Debating

**scott2020** · 04-07-2009 01:11 PM

Don't worry about the 25 people who read DSLR. What percentage of the Monday morning QB's of VOIP there make up your whole customer base? Some of these nerds need to get a life.

If they have problems with Comcast, Charter, Verizon, AT&T, do those people contact their CEO's and start demanding infrastructure information? If they do, do they get a care in the world from those companies? I don't think so. And it's none of their business.

You just do what you do the best you can and good things will come. Being honest and taking care of the customer goes much farther in the long run that what a few zit faced know it all jerks in their mom's basement say in some anonymous geek web forum.

Scott

**bretski** · 04-07-2009 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by scott2020

You just do what you do the best you can and good things will come. Being honest and taking care of the customer goes much farther in the long run that what a few zit faced know it all jerks in their mom's basement say in some anonymous geek web forum.

...and if that doesn't work, this guy will take care of them:

NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDS!!!!!!!!!!!

**Xponder1** · 04-07-2009 09:26 PM

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

**burris** · 04-08-2009 03:16 AM

Originally Posted by Xponder1

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....

**ptrowski** · 04-08-2009 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by Xponder1

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.

**kevinj** · 04-08-2009 06:25 PM

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** · 04-08-2009 07:08 PM

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** · 04-08-2009 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Russell

Just as another point of view: ...

So you basically got all you were looking for?

**Xponder1** · 04-08-2009 07:56 PM

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

**Russell** · 04-08-2009 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by usa2k

So you basically got all you were looking for?

From a cost + advertised feature standpoint, yes. So, at the risk of stating the obvious, I'm motivated to stay. However, if you go through my postings you'll see I experienced various server side issues - that area has been re-architected and is now working. A separate issue (ATA rebooting hourly) was fixed yesterday. So, as of yesterday, I have no outstanding issues. Like Burris, I hope to just enjoy the service. Unfortunately, our phone usage is minimal - I'm forcing more than normal usage just to exercise the system.