I have been a Callvantage customer for years. Yesterday, I had a few calls from NRK in
Norway. I had the Callvantage system set to ring both cell phones and the TA, with 2, 2-line
handsets connected. Nothing rang. Alf had reached my voice mailbox 3 times. I had to
make 3 more international calls, because the first 2 calls were dropped.
All the calls I make through ATT Callvantage, including those I picked up on the cell phone,
have unacceptable time delays. It reminds me of the days of simplex carphones. Alf in
Norway, called my cellphone directly, and to the surprise of both of us, the delay was
unperceivable. All the equipment was the same, except for the ATT Callvantage routing.
Audio quality is quite good, except for the random packet dropout problem, and this varies not
only from day to day, but also hour to hour. In the case of the calls to Norway, Alf, an
engineer with NRK, reported only be able to hear one out of three syllables. I use
PingPlotter Pro software to analyze our internet connections. I set PingPlotter Pro to ping
every second, and it indicated that the connection through all nodes was ok, latency was less
than 19 ms (worst case) and router flap was virtually non-existent. This left only ATT
Callvantage servers in the loop.
2 Years ago, ATT did not bother to tell me that the TA I was using was replaced the previous
year, because it could not handle the increased speed of the Comcast cable connection.
Instead, they let me call and report dropped calls and voice dropouts for months. It was only
after I threatened to discontinue service that I was allowed to speak with someone in a higher
service tier.
Connection speed is unpredictable. Speech quality is acceptable, but this is offset by voice
dropouts. Better foreword error correction is necessary.
You would think that service would improve, but keeping the bottom line high appears to be
more important than keeping their customers on top.
PS It is 5:02 pm est, and I just received another business call that was dropped after 6
minutes. I called my own number, and received my voice mailbox after 2 rings. I will be
quitting service soon. You cannot run a business with ATT Callvantage. My six year old
might enjoy it, however.
WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!
The shortest wait time for customer service was 15 minutes the longest was 32 minutes.
Tried to e-mail for service and after waiting 2 business days the e mail response was to call
customer service. If there service works great but if you have any trouble you will need to call
in sick at work for a day or two to be able to talk to there service people.
All great except they (AT&T) has pulled the plug on A911 service and is abandoning my
service area. Feature for feature ATT offers the best product and value
I had Comcast cable I was waiting for anything to come along so as not to use them. Comcast cable was slower than dialup certain times of the day and night. anyway, online I ordered DSL from ATT, received modem in two days from ordering. That same night I ordered
Callvantage online within five days their TA (telephone adapter) was delivered. Easy to set up, easy to read instructions, just do exactly what they say to do. I was up and running in 5 days with DSL and VOIP. Online VOIP website, I selected that I wanted another phone number and did not port my home phone which DSL is installed on. If like my friend you ported the number and you have DSL on that number ATT cannot use it for Callvantage and while they were porting he had no house phone. (as soon as you port it they turn it off. bad move. anyway, he bought a prepaid cell phone to get him through. You will have to have ATT give you a dedicated line if you ported your number to Callvantage. ...I dont understand this but my friend only has one phone number for DSL and Callvantage where I have two phone numbers. Still cheaper than Comcast and especially so when I tell Verizon cell phone to quit service of their 2000 minutes for 117.00.per month billing. A saving of 1200.00 per year for long distance calling. Now with Callvantage I can make calls from anywhere as long as I have my TA box. ( I heard that you can change the software and not even take the box)...I am looking into this.
I've had this service for almost 2 years now. At the beginning, there were some issues
with the sound quality, but I haven't noticed it for some time. The price was a little high, but they were the only game in town when I first selected the service. The only real problem I have had with the service is the adapter resetting itself too often. I've called and complained, but as usual customer service on a REAL technical issue was greatly lacking. They tried to blame the phone that was attached through the jack, although it was an AT&T phone. Also, I've had a few dropped calls, but it doesn't happen very much.
If you want to port your old landline number and you have a ringmaster number, you must remove this service COMPLETEY, before the port order will go thru. Service has been great and I do recommend you getting a 5.8 GHz phone if you want a crystal clear conversation.
I had this service for almost one year didnt have problems at first, but the last few months the
sound quality got worse and worse. I had to use my cell phone to make calls because no one could understand me, they would catch every other word. There was a mix up in their billing and they forgot to bill one month and double billed the next month. I thought it was duplicate and had my bank check it out and in meantime they had message at customer service about problem. Visa made a mistake and rejected it , but the money was taken out of the account it was never credited back to me as they realized it was not an error. But AT&T billed me again. I tried to 3 way the bank to explain the error was Visa and the money was sent and pulled out of my account. They refused to credit me and still to this day, I paid twice and I asked them if that money was more important than keeping me as a customer, I guess it was. Besides the sound got worse and worse. I wouldn't recommend.
This was the worst experience I have ever had with a company!!! My service was down for over a month straight. They wanted me to be in front of my computer and adapter when I called... but there was no way I was going to call them on my cell phone, with an average wait time of over thirty minutes before speaking to a representative. Their technical support staff had no clue what was going on, and customer service would not credit my account for the time it was not working. I am still getting bills from three months after I cancelled my service! I would NEVER use this service again!
When we bought the service, it wouldn't connect. The customer service rep. was knowledgable, helpful and patient, getting our routing problems sorted out in less than a half hour. Since, the service has been flawless, flexible and reliable. It interfaces with our AT&T Partner Plus system perfectly, including caller ID, fax and MODEM. Clear and low latency, worth the extra cost.
ATT Callvantage has been great! The setup was very easy and I have experienced very few problems. Every now and then a call might get forwarded to voice mail, but I suspect that is a broadband issue. Customer service was excellent. They over-nighted a new VoIP gateway at no charge when my box was fried during a storm. The features available are outstanding and I really like being able to control the setup online. A friend has Vonage and experiences problems with voice quality and the online features are inferior to ATT.
For the extra dollars go with ATT over Vonage. I have been having problems with Vonage for the past 12 months out of 13 months. I have talked to CSR and tier support and no one has been able to help. I did request a refund but they still have not respond back to me. I have also sent emails with no answer. I hate wasting money on something like this and it not work. I am hoping that Vonage will cancel my account sometime soon or I may have to cancel my card so that they stop taking money from me.
I have been a CallVantage customer for more than 1 year (in the process of switching to
Vonage). I use the service primarily for dialing out... However, I have found that anyone who
called me on my CV number was getting forwarded to my control by phone menu and asked to
input the password. The phone didn't ring, and they were not able to leave a message.
(AND THIS WASN'T AN ISP PROBLEM) It took their customer service more than 4 weeks to
partially correct this problem so that now when people call it forwards directly to VM.... still no ringing
to this day. I'm convinced it's a hardware issue. I have the old DLink MGCP hardware and
they will not change it out for me to keep me as a customer.
When it works, it's great. Suffice it to say that it isn't great
too often. There are problems almost daily, ranging from the entire
system being down (yesterday), to message waiting not working, no
outgoing voice, and occasionally, no service at all. There also
were some numbers that the system would not call, including my
son's, but they solved that after only 10 days.