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NYC Dec 10 2012. Localphone is a decent and dependable Voip provider. They provide a cheap and reliable service which does not have sophisticated treatments for incoming calls but which can block or accept calls. Localphone is based in the UK. There is no 911 support and no contract. The service is PAYG and BYOD. Tech support is good. Localphone is not often mentioned in DSLReports. Some time ago Localphone were renting out 212 DIDs for just one dollar per month. A 212 DID is a phone number with a Manhattan area code and some people consider a 212 DID more prestigious than a 646 DID. When I first acquired this exalted 212 number I didn't know quite what to do with it - if I gave it to my landlord or my bank, then maybe I would command greater respect. But after Hurricane Sandy I decided that two DIDs, one from each of two Voip providers, would be more reliable than one single DID. So I gave the 212 number out to my friends saying, behold, I now have two numbers. Try reaching me on this number and, if you can't, then try that number. There are now no new 212 DIDs available but Localphone is still renting out 646 and other DIDs for one dollar a month. They also give out free iNums and provide free Sip forwarding. Prices for outgoing calls within the United States: if you have one dollar to spend, then you can get either 50 minutes with Callcentric, 100 minutes with Callwithus or 200 minutes with Localphone. NYC Nov 30 2013. Three months ago I ported a new number into Localphone. The porting went well. However last week the DID stopped receiving calls. It took three days before they gave me a ticket number. It took five days from the time I first reported the problem to the time they fixed it. Accordingly I am downgrading my evaluation of their reliability and of their tech support from 100 percent to 75 percent. Nevertheless Localphone provides value for money, they are a decent Voip company and I recommend them. NYC March 14 2014. Localphone has won "Best Consumer Voip 2014" award in UK; two years in a row. NYC March 31 2014. Localphone now have monthly subscription rates for 250, 800 and 5,000 minutes. So if you have one dollar to spend, you can buy 250 minutes for 75 cents, and still have 25 cents change. The 800 minute deal is $1.60 and the 5,000 minute deal is $5.00. NYC July 16 2014. Everything working well. Heard that they have a phone number for tech support: 15185005000. NYC March 22 2015. There was a problem with my incoming numbers. I reported it Tues March 17 2.30pm and Localphone fixed it by Thurs March 19 1.50am. I still recommend Localphone because I have had over a year without any problems. I pay $7 a month which is $1 for one incoming number, $1 for a second incoming number and $5 for the five thousand minute subscription. NYC Sept 3 2015. I've been having problems with local outgoing calls over the last few weeks and, with mixed feelings, I've decided to have a more expensive Voip provider handle my outgoing calls. I think the Localphone people, and particularly tech support, are working hard and making their best effort but the service is just not reliable enough. It is like buying cheap pens and finding they don't write. Albany NY Sept 5 2020. A week passed during which I was unable to log into my account. Technical staff did not respond and I am downgrading my rating for technical support. I would not recommend Localphone except for cheap outgoing calls. member for 14.5 years, 1538 visits, last login: a few minutes ago updated 3.5 years ago
I've been using Localphone for outgoing calls since 2019. There are several ways to use the service: voip with a phone adapter, softphone or app, or by calling local phone numbers that forward to specified numbers. They all work well. Localphone also provides incoming numbers but I haven't tried it. The website has a FAQ explaining the service details and provides instructions for many phone adapters. My adapter wasn't listed, but I still found it easy to set up. The outgoing caller ID can be set to any verified number. Emergency calls are not available. The calling rates are very competitive, for example $0.005 to the US and $0.006 to UK landlines, per minute. Even lower rates can be obtained with monthly packages, for example 250 minutes to the US for $0.75/month. Calls to toll-free numbers in the US and UK are free. Incoming numbers in the US and several European countries are about $1/month. The minimum calling credit that can be added each time is just $1, which is great for trying the service without a big commitment. I find the local phone feature very useful. It provides local numbers that can be set to forward automatically to numbers that the user has specified, when called from a number that the user has registered. This way, the user pays only for a local call to the local phone company, and the respective destination rate to Localphone. Sets of local numbers are available in many countries and cities, and they will all forward to the same specified numbers associated with the registered number making the call. So this feature is useful for frequent travelers, and it allows sharing the calling credit with family and friends anywhere. This feature does not support forwarding to SIP URI. I find the service very reliable. I only experienced one technical problem when calling a US toll-free number, which was quickly fixed after contacting support. Tips: Prices are shown in US dollars, British pounds and euros. Compare them carefully, as the currency cannot be changed after credit is added to the account. You may find that it's better to select a foreign currency even considering your credit card's exchange rate and foreign transaction fee. Rebtel has a similar local phone feature, with slightly different rates and available locations. It provides free calls to the US. member for 4.6 years, 71 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago updated 3.8 years ago
I have been using Localphone since November 2011. Localphone provides a number of services, you just use what you need.VOIP is only of many and most likely not the main line of business. VOIP service. Very good and inexpensive, but somewhat basic.The pricing of DID's is unbeatable for a number of countries, e.g. US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands , Sweden, France but somewhat pricey in others. The choice of area codes is excellent in some countries e.g. Netherlands, Belgium, UK. but far less so in countries like Germany or Austria. There is a pretty good choice of US area codes. Porting is available for $ 15.-. You can set all your registered phone numbers or DIDs as an outgoing caller ID. There is no three way calling available. Voice mail can be listened to from your own phone or via internet, no remote phone access from another phone. Incoming call quality on DID's I have rented is excellent, outgoing call quality is generally very good, improved compared to a few years ago. Calling rates to land lines are extremely competitive. Some cell phone destination rates can be found elsewhere cheaper.You do not need to rent a DID and pay monthly fees to have an outgoing service. Also the virtual calling card feature is very interesting, making it possible to make cheap international phone calls from other phones. With the Local Number service you can get local numbers in your area which forward the calls to distant destinations, e.g. You live in Miami and have a friend in Australia so you get for any registered phone a local 305 or 786 area code number and the call gets forwarded to the Australian number at minimal costs. Services work for international travelers as well. One flaw- you get only one virtual calling card access number and you have to cancel it and get a new one every time you are in a new destination and need a local access code. Localphone provides outgoing SMS service, incoming service only for UK DID's for calls originated from UK. The web site is very good, some minor improvements should be considered. The callback service offered is excellent for international travelers . Payments possible through Visa/ Mastercard or Pay Pal( yuck) and you can open an account with just one dollar. You have choice of 3 currencies. Caveat : You cannot change the currency after you chose one! also, many US credit cards charge for foreign transactions even if they are in US $ ( BOA, Citibank) some other s do not ( Capital one). If your credit card has a billing address in an EU country you will be charged VAT. It is very easy to start up most of the Localphone services however setting up the VOIP service was somewhat complex,among other issues there was no support for configuring my Obi ATA. They are no hidden fees and the company does not use any deceptive practices. I never tried the Android application due to the poor reviews it received. Localphone provides free i-numbers Localphone provides toll free termination to US and UK toll free numbers. Customers service can be reached by via e-mail or by phone( tech support e-mail only), very unusual for a low cost provider. Company straight forward, no deceptive practices. Localphone does not have the popularity in the US it deserves which is unfortunate. Reliability : While I experienced on a few occasions problems with the voice mail, over the years I never experienced any interruption in service, neither incoming nor outgoing calls. Through it's partnership with Voxbeam Localphone has excellent geographical redundancy ,which together with a large employee staff of the combined companies implies reliable service even in cases of unusual events. Recommendation : Absolutely recommended. Update 2013/11/26 :Localphone now provides monthly subscription for calls to over 100 countries. To US numbers, its $ .75 for 250 minutes, $ 1.60 for 800 min or $ 5.- for 5000 minutes (0.1c/min!) Caveat with some international destinations- if you for example call German land lines only(0.7 c/min) and never German cell phones(5.2 c/min) then it is cheaper not to have a subscription (2.6c/min) Update 2015/11/29 Calling plans for some countries have been split into landline and mobile destination plans. Excellent, they should do it for all countries with different landline and cellular termination rates. Somewhat puzzling is the silence . This PR oriented company , known for bi weekly promotions , blogs and presence on social media hes been silent for a while. One Facebook entry over the last 12 months,blog untouched for 2.5 years, no promotions. Last edit 2015/11/29 Update 2016/01/17 Voice mail keeps on malfunctioning from time to time. While the reliability of incoming and outgoing calls is unsurpassed, having such an important feature as voice mail repeatedly fail is unacceptable. I decided to lower Localphone's reliability rating. Edit 2017/09/02 Corrected porting price. Voice mail issues subsided lately, replaced by occasional registration loss. Not serious. Edit 2017/08/19 No voice mail issues for the last year. Upgrading reliability rating. Do NOT use Localphone for calls to the Netherlands, use Rebtel or Zadarma( with an EEA DID). Caveat : On US monthly plans, Call Forwarding is not included. Update :After 2019/05/10 this review review will not be updated. Reason : Closing of DSL forum account. member for 11.1 years, 3071 visits, last login: 4.8 years ago updated 4.8 years ago
As of early 2014 I stopped using Localphone SIP service. I had a long running problem with LocalPhone calls not connecting when I called from an OBi100/110. I had no problem calling from an Aastra on the same account. I opened a ticket with Localphone support and waited for their requests to try different things. The responses took 10 and 12 days at times. Other times I got next day responses. After more than 2 months the problem got escalated and they had me run tests while they ran traces. Everything worked fine. My contact told me he was not told they had made changes. After I undid the things they had me change, I could still make calls from the OBi. Soon after outbound calls stopped working I got something else working for outbound calls. I no longer use LocalPhone SIP, but I still use LocalPhone for calling international numbers from cell phones. That works great and I am keeping my LocalPhone account funded I've moved my Greek DID to Anveo which has worked well. Details: »[General] Localphone - No Inbound - OBi202 original review: Localphone solves the biggest VoIP issue in my house: poor quality connections on calls to Greece. Even better the calls (especially to cell phones) cost less than other providers we've tried. Several fine providers have tried to respond to issues we have with calls to Greece. Even premium routes are often not acceptable. From the first call my wife and her sister in Greece have proclaimed the calls to be the best quality every time. As the local telephone support staff in my house, this makes my job much easier. I pay $5/month for an Athens DID with free incoming calls. The outbound calls are very reasonable and less than the standard rates at other companies we have used. In addition, we have US phone numbers we can call when away from the house to contact anyone we list in advance with Localphone. This is the "local phone" aspect that seems to be the reason for the name Localphone. So when away from home we don't need to try to run a SIP client on a cell phone to make a call. We just call a US number and get connected to the corresponding European number we set up in advance. The rate for the call is the same as if we called from the OBi line 2 in the house and the connection is just as good. My cell phone has minutes I don't use every month so there is no additional cost. Support was a problem. There is a mechanism to create support tickets, but no real ticket system or response. I sent screen print of OBi setup screens and they told me that this was the first time they had heard of OBi. Many days can go bye before responses are received. I finally called the support number in England and after checking was told the support staff had not responded to my second problem and she would have them take a look at it. So there is phone support, but they can not handle VoIP technical issues. My major problem turned out to be a parameter in call forwarding. Even though I had call forwarding turned off, a call forwarding after 10 seconds default was causing calls to be dropped after 10 seconds. I asked them to treat this as a bug and suggested development should fix it. Since there is no mention of server locations, I asked and received the response: "Currently our servers are located in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, I understand there are plans to also open servers in Virginia in the near future. The AMS servers handle all the failover as there are duplicate servers for all systems." The device guides for some devices show turning on DNS SRV. member for 22.9 years, 4269 visits, last login: 4 days ago updated 6.6 years ago
Searched and tried out a number of VOIP companies. Not looking for a huge bucket of minutes or anything overly cheap, but many products would work intermittently or not at all with my hardware/ firewall configuration (RT31P2 and WRTSL54; whether NAT or DMZ). No matter the configuration, something always seemed to be a problem. Tried localphone and found that it works across NAT or in the DMZ, doesn't matter. And I can buy as much or as little as I want. Currently using with GV and iNUM, and working fine. This is a second line to my POTS, used for roll-over and home office, but the reliability has been spot on. Update: January 2011: Continue to be satisfied with localphone, though they have now been relegated to second provider in our household. Have moved over to a more "full-service" provider, with IVR, failover choices, and porting. I did contact localphone about porting, and they do have some limited ability to do so, but could not do my Manhattan number. I still love the effortless aspects of localphone, working across firewalls, etc. and wish the other VOIP co's were as effortless, but my needs are becoming more sophisticated, and localphone's offerings are not. They are still super for quality and price, and if you just need an incoming line or a cheap outgoing line from your ATA, give them a go. My kids use this line all the time; it's hooked to their GV incoming number (via G5), and works like a charm. Wish we could set the outgoing CID to the GV rather than either blocked or the iNUM, but that is apparently not an option with localphone. Update March 2013 Localphone has now become our third-tier provider. I've tried two or three times to have them port a number from a major city in order to give them more business, and each time been turned away, because the number is not portable (seriously?). Subsequently ported to other providers. So we use them for cheap outgoing calls, where we transmit only the Localphone account number, so CID is sent, but it is meaningless. I tried an incoming number from them for a few months, but setting up another new number was a hassle, so we just ported elsewhere. Bottom line: still a solid provider, just not all that flexible. Update: March 2016 Using localphone's 0.5 cent per minute for much of our outgoing services. Very pleased with the quality for price and the fact that I can set the outgoing CID (as a commenter noted below). Update: July 2017 LP is still one of our primary outgoing services. Recently traveled abroad and tried to expand my use of LP services, by making use of the LP app, but the iPhone version won't allow for setting up a data-only SIM (requires a phone number to call or text in to), so I could not active the phone (and CS refused to activate it manually). The Android app is based on Linphone, which means it conflicted with another app installed on the phone and couldn't be used either. International texting (via the web portal) was also a failure, my messages were never received by the folks we were traveling to see. So LP had the chance to become more important to me and failed, so they will stay as a cheap outgoing call service and nothing more. This does not necessarily change my review rating, save perhaps technical support, which really should have a way to activate data-only services, and the failure of internal SMS. member for 21.6 years, 3500 visits, last login: 5 days ago updated 6.6 years ago
Localphone is a good provider in the value-end of the market. Based in London UK, they serve many countries (including USA and Canada) and are related to the wholesale Voxbeam company. Both inbound (DID) and outbound rates are very good. There is no 911 available and some of the advanced features found on competitors are not available. I have noticed that outbound calls (made using an IP phone) sometimes are slow to connect, giving a chirpy tone for about 15 seconds before the standard ringback tone begins. (NOTE: As of August 2016 this is no longer happening). Many people use them for primary service, in my own case they are more of a backup provider (a similar niche to Call With Us). member for 11 years, 2350 visits, last login: 7.2 years ago updated 7.6 years ago
20160119 - UPDATE - Little has changed. Fine provider for non-critical or secondary use. Some neat features. 20150522 - Many service options and choices. I use them for non-critical, cheap DIDs and outbound termination. member for 23.2 years, 6803 visits, last login: 1 year ago updated 8.1 years ago
I've been using the service for several months (since midway through December) to call from Toronto Canada, to landlines and cellphones in the US. I have also used it to call the Caribbean, with great results. I haven't had a dropped call yet, and the call quality has been very good so far. I've been running it over a 5M/800K DSL line with QoS setup on a Linksys WRT54GS router with Tomato installed. They use a pre-paid setup, so they have an account in your name that you can review and add money to, which gets debited when you make a call or buy a phone number. When you first sign up, you must choose which currency your Localphone account will use, USD or GBP. I chose USD, because I'm using a Canadian credit card to add funds and I'm going to gamble that it's safer for me to convert CAD to USD than to GBP. I added $20 to begin with, and was charged 1.2% on top of that by my credit card company to convert CAD to USD. I was expecting that already, so that wasn't a problem. I started by purchasing a US number for $3.00 and the system automatically charged me for that month's (incoming DID) fee at $0.99. Since I have been using the service for three months, my Localphone account has been debited $0.99 two more times for that (DID) number, just as you would expect. Now, they have several different services that I have made use of already: 1. VoIP service - I had never set a VoIP system up before, so I just followed their guide (they have guides for all sorts of VoIP adapters) to set up a Linksys PAP2T. 2. Calling card - I didn't get a physical card, but you can dial their Calling Card service phone number, enter a code that they give you beforehand and then call whoever you wish to call, and get the same rates that you would get if you used their VoIP service. 3. PC app - Make calls from your computer, using your internet connection with their app. I use my laptop on WiFi and the calls are very clear, but I recommend headphones to eliminate the echo from microphone feedback. Get the same rates using your PC that you would using their VoIP service. 4. Mobile phone app (Android or iPhone) - Use Wifi/3G/whatever connection your phone has to call or text a long distance number. Just make sure that you choose your call type carefully in the app. There's a toggle button that selects either your cellphone provider's normal minutes, or Localphone's internet service to place the call. Make sure it's on the correct one before dialing long distance, or you might be in for a surprise on your cellphone bill. Get the same rates using the app that you do with their VoIP service when you go through their network. 5. Local access numbers (this one was a first for me, and I found it really cool) - On their online dashboard, create a contact for the long distance number that you want to call. Then provide it with an area code that is local to you. It will generate a local phone number that you can call from any phone, that gets forwarded to the contact you just created online. The phone number seems to stay the same month after month and you can just call it like a local number. The rates you pay for this are the same per-minute rates that you pay for using the VoIP service. Example: You want to call someone in New York, USA and you live in Toronto, Canada. Go online to Localphone.com, log in to your account, and create a contact "Uncle Bill" and enter his number 212-xxx-xxxx. Then under settings, choose your local area. For me it's 416/647. It will provide you with a 647 or 416 number (whatever your local area code is) that, when you call it, you get connected to your Uncle Bill at 212-xxx-xxxx. You pay whatever their standard rate for calling that long distance 212-xxx-xxxx number would be, same as if you called it with your app or VoIP. If you have the app installed and your VoIP service set up (with a DID), you can call between them for free. Also, you can call your mobile app from your PC app for free, and if course you can call another Localphone member for free on their Localphone number/app. They offer all kinds of phone numbers, including international (iNum) phone numbers. Some are cheap, some are pretty expensive. They also have a referral program that gives you a percentage of the credit that your friend adds, and their phone numbers are free to setup until March 1st, 2013. Let me know if you have any questions about the service. Update (4/23/2015): I use their Android app, which works fairly well. I have trouble sometimes with my face touching the on-screen buttons, or somehow getting into a completely different app by accident. I don't notice these things happening when I use MagicJack's app for some reason. Their calls through the app also seem to cut off after approximately 30 minutes, plus or minus a minute or two. The calls using my VoIP adapter and a real phone don't suffer from those same drawbacks. member for 18.6 years, 2482 visits, last login: 63 days ago updated 8.9 years ago
They are cheating in their Subscriptions do not buy their subscription without checking your number first. The free call is allowed to all number and they provide subscription stating that all mobile providers are supported but in my case for UK 200 plan they are not supporting all service providers. member for 9.4 years, driveby review (so far) lodged 9.4 years ago
update may 28 2013: localphone still rocks for all my outbound calls! still no support for 911. got an obi 100 recently and had to move out of vonage (costs are moving up steadily), and given that i cannot port my # to GV, I tried different providers(anveo,callcentric) and zeroed on localphone (for incoming calls). i ported my # to callcentric so i can receive incoming calls on it. i also have E911 with callcentric for outgoing calls, initially i tried setting GV as SIP provider, but the voice was breaking up for both parties intermittently; and the other problem with GV was that I could not set the caller ID to my home phone # localphone has good quality, very reliable (for the last 2-3 weeks that I have set it up), pretty quick responses for support tickets.. best part is, these guys have 0.5 cent/minute calling to US#, which i have not seen an y other provider match/beat it.. i put $0 above in monthly cost as this is a pay-as-you-go sort of service.. their website is pretty intuitive and was easy to setup my obi with localphone as SIP service.. and by the way, they support iNum! ( i dont use it, thought might be useful to someone who does) member for 17.6 years, 400 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago updated 10.8 years ago
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