is horrible. Most numbers appear with just city/state of the number, no name. Also, an IVR to help block/filter spam calls would be nice... having to block them AFTER they've called and verified my number is valid is a little annoying.
Overall, a good service, if you don't need one with a lot of fancy features.
Comments:
Reviews:
·Callcentric
| Do Not Call list.... Both anonymous calls and calls with numbers (but just city/state for CNAM) significantly increased, even despite my number having been on the Do Not Call list for years.
If your number port involved switching from one CLEC to another CLEC, as is quite likely, then you may have been removed from the DNC list.
The reason for that is that the first CLEC considers it a disconnection, and the FCC specifically encourages carriers (CLEC and ILEC) to cancel DNC listings when numbers are disconnected.
This has been discussed occasionally in this forum in the past.
Note that the FCC says:
Do-Not-Call Registry
You can register your phone numbers for free, and they will remain on the list until you remove them or discontinue service; there is no need to re-register numbers.
Yup, when you ported away from your old CLEC, that's a discontinued service from THEIR point of view. Technically, they are right!
This can affect any VoIP port that involves a CLEC change, so it's not unique to CC.
The reason for the FCC policy is that they want to keep the DNC list fresh and current....
By the way, even if the new CLEC puts your number on the DNC again, telemarketers are allowed to call it for 30 days. Many of them specifically take advantage of their free gift from the FCC/FTC.
Now, I don't know if your number was removed or not, but it's a possibility so you may want to check....
*
As for CNAM, I have found their CNAM service to be good. But keep in mind that you can create CallCentric phonebook listings for all your contacts, that will supplant the CNAM and for me it's even better.
CC also is working now on new menu ("IVR") functionality, you are right to say that will be a nice enhancement.
In case you had not noticed it yet, you can click the dashboard link for [Last 40 calls received] and get one-click access to the Phonebook Add function and the Call Treatment function, prepopulated with the phone number in question. It's one of their nice features, I hope that you nay find it helpful. | |
| mikevPremium
join:2002-05-04
Northern VA Reviews:
·Callcentric
1 edit | Verified Do Not Call registration Yeah, I went back to the do not call site after the number port finished and verified my registration was still valid. Not sure if it took some time for the number port to be realized by their system. I just verified this morning and it does show that the registration has been in place since 2/15/13. I've removed the spam call comments as a result, as it may have been due to a lapse in Do Not Call registry coverage that the spam calls increased. Fortunately, the 31 days is near, so hopefully they'll go back down again. | |
| Reviews:
·Callcentric
|  Spam calls
said by mikev: an IVR to help block/filter spam calls would be nice... having to block them AFTER they've called and verified my number is valid is a little annoying.
Have you tried the white listing of phone numbers in call treatments? Whitelist people in your phone book and area codes of people in your area and areas you know people reduces almost all Spam calling. The phone book can hold many many numbers and they don't even have to have a speed dial number assigned to them. All other calls send to voicemail. Placing a single SIT tone at the front of your voicemail message makes sure all those calls don't get verified as valid. Just keep up on the call logs and check on 1800notes that none of them where important to you. | |
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·Callcentric
 ·Charter
| Re: Spam calls said by RiverMerger:Have you tried the white listing of phone numbers in call treatments? Whitelist people in your phone book and area codes of people in your area and areas you know people reduces almost all Spam calling...
How do you whitelist an area code? I can't find that option.
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Follow me on Twitter: @MyTechLife2 | |
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 Review by nonamesleft
member for 1.5 years, 453 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 87 days ago
- Manitowoc,Manitowoc,WI
- $25 per month
- about 10 days
- "Sound quality much better, more features and cheaper then landline"
- "None"
- "Not sure"
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I notice I never updated, I dumped callcentric back in october 2012 because of there problems.
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Review by natalykm
member for 3.9 years, 14 visits, last login: 107 days ago
updated 107 days ago
- Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
- $7 per month
- "High quality service and support, clear calls, great control panel, lots of features"
- "None"
- "Best provider, great service"
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We use Callcentric service at home 4.5 years already.
We use it a lot for both domestic (USA) and international calling to Russia, Uzbekistan, Israel, etc.
The call quality is always excellent.
Their website is great and lets you control everything you'd need from it.
They have a lot of features and keep adding new ones all the time.
Excellent customer support.
Reliable and feature reach provider - I don't think there is anyone else who is more suitable to my needs (and in my budget range).
Edit:
June 12/11
I've discovered that a simul/multi-ring is now available - what a great feature!
Oct. 11/09
Still very happy user - so far so good; I'm using call treatments now - would be even
happier if they implemented simultaneous or multi-ring feature.
Feb. 05/12
Recently i had a home network problem and Callcentric customer support helped me to resolve it very quickly. Thank you Callcentric!
Feb. 04/13
I'm using Callcentric for my primary house phone now and I'm very happy about it
and i don't need any other providers, Callcentric does it all !
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Review by ab2844
member for 3.9 years, 5 visits, last login: 108 days ago
updated 108 days ago
- Staten Island,Richmond,NY
- $28 per month
- about 1 days
- "Call Treatments and Voice Mail notification"
- "Convenient"
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February 2013 - Just an update. Still using Callcentric for my primary house phone. No plans of changing service providers any time soon. Staff accommodating to needs.
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February 2012 - Still a customer of Callcentric. Have not had any problems with their service yet. Not sure if it is a feature of the service or not, but I almost never get any telemarketing calls on my private line. Also, I went out of country over the summer, and the company helped me setup a line abroad so that I could call it and be forwarded back to the States. Similarly, anyone who called my number in the States was forwarded to my cellphone number abroad, at no extra cost.
I'm still happy with Callcentric's features and available staff.
==
October 12- All is still great. I can always count on Callcentric to avoid telemarketers day or night with the call treatments. Never be bothered while sleeping again.
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July 15 - on top of the below:
Using Callcentric from Island Seas hotel (Bahamas) directly from my iPhone with a help of SipPhone app. Still can't believe that all my calls are rated at the same rates as from home (zero)... It's like the rest of other "all inclusive" things I have here. Life is wonderful 
==
I've been using Callcentric for about 3 years now and they have been providing a very convenient service for my needs. I'm not a telecommunications whiz, but I was able to find everything I needed right from the home screen. My favorite feature is the call treatment. I set it when I don't want to be disturbed or when I go away. I use two settings. One that forwards all my calls straight to voicemail when I go to sleep and one that forwards all my calls to my cellphone when I'm not home. I also like being notified when I have new voice messages. My phone doesn't let me know unless I go into the messaging menu, so I often miss important messages. Having them on my Callcentric home screen allows me to see and hear all of my messages as soon as they're left, and I don't even have to be home for it. Overall, I think Callcentric is a great provider of the simple things that make life just a bit easier.
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