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Review by PX Eliezer 
member for 3.5 years, 2038 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
updated 161 days ago
 HuttRiver US
 Contract price not specified.  about 1 days "Useful for receiving incoming calls from GoogleVoice." "Frozen in time after Google bought it, no new signups, neglected." "Late on a Friday afternoon, Google killed it (4 March 2011)."
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It is quite some time now since Gizmo5 was bought by Google.
While it is useful for receiving inbound calls from GoogleVoice, everything at Gizmo5 seems to be in cryogenic deep-freeze.
There are no new signups, tech support appears non-existent, quality is deteriorating, and the website remains quite primitive.
Outbound calls (these are paid calls on Gizmo5) take a long time to connect, and tollfree outbound calls are not connecting at all, at least in my experience. This is using an IP phone---perhaps Asterisk users have a better outcome.
Does Google really know what they want to do with Gizmo5?
It's a sad end to what originally began as the innovative SIPphone service.
***UPDATE: (4 March 2011)***
Today is the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's inauguration (yes, we used to begin the presidential term on March 4th). It is also the Friday afternoon on which Google quietly killed Gizmo5. RIP.
***COMMENTARY: (4 September 2011)***
GIZMO-5 used the unused area code of "747" for their numbers.
But that started to be a REAL California area code, which would lead to conflicts and confusion, especially because GIZMO-5 used that pseudo-"747" on outbound CID.
Google, the new owners of GIZMO-5, did NOT make plans to deal with this issue.
The answer is clear in retrospect----
Google knew that they were killing GIZMO-5.
Because of that, there was no need to deal with the problem.
This demonstrates that Google planned WAY in advance to kill GIZMO-5.
Comments:
  tallship
join:2011-03-18
Hermosa Beach, CA
 ·voip.ms
| Too bad, so sad... Bye Bye I suppose that I should mentione 'something' about Gizmo5.
I liked SipPhone, back in the day, a real pioneering adventure. But Gizmo, well, I found it to be second rate, expensive, and then they started limiting time until all you could do was test with it - even after Google bought it.
But from the acquisition I've been very happy w/GoogleVoice, and although Gizmo did provide a gateway and a bit of redundancy, I never really used it much once my GV kicked into action.
There were many other VoIP systems out there that were more direct, superior, and easier to use than Gizmo, IMNSHO.
Good looking softphone though  | |
| | | Time To Move On... I picked up an old SunRocket VOIP box at Goodwill and reprogrammed it to use Sipgate instead. You can find free VOIP providers out there but Sipgate is cheap and it works well. | |
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 Review by user17600
member for 9.5 years, 339 visits, last login: 22 days ago
updated 1.2 years ago
- SE CT, USA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Free; connectability to Google Voice"
- "Inconsistent quality"
- "Nice way to dip your toe into VOIP without cost (IF you have a G5 account already!)"
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Have had a Gizmo account for years but only when I started dabbling in VOIP about 2 years ago did I start to actually use it.
First ATA was a HT286, but couldn't get consistent connection to G5, sometimes would register but have 1-way sound only, other times connection was fine, sometimes would not register. Tried both behind and in front of firewall, but no real difference.
Then got an unlocked 2-line router/ATA. Registration issues resolved, but inconsistent call quality continued. Second line allowed me to experiment while keeping the GV-G5 integration.
After much experimenting, I've decided that G5 quality is just lousy (you get what you pay for), so I'm basically using the G5 for outgoing toll-free calls where quality doesn't matter, and SIP forwarding so I can keep the GV-G5 link alive. At least the SIP forwarding is still active on the G5 website.
I should note that the SIP-forward G5 call comes through as g711 whereas an actual G5 incoming call on the ATA comes in as g729, so by SIP-forwarding to another provider, the same call is much clearer. But part of that may be the hardware, which just might not be up to the g729 processing task.
I've toyed with the idea of buying another G5 account from Ebay to link to another GV account but haven't bothered since I figure at some point Google will change one or both of these services, and I don't want to be too bound to that model.
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 Review by crazyk4952
member for 10 years, 1136 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.3 years ago
- Pocatello,Bannock,ID
- Contract price not specified.
- about 1 days
- "can forward Google Voice number via SIP, free SIP to SIP calls, no charge toll free calls"
- "OK audio quality, questionable reliability"
- "Good as a backup"
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Currently I have a Linksys PAP2T that I have Line 2 configured for Gizmo. I have my Google Voice number forwarded to Gizmo, and my primary VOIP provider. I use this as a backup for calling toll free numbers, and I like to have a second phone ring when someone calls my Google Voice number and I am already talking on my primary VOIP line.
When I use this phone, I have noticed that people sound more distant than with my other provider. The quality has never been to the point of not being able to understand people, just not as clear. They are also missing a rather nice feature: CNAM.
I have noticed on several occasions, that my PAP2T will fail to register to Gizmo (and I get no dial tone). This problem resolves itself within a few minutes. This NEVER happens with my other VOIP provider.
Also, it seems that they are trying to benefit from all of the publicity of Google Voice, but they do not deliver in features or performance.
Based on my experience, I would not rely on Gizmo as a primary provider.
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Review by wavesound
member for 10 years, 39 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
lodged 2.3 years ago
- Bolton,Worcester,MA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Reliable Calls, Good Call Quality."
- "Support is useless..."
- "Do not rely on Gizmo5 for anything other than testing."
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I started using Gizmo5 a while ago after I started using them for toll-free termination (I have since switched to another provider.). After using them for a while, I decided to add their OpenSky service to connect my Asterisk server to Skype.
Although the service works fairly well, they neglect to mention one important thing:
Skype aliases are permanently assigned. Once you create an alias (1333XXXXXXX -> SkypeName), you can never delete it. This policy not only makes no sense, its not disclosed on their website before you make your purchase.
Overall, I'd recommend looking elsewhere for SIP to Skype unless you're on a budget...
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Review by jydogg
member for 2.6 years, 953 visits, last login: 57 days ago
lodged 2.5 years ago
- Taunton,Bristol,MA
- $1 per month
- about 7 days
- "Call quality, SIP standard"
- "Horrible tech support, 7 days to add credit to account"
- "If you can use it for free, do it, but don't look for support!"
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Got Gizmo5 about a year ago to use while traveling in an area with limited cellular coverage but decent internet. Installation of the soft phone is a snap, configuration of SIP devices is a bit dicey though, but with a bit of work, it does the trick. It even worked as an outbound trunk on my Asterisk box (for US toll-free calls and prepaid backup VoIP).
Adding call credit was a chore. Their Paypal interface is apparently a single human being that has to punch everything in by hand. It took me 7 days to have US$10 applied to the account for calling credit. Once I run it down, I'm not adding more.
The new Google Voice makes this a VERY worthwhile investment of time though due to the ability of even a soft phone to accept calls from landlines (and to make outbound calls with the help of a web browser).
Overall, worth the investment of time and money.
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 Review by kieranmullen
member for 6.1 years, 887 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.9 years ago
- Portland,Washington,OR
- $2 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Unlimtied incomming service for $35 is great. No downtime."
- "Customer service via email. Sometimes hard to held ahold of."
- "If you need hand holding this may not be for you."
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For pay as you go with your own dedicated number you can't get much cheaper than this. The price of some numbers may vary but most of them are $35 per year or $12 for 3 months. Outgoing calls are only .19 per minute which is the top end what some providers will charge you to terminate calls. Most charge .01 but that is not much. They support mutliple softphone or hardware ATA registrations on the same account. Video chat, call recording, free voicemail, business accounts, Asterisk. SMS Etc Many features similar to skype except skype does not allow for hardware registration.
Worldwide Shared Call In Numbers
They are registered with the sipbroker.com network. To find your sip number form the Gizmo softphone dial ** Then go to »sipbroker.com/sipbroker/action/pstnNumbers pick a number, call it and then enterdial *747 followed by your full gizmo number 1-747-XXX-XXXX and you're connected.
More free outbound calling
Toll free numbers are of course free, it helps to use the softphone client when calling customer service so you can record your experience. They have a backdoor calling program in which many destinations are actually free to call BUT it plays a short message at the beginning of each call. So it is not the best thing to use for business calls.
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