Reviews about VOIP Services

marcus007 says "do not but OoMa" about OOMA

marcus007 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:11:02 GMT

Purchased an OoMa Hub with a second base called Scout. You get OoMa so you can use the internet to make calls instead of the monthly bill from the Phone Company. The OoMa's Owner Manual lists basic services - connection to the internet, a simple answering machine and a "second line" all for $220 bucks. OoMa also offers a Premeire Service which costs an additional $100 paid annually. These features upgrade your service to link your voice messages with your eMail, call forwarding to a cell phone etc. etc. When I called in to ask a question the day after purchase, I was informed that the answering machine and the second line "features" NOW were no longer available as a basic service! NOW I had to pay the additional $100! These basic features are listed on the outside of the box and in the Owners Manual. Bait & Switch pure and simple - and they know it! I called the Customer Service Line which connects you to Manila or the Philippines and the "Script Readers" overseas which are completely USELESS!...

...

greenefamily says "Vonage, not so great and believe me I tried!" about Vonage

greenefamily — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:45:05 GMT

I hooked up with Vonage in Feb of 2008. It seemed like a better deal than what I was getting with Quest. I was paying 25.00/ mo for just a phone line and with Vonage I could pay about the same and get everything!! Everything except good, reliable, consistant service.

With in a couple of months people calling me said I was breaking up, I thought they were either crazy or on a bad cell phone. With in a year people I called were breaking up. So I called Vonage and put in a tech. request after being asked what my pin was, I never got and my first pets name, I never had! It took at least 15 min. just to get through the security questions. They couldn't figure out what the problem was and sent me a new modem. I had to pay shipping to send back the one I had. That didn't help, and it got worse. There would be days when I had to choose if I wanted internet access or use my phone but I couldn't have both hooked up. I again put in a tech. request. After my 4th tech request...

...

bb22 says "MagicJack. Bad product. No support. It gets worse with time " about MagicJack VOIP Service

bb22 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:45:50 GMT

Had the MagicJack for several months now. The audio stopped working on most of the calls placed and received. Can't hear incoming calls and can't hear outgoing calls. This renders the MJ useless. Spent several hours with customer support. They are unable to resolve and unable to escalate and unable to do anything now. Now when I 'chat' with customer service they are unwilling to help. They tell me I am out of options. They will not refund me for the 5 years of service I purchased and they do not participate in number portability so I can't take my number to another provider. I really am out of options. I bought it now can't use it several months later because it is broken. This product, service and customer service is the worst. STAY AWAY

...

dadof4 says "Time Warner phone service is terrible." about Time Warner Cable - Digital Phone Service

dadof4 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:01:21 GMT

I had the Time Warner phone service installed last year. Like other customers I had issues with retaining my old phone number, it took several calls over a month and resetting appointments several times to make it happen.

My main complaint is my phone goes to a off hook signal while it is hanging, unused on the wall, I have to check it several times a day and reset the modem. I have called customer service numerous times, they are neither knowledgeable or helpful.

Since appointments run several days to several weeks out it's impossible to get any real customer service. I have waited twice for someone to show up at their assigned time window, it just doesn't happen, and there has been a message both times, " We're sorry we missed you." I wondered why they hadn't called during the appointment window and let me know they were running behind, maybe the phone was off hook again.

I have decided to drop this company's phone service I need is a phone that works and Time Warner needs to understand...

...

thegreatfixer says " NO CONFERENCE CALLS WITH MAGIC JACK" about MagicJack VOIP Service

thegreatfixer — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:20:13 GMT

i am a VOIP Geek and MJ has its placed in the world BUT!!!

there is one major FAILING (besides others) MJ actually BLOCKS MOST Conference Calls and tell you to use their own Conference call service yea right what if you do not start the call and just need to be able to dial in this should/might be illegal

most practical for family overseas IMO

many will be unhappy trying to replace their home phone service (better go with Goggle voice and many of the other FREE VOIP providers)

but i keep one with me when i visit family or friends

...

shortredhead73 says "Finally, a company that appreciates its customers" about Vonage

shortredhead73 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:26 GMT

I first decided to switch my service with Vonage due to the absolutly horrible service I received from one of the big name phone companies. My brother had been with Vonage for almost 2 years and swore by it. I had DSL and phone service through my previous company and my bill was $110.00 a month. I switched to cable internet, a high speed internet connection is required for Vonage service. I now have much better internet and better phone service and combined my bill is $85.00. One of my favorite features of Vonage is if there is a problem with the service, it is easy to identify. If the problem is with your computer connection, a recording will state that the company cannot connect to the Vonage device. This feature is unbelievably helpful when troubleshooting. I have never had any problem with clarity of the line and was able to keep my previous phone number which was a huge plus. I have called customer service twice and both times have been very happy with their response....

...

shortredhead73 says "Finally, a company that appreciates its customers" about Vonage

shortredhead73 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:23 GMT

...

pitcherday says "I love you, Vonage!" about Vonage

pitcherday — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:21:39 GMT

I don't live near my family, or in-laws, so we were rackin' up the charges with a traditional phone. When we lived in TX, we had phone through our cable company and it was great to have no long-distance charges! Then we moved to IA and our cable company is crap-a-loo. We tried the MagicJack... crap-a-loo, chapter two. Enter Vonage...

We got a deal online for three months at $9.95 and free equipment. No contract required. It's $24.99 a month now. I wanted an even better discount, so I paid for the entire year in advance after the three months was up! Note: it was a 20% discount over monthly billing, but buyer beware: there are no refunds for any portion of the year if you cancel your service. I am sure I am keeping Vonage so it made sense for me.

They have many features which are oh-so-nice. My favorite is the automatic forwarding of the calls to the cell when the internet goes down. My only option for high-speed broadband is the cable company. Bad, bad, bad service. So it's great to know...

...

GrandmawsOpinion says "Say Good Bye to Expensive Long Distance Phone Service" about Vonage

GrandmawsOpinion — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:32:31 GMT

When we moved from our home state of Pennsylvania to North Carolina I we make tons of long distances phone calls. And with family members in England and Scotland we make lots of international calls. Calling two and three times a week talking for a minimum of one hours per call those minutes added up quickly until we changed to Vonage as our primary phone service.

Our high speed cable internet delivers our calls quickly and clearly. Our friends and family haven't noticed any change in sound quality or connection. Vonage has many features that help me keep my phone calls organized. I can log into our online account and see every call we've made or received., My favorite feature is our voice mail is also sent to our email address allowing us to play our voice messages via our computer's sound system! It's a great feature to use when our kids call and we can listen to their messages together and save those precious calls from our granddaughter as a sound file. I have dozens...

...

hollarolla says "rude employees!! " about Clearwire

hollarolla — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:38:25 GMT

Every time I've had to go to the clearwire store my service has been just fine!

Just don't call the 1800 clearwire number!!! I had some tech problems with my connection and I held for 4 mins before I could talk to someone about anything. A young man answered my call where I asked to be transferred to tech support. The young man gave me a tone and told me that I called the wrong number and HUNG up on me! SO I called back. This time I got a young lady on the phone and I asked to speak to a supervisor to complain about what had just happened. The young lady decided to interrogate me with tons of freakin questions before she would just transfer me!! I had to stop her and TELL her AGAIN that I just wanted to talk her supervisor. She got mad at me and put me on hold. When I finally got to a supervisor I found out that I was transferred to the billing department....Really? Their customer service is TERRIBLE!

...

dannanonie says "Vonage was a rip off of money and time." about Vonage

dannanonie — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:16:37 GMT

Vonage took advantage of my 77 year old mother. They did not inform her that she would not be able to receive collect calls with their service, which she depends on. It took close to 10 hours of phone calls to customer service to get her phone number returned to her. She had to connect to Vonage in order to get the number back. She was without phone service for approximately 2 weeks during the holiday season in an effort to be connected, then reconnected to another phone company. Vonage fined her $66 for early cancellation without prior notification. It was a very frustrating experience, which involved alot of time with misinformed customer service reps. Beware!

...

winstongang says "A good alternative to cable" about Clearwire

winstongang — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:01:39 GMT

I've had Clearwire for nearly 6 months now, and have had mixed feelings about the service. I had to buy the modem outright instead of renting it, which cost about $100 out of pocket. I signed up for the $29.99 per month service, so my price will not increase after any trial period (this seemed like the best value to me).

When the box arrived, it was quick and easy to set up. However, I did have to move my computer across the room to pick up a better signal. Even in its current location (right in front of a window), I lose signal at some point everyday. It usually comes back quickly, I just have to move the modem an inch or two to the left or right. My mom uses this service also, and her modem sits at 4/5 lights (strengh of signal) all day, mine varies from 2/5 to 3/5. When I've had tech problems, the customer service people are quick to answer, but not always knowledgeable about how to fix something. I've called three different times in one evening and received three conflicting responses...

...

OKELkids says "Clearw're, ugh!" about Clearwire

OKELkids — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:32:20 GMT

No way would I use this Clearw're service ever again, if you want to call it that. They could give it to me free for a year and I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. The sign up was easy, the set up was equally quick. That's where the good stuff ends! The connection was so - so at best and when we upgraded our windows to vinyl, double pane windows there was nothing. You would have thought that we drilled a 10 mile hole in the ground and dropped our house in it, sealed it in steel and concrete and then tried to access the internet. We had to leave a window wide open just to get a signal, try that in freezing weather in the middle of winter, just to check your email, no thank you!

So we called them up and told them the problem. First guy said he couldn't help us (as if we were going to happily go away paying for a non-existent service). After lots of passing the buck, they said we had a two year contract with them and we'd be charged a cancellation fee... what?!? No...

...

lisavit says "Not all that" about Vonage

lisavit — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:24:54 GMT

I am not overly thrilled with Vonage's service. Their sales department tells you everything will work fine but that is simply not true. you sign up get their equipment, of course they bill you right away and then BAM you have nothing. Yup that's right once they transferred my number I was left with no phone or internet. Needless to say this was during Thanksgiving. Let's not forget now you're stuck with them for 2 years according to their contract. So I'm stuck, the connection is terrible and so is the sound.

...

armone68 says "LOVE IT or leave it!!" about MagicJack VOIP Service

armone68 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:42:25 GMT

Love the Magic Jack. I havent had any Problems using it.

It works Great, Sounds Great can call out and recive call just fine (other users have reported problems, I think they need to check there Firewall settings).

magicJack is a superior telecommunications subistute, it can be used to call any cell and land line # execpt 900 # i belive.

As others have said, I ran in to the same problems, They did not have a local Prefix for my area. I was however able to get my area code but it is long distance for other to call me with out a local prefix since my ares code covers over 40% of the state.

They probley should not sell it if numbers are not available, you should be able to request a Number at the time of purchase and be able to cancle the order if a local number is not availble.

You can change you # once with out charge so when a Local number dose open up you can change it for free but they do not offer a service to let a coustomer know when a number is available.

You should know...

...

redirishphotogrl says "If I could, I would not have Time Warner Cable as my provider" about Time Warner Cable - Digital Phone Service

redirishphotogrl — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:40:15 GMT

When it come to cable provider, do not choose Time Warner Cable. I have no choice but to have them because it's the only one in my area. I have had so many problems with Time Warner...I've lost count how many times a tech has come to my home. I have had my picture freeze on my tv a number of times, which by the way, I even turn off the cable and the picture was still on...lol. I'll be watching tv and the picture will freeze for a few moments and them come back on, missing some of the show I was watching or the sound will go out...and by the way, all this happens on new tv's...and the list goes on. This has been going on for a few months with a tech coming out more than twice a month while installing a new box each time and the only thing they did for me when I finally said something was 5 days free of service...lol...and I'm still to this day having problems.

I will say that the tech person was really nice and helpful each time, but they just can't fix the problem...

...

jazzing says "Not All it can be" about MagicJack VOIP Service

jazzing — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:33:30 GMT

This is about MagicJack but first things first. I had been using Jah Jah to call my dad at 2.9 cents a minute and getting 150 free minutes to call my brother since he also signed up for Jah Jah as well. The last few months I was messaged to add funds or my free minutes were not available. Well, with very little long distance calling this was becoming tedious and costly. I heard about MagicJack and decided to try it. Once it inititiates I have no problem with the sound quality or ease of use. The price is incredible. My one problem is I often have to unplug and replug the usb to get it to connect.

...

julianfamily5 says "He is risen indeed!" about MagicJack VOIP Service

julianfamily5 — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:41:27 GMT

I recently got the Magic Jack to try and save money on my phone bill. So far, so good. All you do is plug the device into a USB port in your computer and it runs your telephone. Cool! It is VERY inexpensive and seems to work pretty well. You can see on your computer who is calling and use your mouse to answer the phone. The calls are clear too.

I did have a bit of trouble hooking it up at first. However, I followed the instructions given and it fixed itself very quickly. I have also noticed that surfing the web and talking on the phone at the same time can cause some slowness with my DSL connection. And I had to get a new set of phones in order for this to work, just because only one phone can be plugged into the Magic Jack. So I bought a system with satellite handsets. I have also had some trouble retrieving voicemail. But I havent' had any real problems yet. The only one I foresee if if/when the power goes out, no phone service. I guess we'll use the cell...

...

jennifermardin says "Love it, would never pay full price for phone service again" about Vonage

jennifermardin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:48:43 GMT

I absolutly love vonage phone service. I can not say enough good things about them. I purchased this suspecting that it would not work as well as advertised or that they would eventually keep putting the price up until it was virtually the same as the phone company. I would like to admit that I am probably above average when it comes to being familiar with computers. I've never met one that I couldn't run blissfully well within 30 minutes. When the package came, I simply hooked it up, and it worked. Nothing complicated or hard to understand. I have never had a problem with it. I was so thrilled with the service that I also had my grandmother hooked up with it, she also has never had a problem with hers. I need to mention that if the power goes out, so does your phone service. You also require an active broadband connection. I think however, that it is the best and only way to have the internet.

...

AlabasterBeauty says "I'd get better customer service from a blind chimp in a tutu." about Time Warner Cable - Digital Phone Service

AlabasterBeauty — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:45:09 GMT

This service in a nutshell: is provided by one of the most low-class, horrendous companies that I have had the displeasure of doing business with. Their customer service representatives are rude and totally inept. Whatever happened to the old-time phrase, "The customer is always right?" Time Warner has obviously never heard about it.

When my family and I moved into our new house, I did some homework on bundle packages available in our area and Time Warner offered the only bundle that included high-speed DSL, as well as digital phone service with all the bells and whistles like Voicemail and Caller ID. For the 1st six months of service, I was very pleased with Time Warner Cable. I never saw any weird charges on my bill and the DSL was lightning fast. Plus, it's easy to pay online with a debit card or personal check, which was how I generally paid my bill. When I paid my last bill, I provided all my checking acct. information on TWC's website and was sent an approval code via...

...