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Review by batfell See Profile

  • Location: Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, MI, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Solid reliability, excellent sound, low price, and innovative features
Solid reliability, excellent sound, low price, and innovative features
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

2014 08 02
Not much to add. Voip.ms continues to be at or near the top in all respects, yet is also one of the cheapest. I don't know how they do it, but they do.

2013 05 31
Still nothing much to report; voip.ms just works, no muss, no fuss.

2012 12 27
Nothing much to report; voip.ms just works, no muss, no fuss.


2012 05 23
This excellent service continues to do its job. More features than you can shake a stick at; excellent sound; great reliability.

The sub-accounts feature is a gem: recently, I have made a few calls from wi-fi hotspots, using my Nokia 'smartphone' and a Voip.Ms sub-account. It was a pleasure to be able to call long-distance from a cell phone for 1.25 cents per minute instead of the cell phone rate of 40 cents per minute, and to talk for 30 minutes without worrying about the cost.

member for 12 years, 13 visits, last login: 9.6 years ago
updated 9.6 years ago


Review by jacour See Profile

  • Location: Matthews, Mecklenburg, NC, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $5 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Great service
Porting is a pain
Love this service
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I hate most telecomm carriers, HATE them, but this is an exception. They charge me a whopping $1 a month for each DID that I maintain, and a penny a minute for US calls. I got them mainly because I was looking for a lower cost to call overseas than what Vonage could provide, but I am so glad I went with VOIP.MS. They provide most of what you would get on a premise-based PBX system without charging much for it.

The wiki is fairly good, although I wish they would make it a little more visible on their web page as it would be easier to find answers if they did. Once in the wiki, most of what you need to know is presented there quite clearly.

The technical support chat is amazing; their technicians have actually been trained and know their stuff. I have yet to have a question that could not be answered promptly and correctly. It a huge contrast with the call center hell you find at Sprint, AT&T, or T-Mobile.

The only glitch I had was trying to port a DID away to a cellular carrier. The issue is that VOIP.MS is a reseller so THEY appear as the customer on Level 3's computer systems. If you give the cellular carrier your customer information, the port will never go through due to the mismatch. However, this was quickly resolved by the eve-useful tech support department (see above) who got me the exact information I needed to guarantee a successful port.

member for 22.3 years, 4574 visits, last login: 140 days ago
lodged 9.6 years ago


Review by wxmancanada See Profile

  • Location: Canada
  • Cost: $25 per month
Dirt cheap, easy to setup, amazing features, works great
Prices in USD, no option to use web to control VM greetings, no custom hold music
The best VOIP I've used so far
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I've used DSL reports to read reviews a plenty, but never felt compelled to write a review, until now.

I've started a new at home business and needed a reliable and cheap business line. Hard to find. I have used services like Toktumi (now Line 2) in the past, but there was always a large price tag associated with it, and not all the features I wanted. I tried several VOIP providers back in 2008 and was left with a sour taste in my mouth from it, but after reading some reviews on here about Voip.ms (and having a family member who has had great success with them) I thought I should give it a shot.

I signed up for an account, loaded $25 (minimum payment amount) into it, paid for a local phone number, and started going nuts setting things up.

The IVR was a breeze to setup, I recorded some voice prompts via my phone's WAV recorder and uploaded them to the website where I then built the IVR, call groups, time conditions, and hold cues. The only thing I couldn't change via the website was the greeting for each of the voicemail boxes, but some Googling revealed that if I submit a support ticket, they can assign a recording to the VM greeting. Done and done.

I'd also like to see custom hold music, but I've read that's got some complications to it. Hopefully someday, as I actually own the rights to music I want to use on hold.

All in all, from setting up the account to making and receiving my first call I probably spent about 15 minutes. My primary SIP account runs a Cisco 7940, I then have a sub account which is configured in the SIP dialer for Android. I plan on adding a few more Cisco phones for other locations. I also have two cell phones as part of a call group.

I started calling everyone I know to test the line out. They say I sound great, much clearer than on the cell phone. There is very, very little delay as well (echo test verifies this for me). Even when I took the Cisco phone to rural cottage country this past weekend and used it via a rural WiFi network.

Tech support is amazing, usually replying to my tickets within 30 minutes. I had to submit a ticket to have the voicemail greetings changed, as well as asking for help with a call forwarding option.

Worth every penny. I've had zero issues so far (going on a month). That being said, it would be nice if it was Canadian pennies!

member for 9.6 years, 12 visits, last login: 7.3 years ago
lodged 9.6 years ago


Review by wideglide36 See Profile

  • Location: Altoona, Blair, PA, USA
  • Cost: $5 per month
Everything seems to work as advertised
I'd be nitpicking, but their website could use some tweaking
So far, so good.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

We've been using Voip.ms for almost a year now and I thought I would write a quick review.

We currently have one DID and are in the process of porting another. This will be our second port and so far it's going as smoothly as the first one.

As you can see by our monthly costs, we're not heavy users in any sense of the word.

But when we do use the service, it works great. We really haven't had any problems at all.

Customer support was excellent when I had a few questions. They really went the extra mile and we were really impressed. Support was fast, accurate and very effective.

We definitely don't use all of the features they offer so I really can't speak to those.

All in all, we're really pleased with what we get for what we pay.

Now if they could only get their web site looking half as good as Callcentric's and they would be perfect in my mind.

Hope this review was properly written. I know other critical reviews of certain providers were not well received by this forum.

Hopefully mine will be..........

Update: August 8, 2014

Well, it's been a while since I updated, so here goes.

We use Voip.ms for our main service and it has been outstanding as far as I'm concerned.

We now have quite a few DID's and I'm constantly learning how to route them.

I also created a few sub accounts and they also work perfectly.

It's a blast figuring out all these features they offer so I'm constantly learning .

If they could just update the site they would be perfect.

I've tried a few other providers in recent months but always come back to Voip.ms.

Did I mention they still offer free porting.........

member for 20.4 years, 3162 visits, last login: 189 days ago
updated 9.6 years ago


N9MD
Too busy to chat
Premium Member
join:2005-10-08
Boca Raton, FL

N9MD

Premium Member

Well-done!

Well-written, fair and objective. Good post!!

(Excellent syntax, sentence structure and spelling not to mention proper use of punctuation.)
wideglide36
join:2003-11-08
Altoona, PA

wideglide36

Member

Thanks

N9MD,

Thank you for those kind words.

I try to be objective as possible when reviewing anything, and very rarely give 10 out of 10 scores or as in this case, 100% scores.

I didn't want to give all 100% scores as I felt that it wouldn't be accurate, but by the same token, I didn't want to grade any area too low for fear that it would cause the entire review to look negative. I really was nitpicking about their web site. Their web site is pretty easy to navigate and I can usually find what I need.

I just think it could be jazzed up a bit. It's sort of drab in a way.

Reviews are usually a balancing act anyways, but in my review of Voip.ms it really was pretty easy to score things.

Voip.ms has been great so far for our family and this review was fairly easy to write.

I'll write a review of Callcentric at a later time......

Review by NefCanuck See Profile

  • Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $8 per month
Low cost, excellent tech support
Website confusing, no mobile friendly option
A good alternative to POTS
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Writing this review at roughly the two month mark of using VoIP.ms.

After finally cringing while opening my monthly Bell POTS bill (Last full bill was $52) I chose to explore the world of VoIP service.

I selected VoIP.ms as my provider for a number of reasons, chief among them was the fact that it is a Canadian company and I could use my own ATA device (In my case a Bria softphone on an iPhone 4) The port of my Bell # to VoIP.me was fast and without hassle.

ViOP.ms has servers spread throughout Canada and the US (with a European server location as well) which appealed to me both for redundancy and for when I travel in North America (their website, though initially overwhelming, does make it easy to switch servers as needed)

The VoIP.ms website initially looks very confusing and although they do provide a wiki to explain it, I did have to make use of the tech support to help me understand how the voicemail system worked (the tech was excellent by the way, professional and prompt)

I went with the unlimited incoming and premium routing option because I wanted to be as sure as I could be that I could both get Caller ID on incoming and show proper Caller ID on outgoing calls and that I had a handle on the monthly costs (I make very few outgoing calls while at home)

The ability to filter and deal with incoming calls has been a godsend and I can honestly say that it brings a joy to my heart to send telemarketing spammers straight to voicemail without even being annoyed by the phone ringing once.

Forwarding calls to my cell phone on the weekend while I'm away from home works as expected as well.

Call quality on my 5mb/800kb home connection is usually perfect, mobile VoIP use is hit or miss though (blame my cell provider Telus for that)

If there are any suggestions I could make, a mobile device friendly version of the website would be a top suggestion, it would make it much easier to make changes while on the road if a server goes down etc.

UPDATE: August 8/14

It's been a long time so I figured I'd post an update, some equipment changes on this end (Including adding Zoiper software so I can make calls from my PC as well) and a faster DSL Internet connection (first 25/7 and now 25/10 as provided by Bell Canada)

Service has been for the most part steady, while there have been glitches but VOIP.ms has been good about emailing customers when issues arise (this is an opt in service, I would recommend it)

The website is still not my favorite part of the service, but since I use it so rarely (last time I used the website to make any serious changes was in 2013 to change my POP while I was vacationing in Japan) and still doesn't have a general release mobile friendly website (There is I believe a beta mobile site, but I've never used it)

I also do teleconference calls from home for work and there have been no complaints about the call quality from my end that weren't as a a result of the audio mixer hardware I have attached to my PC.

member for 16.7 years, 4278 visits, last login: 203 days ago
updated 9.6 years ago


Review by TechMike See Profile

  • Location: Denver, Jefferson, CO, USA
  • Cost: $5 per month
Excellent inexpensive service with a great feature set
Requires your own equipment and offers only guidance in configuration of equipment
Excellent inexpensive SIP provider if you're willing to configure your own equipment
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I've had voip.ms for a few years now and have used it with various bits of equipment.

The service is extremely reliable and has only gotten better since I signed up. They have quite a few different PoPs now, including one located less than 5 miles from me in Denver. Supports G.711u/a, G.729 and GSM. Supports SIP and IAX2.

I originally had it setup routing the DIDs into an Asterisk box. Since they've added features such as ring groups, I've since removed my Asterisk box and have my phones connecting directly to their PoP over NAT. The NAT traversal works well, and seems to work best without STUN.

About the only caveat I have is they really only provide configuration assistance. No big deal for me. Others who are less familiar with SIP devices may not be comfortable with that.

member for 15.8 years, 175 visits, last login: 9.5 years ago
lodged 9.6 years ago


Review by VexorgTR See Profile

  • Location: Sheffield Lake, Lorain, OH, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $30 per month
Ok call quality, decent reliability.
If you're not a SIP protocol Guru, you are left to float a bit.
Be brave, and read some tech articles.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

One of my Clients is a Voip.Ms user... so I've traversed plenty into the system. I've had many "weirdness" issues... such as I send a DID to a sub account... and it just never goes....just keeps going to the original path. I dial a DID, and something with the SIP packet form is a bit off and the PBX kicks it out... Just a bunch of silliness that I wish I didn't have to go through. I'll admit that I resell for Callcentric and Appia.... and both of those providers have a streamlined interface by comparison.

The call quality is fine, the up-time is fine... The setup is fidgety, and some of my changes just don't take.... My opinion is that the system has too many functions that it just gets messy. A streamlined system is more my style.

That said, Sounds good, Works well.. the setup can really get messy. Not a bad service... if I could change settings and then have them work, that would be awesome.

member for 11.5 years, 749 visits, last login: 4.7 years ago
lodged 9.7 years ago

wideglide36
join:2003-11-08
Altoona, PA

1 edit

wideglide36

Member

Slightly opposite view

My experience with Voip.ms has been a little different than this reviewers.

I have three sub accounts set up and at times had various DID's routed to different sub accounts and all worked fine as far as I could tell.

Granted I am no business user, so maybe that's a bit different.

In my experience, tech support has been excellent. They've always gone the extra mile for me and they're quite fast to respond. So, in this regard I would definitely disagree with the reviewers opinion.

There is a slight learning curve to begin with, but hey, if I can figure out how to use some of the many features they offer, anyone can.

I've been a Voip.ms customer for a couple years now and it's my main system at home so I'm starting to use it more and more, and it has been working great. Even wifey likes it, so there ya go.

I would definitely agree with the reviewers opinion that Callcentric kicks butt in the web site department.

Well, ya can't win em all.........................
OzarkEdge
join:2014-02-23
USA

3 edits

OzarkEdge

Member

VoIP.ms works fine for me...

I use VoIP.ms PAYGo (6 lines/sub-accounts/extensions) with an OBi202 ata and Android softphones for home and mobile wifi calling. Their website and account setup has been clear and straightforward, and everything is working fine. Granted, you need to learn about VoIP if you are going to bring your own device and configure your own service. I can't comment on how to setup PBX software, but My Home VoIP Project Notes »/profi ··· /1888785 may help prospective home users get up-to-speed using VoIP.ms with an OBi ata.

Edits: Also see OP's related troubleshooting post »VoipMS

OE

VexorgTR
join:2012-08-27
Sheffield Lake, OH

VexorgTR

Member

Re: VoIP.ms works fine for me...

After working with it all night, today we had disconnects/no reconnect to both Chicago 2 and 4.... blah. Don't know who's fault it is, but it sure stinks.

Review by ArgMeMatey See Profile

  • Location: Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Configurability, ticket response, support and config help, server diversity
No option to send a text alert when there is new voicemail
Love this service.
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

My former provider went downhill so moving to voip.ms was like going from the 19th to the 21st century.

Have been using them since June 2010 for outgoing calls and since September 2010 for incoming calls. All working well with BYOD. Currently I am doing straight PAYG with a couple of DIDs. I will do this over a few months, and if charges seem high I may switch to a bucket.

The configuration can be overwhelming, but it's a VOIP geek's dream. The only feature they are missing is the ability to send me a text message when I have new voicemail. I currently use Value routing for outgoing toll-free calls, which is good enough for me but has noticeable drop outs. I use Premium routing for most other calls.

I also use CallCentric. The CallCentric interface is more polished, but they do not offer LIDB and the cost per minute is higher. Support is great for both.

04 April 2011
I continue to be impressed with voip.ms. Problems are handled quickly, issues are noted on website, and they introduce new features periodically. Since I pay for all incoming and outgoing calls, I was concerned that it might cost more than my old provider, but so far my billings are well under; I'm not a big talker.

The one unresolved issue I have is my CNAM listing for a LEC number that I ported to voip.ms via their carrier StarNet aka PAETEC. I requested this listing in October and it still is not done. This in itself is not reason enough to drop them, but no one has been forthcoming about why they can't get this done.

29 March 2012
I was advised in June 2011 that CNAM was not available in this market with any carrier. I don't recall the exact reason but they refunded my CNAM fee. Other than that I am still happy with their features and service and will continue to use them.

27 June 2014
The one issue I had was a problem with how a (free) SIP direct call was inaccurately interpreted and billed. I documented the issue, they issued me a very reasonable explanation and apology as well as a generous credit. I would like to see things moving from their "planned improvements" listing to their "new features" more quickly but the service is solid for me.

member for 22.6 years, 7818 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 9.7 years ago


Review by xraminx See Profile

  • Location: Oakville, ON, Canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Cheap. Flexible.
Tech support is pathetic.
Don't count on their tech support
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I bought a DID number from them and tried to set up DID based inbound routing on my PBX.

Turns out their servers do no include the DID number in the SIP request making it close to impossible to set up DID based inbound routes on your PBX. (Edit: it does, you need to set the SIP URI properly).

Their tech support is not knowledgeable. The first response I got to my detailed question was like the tech support was brushing me off, hoping I would resolve the issue myself. (And I resolved the issue myself at the end.)

Their support system is ridiculous: I gathered some valuable SIP debug information from the Asterisk log and pasted it in the support ticket but when I hit the "Submit" button, some crucial information was stripped from the log I pasted, rendering it useless.

Use their service if you think you can solve the problems yourself. Don't count on their tech support. You are on your own.

One serious issue is that it takes a long time for an incoming call to get connected. They have to fix this. The person calling your DID number will have to wait a long time before they hear the ring.

member for 15.9 years, 312 visits, last login: 107 days ago
updated 9.8 years ago

Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

So...

...did you remember to set "Device type" to "IP PBX Server, Asterisk or Softswitch"?
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

xraminx

Member

Re: So...

Yes I did. sip debug shows the TO: field is missing the DID number:
To: <sip:my_pbx_ip_address>
 

It is supposed to look like:
To: <sip:my_did_number@my_pbx_ip_address>
 
Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

Re: So...

Testing it and will post back shortly.
Mango

Mango to xraminx

Premium Member

to xraminx
I set up a sub account with password authentication, configured my Asterisk server with its credentials, registered, routed a DID to it, and it worked. I didn't test IP authentication because I don't have a server on port 5060.

Another way to accomplish what you want is to set up a SIP URI (from the DID Numbers menu). Use the syntax {DID}@my_pbx_ip_address. Note that {DID} is literally {DID} and will be replaced with the DID number that your caller has dialed. Then you route your DID to the SIP URI you created.

Let us know if either of those scenarios works.
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

2 edits

xraminx

Member

Re: So...

Thanks Looks like I found the solution 3 minutes later than you
Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

Re: So...

I'm glad to hear your setup is working now. I can't address your issues with their technical support, however you might want to consider revising your other ratings, particularly "Ease of Installation", since the solution to your problem is clearly documented.

I notice you've rated Call Quality and Reliability at 50%. If you are having audio quality issues and downtime, please let us know if you would like help troubleshooting it.
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

xraminx

Member

Re: So...

I updated the review.
Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

Re: So...

Thank you! And feel free to let us know if you have any other questions we may be able to answer. Have a great day!
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

xraminx

Member

Okay I figured out what the problem is and the DID based routing works now.

The SIP URI that you forward your DID to, must look like:
1{DID}@my_pbx_ip_address
 

But I had set it to
my_pbx_ip_address
 

One serious issue is that it takes a long time for an incoming call to get connected. They have to fix this. The person calling your DID number will have to wait a long time before they hear the ring.

Nevertheless, as I mentioned before, you cannot count on their tech support. You are on your own.
MartinM
VoIP.ms
Premium Member
join:2008-07-21

MartinM

Premium Member

Re: So...

I do not agree that you can't count on our technical support. There's a lot of documentation in our wiki, and "my_pbx_ip_address" is clearly something you need some technical knowledge. Let me know if there's anything else we can do to help you get you started with your first PBX.
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

1 edit

xraminx

Member

Re: So...

MartinM, you are entitled to your opinion.

I wrote about what I actually experienced. Tech support was useless.

They have access to all my settings on their servers. I also sent them detailed logs from my Asterisk CLI. They could not find the problem.

Here is the issue number. Go check it out for yourself:
Ticket #37355

BTW, it's not my first PBX.
MartinM
VoIP.ms
Premium Member
join:2008-07-21

MartinM

Premium Member

Re: So...

I will take a loot and try my best to help you, from a quick look at the ticket is that you tell the technician that he used a crappy canned response and that our ticketing system trunks parts of your logs. That is normal, I would recommend perhaps attaching the log in a text file, as is the standard in the industry, and perhaps, refrain from using juvenile language.

Regards,
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

xraminx

Member

Re: So...

Yes. I did say the first answer was a crappy canned response because it was. And I feel insulted to get a useless response to a detailed question I asked.

If you do not consider the first response a crappy canned response then you have no idea what an acceptable customer service is like.

And the problem is resolved by myself so you don't need to look further.

I suggest you improve your tech support instead of defending it.
MartinM
VoIP.ms
Premium Member
join:2008-07-21

MartinM

Premium Member

Re: So...

At the end of it, it is working and we had nothing to fix, I understand your frustration in not getting an immediate answer in fixing your error. For that, I deeply apologise and I will make sure the technician who attended your case gets interviewed about your case.

I'm happy that the service is working as intended,

Best Regards,
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

xraminx

Member

Re: So...

And I appreciate you looking into this. What you need to fix is your customer service.

Looking forward to using your service and buying more DID's from you.

If in the future I use your customer support and I am satisfied, I will certainly change my review.

Regards
Ramin
MartinM
VoIP.ms
Premium Member
join:2008-07-21

MartinM

Premium Member

Re: So...

Glad to hear that.

Make sure you include your traces in an attached text filedocument (SIP Traces contain HTML QUOTES). The best format is a .pcap file that can be parsed properly, like wireshark, if you don't know how to do that you can copy the asterisk output but as mentionned, in a text file.

Also, always make sure your account and subaccounts are set as PBX and not ATA Device, as documented in our wiki, if you want to have the DID included in the invite string.

Regards,
Expand your moderator at work
MartinM

3 recommendations

MartinM

Premium Member

Support has improved a lot

I know this is an old review that was perhaps bumped by mistake or upgraded, but to say our support is non-existent and that you're on your own is a bit misplaced. We can't please everyone and we learn from our mistakes and always improve.

This our current staff on the floor at one of our two offices, picture taken ight now at 4:41 PM, and we don't take days off on Canadian or American holidays. Also, this is on second floor, not in picture are programmers and sys admin, accounting etc.

We're working all the time to improve our customer service, and we invest a lot our financial resources in that department.

I hope we can one day regain your trust in regard to our customer service level. If there's anything I can do, please let me know personally.

Regards,


Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

Re: Support has improved a lot

I've always wanted to see what you all look like.
MartinM
VoIP.ms
Premium Member
join:2008-07-21

MartinM

Premium Member

Re: Support has improved a lot

said by Mango:

I've always wanted to see what you all look like.

I'm not in the pic! :P
Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

Re: Support has improved a lot

By any chance is Peter the one with the headphones?
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1

Premium Member

Good support

I contacted Voip.MS support a couple of times over the years, and always received good service.

To the OP:

I would say that many providers have multiple levels of support, Level 1, Level 2, etc. Yes, the customer does need to determine when to ask to be moved up.

Also, for the BYOD providers, although they will try "best effort" to help people with their equipment, in the end they can't be responsible for everyone's individual setups.
wideglide36
join:2003-11-08
Altoona, PA

wideglide36

Member

Concerning Voip.ms support

With all due respect to the reviewer:

I have been a customer of Voip.ms for over a year and the few times I have needed support, it has been excellent.

Better than excellent.

So, if the reviewer is having problems with support, he/she probably shouldn't make blanket statements such as was stated.

Maybe in the reviewers opinion support is "pathetic", but in reality, it is not.

I think a lot of members on here would agree........
xraminx
join:2008-04-26
Montreal, QC

xraminx

Member

The first step toward solving a problem is recognizing it

>
> to say our support is non-existent and that you're on your own is a bit misplaced
>

The first step toward solving a problem is recognizing it. Take a look at the rest of the reviews. A considerable number of the reviews are giving Voip.ms a lower than average rating on "Technical Support".

In all the responses that you gave to my comments in this thread, you are in a defensive mood rather than being open to criticism.

There is no doubt you guys are there and trying to help the best you can. The problem is that your support team needs to become more knowledgeable and learn how to handle different cases. If a technical support team member is not sure how to address an issue, they need to escalate to a more knowledgeable person rather than brush off the customer who opened the ticket by sending a canned response.

Train your technical support team and you will see how the ratings will improve. You will no longer need to post pictures of the support team to prove that they exist.

Review by BingoRingo See Profile

  • Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $3 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
I get everything for almost nothing
Sometimes calls don't go through -- update: not anymore
Well worth the effort of the initial setup
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

(See my update below)

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- ··· guration

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 -- update: it seems that it reaches my city's 311 by default now).

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.

Update: 2014-05-15

I haven't had any issues in a long time, I did, however, get a new OBi110 instead of the PAP2T-NA, as the hardware seemed to be getting more and more difficult, requiring resets, etc. The service has been very reliable, every time it failed me, it turned out to be my hardware or configuration. I am still very satisfied, since I moved to that company three years ago I saved around $800 as opposed to what I was paying with Videotron.

member for 14 years, 1474 visits, last login: 5 days ago
updated 9.8 years ago

ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

It's really very reliable when setup right.

You said: "to configure the ATA, it takes a couple of minutes but it's very straightforward" but that's not true if you want you phone to always be able to get calls as you discovered. It took me 2 weeks of trial and error to get my phone setup so it works all the time. Yes it only takes a couple of minutes to initially configure it to call out but getting it to always receive takes a lot of trial and error. The problem is my phone has 3 screens of settings to configure with some values going from 0 to 20 million but they don't have any information on what settings to use so it works with their system. I emailed them about that shortcoming several times but they didn't seem interested in fixing it and putting up some examples of sample settings that work so I had to figure it out myself. I'm using an Aastra phone that has more settings to configure than a linksys ATA but it's still a problem even with simpler devices. Once everything is configured reliability is very good and voice quality is as good or better than a regular phone. The cost is very low, I only paid $2 for the phone at a swapmeet and $25 to get started. I agree the website is very slow though.

BingoRingo
join:2010-03-29
Gatineau, QC

BingoRingo

Member

Re: It's really very reliable when setup right.

My comment was for the Linksys with Mango's instructions, but yes depending on the ATA/IP phone, etc., and many other variables it can become tricky. For example, some people will have to change their router settings, and most people will have some research to do online to figure it out.

However, this is true with most voip providers that do not provide a router.