WhichVoIP Blog

Whichvoip has gone LIVE with its Business VoIP Review section.

Take a peek and post a review if you have business VoIP service.

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/business-voip-reviews.htm

Andy

Just a quick note folks regarding Lingo setup, in particular for the Linksys SPA-2102. 

I use Lingo for home phone service (have done for years) but recently had to get my VoIP box updated and received a new one in the mail free of charge from Lingo and this one was from Linksys (SPA2102).

The recommended setup in the users guide is as follows:

(Cable/DSL Modem) –> (VoIP Box) –> (Router if needed) –> (PCs)

as this allows the VoIP box to provide QoS (i.e. it can bandwidth limit the data from the router to ensure your voice is top priority when it comes to your broadband bandwidth).

However in the QUICK guide it shows the recommended setup as follows:

(Cable/DSL Modem) –> (Router) –> (VoIP ATA) –> and PCs hanging off router too if needed

This does NOT provide QoS so be careful if you are making calls at the same time as the internet is being used!!

One other note by the way (this took an hour or so to figure out so may save you some time)

The new Lingo VoIP box they are giving out is the Linksys SPA-2102. It is a VoIP ATA and router combo and is a decent piece of hardware.

HOWEVER, it lacks one thing that may be important for you folks that work from home. It does not allow VPN through the router! This is not ideal but there is a fix I stumbled across. Enable DMZ (De-militarized Zone). This essentially disables the router function in the SPA2102. This is fine for me as I have a router connected to the SPA-2102 that DOES allow VPN pass-through. This works for me but may not be good for all situations so up to you

Cheers.
Andy

P.S Reason I needed new box if you are interested. For some reason my old VoIP box would not allow me to join conference calls, I could phone in but it would not accept the passcode to enter the meeting.

Fed up paying a fortune for your business phone service?  May be worth taking a look at a business hosted VoIP service: 

Here is a summary of the important benefits and advantages of a hosted VoIP model. Think of these not just at face value, but how they are additive to what VoIP brings on its own. It is the combined set of benefits that leads us to conclude that hosted VoIP is an ideal solution for micro businesses looking to move beyond conventional telephony.

Benefits of Hosted VoIP
Only a one-time expense for IP-enabled telephones to support VoIP service and features. No capital expense is required and you are not locked into an asset with a long depreciation cycle.

Ideal For Multiple Locations
Hosted VoIP is very flexible for supporting branch offices, remote workers, and new sites as the business expands. All that’s needed is to add handsets as you go when setting up a new office or adding more locations to your network.

Business Continuity
Hosted supports the 24/7, mobile, on the road realities of today’s business world. Business continuity is a core element of hosted VoIP, as the network services are housed in rock solid data centers. This also includes disaster recovery, a capability that no premises–based system can provide. In the event of a natural disaster or malicious network attacks, your messages and directories are never lost, and the business can carry on under all conditions.

Reliable Service
Regardless of how busy your phone lines get, hosted VoIP always works. Your customers and employees will always be able to get dial tone, and they’ll never get a busy signal, even during peak periods.

Future Proof
VoIP is still a new technology, and we are just beginning to see what is possible. With hosted VoIP, you will always have the latest features and services, and will never need to worry about implementing them with your telephone system. For the first time, micro businesses have a solution not only to match what bigger competitors can do today, but to keep pace as technology advances.

If this is of interest to you for your business phone service, submit a request for a free quote NOW!

Andy

So it’s 2008 and you’ve made your new years resolutions.  If one of them is to save money in 2008 then take a look at VoIP service, also referred to as Broadband phone service, digital voice, internet phone to name but a few….yes those marketing folk have made it very confusing!  All it is folks is telephone service over your broadband internet connection.

 Not only will this phone technology save you a considerable amount of cash (can be as much as $500 per year) there are some great additional benefits.

One of the great things about VoIP phone service is the vast amount of cool phone service features that comes FREE with your plan. If you don’t have a VoIP phone service yet then you can learn more about the most common VoIP features (well, 36 of them!) on our VoIP Features page.

Everyone has a favorite VoIP feature. To be honest I have two favorites. The first one is the portability of my phone number (my VoIP provider boasts the travel globally feature). I love the fact that I can take my ATA with me when we go and visit family in a different state. One benefit, no need to go through the jam-packed answering machine when we get home. I’ve not taken it out of the country yet but next time I go I want to give it a try (have you?). My other on par favorite is the Virtual Numbers feature. This is a great VoIP phone service feature. You can add extra phone numbers to your primary line, with any area code of your selection (as long as your VoIP provider has it available). So, you live in one state but some of your family and friends live in a different state. No problem, you get a virtual number added to your phone service with the area code of where they live. Now your family and friends are only a local call away, saving them money (and no more excuses about long distance fees!).

Well, that’s just two of my personal favorite VoIP phone service features. Please post a comment to this blog and let us know your favorite VoIP feature and why. Dont be shy now! If you let us know we can make a list of the favorite favorites!

Oh, and by the way, if you are looking for a broadband phone service with certain features (for example virtual numbers) then you can use our FREE advanced search engine. This allows you to select the VoIP features you really want (the must-haves) with your VoIP phone service and searches our comprehensive database for all the VoIP provider plans that meet your search criteria.

So act on that new year resolution now and get it over and done with

Happy new year folks!

Andy

Been a while since we updated you with our Top 5 stats.  If you recall, we highlight the top 5 providers on our website for searches, reviews and provider visits:

Andy

Have you ever walked into work on a Monday morning and found this fancy new digital phone on your desk? Well if you have (and the odds are increasing fast), then I am guessing that it is unlikely that you stopped for a second to think about what was actually involved in getting it there. Hopefully you have not begun your Business VoIP experience by cursing the phone because you are having trouble using all the features. As such I hope you received proper training as to how to use the nifty new features that a Business VoIP system can provide.

Having installed a bunch of these systems in various sized organizations across the country, I thought that someone may be interested in the high level process of what is involved in transitioning a business from a legacy analog phone system to a new VoIP system. Who the heck does these installations anyway? Well it is extremely unlikely that a Cisco or an Avaya will actually do the installation for you. These companies will fight tooth and nail to convince you to purchase its voip solution, but after that, there is very little involvement from them. Unless of course you are part of a large enterprise which can demand and receive direct support.

So in the majority of cases a partner of these companies will actually perform the installation and manage the entire VoIP project. These partners are more commonly known as VARs or Value Added Resellers and are pretty much made up of a bunch a sales guys and a group of engineers specializing in various technologies such as telephony, security, wireless, etc. It is these engineers that actually do the installation.

To find ou how much a business VoIP solution could save you simply request a free business VoIP quote. 

Tony

Ready for what you may ask. Well if you have seen the news today Vonage lost another lawsuit possibly putting them closer to being out of business. Several months ago Sunrocket ran out of money effectively ending their VoIP service, suddenly there were 200,000 Sunrocket customers looking for a new VoIP service. This put a significant strain on the likes of Viatalk with a huge influx of customers. The strain didn’t manifest itself in a lack of quality in their service but on their ability to provide, in a timely manner, all these new customers with equipment.

At last count Vonage had over 2 million customers, ten times as many as Sunrocket. If Vonage were to go out of business then the influx of customers to the likes of Viatalk would be an order of magnitude greater than when Sunrocket went under. I’m sure they have learned their lesson and have contingency plans particularly as the Vonage demise is being played out in the media whereas with Sunrocket being a privately funded company could conceal its problems until the bitter end.

Over the next few weeks we’ll monitor traffic and see if there is an increase in customers moving to the likes of Viatalk, VoIP.com, VoIPYourLife, etc check back for updates.

Technorati Tags: Vonage lawsuit, Vonage VoIP, Viatalk VoIP, VoIP.com, VoIPYourLife

Many VoIP providers such as Viatalk and Voip.com are seeing a huge increase in new customers due to the demise of Sunrocket. We have seen signups increase by several thousand percent for these providers however we are starting to see the effects of this in terms of the odd bad review. These VoIP providers do not staff or plan for such an increase which is the smart business thing to do. However this dramatic increase over a short period of time must be a drain on their resources.

We are starting to see a few reviews coming in complaining about the length of time it’s taking to get the equipment, this was almost inevitable given the significant rate of increase of new signups. This strain on their customer service means wait times to be dealt with are also increasing. Hopefully this is temporary and they are addressing this need with more trained personnel but it’s unlikely to be fixed within a week or two. So be aware that wait times for equipment and customer service may be longer than typical. We are not seeing any complaints for bad quality or lack of features so if you do not mind the potential of a slightly longer wait then these are still very good alternatives for Sunrocket.

So which companies are best suited to the increase in traffic? I’d probably say Vonage, Lingo and Packet8. These companies have a large customer base so they tend to have a well staffed customer service department and will have more power when trying to get equipment from their suppliers.

Calum

http://www.whichvoip.com

Sunrocket is contacting its current customers (can we still call them that?) and recommending that they transfer their service one of two voip service providers. These are Packet8 and TeleBlend. I am sure most of you have heard of Packet8 but I am also sure that very few of you have heard of Teleblend. Well first of all it appears that Sunrocket is promoting these voip service providers because they are getting paid to do so.

Second of all, it appears that Teleblend has only been around for a few weeks. It appeared out of nowhere and is rumoured to be made up of ex Sunrocket employees who are trying to snap up some of the old Sunrocket customers. Well good luck to TeleBlend but at present we cannot recommend them one way or the other. However, if you do decide to use them, please send us a Review Comment and let us know what you think.

Otherwise, we do have some alternatives listed for you on the this page:

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/sunrocket.htm

Tony

Technorati Tags: VoIP, Allo, Allo.com, Sunrocket, Sunrocket Bankruptcy, Allo Bankruptcy, Sunrocket alternatives, Teleblend

With both Sunrocket and Allo.com closing the doors recently, I am sure there are more than a few of you out there that are slightly miffed to say the least. All of you lost your voip phone service with little or no notice and may be wondering if you will continue to use VoIP. Well rest assured, there are still a number of good VoIP providers out there and we have created a list of some of the better alternatives for you to try. Check out this link and remember that most have a 30 day money back guarantee:

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/sunrocket.htm

Now to the main point of this Blog. Some of you most likely signed up for a 1 or 2 year voip service plan, that involved advance payment, such as Sunrocket’s $199 for 1 year of service. Well unfortunately when a company goes out of business, there is little that you can do about this lost money. However, some of our customers have mentioned that they have called the dispute department of their credit card companies and have been successul in getting some money refunded. Now, I don’t know if this is credit card specific or if there is still some money lying around in a Sunrocket account somewhere for these refunds. Regardless, it is worth a try, so give the customer service dept a quick call.

Good luck.

Technorati Tags: VoIP, Allo, Allo.com, Sunrocket, Sunrocket Bankruptcy, Allo Bankruptcy

First Sunrocket pulls the plug on its service and now Allo.com has announced that it is to close its doors on the 31st of July due to technical difficulties (and more most likely).

We have put together a page on some options for current Sunrocket and Allo VoIP customers.  Folks don’t give up on VoIP, we are at a time where some consolidation is taking place and the weak are getting weaker.  There are still many good Internet phone providers out there, some small and some giants - you know Comcast, Verizon and AT&T all have VoIP service right?

Check out this page for some other options:

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/sunrocket.htm

Andy

Technorati Tags: VoIP, Allo, Allo.com, Sunrocket, Sunrocket Bankruptcy, Allo Bankruptcy

The rumors are that Sunrocket is heading for bankruptcy according to many respected newspapers today. They have let many of their employees go and are left with a skeleton staff apparently. Rumors are that there are two other companies looking at buying them - watch this space.

It is difficult to say what your chances are at getting a refund if you are a current Sunrocket customer. As you would expect the other VoIP providers are jumping on the bandwagon here.

Viatalk in particular is playing a masterpiece here:

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/visit_site.php?id=vt_500

They are offering to buy out sunrocket contracts and 2nd phone line free all for $199 per year. Also free shipping. We are seeing HUGE demand for this on our site right now to be honest ….as you would expect!

Technorati Tags: VoIP, Sunrocket, Sunrocket Bankruptcy, Viatalk

Yes we are a voip web-site, so why then are we asking for these iphone reviews? Well the iphone is just about the hottest thing that has arrived in telecommications since the whichvoip web-site was launched. Well that is what my mom says anyway. 

Seriously though, we are interested to here about what you like and dis-like about this phone called the iPhone. We are after all, pre-dominantly a review based web-site, and a lot of our customers are influenced by your comments. Yes, you have the power! 

So should someone go out and get one of these iPhones, even with such a high price tag? Should we be worried that everyone will drop their voip connections to pay for their iphone? This will take a while to cover to the cost though. However, if you drop your land line and get a voip line, the estimated $500/year saving will just about cover the cost of an iphone. Well the cheap one anyway. So send in your iPhone reviews quickly while the procrastinators amongst us are still trying to decide whether or not to purchase an iphone. 

Here is the Review Link for your convenience. Simply select “Other SP” when asked for your VoIP service provider, and then pretend that the word iPhone replaces voip everywhere else. If we get some good iPhone reviews we will create a dedicated page for these.

Technorati Tags: VoIP, VoIP savings, iphone, Apple iphone, iphone reviews

Came across a good blog today from Tom at TMCNet. 

There are a couple of good reasons for moving to T1 for your broadband data and voice needs.  The first of course is the Quality of Service (QoS) you get from T1 service providers.  The second is symmetrical uplink and downlink speeds of 1.544Mb/s.

Tom recently moved to T1 and had some fun getting full bandwidth on his uplink.  Turned out his Linksys router had QoS turned on and even when he did not have his VoIP ATA connected the router was still throttling his high speed data path.

For a full report check tom’s blog out at http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/covad-t1-speed-and-latency-test-plus-overview.asp

Interested in leasing a T1 line?  Read all about it on our site and request a free T1 quote.

http://www.whichvoip.com/index_business.html

Andy

Hi folks.

Just a quick note to let you know we have gone over the 1000 mark for our VoIP Review postings.

If you are searching for a VoIP service provider I really recommend taking a look at our VoIP review section on our site to get a feel for a provider before signing up.

Some of our smaller providers only have a few postings but we have many providers with more than 20 and some in the hundreds.  Definitely a good enough sample size to aid your decision making process.

As a reminder you can reach our VoIP review section at this URL:

http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/voip_reviews.htm

Andy