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Is FreePhoneLine desktop app permanently shutdown?Anyone knows what is exactly happening with FreePhoneLine service? Fongo shutdown its users forums indefinitely. FreePhoneLine shut down its only channel of communication with clients - Facebook account. I tried to post a question on Facebook, and it was auto deleted within one minute, no recent posts of other users on their page, except of 1 visibly self-promoting post 2 months ago.
The FreePhoneLine Desktop App now looses connection after 1st call, requiring to restart the app, while not even the 1st call is properly connected.
Anyone can provide their support phone number or now working communication channel with the company? |
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Re: Is FreePhoneLine service permanently shutdown?As of this moment I still have service. |
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toro join:2006-01-27 Scarborough, ON |
to zamarac
I am not affiliated with FPL in any way but I can tell you for sure they are making changes. I have a few friends who are using them and almost all of them are complaining, one way or another. First of all they started detecting hacked accounts. Nothing wrong with that, as far as I am concerned. But then they started messing up with things like registration interval. If you use anything less than one hour, you will get registration failures sooner or later. Not cool in my opinion, some ATAs don't have a setting for that. I would say 5 minutes would be an acceptable minimum for the registration interval. Then they started shuffling servers around. voip2.freephoneline.ca used to be their most reliable server (I used to recommend that to people who had issues with one way audio) has been moved to voip3.freephoneline.ca and a new server has been installed as voip2, in a totally new IP range. |
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toro |
to zamarac
As far as phone support, that has been dropped long ago, at least 6 months or so, but they do answer to emails. |
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to toro
All this is helpful for an ATA. But their Desktop App doesn't expose any settings related to servers, registration intervals, or anything essential. In my case the app seems to loose registration just after the call is placed and before its answered by another party. Any ideas how to deal with it? When did Fongo shutdown their forum, is there any replacement for it? Edit: Oops, now was able to open their forum page 1st time ever. |
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to zamarac
Mongo (Blazing Saddles) not to be confused with Fongo (Budget Sip) |
. Fongo support forum: » forum.fongo.com/I see a lot of posts from recent weeks. ----- FreePhoneLine = Fongo = DellVoice = BudPhone.ca = Worldline.ca Brands of Fibernetics, the big Canadian CLEC. ----- Fongo Support Requests » support.fongo.com/anonym ··· ests/new----- Other for Fibernetics/Fongo/Worldline: Phone Number: 519-489-4459 Fax Number: 519-772-5014 Email: TalkFreely@Fongo.com |
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zamarac
Member
2014-Mar-10 10:33 pm
Found these recommendations to troubleshoot the issue: 1. Forward FPL ports on your router, even if it works without it at times or worked in the past: » portforward.com/english/ ··· line.htm2. Check open ports with OpenPortCheckTool (Fongo claims, its the only reliable): » portforward.com/help/por ··· heck.htm3. Silly comments of Fongo Support on their forum: FPL Keeps going down (» forum.fongo.com/viewtopi ··· &t=15048) |
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MangoUse DMZ and you get a kick in the dick. Premium Member join:2008-12-25 www.toao.net 1 edit |
Mango
Premium Member
2014-Mar-10 11:47 pm
EDIT: 1) is accurate if you use the FPL Desktop app.
1) is inaccurate. It states "Freephoneline requires you to forward the following ports: 5060-5061,6060-6061,13000-13001."
At least with OBi ATAs, the default RTP ports for ITSP Profile A is 16600-16798. Forwarding 6060-6061 and 13000-13001 will do zilch. These port numbers are also not used by default on Linksys ATAs.
Also, you shouldn't forward 5060, or anything else that's not a high number. If you must forward SIP ports, configure your device to use a random number between 20000 and 65535 and forward that.
m. |
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Is it possible that the above link refers to FPL Desktop App rather than an ATA port settings?
In any case, how to find out, what ports are used by FPL Desktop App, since its ports is impossible to configure? Why lower number ports do not usually require forwarding? |
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toro join:2006-01-27 Scarborough, ON |
toro
Member
2014-Mar-11 7:50 am
Their desktop app uses 6060 for SIP signalling and 13000 for RTP |
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MangoUse DMZ and you get a kick in the dick. Premium Member join:2008-12-25 www.toao.net |
Mango
Premium Member
2014-Mar-11 9:44 am
I stand corrected. |
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ell join:2006-12-30 Kingston, ON |
to zamarac
I have 2 FPL lines and they have been working great! |
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zamarac
Member
2014-Mar-11 10:40 am
Fongo forum that suddenly started working yesterday has abundance of resent requests for customer support related to the same FPL issue: can't call and receive calls, whether via Fongo Desktop App or ATA (» forum.fongo.com/viewforu ··· .php?f=8). Fongo support provides no plausible explanation, why this issue becomes a major problem recently. Instead they force register the devices and apps of people who PM them ticket numbers, since filed tickets are auto rejected and closed without resolution by FPL & Fongo system. That means, only small minority of FPL users who are able to login to their forum, are helped to reinstate use of FPL & Fongo system. Its simply outrageous that Fongo Desktop offers no controls whatsoever allowing to reinstate and keep registration alive. |
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zamarac 2 edits |
zamarac
Member
2014-Mar-11 10:57 pm
Its interesting, Fongo open access to their forum, but don't allow new users to post or send messages. When you file a ticket via Fongo website, they sent an automatic email telling the ticket is closed without support. On the forum they advice to contact Fongo Support by PM with that ticket number, but when a newly registered user tries to do it or simply post on the forum, it never goes through despite having a surprisingly large number of moderators to read messages, and very few forum members posting compare to large popular forums.
I think they keep getting payments and free access to lines from their sponsor in exchange for promo services, while gradually and quietly cutting off all services for which they're continuously paid. And they cut off all communication channels with users, especially new ones. Probably time to talk loud to their sponsor Fibernetics. |
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said by zamarac:I think they keep getting payments and free access to lines from their sponsor in exchange for promo services, while gradually and quietly cutting off all services for which they're continuously paid. And they cut off all communication channels with users, especially new ones. Probably time to talk loud to their sponsor Fibernetics. Fibernetics started Fongo/FPL, and Fongo/FPL still use Fibernetics as a CLEC. But Fibernetics spun off Fongo as a separate company in 2011. However, AFAIK Jody Schnarr is still CEO of both companies. You could send him a fax at 519-653-7686. |
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Thanks for the hint. Fibernetics history (» www.communitech.ca/grow- ··· EePldV8E). I think they are doing some re-routing now, and more shifting to concentrate on mobile, but due to lack of traditional corporate culture chosen to keep silence rather than timely inform, pay refunds when due, and apologize to customers. |
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said by zamarac:I think they are doing some re-routing now, and more shifting to concentrate on mobile.... Definitely. Fongo, that is. Fibernetics continues to develop their CLEC business, and as we have seen these companies are technically separate now. said by zamarac:....But due to lack of traditional corporate culture chosen to keep silence rather than timely inform, pay refunds when due, and apologize to customers. I think that's probably the case. I think that if Fongo could use Mr. Peabody's time machine and go back and change history so that they never started FPL, they would do so. They have no idea, methinks, what to do with FPL now so they'd like it to go away. ----- But what refunds are due to those FPL customers who used it totally for free? |
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said by PX Eliezer1:But what refunds are due to those FPL customers who used it totally for free? Calls are free only within a set of Canadian cities. All other calls require to top-up your FPL balance. In addition, based on their forum posts, most complaining customers paid $50 and use FPL with ATA. May be that is why they block new posts on the forum. As mentioned earlier, before starting this thread their forum was not accessible at all - the site simply won't open. They do monitor DSLReports - again based on their forum posts references, but still keep to their culture instead of making positive changes and servicing neglected customers. |
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said by zamarac:Based on their forum posts, most complaining customers paid $50 and use FPL with ATA. Agreed. As a broader issue: For pretty much [any] company that promises lifetime service for a one-time fee, that's going to have a bad outcome. After they have your payment, there is NO incentive for them to maintain quality service to you. They already gots your money! The only motivation they would have is to try to maintain a good reputation to sign up more customers to do the same thing. Two problems with THAT are: 1) It bears resemblance to a fonzi scheme. 2) If they decide they want "out" of the business altogether, their motivation then becomes to try to discourage the existing deadweight customer base. Deadweight because (as noted) they already paid their one-time fee. This was the whole issue with the [original] business plan for Ooma---one fee was for life. Eventually they did have to change that in order to survive. ----- Final thought: FPL made more sense financially when it was part of the Fibernetics CLEC as it was originally. They could make some money from the inbound calls, though I don't know if that's the same in Canada. But FPL as part of the independent mobile company Fongo---that makes no sense in terms of finance or strategy. |
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zamarac
Member
2014-Mar-12 12:01 pm
Well, they are offering a free app for mobile users, I guess collecting shared revenue from mobile operators. For desktop users they offer an ad supported app. I wouldn't mind that, if it worked consistently and had more control from the user similar to other Softphones. Total lack of connection related and many other popular controls is very annoying. Zoiper is a good example of how a softphone should feel. As to their current motivation, many folks start from testing the desktop app, and if satisfied with call quality and stability, will pay $50 for the ATA credentials. I don't think anyone believes its for a lifetime, but technology changes so quick, most people don't expect it to last in today's form for more than 2-3 years anyway. Surprising thing is, they seems to start answering support requests today. So its a good thing to keep public communication channels open. First and foremost its good for Fongo and their reputation to retain more customers and prosper. |
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adit7 join:2013-04-02 Oakville, ON |
to zamarac
said by zamarac:FreePhoneLine service? Fongo shutdown its users forums indefinitely. FreePhoneLine shut down its only channel of communication with clients - Facebook account What are you talking about ? Their site and forum ( » forum.fongo.com/ ) is up and running. It does not make sense to track two places. I don't have a facebook account. never will, and I'm not the only one. Questions on the forum are replied, and also you can send a ticket if needed. I also don't care about the app they offer, I use the SIP info for my home phone. I also did not have any problems porting my phone number to them, recently. |
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zamarac
Member
2014-Mar-12 12:18 pm
I'm sharing my personal experience, to make it clear for you. If your experience is different, you're welcome to share it too, and read other users feedback on Fongo forum. My post is still not published on their forum, and my PM was on hold (not dispatched to destination) for 12 hours.
Yesterday was the first time I was able to open their forum page - this is despite Fibernetics sits on a very fast backbone. But again, I tried only when having issues, so may be during these particular times the site was overloaded by other users having similar issues... |
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cb14 join:2013-02-04 Miami Beach, FL |
to PX Eliezer1
said by PX Eliezer1:As a broader issue:
For pretty much [any] company that promises lifetime service for a one-time fee, that's going to have a bad outcome.
After they have your payment, there is NO incentive for them to maintain quality service to you. They already gots your money!
The only motivation they would have is to try to maintain a good reputation to sign up more customers to do the same thing.
Two problems with THAT are:
1) It bears resemblance to a fonzi scheme.
2) If they decide they want "out" of the business altogether, their motivation then becomes to try to discourage the existing deadweight customer base. Deadweight because (as noted) they already paid their one-time fee.
This was the whole issue with the [original] business plan for Ooma---one fee was for life. Eventually they did have to change that in order to survive. +1 I am still amazed by the growing number of people who think they can and will receive something for little or nothing from a for profit enterprise. |
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eksterHi there Premium Member join:2010-07-16 Sainte-Anne-De-Bellevue, QC |
ekster
Premium Member
2014-Mar-12 2:10 pm
No one thinks they will get something from nothing... I never imagined FPL to be around 'forever'... but that $50 has now given me 4 years of a phone line that had less outages that my old POTS did.
And it's still working perfectly fine. |
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adit7 join:2013-04-02 Oakville, ON |
adit7
Member
2014-Mar-12 2:27 pm
Agree. I would pay the $5 monthly for unlimited locals (in/out) like Fongo charges, but I prefer to use my own ATA (OBI) not the one they offer. I also understand that for 5$/a month they can not support all ATAs out there which is fine for me. That day may come in the future, and I doubt they will force all FPL subscriber to switch to Fongo, I'm sure you will be able to keep your SIP key. you may just have to pay a few bucks per month. |
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Pls suggest the way to dial SIP URIs with Fongo Desktop? |
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said by zamarac:Pls suggest the way to dial SIP URIs with Fongo Desktop? It's not possible. |
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to zamarac
said by zamarac:I'm sharing my personal experience, to make it clear for you. If your experience is different, you're welcome to share it too, and read other users feedback on Fongo forum. My post is still not published on their forum, and my PM was on hold (not dispatched to destination) for 12 hours. I'm not sure why you are trying to contact them in such a convoluted way. Here is the way to contact them: "For issues related to your Fongo Home Phone device or service, email support@freephoneline.ca" I did that for a friend who recently signed up with them and they did reply next day. While the agent insisted to change the registration to 3600s which didn't have anything to do with the problem itself, once we did that the problem was corrected. |
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There's no way AFAIK to change or even check registration settings in Fongo Destop. Not sure if FPL Desktop app is related to Fongo Home Phone. But eventually they reply even in the convoluted way. Yet it doesn't resolve the issue for a long - only for a few hours. I think, they are fiddling with the servers for a few weeks now, and even if a rep forces your App registration on their end during a support call, within a few hours they change something again on the server, and it goes back to "default" failure mode. It feels like they are discouraging folks to use FPL Desktop anymore instead of announcing its no longer supported. |
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adit7 join:2013-04-02 Oakville, ON 2 edits |
to Dan_voip
said by Dan_voip:While the agent insisted to change the registration to 3600s which didn't have anything to do with the problem itself, once we did that the problem was corrected. FPL will ban from the system devices (ATAs) which do registration to often. It will not happen immediately can take days, but it will happen so keep the registration to 3600 and retry to 120 like they say. They had those recommended for some time but start imposing it just a few months ago. Also, reading the forum I found that 95 % of the problems are on user side, usually related to ports not opened properly in the router for the ATA used or settings (like the one mentioned, which is NOT the default on ATA). There are occasional problems related to their side but I see those solved fast. It's a free service (after paying for the SIP key) so it expects that you or your friends or family will take care of the tech part yourself. There are good "how-to" guides for many different ATA and routers on the forum, but you need to try learn and test. If not, get an a la carte service with monthly fees, and better tech support. |
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