VOIPo in Review

As a beta participant, I did get a good look at the behind the scenes preparation involved in bringing the VOIPo product to the public. Their final design/engineering team is top notch. There was nothing in their process that has rushed their offering to the public.

Everything was tested, and they even had their system audited so that they will provide a secure reliable VoIP experience. VOIPoTim has been very candid and up-front throughout the whole experience.

The price of $16.50 is a guess at their 6 month offering. I think you will learn that the discounted price will not lock you in for that period; any remaining unused payment will be refunded after deducting the non-discounted portion used - but not exceeding what you prepaid... (Keep in mind to read the TOS and verify what I say here. Once VOIPo is near full launch, and these details will be in black and white and available to read for yourself.)

The features are easily accessed using the VOIPovPanel web page.

Inbound Routing:
A favorite of mine! I can block everything that is not in my Phone Book.
Whitelist/Blacklist can be applied to numbers or groups of numbers.
You can create as many groups as you need.
Block all then let Whitelist numbers through.
My local area code is 734xxxxxxx so I also allowed 734******** to ring through without being in my Phone Book.
Calls from people in Ontario Canada are not complete in my Phone Book while the Mother-In-Law stays here so I also allow 519******* to ring the phone.
The possibilities are amazing. (Whitelist/Blacklist/Voicemail/Forward/Busy Tone/Disconnected)

Outbound Routing:
I forward the dialed number 613 to 613@fwd.pulver.com so I can try the FreeWorldDialup Echo Test.
I send 411 to GOOG411 information directory (411 to 8004664411)
I send 611 to 8005558355 which is an excellent information service.
550 goes to the wife's cell phone.
551 goes to my youngest daughter's cell phone
552 goes to my cell phone.
554 goes to the Mother-In-Law's home.
555 goes to my work.
You can see all the possibilities.

E911 is a painless entry on vPanel. They will let you choose from more than one possible location. I think that flexibility is referred to as Nomadic E911.

I think a soft phone offering is in the works. Beta testers have used soft phones and the GrandStream Telephone adapter. Your adapter does not need to be feature rich because the VOIPo back-end does the fancy part. The GrandStream will need a port on your router - * - so you need a router to use the TA.

I don't use the user Telemarketer Block, but it is available.

Voicemail on vPanel, from the VOIPo phone dialing 123, and SMS messages ...

Virtual numbers can be added. Toll-free numbers should be available at Launch. I used a Florida Virtual number for a while. So far no indication of more than one Primary number for each account.

There has been a number during beta for remote access to your Voice Mail remotely by phone. You now can check email by calling your number, and hitting an "*" when the outgoing VM message is playing.

The beta has never inconvenienced me with any long outage. I really don't recall not having dial tone during the beta.

2/7/2007 is when I received info and setup a Sipura SPA2000 in the early stage. We tested ZOOM TAs for a while. As fancy as they were, the VOIPo service did not need their complexity, and potential to have service issues. Using the GrandStream VOIPo took a lesson from KISS, and likely reduced their start-up investment also.

NOTE: The soft phone should have all the same abilities, because VOIPo does all the hard stuff in their back-end processing.

If FAX capability is not offered at launch, expect it to come. VOIPo has recognized that FAX has merit. They are also realistic in concluding that reliable FAX is not a VoIP product. It is a number-to-email product for incoming, and a file-upload-to-FAX for outgoing. There has been ongoing testing, and as is the VOIPo way ... you will see it when it is worth every penny.

Call history is a searchable functional feature on vPanel. I could use some way of summarizing total hours for a time period. But VOIPo does listen to suggestions. they may respond to key ideas slowly, but when offered, you will see their value. VOIPo like others these days are getting on the scene with a big list of extras compared to traditional phones of the good old early days.

CID+CNAM incoming works. The Phone Book makes your phone even smarter.

I am not sure if outgoing CNAM is all there?

BTW there is no Bandwidth Saver and I never thought to ask them what compression they use? The current pecking order in the GS286 is in an attached JPG.

I also would not be surprised if there are things VOIPo may have in the works that us beta testers don't know about. As a beta tester, I have always felt they tell us all we need, and tell us much more beyond that. But there could be good things under wraps :)

Some may also point out that VOIPoTim was involved in ViaTalk. Personally, I have never tried that service and have no strong opinion about it. I am glad that VOIPo came to be, no matter the path taken. I feel you will find VOIPo to be forthright, responsive, reliable, reliable, and reliable. Every bit of that is surely a reflection of VOIPoTim as a leader.

As a beta tester I had a long run of free service. I was paying Packet8 for unlimited service throughout the beta test until July 5th 2008 when I canceled Packet8. I only have great things to say about Packet8 except that their prices were creeping higher over time. When I had Vonage, and BroadvoxDirect, the prices dipped lower, and never went upward, even though new customer's pricing did rise.

As an early beta tester, our residential price will be better than an average customer can get. VOIPoTim is kind for doing this because the Residential pricing is competitive. Sign-up soon though. Tim let it slip that the first year will get 12 months for the price of 6! That adjustment may not show right now, but after they get in full bore launch mode, it should be a sweet change for those early adopters.

I personally have two lines (both beta user discounted), at one year terms each.

If you get multiple lines, like me, you will wish they could be combined in one vPanel interface so the Contact directory and such could be unified and less redundant. Still, all good things come to those that wait.

VOIPo is active at the wheel and I see no slowing of their deliberate forward pace.

When the gates are wide open for business, they will surely be ready to scale for anything, even over-night. So fear-not. The HostGator web hosting service has been a great template to meeting demand. They will meet the task, and some day, I predict the will surpass Vonage. :D