Horrible service STAY AWAY FROM VOIPO

[Mark A]

I switch my phone service from Vonage to this service. I was told by a co worker that this is the best value. I should have stayed with Vonage. I have only had this service for 4 months and i have already had 5+ issues. I am constantly missing calls I have been on the phone with support they claim that it was a routing issue whtere they had my # with another carrier or something to that effect. The phone is used for emergencies I understand if there was a power outage but not when there is no issues of that nature and constantly miss calls. I do not mind missing a call if it is not important but there was 2 emergencies and no one could call me at my house.

Now yet again i my phone is dead no one can call me right now. and i have tried to make calls to my phone and all i get is busy signals and my phone going straight to voicemail and i cannot even make outgoing calls properly i just tried calling my cell phone and after i hung up my cell phone rights with my phone #

Seriously what kind if lousy service is this.

ANYONE THINKING OF GETTING THIS SERVICE DONT CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE I would rather take my chances with a call center from india at least i can speak to someone.

an

[VOIPoBrandon]

Mark,

I am sorry to hear that you are having such an unfortunate experience thus far. If you would not mind providing me with a ticket # in order that I may further look into the issues you are experiencing and make sure that everything was handled appropriately.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

[MarkTomlinson]

Just want to chime in here that my experience has been the polar opposite of the OP's. I've enjoyed great service. And although I did have some issues early on, customer service was extremely helpful. I came to VOIPo simply because of the price and a few of the features. But, I've since come to regard this as one of the best services I subscribe to.

[christcorp]

Not down playing the poster's experience or post, but he's had service for 4 months, claims many problems, posts 1 time, and apparently has spoken with tech support about the issue. He's been offered personal assistance by part of VoipO's management team. I hope he provides Brandon with the work order tickets so Brandon can look into it.

People have to realize that no service or product will be 100% compatible or loved by 100% of consumers. Some of it's technical and some of it's preferences. Doesn't matter if it's Voip or buying a Porsche. You can have one of the most reliable cars noted world wide like a Volvo, and there will be somebody that says it sucks.

I only bring this up because when I see posts about ANY SERVICE OR PRODUCT that says: "Stay away from" or that something is the WORST; it makes me realize how ignorant some people really are. (Ignorant isn't a derogatory word; it simply means they don't know). Just because an individual is having a problem with voipo or any other product or service, doesn't mean it sucks or people should stay away from it. It simply means that this "1 individual" is having an issue. If there were a large number of posters and customers with complaints; I could understand it. But when the overwhelming majority don't have issues, a person needs to realize that they personally are having a problem, and it's somewhat unique to them, and it's not normal for the service or product. I'm sure the customer is frustrated; but that doesn't mean he should embellish and exaggerate voipo's service and try and convince the world that it sucks. It doesn't. VoipO is about the best voip service available. It's one of the best deals financially. It has one of the best support staff and management. You couldn't ask for a better company. That doesn't mean because of technical issues that they will be 100% compatible for everyone; or to everyone's taste. No company is. And don't give me this stuff about: "Well it wasn't like this at vonage" or some other provider. Because I can quote more than their fair share of customers from those providers who post just as uninformed posts saying those companies are the worst in the world.

Anyway; sorry for the venting. I've been with VoipO since "BEFORE" going public. I've seen where they came from and where they are at. I've seen some of the problems that some customers have experienced. With the way the internet operates in both the WAN and LAN environment, it is impossible to be 100% compatible with 100% of all customers world wide. But VoipO definitely stands above most other providers. And they definitely stand behind their service. And if they can't help you become a satisfied customer, they will definitely help you port to another company. So there's absolutely no reason to bash VoipO. Especially by a customer, who if they would have done a little research, would have realized that his experience is definitely not the norm. later..... mike......

[burris]

And also having been with VOIPo since before the beginning, I must echo christcorp's words.

He said it far better than I.

[ymhee_bcex]

I have or manage 4 VOIPo accounts. The longest - almost a year, the newest - 2 months. I am very happy with 3; and very unhappy with 1. So unhappy, in fact, that I forwarded my Voipo calls to Google Voice account and connected my adapter to GV. Same router; same adapters, same house - but Voipo calls have absolutely terrible voice quality; and other providers work great. Tier 1 support tried to blame router, ISP, and California heat. Tier 2 support is very knowledgeable; occasionally he tweaks routing for specific dial number, and quality improves for that destination; but obviously, I can't call support for every caller.

Anyway, if I only had this one account, I would be as mad as original poster (my first VSP - BroadVoice - was as bad in 2003; but I expect much more reliable service in 2012). If I had three other accounts - I would be as ecstatic as many other happy Voipo customers. But overall, I think you are taking 25% chance of "miss" in the "hit-and-miss" approach. If it is your business phone - you can afford something more reliable. If it's your home phone, and you have 3 cell phones lying around - you should be fine

[burris]

I have or manage 4 VOIPo accounts. The longest - almost a year, the newest - 2 months. I am very happy with 3; and very unhappy with 1. So unhappy, in fact, that I forwarded my Voipo calls to Google Voice account and connected my adapter to GV. Same router; same adapters, same house - but Voipo calls have absolutely terrible voice quality; and other providers work great. Tier 1 support tried to blame router, ISP, and California heat. Tier 2 support is very knowledgeable; occasionally he tweaks routing for specific dial number, and quality improves for that destination; but obviously, I can't call support for every caller.

Anyway, if I only had this one account, I would be as mad as original poster (my first VSP - BroadVoice - was as bad in 2003; but I expect much more reliable service in 2012). If I had three other accounts - I would be as ecstatic as many other happy Voipo customers. But overall, I think you are taking 25% chance of "miss" in the "hit-and-miss" approach. If it is your business phone - you can afford something more reliable. If it's your home phone, and you have 3 cell phones lying around - you should be fine

I'm sure you have the problems you described, but if this were true across the board with VOIPo, how do you suppose they could have thousands of customers for all these years who are quite pleased.

As was said numerous times by Tim as well as others, on occasion, and for a variety of technical reasons, the service just may not work for you.
If I were having the problems you described and couldn't have them resolved, I would have been long gone, no matter the price.

[ymhee_bcex]

I'm sure you have the problems you described, but if this were true across the board with VOIPo, how do you suppose they could have thousands of customers for all these years who are quite pleased.

I am sure you read my post that you quoted, but if this were the true - how could you respond the way you responded?

For example, where did you see me saying that the problems were across the board? Even if my own small sample, the problem is in 25% of cases (1 out of 4). If I had problems in the beginning, do you think I would sign up for 3 more accounts?! The problems (repeat: on one account of four) started about 2 months ago (after 6 months of very good service; first intermittently); I was doing some troubleshooting for a month; I opened a ticket a month ago, and not being able to resolve it, I now forwarded the calls to Google Voice, and the voice quality is great.


As was said numerous times by Tim as well as others, on occasion, and for a variety of technical reasons, the service just may not work for you.
If I were having the problems you described and couldn't have them resolved, I would have been long gone, no matter the price.
Yes, Tim said that numerous times. We can agree to disagree on this point. When I am buying a service from a provider (cable, Internet, or voice service provider) - I don't expect that it "just may not work for me" on the technical level. And, if that's the attitude of company CEO, I am reluctant to procure services from such company - no matter the price. As I learned long ago, technical problems are more often than not management incompetence masquerading as technical issues

[burris]

Yes, Tim said that numerous times. We can agree to disagree on this point. When I am buying a service from a provider (cable, Internet, or voice service provider) - I don't expect that it "just may not work for me" on the technical level. And, if that's the attitude of company CEO, I am reluctant to procure services from such company - no matter the price. As I learned long ago, technical problems are more often than not management incompetence masquerading as technical issues

Let me make another comment.

I am quite positive that I am many times older than you and therefore although I may not know all the answers, I have more experience.
Doesn't make me any smarter, but does give me more insight.

I suppose you are saying that your cable or internet providers work 24/7 with nary a problem and if they miss, you will leave.
We now live in a world where the technology is moving so fast, we have to run just to stand still.

It's good that you have a forum to post your rants, but I don't see where that helps your situation.

Try to be a bit more reasonable and understand that if all your other customers are working OK, maybe have support take another look at the bad one.

Again, all the customers can't be having unresolvable problems or they wouldn't be here, and I suppose I am representative of those that are working well.

[ymhee_bcex]

I am quite positive that I am many times older than you and therefore although I may not know all the answers, I have more experience.

Interesting assumption. I am quite positive it's wrong (I am 46, so even if "many" equals 2.5, you qualify for Guinness book of records); and more important, irrelevant.


I suppose you are saying that your cable or internet providers work 24/7 with nary a problem and if they miss, you will leave.
For the second time you read in my post something that I didn't write and didn't imply. You may have more experience (more likely, you assume that you may have more experience - but be it as it may); but you certainly don't have sufficient reading comprehension. And that obviously limits your insight.

If you consider my post "rants" then there is no point arguing. This, obviously, goes both ways - therefore I have no choice but ignore you.

UPDATE: Somebody just sent me a private message on DSL Reports (my nick is the same here and there; so it was easy to make a connection). There is a third place where you use a strawman:

... I don't see where that helps your situation
Again, I never said or implied that I posted in order to help my situation. Conversely, I mentioned that I've worked with support for almost a month; and while I am frustrated with lack of results, I don't think it's due to support technician's bad skills.

I dislike screaming posts "STAY AWAY FROM Vendor X"; but I also dislike sycophantic posts "they have thousands of pleased customers; if you are not, then it's something in your environment at best, or more likely it's error code ID10T". Having mixed experience, I think I can offer some insight that others (very happy or very unhappy) can't.

[Aurora]

The problem with this all is that everyone thinks they are instantly turned into a IT/Phone guy with this service. I have several accounts and have been a dealer for almost a year now. The only issue I have every had was the features of the web portal not working correctly and 1 time Voipo had a issue that lasted 2 hours before it was fixed. To say its the phone service is not the right way to go, if it was that bad everyone would have problems and the company would not be in business. There is many factors, the biggests is the service coming into the house or business. A lot of areas dont have Verizon Fios and the DSL is only available. Depending on how far you are away from the DSL terminal you will either have a strong service or a weak service that will be a step above dial up. To those of you that dont know what the terminal is it would be the starting point from which the DSL is hitting the town. Cable company techs are lazy and will sometimes hook up service with a old RG6 drop not a RG6 quad shield drop. Again even though you have service doesn't mean you have strong service. The way the wires are run in the house will affect your service. Since I became a dealer I have come across the following issues:

new patch cords (bad)
new phone cords (bad)
customers existing phones not working correctly
new voip Adaptors (bad)
wires ran to close to electric causing issues
an existing phone jack bad
customers service coming into the house had issues, there was a big drop off between the trans and receive causing data packs to get lost or come in corrupted.
Issues with routers

Unless you know how to trouble shoot the issues you will get no where fast. Voipo tech support is there to trouble shoot their service not know every router ever build, or how to configure someones network. They can only see whats going through their servers etc. If any one is planning on going to provide a cheap phone service to their house or business it is their job at that point to learn how the service works and how to trouble shoot it. Thats the reason why phone companies and cable companies charge so much. its a thing called overhead they need to find a way to pay for the technicians that come out to your house when things go bad. If you want to go cheap remember you are cutting corners and you wont have the option of scheduling a service call. You will need to find someone that installs and services these other types of phone service.

[christcorp]

Very well said Aurora. Some say that "Ignorance is Bliss". No; "Ignorance is a PITA - Pain in the ***". There is nothing wrong with being ignorant about something. None of us knows everything. But if you're ignorant, then either learn about what you don't know, or hire someone that does know what they're doing to help you. You are correct. Just because you have voip, and possibly have 2-3 PC's at home with a wireless router, doesn't make you an IT or Phone tech. Matter of fact; many times, such people are more dangerous. Those who know A LOT are great. They can do for themselves and help others. Those who know NOTHING are great. They know they need help and they ask for it. Those who know a LITTLE but THINK they know a LOT, are the most dangerous people I have ever met.

I am one of the original customers with VoipO. I was not only one of their Beta testers, but even an Alpha tester before that. Basically, I've been with voipo since DAY-1. I still have the original PAP2 adapter that they gave out when the service went LIVE. I have changed from DSL to Cable 3mb to Cable 15mb to Cable 30mb service. I have never had one significant issue with the service. Anyone who says that the "Service" (VoipO) is a problem, doesn't have the first clue of what they're talking about. The issue is either
a) Their ISP is simply not compatible with voipo; (Which is not uncommon or unrealistic). No one voip provider can have 100% compatibility with every possible ISP in the country/world. There are way too many variables.
b) Their home network. And before anyone says: "But I'm an IT Tech and I know how to do networks"; don't embarrass yourself by admitting that, and that you don't know as much as you think. The truth is, every home network; when combined with your ISP; becomes very unique. Assuming your ISP is compatible with VoipO, there's a 99%+ chance that your voipo service can be set up to coexist with your home network without any problems. But there are going to be ocassions where your network, router, PC running certain software, etc... can have an affect on your voipo service. Maybe it didn't affect your service when you used Vonage or another vendor, but that's NOT VOIPO's fault. Again; you can't expect 100% compatibility with every ISP and every network configuration. And anyone who thinks they should be able to expect 100% compatibility is showing how little they really know.

For what it's worth, the reason the Ma'Bell system had 100% compatibility is because 1) The entire network is THEIR NETWORK. There weren't any ISP's or personal networks to deal with. and 2) All device manufacturers like modems, faxes, DSL modems, etc... had to make their equipment to WORK WITH THE PHONE COMPANY. They didn't make the phone company change their standard to work on the device manufacturers equipment. That's why it was called "THE BELL STANDARD". It was "STANDARD". In the voip world, the internet is NOT STANDARD. The only thing standard about it is the the transmission protocal. But there's nothing standard about the ISP's, PC hardware, Network hardware, software developers, etc...

[burris]

Mike....

You said it quite well....

If you remember, I was also around since almost the beginning and to date, my service is beyond good. Certainly not true of any of my previous providers.
So good that I haven't heard a complaint from my wife since I went with VOIPo.

During my tenure on this earth, if that isn't the ultimate test, I don't know what is..

[christcorp]

Amen. When I converted to voip; before VoipO (I had 4 other providers prior to VoipO). My wife wasn't too keen on switching to "Internet Phone" compared to Ma'Bell tried and true. Well, she said I could get voip and she'd try it out. If it didn't work, she'd let me know. After I got voip, I tweaked it a few different ways to sunday. (I was using packet8 at the time). Once I had it figured out, I got on my Ma'Bell phone and forwarded the phone to the NEW voip number. I then went out and disconnected the ma'bell service from my inside wiring; wired the jacks together, and fed the new voip into my whole house. The big thing is: "I DIDN'T TELL MY WIFE". About 2-3 weeks later, my wife says: "So, when are you going to get the internet phone so I can try it out"?......... "Oh, I'm sorry. I installed that about 3 weeks ago. That's what you've been using". The rest is history. ;)

[chpalmer]

I suppose I am representative of those that are working well.

X2!

Wait I have 3 lines here and 1 duplicated at my remote office. X4! ;)

[Kasamba]

I had Voipo for eight months. Constant problems. I called tech support numerous times. Each time they fixed the problem, but it came right back. Miserable service! They said if I return the device, they would prorate my service costs, but they manage to calculate it in a way that gave me back almost nothing. This is a horrible company, I would recommend to anyone to stay far away.

[xaos]

I have to say that yes some will have issues. But for me it was Plug & Play.
I had a few probs but the techs always corrected the issues right away.
Then it came down to my extremely old cable modem and over heating router I have since replaced both & walla, No Issues..
Sometimes you just have to look at your equipment and not the provider..

[christcorp]

I had Voipo for eight months. Constant problems. I called tech support numerous times. Each time they fixed the problem, but it came right back. Miserable service! They said if I return the device, they would prorate my service costs, but they manage to calculate it in a way that gave me back almost nothing. This is a horrible company, I would recommend to anyone to stay far away.

Let's see...... Overwhelming positive vs negative experiences. (If not, they wouldn't still be in business. And trust me, I've seen a lot of VOIP providers come and go quickly because they had an overwhelming Negative vs Positive experiences). So; an overwhelming positive vs negative record; they've been live and offering service for more than 5 years; (pretty good time in technology years); and because your service is in the minority and didn't work out; it MUST be voipo's fault and they must suck.

Do I have that about right? Here's a good phone for you to use. You can't mess it up.

216
You can pre-program your 4 favorite/important numbers in it, plus emergency services.