I just tried and yes it does take about 10 seconds, but you are correct that # dials immediately.
I just started up yesterday and I have an issue. I used my own ATA 2102
and is working fine for one call, then the next call (to anyone) is
always busy and you can not dial into the voip phone number either, just
rings but doesn't go through.
Any thoughts?
Showing posts with label TekTalk (VoIP) Experiences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TekTalk (VoIP) Experiences. Show all posts
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.
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.
My Review - TekTalk for about a year now
I have been with TekTalk for about a year now. So far, I've had satisfactory service for about 25% of the time.
Problems with account settings:
First of all, when I initially enrolled, Teksavvy made a mistake and game me a phone number of an area far away from my physical location which resulted in every call being placed to be long distances, and others calling me would also have a long distance call. That was true even with next door neighbors. I also had paid the $5 to have my name on Canada411 and in the phone directory.
I was surprised to have an area code that didnt match my physical location, and I was right, TS made a mistake and admitted it, then they gave me a new phone number.
After they gave me a new phone number, my name got removed from the phone book. I called them back and the lady said that I had never paid the initial $5 and therefore if I wanted to have my name displayed, I would have to pay this fee. I argued that I had paid it (on my first bill) but she wouldnt listen.. I shut up and paid it again..
My name got back on the phone book.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my name is GONE AGAIN! Geez, whats going on with these guys!?
Problems with ATA and firewall:
I am using a pfsense router with IDS/IPS features (Snort, etc). After almost a yeat fiddling with that crap, all I can say is that their Grandstream ATA is the flakiest least stable POS I have ever seen.. The slightest firewall/router hiccup makes the ATA go offline and need a hard reboot.
The ATA HAS to be connected right after the modem (between the modem and the router) othewise, they simply dont support it. I've got a SoHo so you think I will have my servers and network go through a crappy device like that? The ATA should be connected AFTER the firewall/router and behave like all other networked devices, that is, no problems. This device is clearly a very low end one and needs to be installed exactly as intended otherwise it will not work in the long run..
I've had all kinds of problems. From picking up the phone and hearing "device not registered", phone calls dropping, busy tone when I pickup the phone and no-one else is using it, and now, when I get a call, I pickup, and hear nothing but people can hear me...
Annoying.
I just spoke to the customer support to have my name put back on the phone book and Canada411, and he said that my name has never been removed... When I told him that a reverse lookup on canada411 yield to no result, he was baffled.
They also messed up my name entry (forgot a letter in my name)
I am displeased with tektalk to the point that I may seek another service provider...
Problems with account settings:
First of all, when I initially enrolled, Teksavvy made a mistake and game me a phone number of an area far away from my physical location which resulted in every call being placed to be long distances, and others calling me would also have a long distance call. That was true even with next door neighbors. I also had paid the $5 to have my name on Canada411 and in the phone directory.
I was surprised to have an area code that didnt match my physical location, and I was right, TS made a mistake and admitted it, then they gave me a new phone number.
After they gave me a new phone number, my name got removed from the phone book. I called them back and the lady said that I had never paid the initial $5 and therefore if I wanted to have my name displayed, I would have to pay this fee. I argued that I had paid it (on my first bill) but she wouldnt listen.. I shut up and paid it again..
My name got back on the phone book.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my name is GONE AGAIN! Geez, whats going on with these guys!?
Problems with ATA and firewall:
I am using a pfsense router with IDS/IPS features (Snort, etc). After almost a yeat fiddling with that crap, all I can say is that their Grandstream ATA is the flakiest least stable POS I have ever seen.. The slightest firewall/router hiccup makes the ATA go offline and need a hard reboot.
The ATA HAS to be connected right after the modem (between the modem and the router) othewise, they simply dont support it. I've got a SoHo so you think I will have my servers and network go through a crappy device like that? The ATA should be connected AFTER the firewall/router and behave like all other networked devices, that is, no problems. This device is clearly a very low end one and needs to be installed exactly as intended otherwise it will not work in the long run..
I've had all kinds of problems. From picking up the phone and hearing "device not registered", phone calls dropping, busy tone when I pickup the phone and no-one else is using it, and now, when I get a call, I pickup, and hear nothing but people can hear me...
Annoying.
I just spoke to the customer support to have my name put back on the phone book and Canada411, and he said that my name has never been removed... When I told him that a reverse lookup on canada411 yield to no result, he was baffled.
They also messed up my name entry (forgot a letter in my name)
I am displeased with tektalk to the point that I may seek another service provider...
Delay in connection; otherwise OK
I just moved into a brand new house and opted to go with TekSavvy for
internet and TekTalk for phone. In the chaos of moving, I actually
didn't realize that the TekTalk was a VoIP product; I thought I was just
getting an alternate provider for the land line.
Anyway, the phone adapter was sent within a couple of days of the order and the set-up was incredibly easy. Truly plug and play.
Personally, I don't use the phone very much anyway, so I don't really care about this, but my wife is upset that when you dial a number, it takes a good 10 seconds to connect the call. Other than that, everything seems cool. The voice quality is excellent and the price is right: $14.95 per month for a pretty extensive set of calling features, including a good chunk of free long distance minutes (I can't remember how many). There are upfront costs, though: about $70 for the phone adapter.
Anyway, the phone adapter was sent within a couple of days of the order and the set-up was incredibly easy. Truly plug and play.
Personally, I don't use the phone very much anyway, so I don't really care about this, but my wife is upset that when you dial a number, it takes a good 10 seconds to connect the call. Other than that, everything seems cool. The voice quality is excellent and the price is right: $14.95 per month for a pretty extensive set of calling features, including a good chunk of free long distance minutes (I can't remember how many). There are upfront costs, though: about $70 for the phone adapter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)