Review Service Tektalk from Teksavvy

Here's my experience with Tektalk from Teksavvy.

If you are thinking of subscribing to the $9.95/month Tektalk from Teksavvy, don't waste your time and money and go with Primus VOIP instead.

I've been with Primus VOIP (cable) for about 5 years. Everything has been fine, but I got tired of paying $39/month (total w/tax) for a bunch of options I don't need and for the free unlimited long distance in North America.

Since I often log to the Teksavvy website to check my internet usage, I decided to take a look at their voip services. And they have this $9.95/month, so I thought it might suit me better than paying $39/month with Primus.

So I ordered their Grandstream ht-502 at $50 + $10 shipping + tax + 1 month of service.

First, they were supposed to connect me yesterday, but it never happened. I had to call them today to get my ata box activated. Not very reliable, eh? (I received the box 4 days ago and it was plugged and waiting to be activated by TekSavvy).
Second and this is the main reason not to use Taksavvy, the quality of the call was about 60% compared with Primus VOIP (cable).
Third, with Primus you can do *67 and your number and name are not displayed. You can't do that with Teksavvy. I called Teksavvy and managed to get them to remove my name and instead it showed 'Private number' where the name normally appears, under the real phone number showing up on the call display.
Fourth, Primus will issue you a credit (if one is due) if you change services. With Teksavvy, although I called today to cancel the service, the same day that the service was activated (one day late, btw), they don't issue a credit.
Fifth, the ata from Primus connects to the router, while the ata from Teksavvy must be connected to the cable modem and from the ata then go to the router. I prefer to have the ata behind the firewall of the router, even if the ata has a built-in firewall.
So in the end, I'm out of $80 and have a brand new useless Grandstream ht-502.

One more thing, when I was talking to the guy in their cancellation department, he tried to blame me for the ata not working yesterday cause it was plugged after the router. I took the opportunity to correct him. Having the Grandstream plugged after the router meant I could make calls without any problem - they could hear me and I could hear them. But if someone called me, they would hear me but I couldn't hear them. He then said something about they were doing a lot of maintenance yesterday and that's why I was not connected when I was supposed to. I couldn't believe that he was trying to blame me for their shortcoming! Talk about adding insult to injury.

Regarding customer service, except for that individual in the cancelation dept who tried to blame me, I would say that it is excellent overall.

During the last 5 years with Primus, I never once was without service. The quality of the call has been consistent and basically equals to the best pots line you can have.

My mistake was not checking Primus' website. Otherwise I would have seen that they are offering a similar package at $9.95. The difference is that they charge you and additional 40 cents/month for the 911 service and you have a 2 year contract, but the first 3 months are free.

So if you are considering switching to a $9.95/month package, my advice is to try Primus. Take the monthly plan at $15/month for the first few weeks and when you are satisfied with the service, switch to their $9.95/ month for two years.