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Review by mickey35us 
UPDATED: 98 days ago
member for 8.5 years, 82 visits, last login: 98 days ago
 San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
 $8 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Monthly cost, clear call quality"
 "Web site features"
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After reading through the various customer reviews on this company products and services, I thought that things just could not go wrong. The advertised pricing is very attractive and is probably the cheapest around. I was shopping for a new voip service to make a switch, and has been using voip service for my land line for about 5 years now (from the time of Sunrocket startup which bellied up, to quite a few other companies). Having used voip for quite a while, I know what a pain it would be to make a switch and to be sure to carry your phone number with you to the new service. I decided to sign up with Future-nine for a full year plan, and plan to order a new number to check out their service before porting my number over. The sign up process is smooth, and communication to welcome a new user, creating an account to sign on the web site, etc are all smooth. From the time of ordering a number, and through all the time running into some technical issues while setting things up, I am all by myself trying to figure out what went wrong and where. The various emails that were sent to customer support just went to the black hole with no reply. I am not a novice user and my technical skills are quite high so I can put up and try to figure things out by myself for a week. For a novice user, it would be tough luck.
After ordering a number and a few days have passed, I did not hear anything from anyone as to its status. I sent in a request to inquire on its status and got no reply. Another day went by, I tried logging on to the website to look around and discovered a number has been assigned. I was wondering myself why sending an email to notify a customer that your number has been created would be that difficult. Of course, if you read through the website, somewhere it says that they don't provide phone support to cut costs so they can provide cheaper rate. Would provide courtesy notice email be that costly ?
So now I got the number, it is time to take out my adapter and try to figure out how to configure it with my network. I have a network with 6 computers, 2 printers all networked with a router, switch, an existing VOIP adapter, etc... so things are not as straightforward. I read through their technical guide specific to my adapter, review the SIP credentials, etc... but after a few hours I still cannot get a dial tone to the phone. I decided to create a snapshot image of the configuration page of the adapter and sent in a support request along with the explanations of what I have done. Another day went by, still no reply back from support. Another email flew out and almost a full day went by, still no reply. I went back and reviewed all the settings that I had done and discovered that one of the setting of the adapter was not correct so I fixed it, and the dial tone came on.
Next come the time to test out the features of call forwarding, call fall back, voice mail, etc... Altogether, I spent almost another full day to check out these features. They worked, but sporadically at times and not consistently. The web site features are just okay, and I have seen much better from other services. What is important to me is the clarity of the dial tone (for this, it is good), the call forwarding / fail-over feature (this does not work consistently and I have to keep reset my adapter), and the duration of delay when calling out before hearing the ring (for this, it is just average of 8-9 seconds).
Yes, the price per month is attractive but to have some so-so features and a nightmare in user support (now and potentially further down the road), the attractiveness of the pricing is no longer worth the hassle. I still wonder from reading the other reviews, how other people could have gotten good support, and wonder myself what I had done differently ... 
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Updated on 08/26/09 :
Following my earlier review, the company tech support staff had contacted me and substantiated their efforts with the proof of emails which were sent out in response to my support requests. In light of this, I feel that I must do justice and provide an update to this review. Since a yahoo email address was used at sign-up, the yahoo mail server probably had done a disservice by not delivering the tech support responses timely. Although I had been checking my spam folder for missing email throughout the week, I still do not understand how I could have received some but not all of their support emails. Regardless, as a precaution to other users when signing up with Future-nine, it may be wise to use some other email than yahoo if possible (or double check your spam folder) in order to avoid similar situation from happening. Factoring in the possible fault of the yahoo mail server, what happened to me would likely not happen to other people. Accordingly, I have revised the rating of their tech support.
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Review by nasdaqyc
UPDATED: 102 days ago
member for 5.1 years, 39 visits, last login: 80 days ago
Yuba City,Sutter,CA
$3 per month
about 1 days
"Inexpensive rates to overseas destinations, BYOD, PAYG"
"Still in Beta so there are occasional outages"
 "Clear calls and cheap rates to countries I call"
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I have been looking for another VoIP phone line for a while. I had been a Vonage customer for 3 years and 8 months, but wanted to get rid of the $14.99 monthly fee. Looked at Skype , VoIPbuster, Gizmo5, and many other services. I liked Skype and their rates but didn't like that fact I would have to purchase expensive equipment and that they use proprietary software.
I finally settled on Future Nine because of the rates, features and some of the reviews I read here on BBR. Also, I liked that they have a pay as you go plan and allow the usage of my own device.
The first day I signed up for their service I could not log in to their server. I tweaked the settings and reset the adapter a few times thinking that would do it. I finally submitted a trouble ticket to F9 support and got a response in 13 hours time. They had a major outage and that was the reason my adapter could not log in with their server. I tested the phone throughout the rest of the day and they were still having problems with their servers, but a few hours later everything was working fine.
Since that first day I have not run into another one of their outages, at least when I'm using the phone. Right now they are the best value in VoIP.
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Review by rebthor
Posted: 111 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 2 visits, last login: 111 days ago
Fresh Meadows,Queens,NY
$13 per month
about 2 days
"Reliable, Inexpensive, Quick turnaround on support"
"Website/Control panel is a bit cryptic, but functional; No call-in support"
"No better value out there"
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I have been an F9 customer for a few months now, I started with just a few dollars in the account to test it out, since I lurk around the VOIP forum and saw Nitzan posting a lot and very responsive. I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality and service and upgraded my account to a monthly one and ported in my Verizon number.
I am very much a VOIP newbie, although a techie all around and was able to follow the directions on their site to get my ATA set up correctly.
Even though there is no phone support, the e-mail turnaround is phenomenal. I have had several questions / support issues regarding my port in and they were all answered promptly and the issues were resolved.
I have since prepaid for a year in advance since they have been exceptional. As a matter of fact, I have moved my brother-in-law over from Vonage to Future Nine too. His call quality is markedly better and he is now paying less too!
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Review by nrf
UPDATED: 130 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 3276 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Morrow,Warren,OH
$17 per month
about 7 days
"land-line voice quality, reliable, responsive support, service flexibility"
"web site disorganized but does contain most of what you need, piecemeal ordering process"
"Fantastic! If you want to do something special just ask them how to do it They aim to please."
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(Redone after second line ported)
I now have both of my callvantage lines moved here, one of which was ported. AT&T didn't get it done on the due date, but I sent email to F9 the next day and it was cleared up by mid-day.
(costs above are for "unlimited" US calling, E911, 2 DID numbers)
Apparently what we have here are some motivated business people who are more interested in providing great, flexible service than milking clients for every penny they can get. I have the americas freedom service, with two lines on the TA and two incoming numbers. This setup is far less expensive than the same capabilities on CallVantage, and so far the reliability and call quality have been fabulous! I know this firm didn't make the top end of the poll for who CV users were going to move to, but those who prefer Vonage over F9 deserve what they get! kind of joking, no flames, please.
Tech support via email gets the job done and has been responsive.
If you are going to buy a TA from F9, I'd suggest doing that first and wait until it arrives before setting up the incoming numbers. I chose a new PAP2T adapter because I needed two lines. I like that it has lots of options and it is unlocked. I found it a bit odd that uses 10 mbit / HDX but that has not caused any trouble. The TA came fully provisioned so setup was a snap. All I had to do was adjust my router settings, and I had enough information to do that in advance so I was off to a running start and disconnected the callvantage line within a few days.
The concept of having an account balance and putting 'chunks' of money into it (only certain amounts not any flexible amount) is a bit odd, but it works and they do provide quick refunds when appropriate.
Disclaimer: I have a VOIP user since I was a pre-service tester for Callvantage. I have lived through the turmoil of early adoption. I have beaten up my ISP until they finally got it right. I continue to monitor cable modem signal levels every 20 minutes via cron/wget, and generate monthly graphs and stats, etc. to make sure service is not slowly degrading. I have set up my home network with QOS (802.1p) compatible switches (configured appropriately) and taken all the steps I can to keep other activities on the LAN from interfering with the VOIP service. If your call quality varies from mine, keep in mind that VOIP requires contributions from multiple vendors and your local hardware setup to work well.
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Review by garys_2k
UPDATED: 152 days ago
member for 5.5 years, 1873 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Farmington,Oakland,MI
$10 per month
"Voice quality, reliability (so far!) , SUPPORT cost"
"Web site could use a makeover."
"Looks Like a Winner!"
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Update 7/2/09: I added a toll-free DID and Nitzan resolved an issue with the provider right away (no ringback signal was sent to the caller of the TF number). Still no problems, great sound quality, reliability and value. Pretty boring when your phone just plain works without any drama!
Update 5/28/09: Still great service! No issues with reliability, dial tone every time I pick up the phone. Great call sound, no "half duplex" issues, excellent audio quality.
F9 has a very reliable back end with immediate failover to an alternative server. Your ATA is redirected to that backup in minutes, because as soon as it re-registers (the registration interval is five minutes) it is redirected. Apparently this has happened at least once since I've had the service and I experienced NO interruption at all.
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F9 is a newer provider that, so far, has had stellar reliability and call quality. Nitzan, the company president, is a regular here at DSLR and is more than happy to help out both here and directly from F9's support site.
Their domestic rates (free incoming, 1¢ per minute out) can't be beat. A DID is only $5, E911 is available and OPTIONAL.
I'm just now porting my number in from Vonage (great reliability, lousy price and CS) and will update this review after I have more time in with them. Everything I've heard so far, like their server backup arrangements, have been positive. Time will tell, but one thing I am very confident in: They have a solid business plan, know the technical stuff, know how to actually make money doing VOIP and understand quality.
Rev. 4/17/09 to upgrade my voice quality rating. The only reason it wasn't P3 (practically perfect POTS) was MY network traffic. In fact, the calls can't be distinguished from a good POTS land line call. F9 deserves a "5" for call quality and that's what I'm giving them.
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Review by pandora
UPDATED: 164 days ago
member for 8.5 years, 3373 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Outland
$11 per month (12 month contract)
about 30 days
"Great voice quality, personal support from Nitzan, low cost"
"Low cost E911, a bit complex to set up"
"If you are a geek, and are looking for a great VOIP deal, F9 is it!"
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I've had 2 accounts with Future-Nine, my oldest is about a year old (not quite). I was drawn to Future-Nine by the charisma of Nitzan, who is a regular on the VOIP tech chat board.
To set up my account, a PAP2T was ordered from a large online store. I flashed it to the current firmware version, then had some minor set up issues, which Nitzan was very helpful about fixing.
Configuration of a PAP2T is a bit geekish, it is not for typical consumers. My understanding is consumers can now order a pre-configured PAP2T from Future-Nine and avoid any hassle setting up the ATA.
Initially, stability wasn't quite there. Future-Nine was always up 99% of the time. However when it would go down, it could take hours to get back up. Over time, stability has improved. Currently Future-Nine is about as stable as any other VOIP service from any other provider. This is a tribute to Nitzan and his determination to provide great service.
Future-Nine has 2 great plans for annual contracts with domestic (U.S. mostly) dialing. One provides for 3,000 outbound calling hours a month (I'm currently on that plan) for $135 per year the other provides for 200 outbound calling hours a month (I may move to that plan) for $75 per year.
If you don't want an annual or monthly plan, there is a pay as you go plan. There is no monthly cost for the plan, and outbound calls are 1 cent a minute for U.S. calls. Rates for other countries are available at the Future-Nine website.
Future-Nine also has great rates for overseas calling. Unfortunately I have absolutely no need to use this aspect of his service. However anyone who needs to call overseas may wish to check out the Future-Nine website.
During the past year, the Future-Nine website appearance and capability has greatly improved. When I started Future-Nine was still in an early part of its life as a beta service. It is nice to see how productive Future-Nine has spent the last year improving it.
Voice quality is very good. The only services which seem to be better are POTS, CDV and Ooma in my direct experience.
Future-Nine has been amazingly helpful and supportive allowing me to get what I needed out of its service. More so than any other VOIP company. I can highly recommend Future-Nine.
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 Review by Prayer
UPDATED: 181 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 1182 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Warminster,Bucks,PA
Contract price not specified.
"Good clear calls. Lets you use other PHno for CID."
"I only got the outgoing service approx 1c/min. $0/mo. Incom has month fee"
"Best deal so far for outgoing calls."
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I am beta testing Future-Nine and calls made are usually pretty clear. Tech support has been via email and quick and solutions work and no more problems.
When beta done, we'll see if I still want to keep them and pay $ to add F9 to the other 8 VoSP s I already have.
Update: Yes I paid to keep him on some more. In fact future-nine is the primary outgoing usage in household.
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Review by Darkev
UPDATED: 183 days ago
member for 349 days, 32 visits, last login: 39 days ago
Gatineau,QC
$9 per month (month by month)
about 3 days
"Excellent call quality, CNAM, great plans, great customer service, great pricing"
"2 to 4 second delay when dialing, website not all that great"
"This company offers great quality connections to Canada with great prices"
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01-JUN-2009:
All seems fine today - back in business.
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31-MAY-2009:
This evening the service was down for a few minutes, then up again, and then down again. My gateway would not register and I could not reach their »www.future-nine.com website. It's rare that they are down.
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ORIGINAL POST:
I was able to place calls right away after signing up as they sent me an email with the provisioning information that I needed for my Cisco gateway. I noticed a slight delay after dialing the last digit before the connection would go through. I've used CallCentric, Voip.ms, and never noticed a delay like this before. I contacted technical support and they thought it might be my dial plan. I sent samples of my dial plan and this did not seem to be the issue. S0 was appended to the end of all of my dialing strings. As well, pressing the pound (#) sign did not speed up the call connection. It is not as noticeable on an analog phone. I have IP phones, and the display shows right away that the session has been established. There is delay before getting the message, "Session Progress", which seems strange. It is not a huge deal as the delay ranges anywhere from 2 to 4 seconds - not a biggy.
My DID took 3 days to get, which was kind of slow, but perhaps they were having trouble locating one for my region. Once I got the DID I was all set.
I contacted Technical support regarding the 2 to 4 second delay when dialing and the person who responded was very courteous and helpful. He got me to check a few things. I noticed on my router that my Voip equipment was connecting to two separate IP addresses for Future-Nine. I let the technical support guy know and he did something to fix it. He said that I should only be connecting with the one Future-Nine IP address. We thought this may have been the cause of the dialing delay but it wasn't. We thought maybe it was the Canadian carrier causing the delay, so I tested the US carriers by dialing 2 separate phone numbers; one of the east coast of the US and one of the west coast. Still a delay before establishing a connection.
The website doesn't offer many bells and whistles. Call forwarding cannot be set using your phone. However, it contains a lot of helpful information regarding the setup of your gateway and help on the features.
What I like most about Future-Nine is the call quality. It's crystal clear on both incoming and outgoing calls. They offer CNAM for free, and CNAM works well in Canada. Their pricing is very low. $7.00 US for 250 minutes outgoing, unlimited incoming. That's very impressive for such great quality. They offer a neat call-back option which you need to setup, but once you set it up you can call Future-Nine using your cell phone for example, and Future-Nine will call you back and you can make a long distance call using your Future-Nine service which could save money. Call Forwarding minutes are deducted from your monthly allocated minutes. Some VoIP providers charge per minute for forwarded calls regardless of your plan. You need to remember that although it is an incoming call, it's treated as an outgoing call since it's forwarded from your Future-Nine line.
Customer Service/Technical Support is amazing. They really want you as a customer and go out of their way to offer help.
I recommend this company as a great VoIP company. It's economical and more importantly, provides good quality audio.
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 Review by KC9FOI
UPDATED: 185 days ago
member for 2.4 years, 649 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Cypress,Harris,TX
$3 per month
"Call quality, low cost, ease of use, responsiveness to tickets"
"website"
"Happy Camper!"
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Update May 31, 2009
No problems to report. Just great service. As cheap as this service is (1c/min PAYGO) I am amazed. Outgoing always works, incoming always works, no choppy voices, no audio drops. This provider has none of the problems of my previous providers with a must lower price point. GREAT!
Update March 30, 2009
I think I have been here for about a month now. So far rock solid. I may have had one failed call, and that may have been due to my ISP. Keep up the good work.
---------------------------------Original Review-----------------------------
I recently came to F9 from ViaTalk. My primary reason for leaving VT was that I am extremely cheap coupled with concerns about their call quality. With VT there were were the fees and un-fees that were being assessed to the point where I really didn't know what my monthly cost would be at renewal. That, coupled with the fact that over several recent months I had been using only about 350 minutes per month, thus not deriving any value from the unlimited plan necessitated a change.
After shopping around, I found that at only 1c minute for domestic calling, no need for e911 (I have a cell phone) or additional unfees, I could have a Pay as you go account with F9 that met all my needs.
My wife wanted a local phone number. We have Grand Central (now becoming Google Voice) for that. I forward that to my IPKall number, which I can then forward to my F9 SIP account. This gives me free incoming PSTN calls with no per minute or recurring monthly charges. I can also make calls from my Grand Central control panel, which are also free. When I make/receive calls from the Grand Central number I sometimes notice excessive lag in delivery of the voice of the called party. I imagine this is in part due to the call being routed through Houston, to Washington State, then to the F9 servers, and back to Houston (plus whatever other crazy routing it might take.)
My wife didn't want to have to log onto the GC control panel every time we made a call so I bought $15 in credit from F9, or about 1500 minutes. The thing I really like is how those minutes don't expire until you use your credit. I also noticed that when I do dial from the handset that the lag on audio seems to be much almost non existent, much like a POTS or Cellular line. I also have not had any dead air issues when making calls like I did sometimes get while using Viatalk. Another feature I really like is that I was able to get my outbound CID set to my Grand Central number so the people I call will know how they can reach me.
The ATA I am using is a Grandstream HT 502 that I picked up from the Telephony Depot for about $50.00. Setup was pretty simple, I just used the directions on the F9 website for a different Grandstream Product.
Although I am probably not going to be a terribly profitable customer, I am a happy one. This service has been four to five nines thus far. For someone like me who has very low usage it is perfect. It works when I want it to and I get what I pay for. Although the website leaves something to be desired, the quality of the service and the value for the price more than makes up for it.
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 Review by wcweaver
Posted: 185 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 2657 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Fort Myers,Lee,FL
$7 per month
about 1 days
"Voice quality, Price"
"None at this time"
"Definitely would recommend to anyone"
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In first month of service. Great quality at very reasonable price. Website not as fancy as some but does what is needed. Improvements keep coming.
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Future Nine Corporation
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Please consider revising this review.
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