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VT1000 -- Happy in Sarasota, Florida
Posted by Anonymous on 2004-04-03 12:02:07
My Score:  
Well, time will always tell the truth....
As of my last writing, I had not yet discovered several issues that finally made me decide to cancel my service and go back with my Verizon second phone line. I still think VOIP is a great idea, and will consider it again but maybe in another year or so. My application is to use this as a dedicated business line to accept support calls from my customers and provide immediate reliable support with my Sarasota, FL based computer consulting business. I was looking for acceptable quality, 100% uptime reliable service with voice mail. The Vonage plan I chose was $25 per month, and I''m using Comcast cable modem in zip 34238 (Sarasota, FL).
PROBLEMS:
1) I was very shocked to see a charge of $9.95 for activation, since THIS IS NOT DISCLOSED ANYWHERE! Please beware when ordering your new service.
2) The 14-day trial period starts the day you order the service, but it takes about 7 days to received the voice terminate. By the time I recevied the installtion kit, the trial period is half over -- before I even had a chance to try it. Again, this is not clearly disclosed to new customers. So, be sure to try the service a lot during the first few days if you choose to take advantage of this trial period.
3) The VT1000 I was sent does not support VPN (PPTP) protocol and has very crude configuration firmware. I suspect this will improve, and I understand from broadbandreports.com that the newer Motorola model VT1005 has already fixed the VPN issue. NOTE: This is only an issue if the voice terminal is installed ahead of the router (directly to the cable modem), which is required to utilize the QoS bandwidth/quality control. If I install the VT into the router like another IP devide, the QoS cannot squelch bandwidth, and I get dropped calls and breaking up of calls.
4) The service simply stops, having no dial tone for hours at a time. This seems to happen regardless of using the Internet or not, and without warning. I understand the newer terminals have a firmware upgrade that may fix this.
5) You can have 1 free month access if you take advantage of the offer wich appears in many web sites. I did not (darn!) and when I asked for credit upon terminate of my service I was simply refused any compensation for my frustration as a user. I chalk this up to experience of "buyer beware" but also share the frustration with unyielding customer service and average technical support at best.
6) There are additional telco fees which again, THESE FEES ARE NOT DISCLOSED. They amount to about $3 per month, which is understandable in the telco industry. I only wish it was made clear these extra monthly charges would be posted to my statement.
BENEFITS:
These are stated in my original post above, and with the exception of recent experience, I stand by them today. The digital dashboard is convenient and well thought out. I still like the e-mail ability for voice messages which I did use during my evaluation.
FINAL RESULTS:
I really like the VOIP idea, and found the quality (cell phone quality) acceptable for my purpose. However, intermittend outages and dropped calls made me decide to not use this for my "Mission critital" customer support. However, I''ll certainly look at VoIP again in another year or so, after the technology is "broken in" some more. I would consider using Vonage again, but will tread carefully in light of my frustrating experiences with them. I''m hoping other companies will offer comparable services in 2005 that I may consider this option again.
For questions/comments of my experience (or computer consulting services in the Sarasota, Florida area :-) ), please e-mail me directly at: Scott James
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