Debating

[Xponder1]

For what its worth your now down to only 4 negative reviews. Someone had a change of heart.

[burris]

For what its worth your now down to only 4 negative reviews. Someone had a change of heart.

Is it acceptable for someone to have a change of heart??

I'm sure we'll hear about it....

[frankd1]

Along the same lines it's with the reviews, some people want to "prove" that we tried to get people to change reviews even though that was not the case.

When we have a special, some of the same people post that we "need cash" even though we have huge liquidity right now.

Obviously trying to interact with the community provokes a lot of this and it's just part of it, but it seems like lately it's been on the rise.

Maybe people are just tense about the economy?

Like others mentioned, there are a million armchair QBs out there (I'm guilty of gracing you with my opinion a few months back). And the economy, along with the system hiccups, is defintely bringing the worst out of people. I do think you ABSOLUTELY need to keep communicating, like you've always done. But with the recent problems, everyone thinks they know the fix, so you need to just communicate the problems/status/remedies in timely fashions, and turn a deaf ear to suggestions or specific questions about your architecture. It's nice for us nerds to be talked to as peers, but you sometime need to change hats and be an authoritative voice presenting the facts, not open for discussion, as long as you're delivering on the announced gameplans.

In regards to the reviews, I do think it was a diplomatic dud the way you presented it, even though it was completely innocent. You're obviously getting screwed with the DSLR rankings process, so the better approach (IMO) would be to relay (like you did) what was happening and the inherent BS of the system, and ask people (if they were comfortable) to tell their friends and fellow board trolls about their hopefully good VOIPo experience (and maybe even start lobbying the DSLR mods for a new, well balanced ranking algorithm, since a lot of people make decisions based on GBU). A lot of us would read between the lines and post or repost our reviews to counteract reviewers who were skewing results. Others would just discuss the screwed up ranking system. Either way, you'd get some good exposure: improved ratings, and board discussion of how a few whiners with too much time on their hands are skewing the ratings. Any flames would be between users, keeping you above the fray.

Anyway, my $.02 at 3;43AM.

[Russell]

In regards to the reviews, I do think it was a diplomatic dud the way you presented it, even though it was completely innocent. You're obviously getting screwed with the DSLR rankings process, so the better approach (IMO) would be to relay (like you did) what was happening and the inherent BS of the system, and ask people (if they were comfortable) to tell their friends and fellow board trolls about their hopefully good VOIPo experience (and maybe even start lobbying the DSLR mods for a new, well balanced ranking algorithm, since a lot of people make decisions based on GBU). A lot of us would read between the lines and post or repost our reviews to counteract reviewers who were skewing results. Others would just discuss the screwed up ranking system. Either way, you'd get some good exposure: improved ratings, and board discussion of how a few whiners with too much time on their hands are skewing the ratings. Any flames would be between users, keeping you above the fray.

Anyway, my $.02 at 3;43AM.

Let me start of by saying I'm seriously evaluating VOIPo - as the days go by more issues with the infrastructure are getting fixed, which is great - so I have a vested interest in your success since I've paid up for 2 years and invested a fair amount of time working through infrastructure bugs. Hopefully, the last of these which affect me (router rebooting every hour) was fixed yesterday.

As a business owner, I too would want my business shown in the best light so I can well understand the motivation. I would agree with Frank's suggestions above - with one caveat: the initial post should have been on DSLR's VOIP TECH forum without the VOIPo tag. After all, it's an inherent criticism of that system and it's only fair it be published there. That way it would also apply to all companies which are rated by DSLR and so it would blunt any criticism that you're trying to game the system, as a post in a company forum with lots of loyal users may be interpreted. As Frank said your readers would have read between the lines.

[ptrowski]

For what its worth your now down to only 4 negative reviews. Someone had a change of heart.

Not a change of heart, I updated it as things have been stable aside from not being able to use the * command to get voicemail. I see no issue in that.

Just as people were vocal when the VT service was not working well when they were having issues the same goes here. If my service is outstanding then I will rank it as so. If it's not then it is ranked as so. There isn't anything wrong with that.

I think the delivery of asking for updated reviews was the only issue. It would have been received better as "hey guys, just a reminder to keep the reviews updated quarterly:" or something along those lines. It gets the point across and the thread IMO would not have even been started.

Even if it was not posted there it seems suspect when all of the sudden you see tons of reviews come in for a company. I think recently Callcentric was another one that had a flood of reviews and it seemed odd. One that seems to be doing well about it (although they are almost all anonymous) is DSLExtreme. They send a message I believe after signup. So you get the reviews but not 10+ at one time and it isn't perceived as pumping the numbers up.

Not that any of you asked for my $.02 and all, but there it is.

[Montano]

Wait... we're supposed to update our reviews ??

I'm such a lager. (as opposed to a stout or an ale)

[kevinj]

Interesting ... let me weigh in.

I am the anti-geek ... half the stuff written in this forum I don't understand, and the other half I don't know that I don't understand it.

Eventually, Voipo will have to crossover from the knowledgeable early-adopters who are willing (and interested) in tinkering, to the near-mainstream folks like me who are "out there" enough to be willing to go with non-Pots, but not up to the tech standards of the early adopters.

I found Voipo on DSL reports, and I was initially swayed by the relative scores of Voipo, PhonePower, and CallCentric.

I quickly dismissed CallCentric, because they were BYOD-only.

I initially thought Voipo was the way to go, and was impressed by Tim's "honest broker" persona on the DSL Report Forum.

My perception, tho, was that PhonePower was a bigger player, with a slicker website, and I was under-whelmed by the Voipo VPanel demo (I am a CallVantage refugee, and their "control panel" is to die for). I also thought that the cloned port concept was a killer app (and one that was not prominently boasted about on Voipo ... tho it is front-page material NOW).

But the DSL Report forum included strong user defense of Voipo, and also brought up the HostGator connection. On the other hand, there was no "buzz" about PhonePower. This made me feel more comfortable with Voipo's survivability ... and when I saw the word "cloned" on the Voipo site (and the lower price), I pulled the trigger.

Tim should stay active on the DSL Forum, but (somebody here) was right to caution him to offer Support and Facts, not Defense.

But, to be sure, the decision factors for me were:
1 - DSL report rating
2 - DSL report forum content
3 - Website

Once I get my ATTCV line ported and I actually use the phone (we are at the 14 day point now), I will sign on to DSL reports and be another happy user publicly.

Dunno if that floats anyone's boat here, but the "non-geek" has spoken!

K

[Russell]

Just as another point of view: I've never looked at the DSLR ratings when selecting a provider. I've been through Vonage, SunRocket, my current provider and am now about two weeks into my VOIPo trial. I maintain a Future-Nine account for their exceptional value for international calling. I rarely if ever look at the ratings - the recent brouhaha was an exception - and certainly did not when I signed up with any of the companies I've been with.

What got me to VOIPo? Quite bluntly:

1) the $199 (everything - taxes and activation too - included) for 2 years price (take note Tim!)
2) the hype in the VOIP Tech forum about the long beta
3) the 30-day trial period and Tim's presence on DSLR which to me implied the company would be less likely to not honor the 30-day trial if my trial was a disaster

Of course, certain features were a must and among them was what VOIPo calls the cloned second line which my current provider has offered for about a couple of years. It's funny - our call usage is very low. I guess I just enjoy the coolness of having that second line. Rock solid Voice-mail to email is important. Distinctive ring and custom caller id are other cool features from my current provider that we've gotten used to and which VOIPo supports. Of these, only the "rock solid Voice-mail to email" would be a deal breaker.

[usa2k]

Just as another point of view: ...

So you basically got all you were looking for?

[Xponder1]

I personally found out about VOIPo from Tim's posts on the Hostgator forums.

Tim, I would like to make a suggestion that you get with the B.B.B http://www.bbb.org to create a profile for your company and that you become accredited with them.
http://www.bbb.org/us/WWWRoot/SitePa...7-6ed5b2d76840

I personally check with the BBB before I do business with anyone. You do not want to end up like Vonage for example http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/busine...el-nj-11005249

for comparison there is Magic Jack http://www.seflorida.bbb.org/Busines...anyID=92003333

so if I were choosing between the two I would go with Magic Jack due to the better rating.

Would never want to look like this... http://www.bbb.org/tulsa/business-re...sa-ok-38000131