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Review by advocate99 
member for 2.2 years, 43 visits, last login: 65 days ago
updated 219 days ago
 undisclosed location
 Contract price not specified.  "Great features, excellent web-site, lots of servers, low ping at local server" "support can be hit and miss" "Pluses and Minuses"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
October 16, 2012 UPDATE:
VOIP.ms has made great strides since I posted my initial review.
They've solved the inbound call problems that caused me and other users so much consternation (and which they never really admitted existed). Call quality of completed calls remains great. Their web-site has a better feature set than any other VOIP provider. Their prices are among the lowest in the industry.
I'm keeping my original review (below) because their customer service and technical support still leaves something to be desired. One of their servers has had daily registration errors for at least 5 months, and their technical support replies by claiming that nothing is wrong. However, since they have several other servers, it is easy enough to avoid the one that isn't working quite right.
Overall, I strongly recommend that everyone try VOIP.ms. If it doesn't work out, and support won't help, there are other alternatives.
Beware that if you post a negative review here or in the VOIP Tech Chat, MartinM and/or SuppaFly will post all manner of derogatory comments about you claiming that it is your fault and you're dishonest.
Original Review:
------------
I've had a VOIP.ms account for about a year now and have used it through the Los Angeles and Seattle server both on a Grandstream ATA and using a FreePBX/Asterisk server. The call quality is quite good and because they have servers all over the country, I've found that the latency is very low. Until I discovered a problem recently, I really, really liked VOIP.ms.
Recently, I noticed a problem with inbound calls. At random, the server will fail to deliver an inbound call and instead give the caller a busy signal. This will happen even though a call immediately before and/or a call immediately after went through just fine.
Only a few days ago, VOIP.ms had this listed as a known issue on their issue tracker. The problem is now listed as resolved on VOIP.ms issue tracker. However, at least two other people in the forums have reported having similar problems with random inbound calls going to a busy signal, and it continues happening on my system as well.
Because the problem is intermittent and only happens on inbound calls, most users aren't likely to know that its a problem at all, unless they happen to call themselves a lot, or their callers tell them about it. In one case that was posted on BBR, the customer was informed by his wife (who presumably calls him a lot.) 
I have since set-up a Callcentric DID, and it works fine. Every call I've made to myself on a CC trunk has gone through without a hitch.
Before I posted the initial version of this review, I asked VOIP.ms to get involved. However, my repeated contacts with technical support yielded very little assistance. Ultimately, VOIP.ms denied that there is any problem and said that whatever is wrong is not their fault. According to them, it is either my fault, my equipment's fault, or the internet's fault.
My first contact was through their online chat. That agent forwarded my DID number to an internal echo test, tried 5 calls, and then declared the problem "not theirs." I told him that the problem was intermittent and that he needed to put more effort into solving the problem. He refused to check the asterisk logs or give any suggestions about how to resolve the problem. He suggested that I open a trouble ticket by e-mailing support, which I did.
In response to my e-mail, VOIP.ms stated that they had made approximately 15 calls and been unable to duplicate the problem. Because the problem is intermittent, I feel that making 15 rapid fire calls is not a good faith effort to diagnose the problem. As an aside, at least one of the other customers who experienced the same problem reported getting essentially the same response from VOIP.ms that I got.
They then suggested that I repeat the echo test experiment, but again refused to check their logs or tell me what they said. The internal echo test is completely irrelevant to this problem. All of the calls show up in VOIP.ms's call detail reports as a call that lasted "00:00" (i.e. no minutes and no seconds). That means that the call came into VOIP.ms's servers. My logs show no contact from VOIP.ms servers on each of these calls. That means that VOIP.ms is getting the call, but not delivering it to me. Transferring my DID to an echo test would do nothing to determine the cause of this problem because it eliminates the route between VOIP.ms and me.
It seems plain that the problem is the connection between their servers and my ATA/PBX. By routing the call to an echo test at their computer, all they are doing is determining that the problem lies in the final delivery of the packets to my office. But, that tells me nothing about **why** the problem is happening or how to fix it. Those answers are contained in their Asterisk logs, which they refused to check.
Despite this, I performed the echo test several times and found that VOIP.ms has no difficulty delivering calls to their own servers. The problem only occurs when they have to deliver a call to an actual customer.
Because VOIP.ms initially refused to cooperate by sharing logs or making more than a few phone calls, I was forced to do my own testing. First, I checked the VOIP.ms CDR logs and found that each call reached VOIP.ms and was logged as lasting for no minutes and no seconds. Then, I checked my own logs and found that they had no record of any attempt by VOIP.ms's servers to contact my PBX for the calls that resulted in a busy signal. I also found that when I disconnect my PBX or ATA from the ethernet cable after it has registered, and then immediately call my DID, the call fails in a matter of seconds (1-3).
I also tried forwarding my ports and DMZing my PBX to rule out NAT issues. None of these solutions resolved the problem.
When those tests failed, I looked here and tried contacting "SuppaFly" (who apparently works for VOIP.ms) by sending him an e-mail. He apparently had his account configured to an old e-mail address and so he never got my initial emails.
I then posted my initial review here and also posted a comment on an existing BBR forum thread relating to the same problem. I really, really like the call quality and low latency with VOIP.ms, and so I've bent over backwards to try to get them to fix the inbound call problem. My hope was that someone from VOIP.ms would contact me privately and we'd figure out what was wrong. Boy was I mistaken!
In response, VOIP.ms support staff did two things.
First, high level VOIP.ms personnel (MartinM and SuppaFly) posted a barrage of negative comments on this review and on the BBR forum thread.
They made numerous negative and false claims about me. First, they said that I refused to cooperate in trouble-shooting. Then they said that I didn't know what I was doing and that my equipment was faulty. Then they said that my internet was "bad." Then they said that the NAT abilities of my Cisco RV-042 router were bad. They also claimed that I had posted a fake review that was "intellectually dishonest."
You can read the entire exchange in the comments section of this review and on this BBR thread:
»VOIP.MS - Incoming numbers ringing busy..
Note: This is also the thread where numerous customers posted about the same problem...
None of VOIP.ms's proposed explanations demonstrate why Callcentric works perfectly (with respect to routing of inbound calls) while VOIP.MS has intermittent failures. None of these explain why other users have reported the same problem. I've used VOIP.ms both with a Grandstream HT-502 and a 286, and with a FreePBX. All have had the problem. To suggest that all three of these are faulty is absurd. Its certainly easy to blame "the internet," or my router, but if they were bad, I'd expect to have the same problems with Callcentric. Why does "the internet" work fine for CC, but "bad" for VOIP.ms?
After posting this barrage of negative comments, lower level VOIP.ms personnel privately invited me to contact them via another live chat (which I already did) to "trace the calls." I accepted their invitation and spent an hour or so on a live chat, calling myself over and over and over again. I asked them to do the work by making repeated calls to my system, but they insisted that I had to place the calls. So, I spent an hour or so hitting redial on my phone. Ultimately, the problem occurred twice while I was on a live chat with them.
Although I asked them to send me the logs immediately, they delayed providing the logs for over an hour. Eventually, they produced an edited asterisk log (previously they said they didn't have asterisk logs) that shows only that they attempted to deliver the two calls in question and that my system never responded. In contrast, my logs show that they never attempted to deliver the call.
Before sending the logs to me, they posted the logs (which contained my home phone number) on a BBR thread I referenced above, but they subsequently removed them after I complained repeatedly (and pointed out that releasing private customer information is illegal).
Based upon their logs, they've suggested that there might now be a NAT problem. But, I already ruled that out when I DMZd my PBX and when I tried port forwarding (the problem persisted through both).
They've also suggested an addition to their recommended configuration parameters (which they've changed on their web-site as a result of my efforts). However, I was never able to test that solution because MartinM (who appears to be a high level VOIP.MS employee) cancelled my account shortly after making the suggestion.
Almost immediately after he cancelled my account, MartinM posted a follow-up message in the BBR forums claiming that I refuse to cooperate. But, how can I cooperate when they've cancelled my account? Claiming that I refuse to cooperate, given all that I've done, is silly. Making that claim after they've cancelled my account and I literally cannot cooperate is dishonest.
MartinM also stated that he was going to ask BBR to remove this review because I am being intellectually dishonest. I've asked him to e-mail me or call me to discuss which portions of my review are wrong and told him that I'm willing to correct any inaccuracies. So far, he hasn't taken me up on my offer.
So, in sum, if you're considering VOIP.ms, you need to be aware of three things:
1. You may experience an intermittent problem where calls don't get delivered. You might not. Maybe they did figure out the cause of the problem and fixed it? Maybe I am really an incompetent person with faulty equipment and bad internet? I doubt it, but who knows?
2. If you have service issues, and if you contact VOIP.ms technical support, they might blame you, your competence, your equipment, or your internet.
3. If you post here about it, you may be treated very poorly by VOIP.ms personnel.
Comments:
 Reviews:
 ·Cablemas
2 edits | The customer did not cooperate for diagnostic tests Hello
We would like to clear up that the customer did not follow up the requests to cooperate with the proper information we needed to diagnose the problem.
He insisted to troubleshoot in his own way. I personally checked the replies to him during the live chat session today, and it was mentioned several times what would be needed to move forward and escalate the problem. The tests would have took him 3 minutes, but instead insisted in his own view beyond our repeated explanations.
Our carriers have a way of working and ask for specific information for escalation of issues. We do not ask customers to perform useless or time wasting tests for no purpose.
Please follow up the information requests we have made on tickets to be able to diagnose your problem, since we have not been able to duplicate the issue with you when LIVE during your chat visits nor during our tests when checking out your tickets.
Regards,
--
Peter Sahui - VoIP.ms | |
| | Reviews:
 ·voip.ms
| Re: The customer did not cooperate for diagnostic tests What you've written is patently false. The online technician barely spoke English and it was almost impossible to understand what he wanted me to do. Ultimately, he told me to e-mail support@voip.ms, which I did. I'm still waiting for a response telling me what I need to do to resolve this problem.
I have also IM'd YOU personally via this broadbandreports and asked for your assistance, but didn't even bother to respond to me. Please do so.
I stand ready to do whatever diagnostic you want me to do. Just e-mail me or call me. Until then, please don't post responses to my reviews that aren't true. | |
| | | Reviews:
·Cablemas
| Re: The customer did not cooperate for diagnostic tests Dear advocate99:
We will not ever get into a you-said we-said discussion.
We can prove the accuracy of what was said on my last reply, and it was explained clearly what was needed to move forward. Please follow up on the tickets, as more cooperation is needed to diagnose this alleged issues.
We will not further reply to this thread, and will keep requesting the information on the ongoing tickets.
BTW I also see your PM, you sent it just before of after your second reply, and not yesterday nor before your original review.
Thank you
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Peter Sahui - VoIP.ms | |
| | | | | | Re: The customer did not cooperate for diagnostic tests Not true again. I sent you an e-mail yesterday and a PM today. If you want me to do something just tell me what it is. I'd appreciate your help in resolving this issue, and if we can resolve it, I'll happily modify my review. | |
| | | | | Reviews:
·Cablemas
| Re: The customer did not cooperate for diagnostic tests said by advocate99:Not true again. I sent you an e-mail yesterday and a PM today. If you want me to do something just tell me what it is. I'd appreciate your help in resolving this issue, and if we can resolve it, I'll happily modify my review.
Ill reply just because you publicly accused us again of posting false information:
Time of your second reply on this thread: 2011-03-09 09:11:31
Time of your PM: 2011-03-09 09:17:53
Just 6 minutes apart. I have no email from you from yesterday. There is the ongoing ticket which you requested to be escalated to level 2.
Regards,
--
Peter Sahui - VoIP.ms | |
| | | | | | Reviews:
·voip.ms
| Re: The customer did not cooperate for diagnostic tests You are correct that I sent you a PM moments ago. I e-mailed you via Broadband reports YESTERDAY. You still haven't responded. Please respond. I stand ready to do whatever you want to resolve these concerns. So far, the only thing you've asked me to do is an echo test, which I've done several times. You still haven't responded to my Emails or IMs. | |
| | | | | | | Reviews:
·Cablemas
| Customer did not enter live chat to perform a trace. The customer did not enter the live chat to be able to see what really went on between the communication of our server and his system to try to duplicate the reports.
We are unable to escalate this without being able to duplicate the problem or receive information from the customer on how to do it, in order to explain to our carrier (if the issue is duplicated)
We believe the main reason why we couldn't get to the bottom of this was the lack of proper cooperation from his part, which was needed specially as we could not ever duplicate the reported issues.
This is our final reply to this thread, since customer also requested a refund of his balance.
Regards
--
Peter Sahui - VoIP.ms | |
| | | | | | | | Reviews:
·voip.ms
| Re: Customer did not enter live chat to perform a trace. I did enter the live chat to perform a trace, and I was able to duplicate the problem during the live chat. Unfortunately, the technician who assisted me barely spoke English and refused to do anything other than an echo test. After spending hours trying to figure out Voip.MS's problems, I found that callcentric works fine, so I'm going to switch. If VOIP.ms doesn't want to diagnose its network problems, that's VOIP.ms's problem. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | MartinMVoIP.msPremium,VIP
join:2008-07-21 | Re: Customer did not enter live chat to perform a trace. Fair warning to readers of this review: Customer has been refunded FULL amount of his initial deposit, and our logs indicate that this review is a vendetta and and intellectually dishonest.
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Martin - VoIP.ms | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | Re: Customer did not enter live chat to perform a trace. I agree that I've received a refund. My review is accurate and honest. VOIP.MS can still contact me to advise which portions of the review are wrong, and I'm still willing to change any portion that is not accurate. You've got my #. Call me. | |
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MartinMVoIP.msPremium,VIP
join:2008-07-21 | We've posted traces We've internal log of all the time we've spent with the customer, politely trying to help him.
Once we posted the traces indicating the issue on his end, customer basically decided not to accept the fact and write more negative information about the way our staff handled the company.
We're well know to be friendly and do our best to help customers out there. I will let the customer base make their own judgment.
Please note, we still did our best to help the customer to help resolve the issue on his side but he did not wish to cooperate at all. This is unfortunate, as our staff is trained to help any customer despite our BYOD based service. (Bring your own device).
Customer is mentionning that we breached his privacy, we simply pasted a trace of a call int he thread he publicly opened, and human mistake, we forgot to mask the CallerID, which we quicky rectified within a few minutes.
We then offered the customer courtesy credit, that was quickly denied and followed by insults.
I would like to let customers reading this review that this look like this has been planified from the beginning.
We've no issues at all with constructive criticism, unhappy customers and other issues this happen with all companies. However, the situation with this person is not a good representation of the fine offerings we're working hard to provide.
Customer has not been willign to follow any suggestions offered to him in order to rectigy the situation. this review was written after he denied to follow our support suggestions to rectify issue that has been identified on the customer side.
I'm truly sorry that it didn't work out for the customer, but I truly believe this has been engineered on purpose in order to provide a negative reviw of our service without any fact to back the claims.
--
Martin - VoIP.ms | |
| | Reviews:
·voip.ms
1 edit | Re: We've posted traces MartinM's latest comment is not accurate.
The logs that VOIP.ms provided are highly edited, and do not show that the problem is on my end. The logs don't indicate whose end the problem is on. All we know for sure is that VOIP.MS's packets sometimes don't reach my PBX; while the packets from CC do.
I worked with Voip.ms for two days straight. I accepted their suggestions and did everything they asked of me. I was even ready to implement their latest suggestion (adding qualify=yes to my trunk setup), but MartinM cancelled my account last night claiming that I wasn't cooperating before I had a chance to try the suggested solution.
As I said before, I loved VOIP.ms's service until I discovered this problem. The only problem I had is with their extremely poor customer service and "blame the customer" attitude.
If VOIP.MS wants to reinstate my account, I'd be willing to continue working with them to figure out the cause of the problem and its solution. It is MartinM and his people who are refusing to work with me, not the other way around.
Since I've posted my original review and comments on BBR, another BBR user (Arne) has come forward and reported having this same problem.
If Martin apologizes for mistreating me, deletes his false accusations, and fixes the problem, I'll even change my review. I've made this offer repeatedly (at least 6 times so far), and I'm baffled that they refuse to take me up on it. | |
| | | sokhapkinPremium
join:2003-05-08
Cape Coral, FL | Re: We've posted traces Do you get the same problem if your SIP equipment is on a public IP address, not behind a NAT router? | |
| | | | | | Re: We've posted traces I can't answer that. I've used port forwarding and DMZ host to test, but VOIP.ms cancelled my account, so further testing is impossible. | |
| | | | | MartinMVoIP.msPremium,VIP
join:2008-07-21 | Re: We've posted traces We didn't delete your account, we complied with your refund request.
--
Martin - VoIP.ms | |
| | | | | | Reviews:
·voip.ms
| Re: We've posted traces said by MartinM:We didn't delete your account, we complied with your refund request.
Not true. You have completely deleted my account. My login credentials don't work at all. | |
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| | | | sokhapkinPremium
join:2003-05-08
Cape Coral, FL | Check with any other voip provider, I bet you will get the same problem... | |
| | | | | | Reviews:
·voip.ms
| Re: We've posted traces said by sokhapkin:Check with any other voip provider, I bet you will get the same problem...
As I said in the review, I've tried Callcentric without the inbound call problem. | |
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1 edit | Deleted duplicate posting. | |
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 N9MDToo busy to chatPremium
join:2005-10-08
Boca Raton, FL
kudos:5
·Callcentric
·VOIPo
·voip.ms
| I'm not taking sides! The back and forth arguing aside, the Reviewer seems to have taken pains to present a chain of events that is rational and civil ... reporting his technical problem and his methods for investigating this problem. And he goes on to cite message exchanges between Voip.ms and himself ... from his point of view. He appears to have an excellent technical grasp of VoIP and PBX and Asterisk concepts and operation. And his posts do not come across as a rant.
On the other hand Peter and Martin (from Voip.ms) have made honest endeavors to respond to and rebut the reviewer's presentation while reporting their efforts to resolve the situation ... from their side of the Maginot Line.
There is no "winner" ... and we readers need not take sides.
However, I will just point out that »User reviews - voip.ms shows 116 reviews of which 100 are "good" and 1 is "bad". Of course, that "1 bad" is the review currently under discussion.
Also, the OP referenced a prior post in the BBR Forums from our fellow member Arne; but it should be noted for the record that Arne updated his Voip.ms review just yesterday ... giving a 100% rating across the board ... for every category. He apparently is not having issues currently.
All of this suggests a single isolated customer-specific problem that exists between the reviewer's set-up on the one hand ... and Voip.ms's servers on the other hand. (The OP reports that incoming calls are being shown in the Voip.ms logs ... but are not arriving at his location.)
Accusations aside ...both sides, the reviewer and the Voip.ms reps, have presented a legitimate debate for a technical issue which may not be easily resolved (because it apparently is not a widespread problem). I personally would like to see an attempt by both sides, initiated by Peter or Martin, to conduct a person to person telephone conversation (of course, via a Voip.ms DID) to discuss, review, investigate ... and so on ... to see if the matter can be resolved.
I realize that the Voip.ms "higher ups" may not have the time or energy or inclination to get involved in a single-issue, single-customer problem ... because it's easier to just let a single customer go elsewhere ... and the OP's issue may actually not be resolvable ... but wouldn't it be nice for the rest of us to learn that an amicable discussion (one on one) has occurred and the situation has been settled one way or the other (resolution or no resolution) ... but at least with no further animosity!
For Voip.ms, the "sore point" is the very negative rating in the \gbu reviews ... but most members and lurkers are clever enough to put the "1 bad" review against "100 good" ones in perspective.
For the OP, it seems he just wanted to report the issue (from his side) and his frustration in dealing with Voip.ms support ... this review and the low ratings were his only available outlets.
For us Forum members, we just want WORLD PEACE! | |
| | Reviews:
·voip.ms
2 edits | Re: I'm not taking sides! Dear Fellow Ham Radio Operator and apparent aviator,
Thank you for contributing your point of view to this discussion. As I've said before, I genuinely appreciate any rational contributions the the discussion. I'd like to take this opportunity to respond to a couple of your points.
Arne is not the only person who has reported this problem. There are several other people who reported this problem on the thread that I linked to (StylesXP, Ohmer). There is also at least one other reviewer (who gave VOIP.ms positive ratings) who reported occasionally losing inbound calls. As an aside, I find it ironic that VOIP.ms didn't bother to respond at all to his review, even though it reports the same problem that mine does.
Thus, this problem is not isolated to one person, as your comment suggests.
Arne solved his problem by changing a configuration setting to a setting that was not recommended by VOIP.ms staff (and which VOIP.ms staff recommended that I not use). That leaves open the real possibility that other users who have configured their PBXs and VOIP.ms accounts as VOIP.ms recommends will continue to experience this very problem, but simply don't know it because they don't call themselves often enough to realize that there's an issue.
There's also no doubt from Arne's posts that he supports VOIP.ms. In fact, he blamed me for using the incorrect setting. He was apparently unaware that I was using the setting recommended by VOIP.ms staff. The fact that he updated his review to give VOIP.ms a 100% rating just recently may just be an effort to move my review out of the 5 most recent category and to increase VOIP.ms's overall score.
Finally, I must disagree with your assertion that VOIP.ms staff responded appropriately. I feel that VOIP.ms could have easily solved this problem had they tried. Certainly, Callcentric was able to solve it - in that their system doesn't appear to have the problem at all with my setup.
Instead, MartinN and Suppafly focused much of their effort on claiming that the problem was me. Certainly, it is possible that something about my configuration caused or contributed to the problem. But, thus far, the only configuration issues that anyone has identified are ones that I set in accordance with VOIP.ms's instructions.
I agree that the majority of the VOIP.ms reviews are positive. Most are also very general. I hope that people who read the reviews don't merely count the numerical winner, but instead read the substance of the reviews and make a judgment based upon the quality of the information provided.
And really, this is the most important point: If you go with VOIP.ms, please test inbound calls frequently. You may not have this problem. If you don't, I think you'll find VOIP.ms to a great provider. If you do have this problem (or some other problem), I hope you are able to get it resolved without being put through what I have been put through. | |
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MartinMVoIP.msPremium,VIP
join:2008-07-21 | Seems legit Seems legit | |
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 | next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Bingo_Ringo
member for 3.1 years, 700 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 221 days ago
- Gatineau,QC
- $3 per month
 about 1 days- "I get everything for almost nothing"
- "Sometimes calls don't go through"
- "It's a brand new unassembled Ferrari, for the price of a rusted 1986 Hyundai Pony"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I knew absolutely nothing about VOIP, but there was a thread on this site and people said they paid close to nothing for their land line, while I was paying close to $30 a month with Caller ID and voicemail. I thought it might be interesting to take a look.
I'm glad I did!
To be honest, if you're a beginner, it's near impossible to use voip.ms' service without third-party knowledge as their documentation is not for everyone, although this has vastly improved with the launch of their wiki site. Fortunately, I got the support I needed by email from voip.ms, and with Mango's instructions on how to configure the ATA I got this thing running in no time.
So this is all you need to configure the ATA, it takes a couple of minutes but it's very straightforward.
»www.toao.net/25-linksys-ata-configuration
Call quality:
I use the value service, it costs close to nothing and in almost a year only twice did I have an issue with the sound quality, and yet I managed to place the call and complete it. 99.9% of the time, it's the same as Bell and Videotron.
Options:
This is where voip.ms gets its high score. Every imaginable option is available for free, not only called ID, voicemail, call forward, etc. you can build menus, you can block numbers, you can setup different extensions, you can even have different messages depending on who's calling. And the best part, it's pretty simple with the web interface, as long as you don't mind looking around and doing a few tests.
Since you can use any SIP ATA you can build your dial plan the way you want it. I use the PAP2T-NA and with no knowledge I managed to make a new 311 that calls the city (else by default it calls Montreal's 311 as it's the server I use).
Installation and order process
Ordering a number takes a minute, I wanted to keep my current number and it took a few days to be transferred, but they update you and they were on schedule.
The installation is very simple, once the ATA is configured. Just plug it in and it works (of course any extra wiring in your house will take more time, if you need some).
One thing that is very important, since you do no draw power from Bell, you must have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that covers the modem, the router and your ATA, so that you can still use the phone during a power outage. Add $50-75 to your initial cost.
So, overall your initial cost will be around $100 - 125 (ATA $50, UPS $50-75, transfer number is $25).
I save $25 a month on average so it's definitely worth the initial investment.
One thing you should know, the DID (your phone number) is $1.00 a month and e911 is $1.50, if you don't use the phone, that's all you'll have to pay in a month.
Conclusion:
I took the time to read and learn from others, and play on the website. Now I have a very powerful telephone service that costs me next to nothing. I'm no expert, but it works and I can change the settings when I want to, for free. When my first year is over, considering my initial cost, I will have saved $300. Not bad!
Quick edit, I realize I didn't specify why I removed some points in my scoring.
1- Web-site, sometimes it's extremely slow and it's not super user friendly; yet anyone who's not afraid to look around can figure it out.
2- Ease of installation, I couldn't put 100% since the user has to do the configuration, etc. but I also realize this is why the service is so affordable.
3- Tech support, I had some issues where the phone would answer but the person on the other side couldn't hear me, and opened a ticket. They provided a few workarounds that didn't work, and it turns out it was my ATA. They should have told me to reset and reconfigure the ATA as I ruled it out since most of the time it did work well.
Edit: 2012-10-14
Now the problem seems to be solved but we experienced a lot of issues with calls for the whole Summer. Most often, people would call and I didn't hear them. Seems to be better now though, but if you're a business or your line is extremely important, you might consider another company for increased reliability.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by ctylor
member for 7.1 years, 889 visits, last login: 52 days ago
lodged 228 days ago
- Nelson,BC
- $6 per month
- "Price, reliability, features, subaccounts, caller id"
- "Completely DIY do-it yourself service so SIP/VoIP experience matters"
- "One of the best all-in-one solutions for the home/small business customer"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've been using voip.ms for several years now, joining after losing my voxbone DID service due to not being a large business. Since then I've also got my parents to use them exclusively. We are really happy with the quality and price and huge list of features available without needing to set up a personal IP-PBX or anything drastic like that. Calls are routed according to either value or premium paths so you can adjust your expectations depending on what class of service you are willing to pay for. They make their DID phone numbers equivalent to open SIP URIs to be called from anywhere, which is awesome. When I use good, modern SIP devices (SIP hard phones and SIP DECT cordless phones), the quality is top of the line. I would enthusiastically recommend them to anyone with a decent comfort level of going through their SIP devices settings, and setting up STUN servers, packet intervals, etc.
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 Review by Arne Bolen
member for 3.9 years, 2163 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 242 days ago
- Planet Earth
- $1 per month
- (month by month)
- "iNum"
- "A good voip provider"
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UPDATE September 24, 2012: I now only use the Houston server for iNum and my US TF. My usage is low but the service seems to work well.
Update March, 2011:
The issues with the London server seem to have been fixed so I have updated the Reliability rating.
For several months I have been using a hosted PBX with VoIP.ms. Introducing a PBX may be a bit risky but it works like a charm. Because my PBX worked so good together with VoIP.ms I now use it with all my providers.
As it works so well with my PBX and VoIP.ms a few weeks ago I started to use SIP URI as the main routing option in all my VoIP.ms DIDs. Using SIP URI forwarding has the advantage I can route incoming calls to a specific PBX extension based on called DID and Caller ID number.
SIP URI routing worked so well with VoIP.ms I started to use it with all providers allowing SIP URI routing.
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Update July 31, 2010:
I have lowered the Reliability rating. Last years issues with the London server are back again.
Phone/ATA devices are registered with the London server and internal calls are working. The following are NOT working:
1. External calls to DID's on the London server fail
2. External calls to PSTN numbers from the London server fail
3. When dialling *97 or 097 the voice says "Comedian mail" instead of going directly into the mail.
The dates for the issues this year are:
Jan 1, 2010
July 12, 2010
July 31, 2010
This is getting very annoying. Calls to DIDs on the London server just get dead air and fail-over options to voice-mail don't work.
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Update May 5, 2010:
I have changed my Reliability rating from 80% to 100%. As I live in Europe I mostly use the London server.
During the second half of 2009 there were some problems with the London server so 1-2 times a month inbound and outbound calls failed despite the device continued to be registered. Calls to the Voicemail resulted in the "Comedian mail" voice. Every time I notified VoIP.ms the problem was fixed within 4-5 minutes. Due to those outages I rated "Reliability" to 80%.
The support staff promised to fix the problems permanently. It is now 4 months since the last outage so I think it is safe to assume the problems have been fixed permanently. Thus I have upgraded my Reliability rating to 100%.
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As I live in the European Union my experience with VoIP providers may be different from those living in USA and Canada. Most of my calls are to/from European phones and that makes it more difficult for a North American based VoIP provider to compete.
I found VoIP.ms when I started to read the Voip Tech Chat. For some years I have been using another good US provider as my primary provider but as the sound quality on outbound calls to European destinations has been poor I was looking for another provider for European destinations.
It was the Premium routing which made me to sign up with VoIP.ms. The sound quality on outbound calls to European PSTN destinations is excellent, so good it is actually better than using a POTS phone. Compared to the best VoIP provider in Denmark the sound quality on outbound calls to European destinations with VoIP.ms is a lot better.
For me the sound quality is the most important thing when making the decision which provider to use. Sadly too many providers are only competing on lowest price possible instead of the sound quality. I do not want lower sound quality just to save a half of a cent per minute. That is the reason I only use Premium routing with VoIP.ms. As I only use Premium routing I can't say anything how the Value routing is.
Inbound sound quality is very good but outbound sound quality is a lot better. Due to the good sound quality, server in Europe and the many features I now use VoIP.ms as my primary provider.
The live chat support is a feature I think all VoIP providers should use. The UK server has had problems a few times and I used the live chat support to report the problem. It was a pleasure to use the live chat support and the staff on duty fixed the problem within a few minutes.
I have used the ticket support system only once for a minor request and it took 76 minutes for my request to be handled. I think that was fast considering my request was very minor.
My experience with support has been very good. However I have never asked the support how to configure a device so I have no experience how VoIP.ms handle such support cases.
VoIP.ms has many valuable features, sub accounts and ring groups are features I can't be without now.
I have been using VoIP.ms for only 4 months but that is enough to recommend VoIP.ms for European voip users. IMO VoIP.ms is the best voip provider in Europe and I believe they will have success in Europe.
I know 4 months is a short time for a review but so far I have only good things to say about VoIP.ms. However I have a feeling that my experience with VoIP.ms will be good also in the future.
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Review by mprindle
member for 11.2 years, 221 visits, last login: 243 days ago
updated 243 days ago
- Sugar Land,Fort Bend,TX
- $7 per month
- about 1 days
- "call quality, support, TONs of config options"
- "website layout"
- "Once your equipment is setup it works great"
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09/22/2012 Update:
As of today I've had my service with VOIP.ms for over 1.5 years. My SR ATA got nailed by a storm so I had to replace it. I had issues with the new SIP adapter, but not with my provider. I'm still on the pay as you go plan and my monthly usage is running less than $7 a month with calls and charges. The website is pretty much the same, but I've learned to navigate it better.
I have setup a SIP client on my Android phone that's connecting to VOIP.ms. I have used it a couple of times when my cell service was non-existent, but I had WiFi access. The call quality was just as good or better than the cell service.
Lastly I have played with an Asterisk Now server that I interfaced to VOIP.ms with no issues.
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I signed up for the service and tested it for six months before I ported my DID to them. What's great of voip.ms is you can sign up, setup your ATA and make outgoing calls with no monthly fees. You just pay for the time you use. There are tons of options, way to many to list in this review, but if you a single line home user like myself or a multiline business this company has the support in place to handle it.
As I said I had the service and tested it for 6 months as an outgoing line only. I had a few issues early on, but that was due to my lack of understanding and the equipment I was using. After getting that sorted out I decided to make the change after my previous provided started having call quality issues plus other things. The port of my DID took less than two weeks which is a record for any VOIP provider I've used. I current have the per min plan which is $1.50/mth + e911 for $1.50/mth. So my out of pocket is $3/month plus usage. They do offer a residential plan that runs $5 - $7 and includes 3500 incoming mins + e911 + outgoing calls. I'll wait to see how much I'm using to see which plan works for me. I currently use the premium route for normal calls and value route, which is free, for 800 numbers. Everyone we talk to say's the line is clear and they can understand us just as well as using a POTS line.
The SIP ATA I'm using was a device that I got from back when I used the now defunct SunRocket service which is made by Telco. It was a little bit of a trick to get it setup using the info provided on the voip.ms site, but since they are more focused on resellers I can't fault them for this. The default dial plan from the SR days had issues and I had to modify it to make it work for VOIP.ms.
Over all there support is great. They were able to answer all the questions I had and helped me when it was obvious the issue was with my equipment.
If you are technically inclined and you want to use a simple SIP device or a complex Asterix server they can handle it.
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Review by dave260
member for 250 days, 0 visits, last login: 250 days ago
updated 250 days ago
- Lima,Allen,OH
- $10 per month
- about 1 days
- "The best call quality, DID (Direct Inbound Dialing), pricing and Techs"
- "None"
- "I've tried others and Voip.ms had the right solution for me. VERY satisfied"
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I've been using voip.ms for almost two (2) years. I've read some of the other reviews and am amazed at some of the complaining. First, you have to know how to setup an ATA. There are a number of workable configurations. I use the Linksys PAP2T. Lots of setup options that Voip.ms clearly outlines on their website. When I did have a question or two, the response from tech support was quick, thorough, and accurate. I used a DID Sweden number for a year while working in Sweden so I could call the states for a penny+/minute. The DID cost me $4.50. My customer could call me here in the states for free. What is not to like about VOIP.MS?!
Also, I use Bria mobile VOIP app on Android which worked great in Sweden, as well as the US.
My cable provider is Time Warner Cable.
P.S. Voip.ms website seems basic compared to others, but it is all technically specific and very easy to navigate. Not much glitzy stuff to wade through, just exactly what I need to establish my excellent service.
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 Review by Montreal DSL
member for 2.3 years, 318 visits, last login: 6 days ago
lodged 254 days ago
- Montreal-DSL
- Contract price not specified.
- "Never have problems with"
- "nothing so far"
- "cannot go wrong with them"
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I have a voip DID from Voip.ms for about 2 years now and a toll free number for bout 6 months! I never had problems with and at the beginning I got help with configuring my PBX.
Lots of features, good rates, great flexibility
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Review by mikefallen
member for 3.3 years, 142 visits, last login: 3 days ago
lodged 257 days ago
- Scarborough,ON
- Contract price not specified.
- "Pay as you go, INexpensive, reliable"
- "none to date"
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-10 minutes to sign up
-25$ to port my number
monthly bill only runs me about 3 or 4$ never had any trouble with them
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 Review by wcweaver
member for 11.2 years, 3554 visits, last login: 33 days ago
updated 261 days ago
- Fort Myers,Lee,FL
- $8 per month
- (month by month)
- about 2 days
- "Fairly good service (sometimes sporadic) at reasonable price"
- "Too Many Sporadic Server Problems and intermittent voice quality issues"
- "Would advise anyone anyone seeking VOIP to shop around"
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VOIP.MS seems to be a company that delivers reasonable but sporadic quality with frequent server problems.
I now use VOIP.MS service only for inbound calls. I use Anveo and Call with Us for outbound calls as they seem to be more reliable than VOIP.MS. I have switched my DID to Callcentric for inbound calls and the port of my DID phone number went smoothly..
Updated 06/30/12
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 Review by OldschoolDSL
member for 7.2 years, 1451 visits, last login: 48 days ago
updated 275 days ago
- Indian Orchard,Hampden,MA
- $1 per month
- about 1 days
- "Very affardable & sound is outstanding"
- "Self install can be a little bit of a learning curve"
- "Over all you can not go wrong."
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REVIEW ~ 05 - 18 - 2010 ~ STARTED ~
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I have used Verizon Home Phone Service (LAN line), Vonage, and Comcast Cable, but VoIp.ms thus far is the cheapest. My monthly fee is only $0.99 (99 cents) for the number they provided me & I opted for their "Pay as you go" (pre-pay) serves.
Their pricing is very easy to understand & cheap.
$0.0125 for service use (per minute) - calling out
$0.0100 for phone number use (per minute) - calling in
If you use their caller ID serves as I do, incoming calls add another $0.008 per phone call (not per minute).
So the max price per incoming phone call is $0.02005 & only 0.0125 every minute after the first minute.
The max out going calls is only $0.0100
With a monthly fee of only $0.99 (99 cents), the average user should have a monthly bill of $5.00 - $10.00.
They do require you to make a deposit of $25.00 to start your service.
You can add more as you see fit & they go by 5's (25, 30, 35, 40, 45, ect... ect... up to 500.00 max).
The sound is "outstanding". As I have used Comcast & Vonage for VoIp, I can tell you VoIp.ms sounds just as good as a LAN Line (normal home phone), maybe better.
You will need to buy your own phone adapter (and router), as unlike Vonage or other VoIp services, they do not provide you with one. Which I viewed as a good thing... It means if you want to switch you can do so & not worry about having to return a device, paying any rental fees, or be locked into a contract (VoIp.ms has not contract).
I personally bought mine cheap on eBay (New) & am using a Linksys PapT2 Phone Adapter. Mine cost me only 14.00 (plus shipping).
The down side & only one thus far that I can think of, is you will need to learn how to setup your own device, but their site does instruct you on how & their support is very friendly. They can be reached via Live Chat, Phone, e-mail, and through their online ticket system. Which is good as I found their site a little intimidating.
I personally had a small setting incorrect at first, which allowed me to make phone called, but not receive them (my fault, not theirs). I think its the first time someone who spoke to me in a Live Chat, offered me true support & not just copy & paste from a pre-written script. Had my fully up in running in less then 5 minutes.
Thus far, I am completely satisfied with their service & value.
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REVIEW ~ 08 - 28 - 2010 ~ STARTED ~
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Almost 4 months since I joined VoIp.ms and I'm still using the same $25.00 I originally invested. I still have 4.56 to play with it.
Service is very reliable and I only needed to contact support 1x. Believe it or not, the issue was resolved with taking to their live support online (without making a single call). Issue was with my ISP & not VoIp.ms and only required I reboot my cable modem.
I would strongly recommend them.
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REVIEW ~ 12 - 05 - 2010 ~ STARTED ~
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I added $25.00 in May 2010 & its now December 2010. I finally depleted (used up) my funds (all $25.00). That's 7 months worth of phone service for only $25.00. I would suspect that the MAX I would spend with such a good rate plan, would be about $50.00 for THE YEAR.
The only issues during this time was I had to re-set my phone devise only 1x. But I could suspect that was related to my issues with my ISP (Comcast) and not related with VoIp.ms
My experience with this services has been OUTSTANDING. A+
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REVIEW ~ 08- 22 - 2012 ~ STARTED ~
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Still using original $50 which was deposited on December 2010 (almost 2 full years ago).
Company of the year. Outstanding value.
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