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

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

Andy

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.

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

Highest VoIP Ratings From Consumer Submitted VoIP Reviews During Last Month - JANUARY 2008
Week:	1st Week	2nd Week	3rd Week	4th Week
VoIP Provider:
Avg Rating:	(4.6)	(4.6)	(5.0)	(4.9)

Technorati Tags: VoIP Review, VoIP Ratings, ECR Voice Reviews, VoIPYourLife Reviews, Lingo Reviews, Viatalk Reviews

Highest VoIP Ratings From Consumer Submitted VoIP Reviews During Last Month - Dec 2007
Week:	1st Week	2nd Week	3rd Week	4th Week
VoIP Provider:
Avg Rating:	(5.0)	(5.0)	(5.0)	(4.6)

Technorati Tags: VoIP Review, VoIP Ratings, Lingo, VoIPGo, Clearwire, VoIPYourLife

 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

Andy

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

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Nov 18th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Spg	(4.5)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
Post your VoIP Review of your VoIP Solution by clicking on the postbox:

Technorati Tags: VoIPYourLife, VoIPYourLife Ratings, VoIPYourLife Reviews, VoIP Review, VoIP Rating, VoIP Phone Service

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Nov 11th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Angel	(4.7)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
Post your VoIP Review of your VoIP Solution by clicking on the postbox:

Technorati Tags: Vonage, Vonage Broadband Phone Service, Vonage Reviews, Vonage Ratings, VoIP Review, VoIP Ratings

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Nov 4th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Knn2001	(5.0)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
Post your VoIP Review of your VoIP Solution by clicking on the postbox:

Technorati Tags: VoIP Review, VoIP Rating, Packet8, Packet 8, Packet8 Reviews, Packet8 Ratings

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Oct 28th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	LNW	(4.6)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
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Technorati Tags: VoIPYourLife, VoIPYourLife Reviews, VoIPYourLife Ratings, VoIP Review, VoIP Ratings, VoIP Phone Service

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Oct 21st 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Rafelito1065	(4.6)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
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Technorati Tags: Vonage, Vonage Reviews, Vonage Ratings, Vonage Broadband Phone Company, VoIP Reviews, VoIP Ratings

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Oct 14th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	GCS	(5.0)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
Post your VoIP Review of your VoIP Solution by clicking on the postbox:

Technorati Tags: Vonage, Vonage Broadband Phone Service, Vonage Reviews, Vonage Ratings, VoIP Review, VoIP Ratings

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Oct 7th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Dhruvo	(5.0)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
Post your VoIP Review of your VoIP Solution by clicking on the postbox:

Technorati Tags: VoIP Review, VoIP Rating, Lingo Broadband Phone Service, Lingo Review, Lingo Rating, Lingo VoIP

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

Vonage said in a written statement that it would appeal the decision but also would begin developing workarounds so it won’t need to use the disputed technology.

“We are disappointed that the jury did not recognize that our technology differs from that of Sprint’s patents,” said Sharon O’Leary, chief legal officer for Vonage. “Our top priority is to provide high-quality, reliable digital phone service to our customers.”

Vonage have the money to pay but the bigger issue is the 10% of lost future revenue. It is going to be extremely difficult for them to invest in technology and push VoIP further into the mainstream. So what does this mean for existing customers – probably nothing for now. Vonage certainly are not going to disappear overnight and customers are not going to loose their service, however without the required investment it’s difficult to see Vonage continue to grow and add to its customer base.  They are starting to look cheap now for a take over by the likes of Verizon who could pick up a couple of million customers for not a lot.

Technorati Tags: Vonage Lawsuit, Verizon lawsuit, Sprint Nextel Lawsuit, Vonage VoIP, Verizon VoIP

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Sept 23rd 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Gail Mackey	(5.0)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
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Technorati Tags: VoIP Review, Viatalk Review, Viatalk Ratings, Broadband Phone Service

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Sept 16th 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Michael	(5.0)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
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Technorati Tags: Viatalk, Viatalk Broadband Phone Service, Viatalk Review, Viatalk Ratings, Viatalk Reviews, VoIP Review

VOIP REVIEW OF THE WEEK		Week Ending: Sept 2nd 2007
	REVIEWER:	OVERALL RATING:	Click Here to READ MORE
	Tracey Proctor	(4.9)
Ease of Ordering		Ease of Set-Up
Features		Sound Quality
Reliability		Value for Money
Customer Service		Recommended	Yes
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Technorati Tags: Voicepulse, Voicepulse Review, Voicepulse Rating, VoIP Review, VoIP Rating