The Site > Old Forums > AT&T CallVantage > AT&T Callvantage will disconnect in Feb

reply to Fisamo

Re: AT&T Callvantage will disconnect in Feb

yes, if twc's cable and internet are out their phones don't work either. I get this when my neighbor (who has a different part of the power grid) has a power outage. they don't have battery power for any of these services.

from my point of view, the minimum I would need in a replacement for CV would be that calls could be automatically re-routed to my cell if there is such an outage.

reply to JAXx
Since we still have four lines with dial-tone, we switched a few months ago to a company called COMPOINT »www.compoint.com and I have to say I am impressed. There is no monthly fee, super low rates and one second billing increments (apparently no one else does 1 sec. billing), no contracts, no equipment, no pin numbers to dial - it's just direct-dial long distance, by the second, plain and simple. We kept all our old phone numbers and they bill us electronically. The quality has been excellent and we get exactly the same low rates calling internationally from our cell phones too. Our AT&T bill was way higher and even Vonage with 4 lines was more expensive. We call anytime to France, Germany, China and more for $0.048 per minute. If we only talk for 20 seconds, we only pay for 20 seconds = less than 2 cents.

Compoint is just a long distance carrier service. You choose them to handle your long distance calls in place of AT&T or whoever. You still need some type of phone line to use with Compoint. Not exactly sure what this has to do with CallVantage going away or with VoIP.

reply to Fisamo
Well i'm not sure about anything except death and taxes but the TWC rep told me that so long as their is not a power outage the phones will continue to work even if the modem is offline. She said that the phone was a different system than the internet. I can't explain it and will see if this is true, and i am having to get a new modem.

I will miss not having a safe forward feature especially if its not true that the phone will work even when the net is down. I do have 60 days to decide if I like the service.
--
JAXx, aka Stephen
~ All my opinions are only my opinions and if anyone else shares them - it's chance ~

reply to scots
It was just that the price with COMPOINT is completely comparable to Vonage and with four phones lines and the associated billing and service hassles we had with AT&T's CallVantage it costs only slightly more than free international long distance. We get six lines with dial-tone along with our T-1 line for $360 month.

reply to JAXx

reply to JAXx
Well, I won't accuse the TWC rep of blowing smoke, either, but whether or not phone works when the cable or internet is out does depend on the reason for the failure in the other system(s). If you have a building wiring problem, for example, (ie. you have NO TV service) chances are, you won't have phone either. If your wiring problem is such that you have degraded service, you might have one, two, or all three services at less-than-optimal performance.

It is true that any 3rd party VoIP solution runs off your internet connection. So, use of a 3rd party VoIP system reduces your available bandwidth, would apply against caps (if applicable to your account), etc. Without knowing TWC's system inside-out, I can't comment on why a connection to the internet would be failing without taking down the phone or how often such a scenario would occur.

reply to JAXx
Wow, I have my old POTS line being transferred from AT&T (Illinois Bell) to CV this Thursday as my second line.

Can I cancel the switchover and keep my POTS for now or is it too late? AT&T Told me that POTS disconnection is scheduled for 2/12.

You can always call customer service and ask. They'd be the best source of that kind of information.

reply to bshelly
Why would they let you convert when CV isn't taking new customers?

I've had CV for about a year and a half and am just now adding my old POTS line as my second CV line. They are still allowing the addition of a 2nd line, but now that I read this, I don't understand why.

I just signed up for Voipo (»www.voipo.com) and it looks like it is going to be the best alternative to AT&T CallVantage.

Ask not for whom the bells tolls, it tolls for thee. =

And to nrf, where i live we basically never have power outages (NYC) although when we have them they are doozies, but we often have little internet outages that dont affect TV reception.....
--
JAXx, aka Stephen
~ All my opinions are only my opinions and if anyone else shares them - it's chance ~

reply to JAXx
OH POO! Just when I was starting to like it and all the great features. I guess I will hold on until the bitter end.

reply to JAXx
Well, I'm now going cell only. I really enjoyed having CV, it offered much better voice quality than Vonage, Viatalk, Sunrocket, and even Voipo. And it was always up. With VZW, we are getting Friends & Family for free calling to 10 out of network numbers. This will be plenty for us, and we won't need an AYCE VOIP provider anymore.

Sad to see it go. It will be interesting to see the replacement.