hockeynomad
join:2007-06-19
Mississauga, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
 ·Unitz VoIP
| Alternate VOIP companies
I am one of those few souls who still has TS dry-loop and VOIP combo packages, but with the intermittent troubles with the Unix VOIP, I am looking at other options, that have to be cheaper as well. That was the whole point.
I know the Primus Talkbroadband is probably one of the best but it comes at $29 per month, even though loaded with features.
I know Babytel and Callcentric start at $5 per month, but I cannot port my number as yet, but I just may get a new number.
There are two other VOIP companies, G3 Telecom »www.g3telecom.com/talkIP.aspx and
Iristel with HD VOIP, whatever that is; »www.iristel.ca/browse.php/page/49
Anyone had experience with those two chaps? |
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Gokuu
join:2001-08-27
edit:
April 11th, @02:40PM
| Babytel is not $5/month. More like $10.95/month for pay as you go.
Callcentric has a pay as you go plan with $5 minimum top ups and $1.95/month DID's for incoming calls.
I tested a 647 number with Callcentric and discovered incoming busy problems with them during certain times of the day and night. This was before the throttling btw. I ended up ditching the Callcentric DID and will only use the service for outgoing calls. Their minute rates are consistently lower than most providers - Canadian VoIP providers are much higher.
One thing to keep in mind with Callcentric is that you are billed in $US, they have no e911 for Canada, and no voice support. Their online dashboard and ticket system is excellent.
I tried to give voip a chance, but given all the throttling and potential future Internet problems, I'm going to stick with my landline. Who knows, I may even pay the $25 fee to transfer to TSI Home Phone, just to stick it to Bell.
said by hockeynomad  :I know Babytel and Callcentric start at $5 per month, but I cannot port my number as yet, but I just may get a new number. There are two other VOIP companies, G3 Telecom » www.g3telecom.com/talkIP.aspx and Iristel with HD VOIP, whatever that is; » www.iristel.ca/browse.php/page/49Anyone had experience with those two chaps? |
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LittleStone
join:2003-10-31
Ottawa, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to hockeynomad
A Winnipeg company, les.net. I think you can port numbers to them. This company sponsored many dial-in numbers to sipbrokers.com. It was a small company, the website is not very business like, but it has been serving me okay for the last 2 years. You can use anything SIP/IAX with them.
But there were instances their upstream providers are not as stable as one would like, so don't port your extra critical numbers there.
»www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/les.net |
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codecx
join:2007-04-16
North York, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
edit:
April 11th, @03:22PM
| I've had no real issues with my Teksavvy VoIP... Sometimes calls go straight to voicemail, or... if I am heavy downloading torrents (something tells me this won't be a problem anymore...) the bandwidth sometimes makes the call crackle out.. but if I moderate my usage everything seems fine.
Honestly, it sucks that they turned away from it and towards residential phone. I hate paying that large cost for such an antiquated system.
free calls to anywhere in Ontario (..where all of both my wifes and my family live) and all those extra call features like forwarding, caller ID.. call waiting etc etc for 14.95.. its freaking awesome.
I've yet to encounter any service that compares.
IrisTel looks to give unlimited minutes for all of N. America for an extra $20/mo on top of whatever package you get.. I don't know how they are with customer support, but one good way to find out is calling their tech support up before you've subscribed and seeing how long wait times are, how knowledgable the tech is... and just outright asking them "I'm a potential customer, just seeing what level of service I can expect from you."
They'll be honest and you'll be able to judge their intelligence by how they answer. |
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hockeynomad
join:2007-06-19
Mississauga, ON | You are paying $14.95 for the same Unitz VOIP I am using? I currently pay $19.99. am I being ripped? |
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codecx
join:2007-04-16
North York, ON | I think its 14.95
I'll check my invoice! |
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teksavvy user
@teksavvy.com
| reply to hockeynomad
using vonage for 4yrs 19.95cad nobody can match their features
19.95 restricted to 500 min outbound/unlimited inbound
free l/d canada/usa
never had a quality issue even with bell thottling
u can set bandwith to 30/60/90 kbs which i dont think anyone else offers |
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codecx
join:2007-04-16
North York, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
edit:
April 11th, @04:04PM
| ok, yea here was the page that I originally signed up from...dated March 10/07
As far as I know, only my internet has increased in price. But an email went out about that when it happened.
»web.archive.org/web/200703091556···ombo.htm
Still, I'll check my bill and see if its increased at all.
I remember that I was originally signed up for Premium but I reversed it when I realized there was a cap.. but it remained bundled.
It really really sucks that Teksavvy gave up on VoIP. But I was under the impression that it was too finicky to support a large user-base. Our loss really 
But I plan to hold out on it til the bitter end.. |
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Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to hockeynomad
Another to consider: Téliphone (»www.teliphone.ca/en/)
Yeah, umm, they sponsored a LAN party I was at a few years ago, and that model they use in their advertisements was there... *cough* |
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kbray
join:2005-01-08
Etobicoke, ON | reply to hockeynomad
Primus is available for cheap, if you don't want unlimited LD... $29 is just their best deal. |
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hockeynomad
join:2007-06-19
Mississauga, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Unitz VoIP
edit:
April 11th, @04:45PM
| OK, I just contacted Les.net, thanks for that info, and they DO port my Mississauga number! No signup fees, and rates in Toronto area are $3.50 + .011 cents for outbound and 0.015 for inbound calls. Flat rates are $8.88 per month.
Definitely a great deal, and no signup fees.
www.les.net
My quick web search seems to conclude an overall satisfaction with their service.
I called their tech support and was there in two minutes. |
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hockeynomad
join:2007-06-19
Mississauga, ON | reply to hockeynomad
Les.net uses DIDs to receive incoming calls and
outgoing calls use Termination.
Is this a similar setup to other VOIPs?
Never heard of Termination. |
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LittleStone
join:2003-10-31
Ottawa, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| That's just terminology. The setup of Les.net is quite flexible, suitable for people using Asterisk.
You need to create a SIP peer first. That will be your SIP registration account. It handles all outbound and inbound traffic (format of sip:xxxxxxxxxx@sip-in.les.net where xxxxxxxxxx is the peer name) If you want the details of how to set up your ATA, create a peer first. Then you will see the Sipura/Linksys/Asterisk example settings for your device.
After that you can buy a DID. Attach that DID to your peer, and you will receive calls to that DID. You can attach multiple DIDs to the same peer (I have a 613 and a 647 DID to the same peer).
It's the most basic set up. There're more things to play around (like PSTN peer, simple PBX, etc.) The web page may not have all the details, but you can always call the support during work hours (not 24/7 though). |
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Gokuu
join:2001-08-27
| You are right about the website! Doesn't exactly inspire confidence. 
The total lack of information is surprising. I don't see anything mentioned about features such as CID or even a means of controlling your account settings and features. How do you pay, and what are the minimum acceptable payments?
How is your latency to their SIP server from your TSI connection? How many hops do you see? |
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hockeynomad
join:2007-06-19
Mississauga, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Unitz VoIP
edit:
April 14th, @10:51AM
| reply to hockeynomad
Gokuu,
I havn't signed up yet. I have some more questions to ask the suppport about calling features, etc, but what tech support questions should I ask?
With TS dry-DSL I will still be able to monitor the line stats?
I need to move to another VOIP carrier as TS is supporting this less and less now. |
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theninjasqua
join:2007-09-26
Oakville, ON
| said by hockeynomad :Gokuu, I havn't signed up yet. I have some more questions to ask the suppport about calling features, etc, but what tech support questions should I ask? With TS dry-DSL I will still be able to monitor the line stats? I need to move to another VOIP carrier as TS is supporting this less and less now. What do you mean about TS supporting less and less Voip?
--
-theninjasquad |
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hockeynomad
join:2007-06-19
Mississauga, ON | reply to hockeynomad
TS no longer offers the Dry DSL/VOIP and when I call tech support, only two of entire staff is still knowledgable of VOIP, and one of those is defineitely not always in. |
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LittleStone
join:2003-10-31
Ottawa, ON | reply to Gokuu
Sorry, I haven't switched to TSI yet (still shopping for dsl modem). From the Sympatico's account, the ping time to did.voip.les.net is 23ms. |
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Gokuu
join:2001-08-27
| Can you elaborate on what calling features you have with les.net? Is there some kind of "dashboard" to configure/check settings? How do you pay for your service?
said by LittleStone : From the Sympatico's account, the ping time to did.voip.les.net is 23ms. |
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LittleStone
join:2003-10-31
Ottawa, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| You can just sign up an account (free) on their website and you will see what they have after you login. All configurations are done on the website. Nearly all basic features like call Display, voicemail, are included. One feature les.net offer is you set your own CID. It's a prepaid service. You send money by Paypal, credit cards, or email money transfer (check the payment tab after login). Minimum deposit is $25.00. GST for all Canadians and also PST if you are in Manitoba. |
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