My Initial Impressions...
This is my first week with the service myself. Some early impressions:
1) The Linksys adapter was shipped in a Priority Mail flat rate envelope with no cushioning. It made it okay, but having lots of experience moving recorded media around, it's dangerous to ship this kind of stuff without padding/bubble wrap. The post office can be notorious in crushing these kinds of things. Something to consider.
2) The documentation that came with the package was clearly directed at early adopters who already know how to connect these kinds of devices. A neophyte is not going to have much of a clue what or where to hook this thing up.
3) The website control panel is overcomplicated and not customer friendly. Most of the features are not well documented and don't give customers much information about how to configure them or get them to work. This is okay during a beta, but much work needs to be done here once the product is sold to consumers en masse.
4) Sound quality for calls has been uneven for me. While most calls seem to go through fine, when you get a bad "circuit," it's really bad. Call quality is extremely distorted (rough sounding). You can usually tell what you are going to get as soon as the ring starts. If it sounds rough and distorted, so goes the rest of the call.
5) The voicemail system does not always respond to the * command. It was particularly bad over the weekend when I simply couldn't get into the mailbox. It's been fine since Monday thus far.
6) Incorrect numbers (empty exchange groups/invalid exchanges) don't bring an intercept recording but only a reorder. This should eventually be changed.
7) Area code splits are not always honored properly by Voipo. 716-937, for example, in Alden NY is reachable by dialing 716-937 -and- 585-937. This shouldn't be happening. Permissive dialing ended here a few years ago, and if 585 assigns 937, I'm unsure if Voipo will recognize that properly.
Re: My Initial Impressions...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dampier
This is my first week with the service myself. Some early impressions:
1) The Linksys adapter was shipped in a Priority Mail flat rate envelope with no cushioning. It made it okay, but having lots of experience moving recorded media around, it's dangerous to ship this kind of stuff without padding/bubble wrap. The post office can be notorious in crushing these kinds of things. Something to consider.
I received the 502 and it was wrapped in bubble wrap. Odd that yours lacked it.
2) The documentation that came with the package was clearly directed at early adopters who already know how to connect these kinds of devices. A neophyte is not going to have much of a clue what or where to hook this thing up.
What exactly is complicated about the documentation? With the 502 you plug it in and it just works. I suppose perhaps its possible something is more complicated about the setup of the Linksys but I really doubt it. It should be plug and go.
3) The website control panel is overcomplicated and not customer friendly. Most of the features are not well documented and don't give customers much information about how to configure them or get them to work. This is okay during a beta, but much work needs to be done here once the product is sold to consumers en masse.
The control panel is plain and simple. There is nothing complicated about it. The only thing that really even leaves any questions is the telemarketer block page. Most things do speak for themselves. However, I agree that documentation would be nice but I am sure its being worked on. I like someone else's suggested idea for the time being of a public wiki.
4) Sound quality for calls has been uneven for me. While most calls seem to go through fine, when you get a bad "circuit," it's really bad. Call quality is extremely distorted (rough sounding). You can usually tell what you are going to get as soon as the ring starts. If it sounds rough and distorted, so goes the rest of the call.
My sound quality is perfect every call. Perhaps you should submit a ticket. I do not have any audio issues at all. Sounds better than the pots line.
5) The voicemail system does not always respond to the * command. It was particularly bad over the weekend when I simply couldn't get into the mailbox. It's been fine since Monday thus far.
The voice mail system has been worked on this weekend and I think what ever change they made disabled that * command. The voice mail is still fully functioning and simple to use.
6) Incorrect numbers (empty exchange groups/invalid exchanges) don't bring an intercept recording but only a reorder. This should eventually be changed.
I have no idea what your talking about lol :p
7) Area code splits are not always honored properly by Voipo. 716-937, for example, in Alden NY is reachable by dialing 716-937 -and- 585-937. This shouldn't be happening. Permissive dialing ended here a few years ago, and if 585 assigns 937, I'm unsure if Voipo will recognize that properly.
Interesting but I doubt it will affect anyone anytime soon.
Re: My Initial Impressions...
Funny this comes up. I also just want to throw in my 2 cents. What doesn't kill you, can only make you stronger, right? Here goes.
In regards to the packaging, I too thought that it could have been better. I realize that it is a great way to save on money, but is it worth damaging a device and have potential problems with it later down the road, only to have your customer mad at you because something isn't working correctly? Case in point, my 502 did not work correctly from the get go. Damage? I don't know, but anything is possible. ( I ended up getting a replacement and all was well).
The documentation that came with it did lack. Because I consider myself a bit above average when it comes to these things, I understood it just fine. I did however give it to my wife, and it was gibberish to her. Now grant it that she is not technically savvy, so does that mean that Voipo is only trying to acquire the tech savvy, or semi-tech savvy customer? I honestly don't think so, and it could be written in plain english so your average Joe (and not so average Joe, you know the people that really have no clue) can read and understand what to do.
The vPanel. I do think that it's straight and to the point. There are a few potential question marks, that someone might not understand unless they come on here to the forum and read about features. But again, what if they are just doing it for the phone service, and really don't care to come onto these forums? Most of it is straight and to the point though.
Sound quality was def. a problem for me at first. I believe the bad device was the culprit, and I now have great phone quality, and for now, my service is seamless.
I won't comment about the voicemail, seeing how I haven't really used it. I can't really say honestly either way. I got a voicemail once, and I checked it, then erased it. No problem there that I saw.
And as far as the area code splits and incorrect numbers, I don't live in that part of the country, so it really doesn't concern me, and I have no clue. So... that's that.
Overall I had a bad first couple of weeks due to my device being busted, but now that I got the new one, I love Voipo and don't regret leaving Vonage even though I was there for about 6 years. The customer service and dedication at Voipo is unmatched. Heck, if Voipo was in any other business (tv, cell, electric, etc) I would sign up with them, simply because of how much they care about the customer, and how quickly they react to problems that arise.
:cool:
