VOIP Tech Chat → [VOIPo.COM] Reviews of VoIPo?

I've been looking to switch for a couple years now but haven't made the jump yet. I'm paying $35/month for Optimum Voice. Voipo would be 82% cheaper for me.

so let's hear the pros and cons to Voipo. Thank you!

This website that you are on---DSL Reports---was originally founded to provide service reviews (thus the word Reports).

Hence you will find many reviews:

All:
»/reviews

All for VoIP:
»/revie ··· typ=voip

Voipo:
»User reviews - VOIPO

thank you for the links. I always wondered why it was called "DSL Reports"

Having said that, I will add that the Voipo company is well regarded here, their owner Tim regularly participates in this forum, and they have been around for several years.

I did use one of the cloud numbers for a while, and it was fine.

They have many happy users here.

I think you will find that Voipo has many more features than Optimum Voice (cable company phone service).

Porting to them is free, unlike the $40 that Optimum charges.

They will provide you an ATA which you will plug into your router (unlike the Optimum Voice setup which works off of the Optimum modem).

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Voipo is a fine choice if you want plug-n-play service, just as CallCentric is a fine choice for the BYOD market.

Though VOIPo is IMO the best provider in the plug-n-play class, here are a few reasons why they may not be best for you:

For non-voice applications (alarm system, fax machine, TiVo, etc.), any independent VoIP provider is likely to be more problematic than Optimum Voice, which takes advantage of dedicated bandwidth on the cable system. If you depend on such equipment, please provide details.

For heavy users of international calling and for frequent international travelers, some of the BYOD companies are better suited.

If your usage is low (your home phone is just an emergency backup for your mobile, or a number to give people you don't want to hear from), a BYOD service will be less expensive.

If you have special requirements (e.g. service in multiple locations, separate numbers for spouse or kids, incoming numbers in different states or countries), BYOD services are more flexible.

1+ to Stewart.

I just totally randomly hit upon this complaint:
"They actually tried to say that my FIOS service was the problem. Really? Then why did Vonage and Nettalk work fine???" (Joe V, 2015-Feb-3)

There was another discussion here where Network Guy and Nickdigger pinpointed their VoIP trouble to Verizon FiOS "body shaping" your connection.

So apparently I'd say a lot of the bad reviews are either the fault of the user (bad config) or his ISP. Shouldn't be an issue either way, since they have a 30-day money back guarantee.

I would not worry about some drive-by rants.

The OP is on Optimum (Cablevision) and 3rd party VoIP companies are NOT a problem with rare exception.

By contrast, people using Verizon FiOS with 3rd party Voip may have more issues.

I was with Voipo for about 1 1/2 years. I have two brothers that also have Voipo. I switched away from them last fall after a lot of problems. See my review. Since I left my brothers have had a new problem. Sometimes when calling someone the call would not go through but it would keep calling the person they called after they hung up. Recently my brother called my cell phone using Voipo and after he hung up his number kept calling me about every minute for about a half hour. He called tech support to get it to stop. Both of my brothers are currently in the process of switching from Voipo to Anveo. Callcentric would be a good choice also, but I would steer clear of Voipo. That is my experience.

Well, if VoIPO knows there are issues with Verizon FiOS and they aren't doing something about it (complain to FCC), then they deserve the bad reviews and overall reduced score. As I've said in that FiOS discussion - it shouldn't be too hard to prove Verizon is messing around.

All VoIP providers should unite and fight this evilness... Verizon is playing them all for fools.

Anyway, Lmartin12's review mentions a repetitive issue with VoIPO, which in my opinion is due to their too-low cost: they have to try to slip you bad carriers to cut costs. I read several bad reviews mentioning having to call customer service to get routes changed on destinations, so to me that sounds like using your customers as guinea pigs. If so, not cool.

At least if they have to resort to that, I'd expect them to have some *223 (BAD) or somesuch code to report the last call as crappy quality, then when you make the next call, a different carrier will be used for same destination - or something.

Or it could just be his ISP...

I and my brothers have had trouble with Voipo and we have fiber optic internet. Switching providers fixed most of the problems.

Switching VoIP provider or ISP?

From Voipo to Anveo. We have the same ISP.

In that case your experience is similar to Joe V's I quoted a few minutes before your joining the discussion.

The fault may have been your ISP's. Why it works with another VoIP provider is another mystery that needs to be discovered, though.

Next time this happens to someone, both the customer and the VoIP provider need to contact the ISP so they know they've been caught. Perhaps a few threatening calls would have gotten your ISP to "optimize" your connection for any and all VoIP providers.

Please note that Anveo's low end plans have the call route problem too, but not the other problems. You get what you pay for. Anveo's better plans have less route problems, but of course cost more. I wanted full control and low cost so I am using Anveo Direct via Anveo Retail. Works good but is a little more advanced.

Yep, if you do your research (so you don't overpay for junk) then as you start paying more you'll indeed get better quality & more functionality.

I personally think VoIPO is too cheap myself, but I'd give them a chance if I weren't somewhat technical. And I also like the concept of Anveo Direct (immense control and lower latency) so I plan to give them a shot some time in the next few months.

How can call route problems and the other issues be ISP problems?

Others are as cheap or cheaper in various ways (Localphone, Anveo Direct, Voxbeam, CWU, CircleNet, Voip.MS for Canadian rates, etc).

Now I feel funny here because in the past I have criticized providers who were TOO cheap. But while I might have felt that about (for example) Vestalink, it's not true of Voipo.

If MJ can provide service for $3 a month, surely Voipo can do it for $8 a month for 2 years, then a bit higher for the customers who stay.

Also because of the 2-year prepay, if they put any extra money in the stock market that alone will have helped them a lot in the last few years.

Voipo has been around for several years now. They are not some call-by-night.

Suggest you consider PhonePower using an Obihai ATA for $60/year. I have had VOIPo for about 3 years and PP for 7 months and their reliability and convenience is roughly the same. If CNAM is important to you, contact VOIPO BEFORE signing up to determine if CNAM is available at your location. PP provides CNAM at my location while VOIPo does not. Also in my case, PP has better international rates.

I don't know exactly why, but the hypothesis is that (at least) Verizon FiOS is doing something to some packets at some times. Proof is in the pudding -- Network Guy switches ISPs out of Verizon FiOS, stays with same VoIP provider, and his VoIP issues are gone. If he's an experienced network guy, ran all the tests imaginable, and he tells us all that the culprit is Verizon FiOS, I strongly lean to that conclusion too.My concern wouldn't be that they'll be out of business any time soon. My concern is that they don't have enough extra cash to deal well with the 10%-20% of problematic situations or enhancing their feature-set/reliability/technology. I, for one, don't think they're handling the problems with Verizon FiOS properly. I don't hear any company representative telling us "this Verizon FiOS behavior is unacceptable and our legal department is doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this". They just tell a customer "it's your ISP - buhbye". Really now? It's my ISP and you're just gonna give me up as a customer and let me blast you all of the interwebs? Not wise.

There are many variables that determine whether any VoIP service will work well for someone....many of them are outside of the provider's control when using an independent VoIP provider (router, modem, network config, connection to us, connect to our carrier partners).

Our service works very well for 99% of users, but there will always be the 1% of customers that it doesn't work well for due to their unique set of variables in the mix. This is true for all providers and no independent provider can really make their service work perfectly for 100% of users since we don't control all the variables. This is why one provider can work well for one person and not for another.

Another thing to consider is that all VoIP networks are designed differently (in terms of how we handle NAT, what softswitches we use, where our media servers are located etc).

I'm not sure what the issues were with lmartin12, but we're happy that he/she has found a service that better meets his/her needs. There are always going to be 1% of users that have issues and unfortunately lmartin12 fell into that category with VOIPO.

There are no widespread issues with FIOS and VOIPO. We have thousands of users using our service with FIOS internet service without issues.

We provide a generous full money back guarantee within the first 30 days and a prorated one after that if a customer has issues with our service. I think our reviews and reputation speak for the fact that 99% of our users are very happy and don't have chronic issues. Our goal is not to focus on making our service work for 100% of all variable combinations out there since that's unattainable...we focus on providing the best service for the 99% of users that have variables that allow our service to work well for them.

Thanks everyone for the input. I read through some of the reviews and of course I went to the negative reviews first lol.
It seems the $149 for two years is a promo price and someone stated it was $200/year after that? Or is that for two years? The latter I. Meh better but then so is the former since in paying $413/yr with optimum.
I also read about a $50 charge of some sort. Was this because someone didn't return equipment? (Understandable).
Money is my main concern at this point.

As for what Stewart said, I have very low usage, don't call long distance except to California now and again and use Internet fax. The only thing I do is use "find me" with optimum. My cell phone rings simultaneously with my home phone for when I'm not home.

I have been a customer of Voipo for over 2 years (hey, I missed an anniversary!) on FIOS and have never experienced the issues described above.

On the rare occassion where routing to a particular number or area has been an issue, Tim and his team have been very responsive and fixed the issue within a business day (in at least one case, in minutes).

As for feature set, it's fairly robust, more than adequate for residential and light business. If I need an IVR or an expanded feature set, there are other enterprise-focused companies. I don't see a lot of innovation required for a POTs replacement product, just a lot of stability. In this Voipo delivers.

For what Voipo is (a plug and play, use as if it's POTs without needing to worry about configuration or other technical issues, at a fair price), it is most definitely a success.

The "family acceptance factor" (a superset of the WAF) is not only high with Voipo, it's off the charts. And the BPAF (bill paying acceptance factor, a subset of the WAF) is also exceptionally high.

Perhaps 99% of the remaining users, but according to the Voipo* reviews it's closer to 84% (161/192) maybe 86% (1-31/215) of users having a positive experience. That was where I voiced my concern, which is now actually amplified with the insistance that there are no issues with FiOS. See, I'm not a statistician, but if I randomly hit upon a Voipo complainer who's on FiOS, I mention it in this discussion, and a few minutes later someone joins and as an afterthought mentions he's also on FiOS, as well as his brother, and they were both having a problem with Voipo, I think it pretty much screams "look into this until it's fully resolved". Maybe it's some old firmware of some router they're all renting. I dunno. The fact other FiOS users are having no problems is totally irrelevant. What matter are the patterns within the problematic crowd.I think you should be commended for that, and only because of that policy I believe it's safe enough recommending Voipo.I think it was mentioned that after taxes Voipo is just under $8/mo in the first two years, then it doubles to $16/mo (incl taxes) for all subsequent months.

However, if your usage is really really low, maybe you should just go with a BYOD solution and pay someone to set it up instead. We had Localphone for a while and it was pretty good, albeit plain-vanilla.

Voipo* - I think I'm gonna capitalize it this way from now on since apparently the company itself cannot consistently decide if they're VOIPo or VOIPO

I doubt most satisfied users do reviews here. Maybe visa-verse is true as well ...

I have stuck here for a number of reasons - I like that Tim, their CEO is conscientious, and they have displayed much integrity in my experience. These days, I rarely think about VOIPo; I guess that is because I have no complaints, and trust that the ship is on course. When I beta tested at the beginning I was posting on their forums every day providing feedback, testing different ATAs. Now, I'm more in the woodwork, just chilling, and no complaints.

No need to have doubts, because nobody in their right mind will say Voipo only has 320 satisfied users (with "most satisfied users" being 161)... But I know what you're talking about. I've seen the common excuse used by bad-reviewed entities in the past: "bad experiences are more likely to inspire reviews". Well, it's not true enough to significantly affect comparative results with direct competitors who have a much better overall score and deal with the same "inherent weakness" of the review system.

Anyway, in my experience, it's more "who" write the review. Some people are simply "experience sharing" while the vast majority (90%-99.5% according to experts) are leechers/parasites of information (they give nothing back). The ones who share will share the good and the bad...Apparently if Voipo works for someone the first week, then in general it'll continue working great month after month. But, if the ratio of good/bad reviews isn't improving as months & years go by, then to me it signals stagnation. If other similar-size VoIP providers can reach 90%+ score, no reason whatsoever why Voipo can't.

I just read through a bunch of the Voipo reviews.

There's one post by an unregistered user that I don't understand at all: He complains of having to pay an invoice with a 3-day deadline. AFAIK the company does not "invoice" anyone, you pay upfront with a credit card or similar.

Aside from that, most users seem to have very good service, but a few seem to have had a slew of problems.

Voipo seems to be characterized by that, one extreme or the other.

Maybe the ATA that the company provides just does not work well in certain environments or routers or ISP's.

Or maybe their low pricing leads to walmarting their outbound providers.

I just don't know otherwise, the reason why things would be somewhat inconsistent with them.

Whatever the case may be, I'm suspecting if enough effort was invested, it would be pinpointed in the vast majority of cases, rather than just giving up on customers. Their strongest competitors aren't as happy to see customers leaving. The score proves that other VoIP are bigger fighters.

Speaking in general and not in regard to a specific provider, sometimes the best thing to do in business (all business, not just telephony) is to let your headache become your competitor's headache.

As well, the companies that are lower-priced are going to have less resource available for outlier problems. That's sort of what you have said previously with the implication that it's a bad thing, I view it more as a business decision and a reality.

There are exceptions of course.

Voip.MS is low price but they save some money by doing certain things in their Yucatan office, so they can provide extended support.

Anveo is low price but they sometimes charge separately for support services, in which case they can provide extended support.

Vonage is high price but they blow that money on a massive building where even cutting the grass must be a big expense. They are not known for their support.

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Once such things are taken into account, the fact is that for some companies the best business strategy is to [not] sacrifice the many to help the one.

Am I wrong? Aren't you a VOIPo reseller?