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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
 ·Optimum Online
| Re: Glad I cancelled I tried them for a few weeks. They made Vonage look good.
We're trialing these guys at work for possible resale: »www.onsip.com/
I've been happy with that and the pricing actually works out cheaper than vonage unless you use more than a few thousand minutes/month. It's a BYOA plan, but they gave me a Polycom for testing - very nice phone, much better than the Cisco garbage our other reseller pushed on us. | |
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hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium
join:2005-06-29
clubs: | WOW Boy they really have gone to the dogs. But like in the other poster glad i left them a long time ago.
You get what you pay for. | |
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| jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Re: WOW True. Besides, what other provider lets you come onto the forums and be insulted by the CEO of the company?  | |
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bcronin
Premium
join:2004-03-27
Hyde Park, NY
1 edit | ViaTalk is Just Alright (with me) ViaTalk continues to meet my needs. A lot of these complaints are trumped up nonsense in my opinion. Sure it has occasional issues, but I am not so dependent on my phone that these minor problems are a huge deal. Every time I've opened a ticket it's been addressed in a reasonable amount of time (sometimes within minutes). I guess the bottom line is that if you live and die by your phone and cannot afford occasional blips, you should stay with plain old telephone service (and continue to fork over obscene amounts of money to Verizon and the like). But the ViaTalk picture is nowhere near as bad as the fearmongers would have you believe. The whole BBB thing was bogus, just a bunch of rabid SunRocket refugees pissed off that a small company couldn't suddenly absorb tens of thousands of new customers overnight. As to the fees, show me any telecommunications service that doesn't tack on all sorts of miscellaneous fees (doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make ViaTalk any worse). | |
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soccerdad62
Premium
join:2005-04-16
Saline, MI | No problems here... I have no reason to doubt that some people are having trouble with ViaTalk, but my service has been without incident. I'm pleased with the call quality, don't get drops and like the web interface. Perhaps it's just luck (that would be a first!). | |
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XPAMD
Premium
join:2002-06-08
united state
 ·ViaTalk
| Re: No problems here... Same here, I haven't had nearly the amount of issues some people report having. Mine are very rare.
I've been following the Viatalk forum since before I swithed to them. Recently they started moving to this new network transport system they're moving to. Previously subscribers were forced to go through their servers for all calls.
The reasoning for the switch to to deal with the very complaints that Karl posted in his News Blog. These problems having been going on for the past several months for various users and for the most part Viatalk has been very responsive.
I've had the newer firmware (newer than VT supplied with there adapter) for several months now and it fixed one issue in particular. And I have not had any issues directly related to it.
I do hope the folks that are having issues get their problems resolved very soon. | |
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unknvoip
WWJID?
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY
·ViaTalk
| Incredible Wow, it is amazing what commotion a small number of vocal people can cause. What is not clear from these posts is that these issues are not nearly as widespread as they sound.
I've been a customer for over 2 years and my service has never been more stable as it has been over the last few months.
Don't believe the negative hype. | |
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| Cogdis
join:2007-03-26
Floral Park, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Incredible Funny, I used to be one of those voices. Viatalk was terrible compared to my other voip service for a long time, but I haven't noticed any problems in months. I figured they had finally stabilized. I'm considering updating my reliability rating in my review, but I'll wait until I see how this upgrade goes. | |
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tmh
@comcast.net | Try Callcentric Their service is pay as you go, and BYOD. You can cancel anytime.
I've used them for about 2 years and never had any problems. Montly bills average 10-15 bucks, depending on how much I use them.
tmh | |
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esc0
@newskies.net
| Re: Try Callcentric CallCetric has been amazing with their service. Their support is via email and I am amazed at how fast they are at getting back to you compared to traditional phone support. My father-in-law is using them since he doesn't make that much calls.
QuantumVoice is another good provider. I pay $19.99 for my monthly plan. This includes taxes and all. No hidden fees like ViaTalk. I have not had to call QV not even once for anything. Service has been comparable if not better than pots, of course as long as my power and internet is working.
I thank sites like DSLreports for having forums where you can rate companies. CC & QV have great ratings and I am glad me and my family tested them on. | |
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LeftOfSanity
join:2005-11-06
Felton, DE | It must be! I bet it's Comcast degrading thier service so the people will buy thier CDV!!!!!
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Aveamantium
join:2006-10-02
Loveland, CO |  They are working just fine for me!!
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v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY
·ViaTalk
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | Article a bit too sensationalistic IMO and E. I am also a two plus year current customer who has "stuck it out" and these days my service has been about 90% reliable. This article seems to imply that there is system-wide dissatisfaction but I don't believe that to be true.
I am definitely more satisfied with the service now than I was six months ago (as discussed in my most recent review update) and I am looking forward to the improved reliability promised by VT's CEO as these upgrades roll out. Time will tell.
edit: removed ambiguous wording of one sentence. | |
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pende_tim
Premium
join:2004-01-04
Andover, NJ | Working for Me I have had occasional problems over the past 2 years but overall it seems quite stable recently. I am not on the new system yet.
--
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. | |
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voipdabbler
join:2006-04-27
Kalispell, MT
| I'm satisfied with ViaTalk serviceas well. I'm in my 3rd year of service with ViaTalk. I'm content with their service and customer support. I've had a few glitches, but nothing excessive. Nothing works 100% 24/7, 352. Even POTS have problems--just look at New England's recent outages. (I also have an elderly aunt and uncle back east who just won't tackle VOIP and whose POTS copper lines have been consistently cutting out on them for the past 4 months. Their last POTS outage lasted more than 48 hours and frightened them since both have had health issues--yes they do have cellular but I'm not sure how good the reception is inside their house. The last TELCO repairman who came out actually spotted some issues in the TELCO equipment on their block and replaced some parts. He was the first repairman to actually look at the company's equipment that their phone line ties into. Hopefully, it will fix the issues with loss of service.) | |
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kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Arnold, MD
| The sky is falling Viatalk has been fine by me going on 17 months. I continue to receive and make calls just like it's a landline. I've had a handful of hiccups spread across those 17 months, and nothing that has completely knocked out my service or has lasted more than a day or two.
So I ask, where is the headliner that says "ViaTalk Customers Enjoying Great Service"?  | |
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| iampedro
join:2005-02-12
Houston, TX | Re: Using the PAP2 leaves you at the mercy of customer routers Just look at there FAQ for help with making sure your ports are forward correctly and you should just be fine.. | |
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NixNick
@sbcglobal.net
| Re: Using the PAP2 leaves you at the mercy of customer routers My brother just called me (on his cell phone). It seems his phone quit working and ViaTalk told him he needed to disable his router's firewall to get it working (due to an "upgrade"). We disabled the firewall and his phone works again but that's a pretty lousy (and unacceptable) solution. | |
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koam
Pink Pecker
Premium
join:2000-08-16
East Puddle
clubs:
 ·Shoreham Telephone
| problems keep returning It would be hard to deny that there are nagging problems that just keep coming back at VT of late. All you have to do is check the VT forum and see just how many people have been affected. I will say that the VT guys do try to work the issue - it's just that they are demonstrably ineffective at preventing the same issues from coming back every few months. Most often they are blaming some supplier...so they get the supplier to fix it - which only lasts until it happens again. Or they go to a new supplier and find that the old problems happen again there.
Issue prevention is the issue.
--
YOU can help reduce poverty, sustainably.
»www.kiva.org/lender/kenandart
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koam
Pink Pecker
Premium
join:2000-08-16
East Puddle
clubs:
·Shoreham Telephone
2 edits | can't reach customer service ? I haven't really tried reaching customer service and haven't noticed that as being the big issue. Of course the link in the article above in the last sentence links to a thread that is unrelated to this topic. The link is to a thread that documents the fact that users of VT could not dial ANY toll-free number and get through with any reliability earlier this week. Of course, we don't expect the author to understand this (we have very low expectations on the weekend here).
You can decide for yourself whether it's worse to be unable to reach customer service or to be unable to dial any toll free number and simply get through. But the last sentence of this five-sentence article is botched.
--
YOU can help reduce poverty, sustainably.
»www.kiva.org/lender/kenandart
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Couch Potato
What?
Premium
join:2004-08-29
Evansville, IN
·Insight Communicat..
| Great Service I've been with VT about a year now and have been more than happy with the service. I'd say it works about 98% of the time, which is more than satisfactory, free 2nd line, all the features, which I love the ability to block numbers or even entire area codes, I have all the 800s, 888s, 877s, and so on blocked. I do NOT receive telemarketing calls, and did I mention the FREE 2nd line ? There are 6 people in my house and having 2 lines comes in handy all the time.
I won't be switching any time soon, provided my service stays as is. | |
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| bryank
join:2000-03-23
Plainfield, IL
·ViaTalk
1 edit | Re: Great Service I'm with you on this! I have had them since June of 2006 coming from Vonage. While Vonage was ok, ViaTalk had a lot more features and was cheaper! There are some hiccups with the service but nothing that makes me mad to get rid of them; as stated before it works about 98% of the time. Although I have never had an outage or dropped calls, little things do pop up such as answering the phone and I do not hear the person on the other line. But I had that problem before with Vonage. | |
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Dan Reese
@comcast.net
|  ViaTalk is Horrible!!
I canceled my service, and though their policy is no refunds, I was able to get half my money back by filing a complaint with NY state consumer affairs. My case was simple: they never provided me with even minimally satisfactory service, so the breach was on their side, not mine. Otherwise I would have no reason to cancel.
--Dan | |
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guppy_fish
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
·Verizon FIOS
| Still in beta testing, at best, its the MAYBE PHONE I was a customer for two years, if you don't mind roulette for a phone service, its was fine, when it worked, but you constantly have to monitor the phone and manual try to configure the PAP2 for a new server when it doesn't, which was every few days.
They have been working on some new "beta" servers, short story is to work like ALL other VOIP providers, they can't even get that working 100% after 6 months.
It seems that in general, people are use to cell phones and are content with a lower grade of service for a lower price using ViaTalk, enough of them to keep ViaTalk afloat for now it would seem.
If what the forums and real BBR users report makes you want the service, then with the lowered expectations, you will be rewarded with the service as its reported, no better, no worse and its STILL a maybe phone.
I went back to Verizon and have no regrets in doing so. | |
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sragle
join:2005-08-08
San Jose, CA
2 edits | ViaTalk no good for me ViaTalk goes down on me every day. and its not my network because my other VoIP providers never go down. Just viatalk  | |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
| Bad Article... Sigh. Kathryn again shows she's no Karl in this seemingly "Karlish" styled historical look-back post.
Just about everything in it is wrong -- the two "series of problems" links are to one-off reports of problems (one of them mine) that may occasionally recur. That is, in BOTH of those threads NO ONE ELSE BUT THE ORIGINAL POSTER CONFIRMED A PROBLEM.
As already noted, the "lack of ability to get in touch with ViaTalk customer service representatives via phone" link is COMPLETELY off-base -- the thread's about something else entirely. In fact, no one has reported a serious problem reaching Viatalk customer service in several months.
I am far from a VT booster lately, but the article is just inaccurate.
-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function | |
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koam
Pink Pecker
Premium
join:2000-08-16
East Puddle
clubs: | Re: Bad Article... Tomorrow's Monday!  | |
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| | iampedro
join:2005-02-12
Houston, TX | Re: Bad Article... I have very low problems also with ViaTalk they have been great for me and the features that they have are great.. | |
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