ViaTalk Reviews by Residential VoIP Users

Pros: I have moved from 3 different states, and so far the service not been interrupted. Cons: They do not respond to trouble tickets placed online, you must call for them to take action. When setting up service it involves a lot of paperwork esp if you are porting over another number.

i would not go to any other company itp and magicjack are garbage kept losing calls and bad customer service,been with viatalk for 6 years strong !!!!

Like many other customers of viatalk I find myself unable to use my phone service at all. I either cannot make a call (unavailability beeping tone) or the phone conversation get dropped (I can hear my correspondent but he/she can no longer hear me after about 10-15 minutes on the call), I cannot hear correspondent when I pick up the phone. Customer support is making apparently changes in my phone adapter every single time I contact them and I aks me to try out the new changes. I was using 8x8 prior to viatalk and the service was 1000 times better (I changed only to have a cheaper plan and it was a terrible error). Besides the fact that it is not working, I end up using my cell phone more which results in me paying for cell phone bill so I'm not saving any money and everyone calling me and using my phone at home is irritated. STAY AWAY FROM VIATALK if you intend to use your phone.

Researched a few and tried 2 others. Going on 4th year. Great service with better customization. Not a fancy webpage, but don't care! Setting changes all work, every time I need to change them. Two lines, can block calls over 12 ways! If I'm gonna pay anything, this makes it more than worth it. Hope more can get these benefits.

They haven't been able to correct the issues that I have had. I either cannot dial out or it takes two or three times before I can hear the other person (Unfortunately, they've received all of my call attempts). I cannot hear ANY inbound calls and have had to forward the line to my cell phone...which is incredibly irritating. I would not recommend them...the problems are annoying and embarassing when making a business call.

plz

had phone power for 2 years with contract. Never had good sound quailty but last few months got where people could not hear me. after hours of talking to support still had problems. Waited till my contract was up then transfered my number to via talk. Via talk emailed me told me it would take up to 20 days for them to port my number but it only took 5 days. The device was really easy to set up. just plug ethernet cord in then phone line that was all there was. Have had no problem with sound . every one can hear me . i'm very happy with via talk.

I have had via talk for almost two years (two lines). When the service works it is good If it would stay working consistently it would be nice. I have had the same issues for two years. My phone will cut off du nicering a conversation (around the 10 minute mark), someone will call and I can hear the connection but they cannot hear me, phone calls don't ring and automatically go to voicemail, dialing a number takes up to one minute, or I lose dial and don't know about it. Their answers are either changing something in the router which does not last or having me reboot my modem and router. I have asked them to change the router several but they refuse to do so. I am giving them 30 days and if this does not get fixed I am going to change providers. I have requested a supervisor to call, but that has never happened. When their service works it is fine,but when it breaks... good luck

Mostly good service but the value for the money is just not enough. I am currently using them for residential service. Some of the features to did work properly. I submitted tickets and was told that they would consider the issues in a future release of the control panel. Its been a year and they have yet to be fixed. Setup was a little rough at first but after a few days they tweaked enough things in te router to make it work nicely. I do have a call a day that is not the greatest quality. I never has a problem with it going down as soe people have reported. I you are considering using them for business services the price is very high.

There's nothing right w/ ViaTalk. Sure, they have lots of features. Problem? They don't work. I signed up for 2 years w/ one year free. I wanted out after 1 year and requested a 50% refund. (gracious on my part, the service hardly worked, and there's NO 9-1-1 support!!!). They told me I already had my one year, and that year 2 would be free. They methodically, and purposely avoid customer support. I reported them to the FCC, local authorities, you name it....if they charge the extra 9-1-1 fee, then heck, they should provide it! Run...run very very fast away from ViaTalk......

no dial tone all the time. very disappointed.

I have used Via Talk since 2004 and have been delighted! The sound quality is great and I like the extra features provided at no extra cost. I admit that it took a few weeks to work out the kinks in the beginning but I found the tech support group to be very helpful. In all the years I have used Via Talk I have found their customer service to be great. I have never had a problem. Best of all...their support and customer service is not outsourced. I get to speak to people who actually work there! I have found them to be a great value for the cost and I don't hesitate to recommend them to family and friends.

Have been a ViaTalk customer for years. Have had persistent issues (DTMF, e991, etc). Have used multiple ATAs, routers, and ISP providers yet the problem persist. Last issue I had my phone line was down completely. Called the support number, the tech couldn't find the problem, he then told me he would submit a ticket with the next level of support and someone would be in touch in a few days. Phone line down and it took 3 business days for someone to send me an email telling me to call support during working hours so they would watch my ATA attempt to connect. Really? The ATA is on and attempting to connect every 60 seconds.

I had the most terrible experience with Viatalk. Initially they claim they never received my request with phone bill to port my original number. Then continuously adapter kept dropping lines which kept important calls from coming through. Several other customer service issues that lead me to cancel. Upon canceling I found out that they never changed the number which I was forced to keep as mine, so the porting of the number has been a nightmare because the information doesn't match. The worst phone carrier I've ever had! I'm filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission for their illegal practices.

We had our service for about 4 years now but are considering switching over to another provider.. my limited plan that supposed to be 10 a month is adding up to 16.54 a month due to their stupid taxes.. cant get how can they get away by charging almost 60% tax.. there is non existing customer service that u can speak to or who can help.. on my tax break out i get charged twice though different amounts for e911.. i would rather just port my number over to another provider than deal with their customer service.. Brendon, are you reading.. I am not alone.. I have been loyal to you guys for 5+ years and am getting a rough end of stick.. good luck sustaining your business model..

Hi All, Request you not to fall in the trap of Via-Talk looking at the initial offerings. Eventually , it is not cheap , if you calculate the one time payment and monthly bills. You will come to know the reality once it's up for renewal after fist two years. It's just rip-off for their quality and service. Please say NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! to via-talk.

ViaTalk tech support never returns calls, and you cannot reach a live operator using their toll-free number. Left messages 4 times never received a call back. The only time I ever got a response is when the phone adapter quite working, but then they promised to call and did not call. DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE

I've had viatalk for 3 years and am attempting to cancel service at this time because I don't use it and $199 for 2 years plus another $50 in taxes/fees that would be due in the next few weeks makes it not worth it. I don't recommend them just because of the cancellation process. If I don't send back everything that was in the box I received 3yrs ago, they'll charge me somewhere between 0- $50. There is no easy way to contact them so I figure I'm going to take a hit somewhere between $50 and $100 just to cancel their service. The service while I had it was ok with not a lot of static. The standard delay in the voip kept me from being able to use it for a home alarm, but I think that is standard. Anyway, bottom line, I can't recommend them and regret getting the service just because of the hoops and cost of cancelling.

1) Pathetic Customer Service 2) Prompt in taking money from the account, but never provided any support or resolution of issues, though they will pretend as if the support is terrific 3) I went in for the two year unlimited, but for any disconnect they would charge 50$ for equipment, 50$ for early cancellation 4) These people are suckers of money, looking for every opportunity to suck money. 5) They will automatically renew all the lines, features by dropping a one-liner email expecting a reply within two days. Definite no value for your money. Don't ever opt for this career anymore.

Terrible billing system with monthly charges for tax that they will not put into annual cost. Horrible customer service and management - rude, condescending with no interest in improving process. Stay away from Via talk.

At first I was hesitant to drop my conventional phone line. I gave Viatalk a few months to verify it's reliability. I was pleasantly surprised that my skepticism was unwarrented. Three months later still working without a hitch. The value vs conventional phone service is amazing.

I have 2 lines. 1 goes bad at least 2-3 times a year, for no reason. I always have someone telling me that it sounds like they're talking in an echo chamber (varies by call). Tired of calling them to get things fixed, and filing online 'tickets' is useless - they never get answered. If this company was in close price competition, they'd fail. I only keep them because they were the cheapest by far last time I checked.

Terrible customer service - poor billing info- management that refuses to talk to customers, arrogance by front line team - Horrible way of treating customers!

I have not had a good experience with ViaTalk and I would never recommend them. The service itself was back but trying to cancel the service is brain damage. I have been trying for several weeks to cancel with numerous phone calls and support email tickets. I was once again billed for another year after being assured that my ticket had gone through correctly and that I would NOT be billed. I have spoken to various people and some are okay, but Mary in particular, was totally condescending.

I've used this service for a little over a month, and I love it. Just ditched my at&t home phone and dived right in to voip. I use the simultaneous ring feature to ring my cell phone, because I also get business calls that I have to answer. This is better than call forwarding, since the people at home can also answer the phone, if the call is for them. I didn't even know features like that existed. I also went straight to the call blocking feature and put several known phone numbers in to go straight to a busy signal. I've had one drop call in the month I've been using it, and I had been on the phone for about 30-40 minutes, which I rarely do, but I just called the person back. It also could've been my friends cell phone. No problems setting it up. I have the new netgear wireless N router, and the adapter worked with it right out of the box. The unlimited lite plan is 10.95 a month with 2000 outgoing minutes of talk time. I did notice they don't count incoming calls on my total, which I can check in the control panel. That means I can call and talk over an hour a day, not including incoming calls. I have one son who's 10, so he doesn't stay on the phone all day yet, so this plan is great for me. I did notice they have an unlimited 5000 minute plan for 16.95 per month. And yes I saw the 50.00 cutoff fee when you leave in the contract, so I knew that when I signed up. I'll save that 50.00 on this next months service compared to my at&t phone. Yeahhh! Oh, one other thing, I haven't used customer service, and that's a good thing to me!

2000 OUTGOING minutes on the lite plan ($10.95 / mo.), all incoming are free. This is a great plan and I love it. ViaTalk customer support is EXCELLENT. I've used them for 3 years and they've won my loyalty over and over.

Have had this service for 2 years and have had no major issues. We have 2 lines and fax service and everything has been working great. Not sure why others are having problems with their fax service, but we are not. Our fax works just fine. Definately a great value package and I would recommend this to anyone looking for cost savings.

I Would never recommend Via Talk to any of my friends, It works one day and the second day you start having problems your voice start cracking. Even if i ignore the service the customer service is really bad not willing to help in any way. They are just sitting there to pass their time, very rude customer service they don't know their selves what the problem is so they cannot resolve the issue. If you are billed for calls you didnt make you would have to pay for them becuase of the horrible customer service. You will not get your money back if you signup for Annual Contract so THINK before u signup with this service providers.

ViaTalk's sound quality is really bad since day one. There is a lot of noise in it. This does not work with fax machine (even if you use your fax modem to fax any document from your pc). Viatalk does NOT share its configuration clearly with customers who do not buy device from Viatalk (they call such customer BYOD - Bring Your Own Device). If you would call their customer service they will not get you a straight forward answer - seems like they dont know what is causing the problem of noise and failing fax transmission. This is well know issue and I wish if Viatalk would have done some thing about this and would have posted solution on their website.

Customer Service is amazingly BAD, no one tells you that you will have to pay a $50 cancellation fee. They said there was no contract which was true, you can cancel at any time...and pay the $50. If you use it for one month and cancel you pay $50, if you use it for three year and cancel, you pay $50. And don't bother submitting a ticket for anything cause they will not follow up on it

In the beginning of this service, 5 years ago, things were good. As time passed the service became more and more unreliable and the customer service got worse as well, until I finally decided to leave. When I contacted customer service to find out how to proceed with the cancellation of my service they just shut it off, even though I still have 2 weeks left that's already paid for and charged me $50.00 to cover the adapter until I return it. This surprise withdrawl overdrafted my bank account costing me another $35.00. There was a time I'd have given this compnay a great review. As things are today, I'd suggest you stay far far away!!!!

Bad customer service. They also hit you with a $50.00 charge on your card when you cancel service. SO, #1 bad service. #2 bad support, and #3 they try to scam you out of $50.00 when you cancel. DO NOT USE THIS PROVIDER

Since i received and connect equpment for 10 days helpdesk ("helpless desk") could not fix static noise on incoming calls. I was foced to change VOIP company and noises problem disappeared by itself. In spite of I cancelled service before 14 days they did not return me $50 = setup + HD. Beware of that company.

I started with there monthly package, they were having problems with porting the number. Finally when after they ported the number, I purchased there yearly unlimited program. I was being charged some amount every month, after contacting there customer service, I was told that the charge is for emergency services. For last couple of months I was being charged another 5 bucks after checking with the customer service was told that my unlimited program that I had paid in advance is only for 500 minutes monthly and I will be charged for every minute over that, on top of that I have pretty much no way out since they will charge a 49 bucks early termination fee... I would not recommend this company to any one... save your bucks don't pay in advance! They will even not provide me with the details of the original agreement..! I would rather recommend a monthly charge with any company from which you can switch at your discretion...these guys are a total fraud.

Signed up for service in February and could not get the Router to work for four months. Finally called for tech service in June only to be told that I have the wrong Router and it was nothing he could do about it unless I purchased another one. I explained that this was the one that was sent to me, and he explained that that was my problem. Rude gentlemen ecknowledged that they have been charging my checking account dispite no service and suggested no fix or sympathy for my delima. THis seems to be a one man operation/scam that baits you for the first year's charge with no intent of providing service. This company sucks. Do not get involved in their rip off scheme.

Had service tried to get it to work worked about 1/4 of the time. Called tech support to fix. If they could patch it they would make a ticket. If they couldn't fix it, so sorry and they would not even make a note on the account. Finally had enough cancelled service, received a email saying that they were going to charge $50 dollars to my account for the adapter since I was removing service early. I prepaid for 2 years, and my service never worked. She stated it was in the terms of service, but I read them it was not. I asked for proof and she told me to prove it to her. I asked for a MGR and she immediately transferred to a voice mail. I have been transferred before with not call backs. I call back and get the same person, she is very abruptly speaking to me and calls me a Douche bag, and hangs up. I call back and get someone else and of course the previous person didn't even note the account she spoke to me. DO NOT USE this business for you phone needs. If you did or do, sorry.

Started out with Vonage - and switched to Sun Rocket (cost was the reason)....then Sun Rocket went out of business and I went with Viatalk....the thing I really like with ViaTalk is the 2 phone lines....

I seriously question the Viatalk business model and their integrity. My 1yr annual with 2nd free ended last month. Somehow I must have deleted their automatic email notification sent upon my expiring since I have not seen it. This month I saw their spring promotion offer email to the existing customer for about $150 annual. I thought my renewal was up, so I called. I found out that I was already renewed and I am paying about $20 monthly. They were too quick to point out I can cancel. I told them I will think about it and call back if I decide to cancel. But they sent me the cancel request email anyway which I need to reply to confirm cancellation. I was dumbfounded about why they were so eager to cancel me because, after all, this is my main home line and I need some planning if I decide to cancel. I was all puzzled but did not know what to make of it. Anyhow I made sure to ask that I had until 27th of the month to cancel not to incur another monthly billing. Then, today, I saw $219.54 viatalk charge on my credit card. I found out that I was automatically renewed for annual and my charge is $219.54 annually. I was informed that, even if there is no mention of the automatic annual renewal anywhere, it is assumed that it is the case. Not only this is what I was told by the first person 12 days ago, I find it difficult to swallow their business logic. Frankly, I feel like I am dealing with a 3rd world business outfit. As far as the service is concerned, if I am paying under $10 a month, it is worth it for me to suffer thru frequent phone problems (blank, no duplex, drops) but not at $20 a month rate. Besides, based on my first phone call to Service, I already made an arrangement to switch to PhonePower and signed up for annual with them so that my monthly rate will be under $10.00 again. With viatalk, I had an issue relating to a feature offering in the past: I always felt cheated because they took away my free fax service feature few month after I signed up. Instead of being free, they offered it for as much as monthly phone bill itself. I was dubmfounded then because, when I first signed up, my friend and I researched a lot of VoIP phone services and free fax service was a required feature for us to be considered. Fyi, the PowerPhone that I just signed up clearly indicates that after annual expires, I am put to monthly plan of $19.95. That 's what I would expect from a respectful business outfit. So watch out with Viatalk about what you are signing up to.

I've had the service for over 2 years and love it. The value to cost ratio is huge and the feature set continues to improve at no cost to me. I have recommended this service to people at work and at my church, and have heard only good things.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This company is full of lies. First of all they do not provide 24hours/7days a week customer support. Their website is not user friendly. They initially chared $198 for 2 years of service, which was great. But then charge service fees of $3 per month. It took them almost 2 weeks to port my number. I have to reset my modem, router and phone adapter at least 3 times a month to correct connection issues. I never had this issues with my previous VOIP service. The hold time for customer support is over 10 minutes. They already had me change my phone adapter, for which I had to purchase an additional ethernet wire out of my own cost. I am so ready to leave this service as soon as my contract is over for what I have already paid. I pray to God that I am able to port my number without a problem from this horrible company.

This is an excellent VoIP company. The product is solid, the service the best, the features are the best I have found and they are always adding new features. I have used VoIP for 10 years. I used 5 other companies all of them had customer service that was laughable! (that's if you could understand them) For example, Before calling for customer service I always reset my adapter at least twice to see if the problem corrects itself. Then when you call, the first thing they want you to do is reset the adapter. "I just called your tech support line and the guy wanted me to reset my adapter. After it came back up he told me to call back." CSR: "Thank you for calling "V" first lets reset your adapter." ME: "I just did reset my adapter and called you back." CSR: "Thank you for that information, now lets reset your adapter." After explaining over and over again that I had done this he then instructed me how to reset my adapter. When I refused to reset my adapter I was told that I was a hostile caller and he hung up. You will never have this with ViaTalk. The voice quality is great. The features are second to none. I love the second line feature. If one of the kids forgets to hand up the phone we still get calls on the second line our two line phone system. We can set up a do not disturb time of day with white listing who can call during those times. Our favorite feature is simultaneous ring where a call comes in and also rings on my wife's cell phone. YOU WON"T BE SORRY! Try it!

I had service for 3 months with lots of service issues. Every week I had to call to fix. The calls were dropping, not clear voice etc. etc.... They only advised to reset the phone modem, which I did 30-40 times during 3 months. I was so tired. Finally they advised me to change my phone modem. Which I did but they charged me $11. 00 for shipping a replacement modem. I returned back the bad- modem with another $7 for shipping. (They sent a used modem too) With the second modem the issue was not resolved. After 3-4 times of resetting it they said your internet is the issue. But internet was just fine. I had Vonage for 2 yeas and never had to reset the modem. When I asked for 3rd modem, they sent, but another $11 shipping... I called them to wave it but they didn't so I didn't return previous modem. They charged me $50 for not returned modem. I talked to manager, she did gave me credit and not refunded $50 even I returned modem with $8 shipping. After 15 days, with 3rd modems was still there. I called and talked to a manager. She was very rude, and just said o cancel the service if I have the same issue. I was OK so I have her cancelled the service but also charged my card $50 for early cancellation... I retuned all their modems but they haven't refunded my $50 for modem can $50 early cancellation. So please be careful with this people. They are just robbers... I don?t recommend this service to anyone

Their customer service is very long waits which indicates many more problems. I noticed average wait times to be 10 mins plus. The VT_unlimited plan was purchased because I was told they offer some international Long distance with the package. They are not upgrading existing Customers as I was told when I extended my contract. This is deceptive and I will now find a new provider

Great features for price

THIS IS THE LAST REVIEW YOU WILL EVER NEED! As a technology consultant...I was referred to ViaTalk by an engineer with over 30-years in Telephony. This is an ATA (analog telephone adapter) type service as such its technology that?s filled with glitches. Yes there are GREAT FEATURES, yes VERY INEXPENSIVE compared to AT&T or Verizon, and yes you get to keep your current telephone system (Panasonic, vTech ...whatever). There are things...we have learned...you can do that would make almost any ATA service worth owning. For starters one should have a solid Internet circuit. One should also have the router recommended by the provider (we use a WRT54G...one of the cheapest Linksys routers available). You should ask the provider to configure your ATA device with a static IP Address...and have them place that address in the routers DMZ (they know how to do this well). If you comply with the above WOW...life will be good and say so-long to copper forever. If your DSL is unstable and attempt to do all the right things...you will have mixed results. This company does not discriminate...and that?s a huge mistake. In my humble opinion, they likely have a marketing philosophy...say ?YES? to everyone, for every 10 customers 5 will cancel. In comparison to others they have market share but plenty bad reviews as a result. For residential use this is a great service and we now have control over our inbound/outbound calls like never before. For the past 6-months we have received ZERO solicitation calls. This is an amazing system for people with busy lives and families that need quiet space. Price is buy one...2nd year free $189 (24 mths total). As all these companies...there will be a Regulatory Recovery Fee $1.97/mth, and E911 Fee for $.48/mth. Your bottom line $10.28/mth!! ...and no usage cap! Whelp I just checked to be certain and their price changed and no more 2nd year FREE, it?s now $129/yr...do plan on roughly $13/mth

I have been a Viatalk customer for over 2 years. I was been a VOIP customer for 3 other service providers before moving to viatalk. Setting up the equipment is not a problem for me because of my familiarity with the equipment. There were occasions often family and friends complained about the quality of sound, but I could hear them normally. As a new customer, one time charge of $200 + taxes ~= $240 for 2 years is not a bad deal, but do charge the card about $4 every month as service charge. So net charges were up to $350... Soft phone service was free to use, but unable to use even after several tries.

After 1st trying Vonage and being frustrated with idiot "tech" support people, one instance being the rep telling us to plug the yellow cable into our box, we had a yellow port, not cable, we decided to give ViaTalk a try mainly due to the price. Set up was a breeze, customer service has been nothing but great and we have never had a problem with our service of any kind. I would definitely recommend ViaTalk over Vonage any day of the week and will definitely reup when our time comes.

There is a ton of negative about viatalk. I just want you to know I absolutely love this company and all the features. I have a regular phone (not a VOIP phone) and have not any issues. I know Comcast you have to use their phone, or they at least tell you you have to. I really love the fact you can pick any phone, we have Uniden from costco, just a regular multiple handset cordless phone and have had no issues.

So far for the two months I have had ViaTalk, it has been great. Saved a ton of money, gained features, and really have not seen that much of a difference in the sound quality from my old landline.

I just warn Viatalk users. When I sign up, they provided 1 free year. They renewed after a year automatically and took $198 from my credit card. I called the customer service, they refund the money. If you are not careful, they will take $198 even though you have one free year. So, check your statement.

I've had Viatalk now for over 5 months without a glitch. Sound quality is nice, service has been solid (I've been without phone briefly, but that was thanks to Comcast internet being down). My caller id time was incorrect, but I sent a work order and it was corrected in less than 30 minutes. I cannot complain about the service at all...plus the price is great.

Viatalk over charged me for international call service in the amuont of $80.82 on Sept, 2008 billing. Viatalk agreeded refund on 11/10/08, ticket EAC36674 but they did not. On 12/18/08 I request again for refund ( GVB-13466 ) and was told should be wait for 90 days. On 03/08/09 I requested for refund again ( WCQ- 34094 ) but no reply. On 06/19/09 I submitted my cancellation the service from Viatalk ( HFJ-93231 ) but Viatalk do not process the request and trying to charge for one year renew to my credit card. On 07/15/09 I submitted another request for cancellation but viatalk continue to hold on and do not want to proceess cancellation for service and try to forget the refund that they really owed to customer. Let be aware of billing from them and take care your credit.

ViaTalk makes a lot of promises, but does not deliver. Their call quality was really poor for international calls (like completely impossible to hear on the other end bad), but better domestically. They also have a lot of fine print and miscellaneous charges, and require you to return their equipment at your own expense if you cancel, or face a large penalty. Customer service may be native English-speakers, but it can take seemingly forever to reach one of them. For me, call quality is the most important factor in the selection of this service, and they are simply not as good as others. Features are much the same as elsewhere unless you like their "find" feature or a few tricks they have. There are better providers with better overall value.

We went to Viatalk after Sunrocket went under. For the first year the service was great and we didn't have any reliability issues. However, the last year has been hell. 1. No Dial Tone 2. Will not connect. 3. Callers cannot hear you. 4. Fast busy to frequently called number that wont go away. 5. Getting more expensive with extra fees. Tonight was the worst! Daughter accidentally dialed 911. I grabbed phone away from her to advise operator that it was a mistake. 911 operator could not hear me thanks to this lousy phone service so in minutes I had 3 cop cars at my house. Luckily the cops were very understanding. However, the lightbulb went on, had we needed to speak to 911 in case of emergency this phone issue could have put our family in serious harm. I am cancelling Viatalk next week.

I experience following problems: busy signal when dialing out while the other party's phone was not in use, connected to the different phone number other than the one I dialed, no voice when picking up incoming call. Their customer service suggested my hardware might be the cause. LOL. So it means their service has a hardware specific issue. VOIP has been in the market for 3-4 years if not longer, how can this company still be so confused?

They are a cheat.First of all, when people used to call me, sometimes my number was not available.The reason I disconnected this service is that THEY SAY THEY ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH ANYCALLING CARDS. This is very hard for me to believe. I was continuously using calling cardsto dial internationally and they were also charging me on the back end. The customerservice manager hung up her phone on me when I asked her to draw a detailed diagram andexplain me how this was happening. When I am using a calling card, my phone provider shouldnot charge me. This service is not for people who dial internationally.

The offer of $199/year and the second year free plus 4 out of 5 star rating is what made mechoose ViaTalk from Vonage in trying to cheaper alternative that gave me 2 lines option.? Iwasn't too crazy about paying $25/month to Vonage for your basic plain vanilla VOIPservice.? So the cost of ViaTalk was very appealing at the time.? Without knowing anyonepersonally who have used ViaTalk, I relied on the rating (4 out of 5 stars).? Now I ahvehad it for more than 8 months and it has never worked well.? My wife and I have ended upusing our cell phones to make calls from home.? You might wonder why I kept the service forthis long if it hasn't worked all this time.? After spending hours troubleshooting(ViaTalk's technical support on their website is laughable.? The rating by their customersgenerally give them 2 out of 5 stars in terms of helpfulness of their answers.)?? First andthe foremost problem is that when I am dialing out, there is a pause of 15 seconds after Idial the number before it starting ringing.? As for the incoming calls, all of our friendshave stopped calling our ViaTalk number because most of time when don't even hear the phonering when people call.? So several months back after having spent weeks to trying totroubleshoot the technical issues, I gave up and call ViaTalk for a refund on the proratedportion only to be told that of the $199 that I paid, I will only be getting back about$40.? READ THE FINE PRINT.? So I attempted again to try to find a solution to make thiswork.? Their technical support - if you can get through - sited problems with my internetprovider and the way my house is wired for telephone.? On top of all the frustration, theyalso charge you some fee (taxes???) on a monthly basis on the credit card you have to givethem when you originally paid $199.? This was not mentioned to me at the time I order theservice.?? This is worst $199 that I ever spent.? I would never ever recommend this serviceto anyone!!!

I have been using viatalk for several months now and the only thing reliable is that the service is unreliable. After experiencing connectivity issues I emailed tech support in regards to my router options and specific settings. The reply email I received was just a canned response and had nothing to do with my original request. When I wrote that back I received another response that was very defensive trying to justify the original response. And again I wrote back thanking them for never reading my original email which still was not answered at that time. Stay away from this company.

ViaTalk is the worst service provider I have ever seen in VOIP world. They provide false information on there website saying unlimited planning. I had ViaTalk for 3 yrs. Company charges me additional charges for minutes more than 5000 minutes. I do not understand why they say it is unlimited calling plan. They have a fine print in there terms and conditions saying there is 5000 min cap for domestic calling plan. I spoke to customer service 10 times they are unable to explain me the reason why they say unlimited calling plan. I do not recommend this company.

I'm a bit surprised at the negative comments I've read about ViaTalk, because I've had nothing but outstanding results from them. People complain about the service recovery fee of $2-$3 per month. Well, with a total cost, including modem shipping, of $240 for TWO YEARS, that takes the entire cost for two years to $300 or less - about $12.50 per month - a screaming deal compared to Vonage or the other biggies. I've called 4 times - for minor enhancements; such as as reducing the time between dialing the last digit and the start of ringing (they did something to reduce it from 8 seconds to 1 second). The first person I talked with every time was very polite, professional, and had extensive expertise. Once I waited on hold for 4 minutes; another time the system asked me to input a call-back number and hang up. They called back 6 minutes later! The tiny modem (not much bigger than my wallet - it travels in my suitcase with me) is true plug-and-play. I've used other VoIP services, and this was by far the easiest to get to work - regardless of whether I'm connecting to cable internet or DSL. The sound quality is always at least as good as any traditional phone service I've used. I generally use Comcast internet, which says 7mbps but the highest I've ever measured on that is 4mbps. I also use Qwest DSL, which says 5mbps but I've only found 3mbps at the most. The sound quality has been outstanding on both of them - even while I'm downloading huge files or using lots of bandwidth in some way. I now have two ViaTalk phone lines - one for business and one for home. I've used VoIP for 6 years now, and have had ViaTalk for over a year. It's as good as any I've ever had, and it's the easiest to configure and the least expensive by far!

Initial problems with "jitter" - seem to resolve with config from tech support. Then problems with dropped calls. Although tech support tried to help -not successful - they would keep emailing the same algorithm again and again! I had done all those steps without success. Basically I had to figure it out myself. It was the wireless router. I would have thought that techs would have helped me figure it out! Since then I have been satisfied with the VoIP and have had no problems. In fact I have now connected my service to the phone lines throughout the house and so far it is flawless. The fine print fees were again a surprise.

Viatalk is absolutely the worst service. 3 years ago, I signed it because it has promotion for using it for 3 years. But, the nightmare occurred just after I ordered it. (1) I waited 2 weeks but, did not get the 'free" equipment (2) I called Viatalk customer service. I was told I was next one to speak to customer service. I was so happy. But, I actually waited 50 minutes!. When I spoke to customer service, I asked why the waiting time is so long; Is you the only customer service available? I was told she was not. But, if I need fast service I could buy the fast service by paying $5/month. Have you heard this? For me it is the first time. When I asked when can I get my equipment, I was told if I need it quickly, I need to pay $20 for 2nd day delivery. (3) A few weeks later, I got the equipment and made it work. But, I found 2 issues: (a) if I sue it for more than 10 minutes, the call automatically ends; (b) 80% of fax fails to complete transaction. (4) A few days ago, I decided to cancel the service. I asked Viatalk to cancel my service, it refused. It sent me email to renew my service. Of course, it send me bill for $200/year. (5) It also asked me to return their junk FREE equipment it sent to me. I asked for teh agreement I signed. It sent me a fake agreement to say this is the one I agreed. I told it obviously not the one I agreed since 3 years ago, it did not charge 911 service. Now, the 911 serive fee is added besides the $200. I asked Viatalk the reason it lie to me. It told me that the ticket is closed and will answer any of my questions. Summary, BAD service for extra long waiting time; BAD quality for only 10 minutes talking and 80% fax fail. LAIR for sending me fake agreement.

Before you buy Viatalk make sure you consider the monthly Regulatory Recovery Fee & E911 Cost Recovery Fee, all this will add up to $70/year. And remember if you decide to cancel the service you have to return the modem, if not they will charge you $50.00. The reason I dislike viatalk is they never told me this upfront.

Viatalk is a ripoff. I wish I would have did some research online before they snagged my credit card number. Terrible sound quality, terrible service, hidden fees, small print, customer care doesn't care

I have had this service for over 3 years and everyone that referred to Viatalk loves their service. Yes I have a few problems, but no more than any other product or service that I've had. If you have a slow speed internet service then you will have less than normal Viatalk phone service. I have recently down graded my internet speed, but I'm still having good connections and no dropped calls. I love it.....

poor service , drops calls, out of service for days, they blame router so put directly into cable modem with same problems, never can get anyone over the phone you have to do everything over the internet and read fine print if you plan to use them they charge you 49.95 to cancel even though the phone service doesnt work and you have to return the phone adapter even after the first year is up or they charge you another $50 for that. I really wish I'd listened to the negetive reviews I'd read before I ordered their service.

I signed up for $199 per two year package (i.e. 1 year + 1 free year). What a rip off! They kept my credit card and charge me $3.45 extra monthly. By the time I knew, I already got my new number established and it's already after a month. Take that into account when you order. It's $199 + (24x3.45) = $281.8 for two years. There are a lot cheaper packages offered by other companies out there. I was disappointed they didn't tell me this hidden fees upfront. I used two other VoIP companies before and didn't have this problem.

I had a few problems over the last few months. Disconnected calls after 1 minute when using simultaneous ring to another number, one way calling (either I or the caller could not hear). These were solved with a call to support. Call in support can be slow (a few hours) to call back when using the call back option rather than waiting on the phone. Support using the trouble ticket system is poor. Just call them. I am satisfied enough to use the service for over 3 years. Over all we have had very few problems.

forget about viatalk. I had a two year plan for $199 .They bring thousand of excuse to charge you more .Including recovery fee, 911. Even they will charge you for attempted international call even when you are not connected to your party. As soon as you terminate your contract they place $ 50 bill in your account and give 50 days to return the equipments. The costumer service is very rude

ViaTalk charges for E911 $3.45/month besides your annual contract and threatens to charge credit card for breach of contract although the contract does not specifically mentions of separate charge for E911 per month. Also the customer service is very poor and problem resolutions are frustrating.

IMPORTANT!!!!-->For those of you with ANY VOIP service, if you are having connection problems, more than likely it's the speed of your connection. I had standard cable, and would lose calls when my kids turned on 2 desktops & 1 wireless laptop computer on our home network. I increased the internet speed and have had perfect VOIP (totally error free) ever since!! Other computers on the home network drop the "Upload speed", and when the upload speed gets too slow, the VOIP fails. You can fool with your router, your wiring, yell at the VOIP, but if you can get 1000mps UPLOAD speed on your home network, your problems will be solved!! This speed is not offered at "Standard" cable services. You need to upload to a "Turbo" service.

VIATALK is horrible and hopeless. I regret for chosing this service. A few of my friends recommended Viatalk and I fell into the trap that $199 gives me two years with one free year. Just when I am about to complete my first year with Viatalk, I have received 3 consecutive months of wrong bills and as my account was on auto debit, my credit card was charged for those amounts. They did accept the mistake for Nov08 billing cycle and refunded me the charges for that month. The same mistake that's repeated in Dec08 and Jan09 billing cycles are not being refunded. Viatalk claims I made those calls, and thereby says the CUSTOMER is lying to them. HERE'S THE SCARY PART - all the calls that are wrongly billed on my account are to PAKISTAN and SAUDI ARABIA. NOW WHERE DOES THAT PUT ME INTO? THIS IS VERY HORRIBLE SERVICE FROM VIATALK. NOW, HOW CAN ONE TRUST SUCH A BAD COMPANY? I PLAN TO REPORT THEM TO BBB and USCP AND FILE A LEGAL ACTION. PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE PAIN AND STAY AWAY FROM VIATALK.

Have this service for 3 yrs. So far have no any problems.

Got sucked into the cheap price and a 2 year contract. The two years are up and I will gladly pay the extra for the more expensive Vonage. Vonage was great and the only reason I left was I thought they may have been shutdown by the courts 2 years ago. ViaTalk has some serious problems that no one seems to know how to correct. I have done everything they have asked for 2 years and still the same problems every week. Callers can't hear me, no dial tone, 1st line calls ringing on my 2nd FAX line, etc., etc... Don't even think of signing on to this nightmare!

Great features, but terrible service and support. I continually have intermittent problems with being unable to make outgoing calls, echoing/ delayed incoming voice, etc. This is with all settings set as instructed. "Tech Support" is a joke- can never get through on phone (waited 45 minutes on hold one time before giving up). When submitting a trouble ticket via their website, it can take 2 days before even getting a reply.

I can not get call backs from their tech support folks.

The company will charge your credit card every month for numerous fees and will renew your account if you do not contact them prior to your termination date.

drops calls every 10 minutes. phone just stops working at least a couple times a week need to reset phone several times to get working again when I call customer service they blame router never had any problems with sunrocket with same modem and router and phones.

I've had the service for two years now, and they keep adding nice features to the service. Of course, I'm not sure anymore how competitive they are now with features, but the ability to block numbers with wild cards (say all 866 numbers can be sent to voicemail) is great for annoying callers. Usually they throw in two lines for the same number, so two can use the phone at the same time on the same number. Maybe this would go mostly unused, but nice to have for no extra charge. The only time I hear complaints about the sound quality and issues with people not hearing the other party is when I'm using bittorrent. Even though I use a Linksys router WRT54GL with DD-WRT, set the VoIP protocol to high priority, it still causes issues using bittorrent, even when having the bandwidth set around 20kbps below the max available for the bittorrent client. It might also have something to do with v24 sp1; I didn't remember this being an issue with v23 sp1. I have the router, modem, and phone adapter on a APC backup. That alone probably prevents many issues. Of course, I'm a computer tech and know how to setup the adapter and such for seamless operation, so keep that in mind. Also, my cable connection with Bright House has gone down only twice in 5 years, once due to an ip conflict and once due to the dhcp or cmts server going down on my block.

Was a refuge from Sunrocket...went to Packet 8...still have a modem that never got to connect 1 call. Because of time issue etc... no refund...went to ViaTalk and had phone up in less than 10 days from order to getting equipment up and working, Have a free second line with no number. I use it for my fax line. In the start, due to the Sunrocket flurry their C.S. was bogged down. I have had a share of issues, and the C.S. has been excellent to poor. If you go the phone call route for C.S. its been a crap shoot from excellent to poor. The main problems were in the Sunrocket rush...and since then they have had some issues that they have told me in advance [by email] that they were going to be doing what ever, and I would just ride out the storm of what ever time frame. The service issues have only 1 or 2 times made it so I could not make a phone call for at the most a day. But the feature of call forward or sim/ring if the server/system was down or what ever the problem was has never failed. So if someone called my VIATALK number, it would go to my cell phone. The main problems have been w/voice mail access, and have been on and off. I have had excellent sound clarity 95% of the time since day one. Put it to you like this...my friend [also Sunrocket refuge] is a computer geek, and has gone through 4 or 5 other VoIP companies...Packet 8, Vonage, and others I do not know of. He turned me on to VoIP, and told me to go Packet 8 after SunRocket hit the dirt...I followed his lead, but went to VIATALK on my own as [P8 was a mistake]...His ego has kept him from trying VIATALK to this day. He is the only person I call that I have issues with. He now has the Magic Jack...VIATALK has great features. One of my fav's is the call alarm, its like when you stay at a hotel and ask them to give you a wake up call. Bottom line, I have found that [along w/my computer Geek friend experiences and quest] VIATALK to be a great value/service. Like a guy said in a review here.. your cable company or how ever you are connected, and their service has A LOT to do with your VoIP experience. If you are going to use VoIP... highly recommend you also have a cell phone. The VIATALK call forward when service is down feature or the Simm-ring feature keep you linked to otherwise missed calls... no matter where the bug lays, your connection or your VoIP service. The free second line, the CALL ALARM, CALL RECORD, and all of their extra features are cool. Do not expect perfection...be patient and I have no problem recommending VIA-TALK over any others. And as far as service/help, they have been over all responsive, and taken care of my issues as they pop up. E-mail/service ticket, I have found to be the best way to deal with service issues. I call and wait 10 min. to 45 min. in queue when I need to and have found that they are very knowledgeable and courteous. Hope I have been of help to someone looking for a decent over-all deal on a VoIP service....VIATALK has my vote,

Quality is at best a bad digital cell signal. Lately cannot even call out or access Voice mail from any line.

It takes up to 1:01 minutes to get connect to the line I dial out since I started using in Feb 07 I don't hear anything prior to connecting. It's always my cable or phone problems, not Viatalk. My phone did not take incoming calls for two months. The second to last Tech told me to send me a new adopter but the last Tech said no records indicated that. Be ware that it say one year free but they actually have you sign two years contract. That's why I was unable to walk away for phone services down for two months. Do not use ViaTalk, You paid what you get for it.

Jerry, I had exactly the same experiences with Viatalk. The product doesn't work and tech support is nonexistent. This company is a scam. DO NOT ORDER VIATALK!

Tried to switch to ViaTalk when I saw their ad for a free year. Well, nothing is free. Ordered the service, received the equipment, connected it as instructed - and it did not work. Several attempts at calls to customer support and two tickets submitted resulted in nothing. Never did get to talk to a support person. Once I waited on hold for at least 30 minutes, and two other times, I got a recording that I would be called back when I was next in line. Put in my phone number (cell of course,) and a return call never came either time. According to my reading of ViaTalk's small print, ViaTalk slaps customers with an additional fee (about $50) if you cancel their service after 14 days and prior to the end of the contract period. Not wanting to risk being charged with that fee, I cancelled service and send the non- functioning equipment back to them. They took $50 out of the refund of the service fee to cover the cost of the equipment pending their determination if the equipment is ok. So, I cannot recommend ViaTalk. In fact, I would advise you to stay away. No service. No customer support. Extra "hidden" fees. Just not the kind of company I would recommend. I have used Sunrocket in the past and currently use Packet8. Both services have been great for me, and the customer service is fine. ViaTalk just doesn't measure up. One point for clarification, One of the above survey categories, which is related to Service Provider Details, is the "Time from ordering VoIP to service available." The survey does not give the option to answer "No service ever available", so I answered with the longest period, "More than 21 days" as the most nearly accurate.

Thought I had a steal with the $199 for two years plan, but the service sucked, the customer service did also and I finally cancelled the service 4 months ago and I am still waiting for my refund. I would definitely rather pay more for someone else to get reliable customer service and quality calls. I have since switched back to Vonage and am much happier with the service. Vonage isn't perfect either, but I do get my issues resolved much, much quicker. Stay away from Viatalk if you're smart. They have no commitment to servicing their customers.

Worst company ever. Charged $280.00 at the time of sign up. Customer service is the worst.

I have had VT for a year or so: Here is what I have found. It takes some time and effort although you do not need to be technical to have this ? it is only as reliable as your DSL or Cable provider, which brings me to my main point !! Most cable companies have been taking a beating with VOIP, they can not compete on price and have found a loop hole. Remember to remain a monopoly they must feed the very hungry politicians millions to keep competition away, hence higher prices. Most companies like Comcast have since been intermittently blocking ports that other VoIP providers are using, to disrupt their phone service and draw people to their monopoly It should be short lived as lawsuits will be popping up, and when emergency calls are blocked, someone dies ? heads will roll... It should work OK most of the time, then when your cable co blocks it for a while and you lose service. I called Comcast and they claimed that it is a VT problem ? I was not using my VT switch just going computer to host. They just blamed VT. The website flat out tells you that your cable provider is blocking ports. Of course Comcast the different port that Comcast uses is never blocked. So you say OK, I'll go to my cable provider and pay top dollar and fill our politicians pockets. That's OK until they double or triple the cost and continue to rape the public. All bandwidth slows around 2 ? 3 PM as kids come home and jump online, I can see the difference and it can get choppy... I can not wait to switch away from Comcast. Until then I will keep my VT. I look at it this way ? I had 2 lines that work paid for and just cut back. I was paying @ $ 130 per month. Now I lose a few incoming calls here and there, possibly make a few cust svc calls ? but save my company and now myself almost 3K over 2 years. EASY choice.

Customer Service/Support: NON-EXISTING (Phantom From Live or Call Back Feature) >> Call Queues up in 40's on calls. 1-1+ hour wait.....they act like they have phone issues. Call remains connected but other end never responds. FORGET PHONE SUPPORT. >> Online Tickets.........Still have issue on accessing voicemail remotely and and no resolution or attempt to resolve. Still have ticket open - Posted on 16 May 2008 09:27 PM. Last Reply was - Posted on 20 May 2008 03:58 PM VIATALK sent customers an email advising a NEW COMPLAINTS BOX (email). Sent my complaint in three weeks ago. NO REPLY!! CALLED IN TWICE on ISSUE - 55 minute hold time. Rep took name, account and issue information.....disconnect by support. No callback or ticket opened. Second call - 1 hr 5 minute hold time. Rep took name, account and issue information. He advised that I should check my voicemail by using my home phone (in home). I explained three times that I want to check voicemail from a different phone and the * feature does not work to access voicemail and about 50% of time the toll-free number does not work. He validate toll free # does not work. Rep advised I need to use my home phone (physical phone in house) to check voicemail. Rep would not respond to further questions....after saying he was having problems with his phone. Hung up after 15 minutes...call still connected. >> Submitted NEW TICKET on same issues - Posted on 14 Oct 2008 09:35 PM NO REPLYS - Only automated email providing acceptance of ticket and ticket number. I have two tickets on same issues (No Remote voicemail access / 50 % toll free access) one from MAY 2008 the other from Oct 14th, 2008. NO CALLBACK - from Contact by Phone. NO RESPONSE - From NEW COMPLAINT BOX (email) Leaving at the end of my term, Jan. 2009! GOOD LUCK, ANYONE that goes with ViaTalk. ******************************************************************************************** ****** WHAT YOU RECEIVE (day 1).........IS .......WHAT YOU GET!!!! ****** ********************************************************************************************

Headaches from the very beginning! I placed an order on August 18, online. Since we wanted to try them out first before committing, we ordered the service for only one month for $14.95/mo. With a setup fee of $29.95 and shipping charge of $10.95, the total was supposed to be $56.85. I check my bank account a few days later, and they charged my account $239.86. The same day I called customer service to complain. I waited 25 minutes for someone to pickup the phone! they would not pick up! I got transferred to billing and she said I had ordered the yearly service. What a lie! she finally said they will refund the difference, which they did. But, the problem is that I never received the equipment. We put in several requests online but they were ignored. On September 10th, we decided to cancel the service, and that day we received the equipment, which we returned unopened. They refused to refund the setup fee. They never connected anything... but they took our money anyway!. I told them I would write bad reviews anywhere I can, and complain to the BBB. Warning! DO NO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM.... they don't know what they are doing, and the service is EXTREMELY poor! I am so glad I switched. We have Packet8 and it is working great for us, and their customer service is GREAT!

The worst company ever. I can't believe these companies are still in business. Announced price $199/year, but fist invoice $289.47. Customer service average waiting time 1 hr. Keep away from this company. Keep away from this company

I recently renewed my second year of the ViaTalk unlimited plan for $199. I'm researching other providers. Their quality and reliability has gone downhill considerably. I have been having trouble receiving incoming calls for a week now and tech support has not helped. Even though I have been paying extra for priority support, I have to wait in the calling queue for a long time before speaking with someone. Find another provider, these people suck.

I have had Viatalk for a total of 4 days now and I can't make outgoing calls (I get a busy signal) nor can I receive incoming calls (they go straight to voice mail). If you choose ViaTalk as you VoIP provider be prepared for being on hold for technical support for hours and then being disconnected. Also, make sure you are okay with your online trouble tickets being closed without the issue being resolved and for them to respond back only after a minimum of twelve hours. I guess you like substandard service and not being able to use your phone ViaTalk is the way to go!

Have had service for 9 months and have been very happy. There are times when the service will stop working for a few hours but cell phones have been able to cover. Service since upgrade has been better with fewer service disruptions. Service for us has been as good as it got with Sunrocket. Had Vonics between Sunrocket and ViaTalk and that was a disaster. Will stay with Viatalk for as long as they exist if they keep up like this.

Viatalk offers the most economical contract plan available (2 lines, 2 years, $199). Their web site is a bit deceptive in that it fails to inform about ongoing 911 charges (nominal), and its "unlimited" minutes are actually LIMITED (but more than reasonable, spelled out in user agreement). Hook-up is a no-brainer. Access to customer service takes a while (as does ATT), but the technicians are quite helpful and friendly once you reach them. Viatalk has recently extended its support hours and, it seems, expanded its staff (wait times have gone down) within the past 2 weeks. Feature set is generally quite good, but there is no Music on Hold, and more voicemail access options would be nice (interactive access with forwarding option). Overall, however, I give Viatalk one and a half thumbs up, and have enthusiastically recommended to friends.

I have had ViaTalk for over a year. I have had problems since I received it on people not being able to hear me or they can hear me when I call them or when they call me. Also people will call and if I don't answer voicemail doesn't always pickup, sometimes it just keeps ringing, sometimes it just hangs up on them. I have called my own number multiple times to test this and I get the same thing. I have a 10 MB cable connection and all speed test show that I should have no problems. It has gotten to the point that I don't use that number any longer. I want to switch to another VOIP but I am not sure who to switch to yet.

I have finally given up on ViaTalk. It is a $238.00 lesson learned counting all the initial charges. Since they changed software, or platforms as they call it, I have had nothing but trouble. The latest thing they tell me is my router is to old (vintage 2005) and that their service does not work well with a wireless internet provider. No backward compatibility with their new platform. Only an unregulated company like all the current VOIP companies can get away with this service policy. Screw them. I learned my lesson. I may get 1/6 of my money back when I cancel and send the adapter back. Even then, they and only they will determine if the adapter is serviceable. I can almost guess what their response will be. I doubt I will get a dime back. For those of you considering a VOIP phone, look elsewhere. My experience and those of some friends who have tried other companies are all the same. Eventually you will experience poor service, poor quality, and very little if any recourse.

DO NOT ORDER FROM ViaTalk!! THEY ARE THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!! My adapter was working out of the box then about 6 hours later mysteriously it quit working. I tried to contact ViaTalk about it but that is not possible. They have no technical support whatsoever. They have an online ticket system for submitting problems, but then they do not reply! I have left 5 messages there over the course of 5 days and they never once replied. I have been on hold for an hour and gave up. THEY ARE THE ABSOLUTE WORST COMPANY EVER!! DO NOT ORDER FROM ViaTalk!!!

I have had Viatalk for almost three months. Past one month I have no service and I have placed innumerable calls to get my phone working. If you are reading this review please do not be lured by their cheap plans. I lost $ 200 already. Dear future customer who read this review please do not think of getting in to trouble with this company. They have no manners, no customer service. Their equipment will not work with out a router. I have changed 4 routers and all of the routers they blamed and I called the router company and they have done the test and router was fine. Needless to say more please do not get this cheap and stupid service. Please read their review which I did not do, there is not even one good review. If there are enough people I would like to file a class action law suit on this company.

I have been on the phone with customer service 5 times since Friday afternoon. They have tweaked my adapter several times and had me activate DMZ which raise security issues. None of these fixes work. I still cannot receive incoming calls reliably. They get forwarded to my cell or the calling party cannot hear me. Internet connection is great so it is not that. No fix insight. I am waiting as a next in line customer as I write. I have used over 100 cell phone minutes so far to resolve problem to no avail. Service and company stinks. Stay away.

this is the worse company. I tried to call for help with the phone and dead air issue their automatic answering kept disconnecting me because it thought I had hung up. They refused to honor the 6 months free that was suppose to come with my year of service. they also kept adding fees to the amount of the contract. these fees were not mentioned in the contract. The service for phone calls were at best frustrating dropped calls, dead air, echoing, static, crackling. They even told me it was my phones not their service and I spent almost $80 on new phones. The phones were not the problem. Even though I have left their service if you have their service and call my number it says it is disconnected. It is not it was transferred simple easy and fast by my new company.

Do Not Use Viatalk! We have had nothing but problems with them. Terrible quality of service. Unreliable connections. Customer service agents bounce you from one to another and you never get the same person. Billing is automated and they charge you after you cancel. Website makes it hard to understand even HOW to cancel. Do not waste your time or your money. They lure you in with low fees but it's not worth the hassles involved. Never again.

Line connection is buzzy, that is, when there is service. I had to issue several tickets, and ViaTalk responds perhaps 50% of the time. The rest of the time, you have to call them (wait on line that is) to get some correction. I have not had service now for more than two months, and still don't. They lost their certification from the Buffalo, NY Better Business Bureau. I have formally reported ViaTalk to both the Federal Communications Commission, and the New York State Attorney General's Office. You see, these guys collect "access fees" which is supposed to pay for E-911 service, a pretty important service. The problem, is THEY DON'T provide the service. Here I am now, trying to disconnect my service, and guess what?? You must send in a ticket to cancel service. I'm trying to do it over the phone, and their system doesn't allow it! My opinion is that ViaTalk should not be used by anyone, and that government officials should investigate VoIP providers who take your money, but don't provide the service.

This company is useless. I can't make calls in the past two months. I submitted tickets to cancel a fax line and they never receive it. Their website and customer service are set up in a way to make you jump through hoops in order to cancel service. They would not let me cancel over the phone, I had to "submit a ticket and wait 24 hours". This company is a joke, if their phone service even worked, I'd be ok. Anyway, they are worse than any land line phone company because at least land lines work. I switched to skype and they are 100X better. don't use these fools, they are the epitome of horrible service, bad products, and trying to scam you. P.S. to get customer service, you have to wait at least 10-15 minutes. I once waited 20 minutes and there were 5 people in queue ahead of me, ridiculous, simply ridiculous.

This is the worst phone service I have ever had....it goes dead...rings on the other end...but people can't hear you...they get upset....caller id goes in and out.....customer service NEVER takes responsibility....you are on hold for hours....and you get bumped back by people who pay for "premium" customer care....I've asked for the owner to call me for two years...he won't...VIATALK STINKS!!!!!!

Easily one of the worst experiences with a business in my life. These people are not only incompetent, they are antagonistic, contrary and seem to enjoy having the power to make your life miserable if you're unfortunate enough to find yourself contracted to them for phone service. STAY AWAY!

Guys, They have very bad customer service and billing. They charge a lot for cancellation even after realizing that it is their mistake. I called Credit Card company and opened a dispute. Finally, credit card company resolved it but it took 4 weeks. That is the best way to get your money back. Have the complaints handy in case you need to support your dispute.

Advertised rates are "minimum price guidelines." ViaTalk reserves the right to increase the price mid-term. They do this through bogus fees labeled "regulatory recovery" (arbitrary) and "government mandated 911" (no, the extra fee isn't mandated). Support blames every problem on your ISP or router. It's never their fault. After reading the same complaints over and over, it's obvious where the problem lies. If you would like to pay to beta test a service, then viatalk is for you. For good service, look elsewhere.

First, I could connect to every number but one number. They refused to fix it. After 5 months of fighting and filing complaints here and filing complaints there, I went to my State Senator. Finally, the problem was fixed. Okay for 3 months Now, I have been without service since July 1st, and they will not fix it nor will they even respond. I ran into a post in their forums and found that I am not the only one having that same issue/problems happening. Funny that they fixed one person's service on July 4th - the very day he reported it, but they will not fix mine nor acknowledge me and I reported mine 4 days earlier. Avoid ViaTalk the plague.

I read the reviews and I was scared, but these guys are absolutely wonderful. The sound quality is terrific (after I updated to a QoS router) and set my host to San Jose. I'm getting 30ms Ping Times out of San Jose and the service works perfect. Customer service is very quick and really I have nothing bad to say about these guys -- nothing bad at all. I also like the fake "second line". It's pretty cool because while I have one inbound number, I get two outbound lines. This works perfect for me because calls can roll in on the second line and I don't have to mess with the flash button.

1. Managing your online profile is worst. Your online password will be trackless. 2. 10 to 15 seconds wait for after dialing a local number, long distance and international calls SUCKS. 3. I guess there is only one person working in so called 'Customer Service', may be this is his third shift job, and he is always in sleep. 4. Call discontinued after 30 secs.

Call Quality is pathetic. You hear the ring only after 30 seconds. Donno when that goes down. Customer Service is always long waiting (Understandable as they provide pathetic service). Tech Engineer always says that it is some problem with your router or phone. They are trained to tell so. First they say to add IP to DMZ, you do that but don't see any improvement. They ask you to buy a new phone/ router and close the ticket... I would say, they are just pathetic...worst service...no value for money... I would simply say.....Don't opt for Viatalk...It is better not to have a phone than having a viatalk.

I can't say I had the problems with customer support that others in this forum mentioned. Overall I found the service easy to sign-up for and everyone I talked with was friendly. I had great voice quality from what I could tell. However, I did have numerous problems with my IP phone (Linksys SPA921) that I was trying to use. Some calls would go straight to voicemail, other times the phone seemed to disconnect if I let it idle to long. The softphone, however, worked great with none of these problems. But, I wanted to use the IP phone. It seemed to be more of a problem with the IP phone configuration than ViaTalk themselves. However, ViaTalk's technical support couldn't offer me much help in that respect, which I assumed was fair enough as I don't expect them to be experts on every IP phone manufacturer's technology. But, Linksys tech support was even more unhelpful as they didn't even want to attempt to help me look at my configuration. I couldn't identify another IP phone that interested me, so I just ended up cancelling service under the 14-day trial period out of frustration. I'd be willing to go back if I could figure out the IP phone problem. I did cancel service under the

In phoenix: wait for 30-seconds to hear a ring tone after dialing. You can NEVER get to customer support [which is why they have paid customer support...] this is the way they make money. incoming calls directly land in voice mailbox WITHOUT ringing phone. Wait to hear dial tone.. many times you hear beep.... Overall service sucks...

Terrible quality of service and customer service. The calls on both ends, echoing, non- connecting, dropping, long time to connect, No ringing before the call is answered. Oh yea the customer service, minimum wait time 30 min to the most 48 min. Unless you want to pay extra? Then be careful the adapter has to be returned in the original box with the lan cable. Now if you threw out the box like two years ago when the service started. Yes sir $5.00 charge or if you don't send back the lan cable $5.00. S T A Y A W A Y !!! Do your self a favor don't pick this one. Remember you have been warned!

ViaTalk appears to have poor business sense and no talent for customer service. My experience varied from no response, to interminably on hold, to stonewalled and to failing to deliver promised benefits. After I canceled service they continued to bill me for it until I explained that I was no longer a customer, then they continued to bill me for regulatory service charges. Finally, they explained that one cannot just discontinue service by asking for it, the customer must submit a Service Ticket to cancel service!

I've been a ViaTalk customer for almost 2 years. I've read a LOT of bad reviews, usually dealing with customer service issues. I offer this rebuttal of the bad reviews, stating upfront that I don't have any connection to ViaTalk except as a customer. I do have some sympathy for independent VOIP providers, as they are typically dealing with non-technical customers and are at the mercy of the underlying broadband service. When I had Time Warner's Roadrunner service, which in my area of Austin, TX was incredibly unreliable (down much more often than it was up), I would never have considered VOIP. After switching to AT&T Yahoo DSL, a service that has been "almost" rock solid, I took the chance of giving up my landline for ViaTalk. I got the $199/yr plan (plus bonus year), which works out to under $8.50/month - with every feature imaginable, including free long distance. This compares favorably to the approx. $50/month I was paying for an SBC landline with far fewer features - plus per-minute charges for long distance. Thus, on the surface ViaTalk wins hands down. When VT calls work, they are clear and loud. However, I HAVE had issues that were not the fault of my DSL connection, such as "no ring" on incoming calls (route directly to voicemail), calls dropped in the middle of conversation, and more minor problems like an interminable delay before voicemail responds when you dial in. I laugh off such problems by saying "hey, I'm paying $8.50 a month" - and really, that's the point... this is fantastic service for that price, compared to the standard pricing set by landlines and cell phones. I am fortunate that I have a landline for my home business, which I use for my house security system and would use if I needed 911. I am also fortunate that my credit card expired shortly after I signed up for ViaTalk... I was notified last year that they were unable to charge my card a monthly FCC fee. I told them that was not part of the deal, and that was that. I really don't like companies that attempt to charge your card for things you never agreed to or were never fully disclosed. One-time-use credit card numbers offered by some charge cards are good for exactly this situation. One more thing... their company emails often tout some friend's garage band that you should vote for, or something to this effect. OK, so ViaTalk must be run by some late-teen-ager who was a genius programmer but with the business acumen of Forest Gump (actually Forest did pretty well with Bubba Gump Shrimp). This could explain the low customer service quality and fees randomly charged to credit cards. A "professionally" run company would not have these issues - maybe. But I want them to stay in business - hopefully grow responsible and responsibly - and keep working on making their system more reliable. The price/feature ratio is unmatchable. Check out their control panel and see if there is anything like it. No doubt I'll renew my line when the time comes - an

This is the worst company that anyone could have remotely chosen to use. They take your money and then forget that you as a customer even exist. Their customer service is atrocious and they really don't care if you leave them or not. Since you have to pay them for 2 years in advance, they refuse to give you your money back. The FCC should shut them down.

They don't know the term "customer service'. They seem to be younger computer geeks that learn business concepts, but don't understand them. I have been on the HOLD for average periods of between 30 to 60 minutes. Tech support is poor at best, giving can answers, referring you to their web support page, or saying they'll "look into it." IF they ever call you back, don't expect a knowledgeable or helpful response. In most cases you can expect an email with a canned response that does not take care of the problem. Some calls go directly to voice mail and never ring the phone. Some routers seem to be an issue with them as well. With that being said, there features are good when working. The pricing is great, to the point I would be willing to pay $225 a year if they improved their customer service and learned to communicate better to their customers. If they don't improve soon, look for them to follow Sun Rocket. STAY AWAY FOR NOW!!!!!!

Signed up for 2 year prepaid plan and was charged monthly fees after 1 year. I never agreed to this and when mentioned to the billing dept was told too bad. They are charged these fees from the FCC, and they are passing them onto the customer. Deal with it. No I will not deal with it, I made a report with the BBB and found out their approved status has been revoked. Too many unresolved complaints. They have a $50 cancellation fee too! Slimey! Stay far away from these snakes. Very bad customer service. The phone service and pricing was good but not worth the CSR headaches and shifty practices.

service was ok when it worked but the real bad part with this company is their total lack of customer service. Calls into them have hold times of over 45 min every time though I hear they are hiring more csr. The big problem came when I was forced to cancel my service with them. They continue to charge my credit card and refuse to stop though I have called them many times and have told them to stop. My credit card is doing an investigation of their continuing charges and viatalk still continues to charge my account. Now I read that Viatalk has been Booted from the BBB as of December 2007. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY

Features and price sound good but in practice you can expect up to a 25 second delay after you complete dialing for the call to connect and the phone to start to ring on outgoing calls. Incoming calls may or may not come through. Some calls go directly to voice mail and never ring the phone. Tech support is poor at best IF they ever call you back. In most cases you can expect an email with a canned response that does not take care of the problem. Also watch the priority of a tech question. Even if the priority is set to high, their system sets it to low when sent. Also, their idea of a "Free" second line is a joke. Both lines ring at the same time. It may be better than call waiting but not what you think of as a second line. I would really encourage you to look elsewhere if you need reliable service.

I moved to Viatalk from SunRocket. I lived through the horrible wait times and phone calls being dropped. My service has been completely unreliable. Sometimes I cannot receive or place calls. Most of the time callerid does not work. The sound quality can get bad and calls can just drop. It is important to note that I DID NOT HAVE ANY OF THESE PROBLEMS WITH SUNROCKET, and that I have NOT changed my configuration or ISP. Viatalk always blames something else because "it could not be our service". I have even written the president of the company, he blocked by email and did not respond. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY, because once they have it, they are of no use.

ViaTalk Review Not perfect but here is why I still rate it a 10 of 10. My past companies have always paid for 2 phone lines for me ? until now. I claimed to use my home number as a fax, so that I never had paid anything. I have been researching for a year or so, to save the company money as they are trying to slash costs like the rest, and hell I hope that we save lots?. My only problem is my need to sometimes to modem into another modem and no one except roadrunner seems to offer that unusual feature. I ended up buying a specialized program for my cell and now using that, but it is cumbersome. Here is the quantifying factor ? it is sometimes not plug and play and takes more maintenance then an expensive landline. For example my wife loves it, but would return it if she had to call support a few times and tweak things herself, she also would be in tremendous debt if not for me. My new unit arrived DOA, the next one was fine and while testing it for a month, I did lose 1 line, I needed to call tech support and they stepped me right through. Since then I noticed that call block *67 did not work every time, they then fixed it. So far I have been using it for over 2 months trouble free. The quality is very good, I did have to hand up on 2 different calls and called back ? and the connection was great. Surprisingly we tested it, having 2 teens at home who seem to always be downloading something, we used both lines, had 3 different computers downloading very large files, during peak times and have NEVER had a problem. I though for sure that our bandwidth would suffer. Now the clincher. My bills averaged $130 per month after taxes, fees ?. I waited for their $200 special for 2 lines for 2 years. Savings of over $2,800 - EASY choice. Even with the $200 you end up paying only $240. I especially hate overpaying on utilities where the politicians get a piece of the action, plus Comcast and Verizon contribute huge amounts of cash everywhere to remain a monopoly. The system is so corrupt and I would next love to replace Comcast and peco electric ? someday?. I have read negative reviews on ViaTalk's support but they have been great, and I have used them a few times. EVERY time I had a live person who speaks great English, unlike many others. Go ViaTalk !!!!!

Since I tracked down my problem to my router and eliminated that source of trouble I have had no problems at all with voice quality, dropped calls etc. Anyone having the above trouble would do well to look at your connectivity issues rather than blame Via Talk. My guess is that 99% of the complaints you read about on this site can be traced to that. Cant beat it for the money.

I will grant you that different people have different experiences with every vendor, VOIP or otherwise. My experience with ViaTalk has been terrible. I'm a pretty easy to please guy but the voice quality of my ViaTalk account has degraded from bad to useless. There technical support has not offered any useful advice and the amount of time I've spent on hold with them is worse than the DMV. I'm now switching my service but ViaTalk is sitting on my phone number refusing to transfer it to my new provider. I'm told that by law they have 50 days to transfer the number. It's now been 43 and I have no doubt that they will wait out to the last second and squeeze me for the last possible penny they can get from me. ViaTalk has been the worst consumer experience I have ever had.

I'm not sure why people are having trouble, I had some trouble at first when I brought my phone system down to Florida with me this winter to set it up but that was using a router with comcast. I use the soft phone on my laptop when we travel and I have been with them now for almost 3 years and I'm going to renew with their special rate for being with them again. I sometimes have some static but what I had before with Illinois Bell at almost 40 bucks per month for almost no service I will stay with Viatalk and use the voip service. The only time it has ever gone down is because Comcast was down and I have cell phone for back up. Good service and yes you have to know how to discount your present line from the box so you can hook up your system. But directions are easy.

After almost two years I can say the service went from bad to awful. The first year the phone service was just great. Then, things started deteriorating. If and when I could get in touch with a technician, all they would say is to turn everything off and then back on. Finally they sent me a new adapter which solved the problems for about two weeks. Problems unresolved are: 1. dead air when dialing, 2. complete outages with no service, 3. no response to tickets, 4. unable to dial the 800 service number - will not go through, 5. unable to dial the non toll free service number - will not go through. 6. incoming calls go dead - person calling in hears nothing. The most upsetting thing is not being able to get in touch with some one to help. I have just switched to my cable company VOIP. Now when I call viatalk and ask to cancel, they tell me there is an additional $50 cancel fee - THIS is not acceptable. I would encourage others to look elsewhere.

I am a Sun rocket refuge, went to teleblend after their demise to let every thing cool down As far as teleblend they suck never did get a hold of them after hours on hold. Seen the reviews on teleblend they didn't look so hot, But either did sun rocket and it turned out to be a good Voip Provider Ordered Via talk in Late Sept. took about a week to get the adapter, easy to install Had to call twice for an issue they answered in about five minutes both times Emailed the about three times for three different issue's BANG they were right on it. Took about 20 days to get my phone ported no problem I think the sound quality is better than sun rocket or teleblend. I love the two lines and two years, Yea I know the FCC put a tax on it ( imagine that) Fax works great and my Dish network receiver works great. so far the service has been very reliable. I don't know what is wrong with some of you folks I figure your just not VOIP savvy.

I ordered Viatalk Residential unlimited local and long distance for 199 for 1 year back in may of 2006. Got installed by July with my number ported over. The beginning was great! In October we kept getting missed calls. I waited for hours on hold to get support. Charter was blamed that they throttle ports 5006 etc. I changed my ports settings on my Internet router and the linksys phone adapter. It was good for one month, then in December same problem which again they blamed Charter. changed port settings again and to a different viatalk servers. Another Two months go by but with the occasional dropped calls and not getting any indication of dial out such as ring tone. Viatalk answer change the ring wave settings. One week later we get dead phone service constantly, Not receiving calls made, not hearing dial out ring tone, never knowing if the call was completed. They could never fix it and was going on for three more months. Family was frustrated. Contract was ending in Month so I ordered Charter VOIP and notified viatalk to let the contract end but not renew and will port over the number to charter. After many anguished weeks on the phone with threatening overtones, Viatalk TOOK FIVE MONTHS TO GET MY NUMBER PORTED OVER. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO MY ENEMIES!!!!!

You get is what you paid for? Service woks when it working. It will go off for no reason at all, then you have to power off and on appliance. It may be working for month and month and then suddenly go offline 5 times a day. Or service stops making outgoing phone calls. But for $9.95 a month on 1 line Unlimited plan plus $2.50 monthly deducted from yours credit card. It is cheap. Who cares that some calls did not ring; you have cell phone to get them forwarded to and to call Tech Support. To get to the customer service you have to wait at least 30 minutes. Overcharged ? there is no refund. It can only be applied against future payments. Credits ? same. Do you want to get out at the terms end? Good luck! Cancellation fee is equal to the one year service fee plus next term amount. TOS changes frequently. There is also permanent meeting for customer service managers.

I find that since the influx of SunRocket customers to Viatalk a few months, the technical support has degraded rapidly. I am a software developer by trade, and if I had the lack of technical ability or lack of attentiveness towards customer service that the Viatalk tech support people have, I would be out of a job. The main problem I've been having is with the Voicemail system at Viatalk. They recently made some change in their system which results in the "message waiting" light on my Uniden phone lighting up when there is a voicemail message waiting. Unfortunately, the light stays on all the time regardless of the voicemail messages. There is also an annoying problem where I cannot delete a voicemail message via their web site. Yet another problem is that I will get a new voicemail message nightly which is originating from a modem or fax, but the weird thing is that the incoming call number does not appear anywhere in their system, but if I call their special voicemail number it will say that I have one new message, which of course cannot be deleted. I've also had minor outages from time to time, but nothing major. I would not recommend using a Linksys Firewall Router with this service; since I switched to a Netgear Firewall router, the service has had no outages. I would not recommend Viatalk due to their crappy tech support, and I will be switching once my prepaid six months is close to expiring.