mcastaneda
join:2008-12-24
Miami, FL
 ·PHONE POWER
| Major Outage?
There seems to be a major outage - the phonepower site has a network status message that reads,
"Certain customers on the Phone Power network are experiencing no service at this time. Engineers are aware of this issue and are working to fix it. No ETR at this time."
I've been down for two hours so far. Another forum topic brought it to my attention. See link below. Anyone else in the same boat?
»PhonePower gone bye bye? |
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mitchd123
join:2009-09-12
| Yes, same issue PhonePower is down hard. Can't call in or out.
The reliability is really poor with PhonePower. They use a lousy Grandstream device which is not very reliable. When I had the Grandstream out ahead of my router facing the internet it would crash every day or two. I finally put it behind my router, and it will run for a couple of weeks before it needs to be power cycled. PhonePower replaced the device, and the new one acted the same way. I am a computer engineer so I know what I'm doing. The Grandstream firmware is buggy.
Today I lost phone service. As usual I reset the device. That didn't resolve the problem. I called their support number from my cell, and that was down too. I went to open an internet chat for online help...and that failed too. My guess is they lost their main router or something, or their link to the internet is not redundant.
They could be a good company because the feature set is good...but they need to get past some major reliability issues. I have a MagicJack that is more reliable. The sound quality is better on PhonePower, but the reliability of setup and reliability ongoing is awful. I'd suggest folks looking for a VOIP provider try another vendor (Sept 2009) |
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unknvoip
WWJID?
join:2006-07-25
Rochester, NY | Could be an issue integrating Broadvox customers into the system. I'm sure the good folks at PP will provide a postmortem when the latest crisis has passed. |
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mcastaneda
join:2008-12-24
Miami, FL
·PHONE POWER
| reply to mitchd123
I've been with PhonePower for almost a year and this is the first outage I've experienced. I haven't had the same issues you've had with the router behind or in front of my home router. In fact, I've only had to reboot the Grandstream two or three times in the time I've been with them.
Furthermore, the two times I've dealt with their customer support, I've gotten quick and courteous service. This is definitely an anomaly. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, for now. |
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newcustomer
@ameritech.net
| reply to mcastaneda
I'm a new customer that was trying it out on a new number and had just ordered my original land line (under AT&T Call Vantage) ported over just last week. But if they can't get this resolved quick I'll try and undo that and go somewhere else.
I was pretty happy with their service, and their feature selection is unbeatable. For me, voice quality was unbelievable good. But most of all I need something that's going to be pretty pain free for the rest of my family, and today's outage creates a pretty big headache.
Fortunately today all I had to do was unforward my old Call Vantage number and now we have working phone again.
I chatted briefly (very briefly) with someone in tech support, but they sent a very brief; "some customers are having trouble dialing out" and then closed the chat window.
It's worse than that; no dial in or out, and I get reorder calling their toll free support line. So whatever the problem is, it appears to be pretty big. |
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Pinan
Hypnotic Tweaker
ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-09-02
Murrieta, CA | reply to mcastaneda
»PhonePower gone bye bye? |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | reply to mcastaneda
Has there been a response by PhonePower yet? |
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newcustomer
@ameritech.net
| My service came back sometime before 5:20 PM central today.
Their "network status" says :
Certain customers on the Phone Power network are experiencing no service. - RESOLVED
I'm curious what the issue was, but it does look like they resolved it pretty quickly.
I don't know if this is common or uncommon for them; I'm curious what they might say later in the week when they can unravel what happened. |
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PhonePower
Premium
join:2007-07-20
Winnetka, CA
| reply to mcastaneda
Facts about today's issue
It was reported to me by our engineering staff that a database partitions crashed and corrupted the live redundant backup taking the system down. We keep strict on and offsite backups, so once the data was debugged and compared against the offline backup for accuracy and restarted, we were back online. I will post more details should there be some intricacies that I missed or didn't understand.
I have seen some speculation that this outage may seem related to the Broadvox client migration and given the timing I can see why. In fact the above issue was 100% unrelated. The Broadvox clients are being moved in three distinct batches which explains why only about a third of the users have been notified. If you haven't been notified, you will receive your notification. Until each batch is actually migrated the traffic does not touch our network.
Regarding the Mediatrix devices that most Broadvox clients currently have. We have tested them to be decent units. Unfortunately it seems most were manually hard coded and as such may have been difficult to re-point to the phone power servers without having to guide users of all skill levels through the process. Additionally, after re pointing the units, there was always the risk that some may simply lose their programming after a reboot and/or a power outage and resort to their base flash.
We made the decision to ship a new device to most clients to make the process as plug and play as possible. There is no shipping fee and the unit is offered on a free lease basis with a lifetime replacement warranty for as long as you are a client (that's our standard policy and applies to all of our clients).
You are NOT required to use the unit provided by us if you have an unlocked device that appears our BYOD list.
As a general update, we have hired over a dozen new employees and are working towards offering 24/7 in tech support in next few months.
Please accept our humblest apologies. It is certainly our goal to offer the most seamless VoIP experience. Times like these remind us to be even more diligent. |
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nycityny
Premium
join:2005-08-09
New York, NY
·PHONE POWER
·VoicePulse
 ·RCN CABLE
·ViaTalk
| I've used various VOIP service for over 4 years and outages like this happen occasionally. Anyone who is greatly concerned about these occurrences probably should not be using VOIP or should have a back-up service readily available.
In my mind the service was restored fairly quickly - I've been with providers where the system was down for a lot longer. So I say kudos for getting the problem fixed and for posting about it here to let us know what happened. |
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ToAnonPeople
@verizon.net
|  reply to PhonePower
I get the dial tone, however, no service. Unacceptable. I have made a huge mistake signing for a 1 year plan. I've nothing but pain since I moved to Phonepower. They have lost a customer here! Well, I've learnt my lesson. Goes without saying...
I took the liberty to compile all the anonymous complaints, lol. Funny how when a provider has an outage they find and post to DSLR so fast? However they quickly forget about PP stellar tech support and are paying 12.00-15.00 a month for practically unlimited outgoing call with LD to US and Canada. Not to mention all the extra perks. Unlike other providers they don't nickel and dime your @ss in taxes! |
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DAC
@rr.com
| reply to mcastaneda
Re: Major Outage?
Here is the email I just sent PP after two days of misery:
I just started with Phone Power on August 20. It looks like my ATA is defective and I want a replacement now. Ever since the outage, I have been having intermittent problems: the phone light is flashing on the ATA, no incoming calls or 1 ring and no one picks up, and the phone is stuttering when I pick it up (even though I don't have voice mail set up). I have been talking and chatting with technical support, resetting and rebooting the ATA, with no resolution to this problem other than a temporary fix which lasts an hour or so after the reset or reboot and then returns again and again. I give up! Please send me another ATA. You can even bill me for a deposit until I return the defective one. Either resolve this problem now or I am dropping the service. My 85 year old father is in the hospital and my mother is going crazy trying to reach me. Thanks. |
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crashoverride
join:2009-09-05
1 edit | said by DAC :
Here is the email I just sent PP after two days of misery:
I just started with Phone Power on August 20. It looks like my ATA is defective and I want a replacement now. Ever since the outage, I have been having intermittent problems: the phone light is flashing on the ATA, no incoming calls or 1 ring and no one picks up, and the phone is stuttering when I pick it up (even though I don't have voice mail set up). I have been talking and chatting with technical support, resetting and rebooting the ATA, with no resolution to this problem other than a temporary fix which lasts an hour or so after the reset or reboot and then returns again and again. I give up! Please send me another ATA. You can even bill me for a deposit until I return the defective one. Either resolve this problem now or I am dropping the service. My 85 year old father is in the hospital and my mother is going crazy trying to reach me. Thanks.
Well I guess they don't sell Virgin Mobile or Tracphones where ya live huh? |
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dac10012
@rr.com | Not sure what you mean by that. I want to be able to rely on my landline. Anyway, PP managed to resolve the problem, at least for now. It was all about the voicemail, apparently. |
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