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Review by moyeti 
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 4 years, 25 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Spring,Montgomery,TX
 $30 per month (12 month contract)
 about 10 days
 "Low cost and high features are really, really cool"
 "Calls dropped / last yr maybe 6 days unuseable"
 "Just finished 1 yr Starting to Look around again..."
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(ratings match consensus)
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Got Lingoed Aug '05 thru a referral. My friend never got his $25 either. He is w/ SuperiorVOIP now. Wants me to follow him there, says its' got better quality. Who knows.
Back to Lingo. Overall it has been OK, but there are times where the service is ether not useable, or poor. Not very often, but there are times. Like all day today. My idea to switch, so I get blamed each time and reminded of it. That is a drag, but I've learned to say use your cell in the interim.
I like the savings and features, but want better phone quality. I'm going to try and resolve a problem I am having right now with incoming phone calls that after 1 or 2 rings drop. If that gets resolved quickly and a good explanation as to why I get charged over 30 when I signed up for 19.95, I'll stay. I believe it has something to do w/ my "extra" line, but I did ask them to switch it over using my existing line. I'll update when I get the poop in. Looking at ViaTalk, however...
Update 8/28/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My problems with the dropped calls have been resolved somehow. Just a 1 day occurenc for some reason. Could have been my ISP, Lingo, don't know. At any rate I still need to find out about the charges and some other features before deciding to stay or go. I don't think there are too many that much better though. Seems all of them have had about the same amount/type of problems I've had.
Update 8/28/2006 PM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Looks like I've been charged 4.95 all along for using my old # instead of the Lingo assigned one. I wonder if Vonage would charge me for that, and they seem (according to the boards) have better voice quality. Hmm....
Update 8/30/2006 PM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Calls are dropping again. I'll have to get w/ Lingo to see if this can be rectified. Will post at that time.
Update 9/2/2006 AM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It was the simultaneous ring back to my 2 cell phones. Each one costs an additiona 128K upload width and apparently my drops (earthlink cable 5M) to a point where this doesn't work. I turned off the simulatenous ring. Recycled and will turn back on and report back.
Updated 9/3/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It appears that was the problem. I reduced the simulataneous ring back to just one cell phone and there hasn't been a problem. The customer care was very curtious and prompt. I'm going to stay with lingo. It is working for me. I have upgraded their review settings, but if it heads south, I'll be back. Best of luck. If you want to contact me as a referral feel free thru the site here.
Updated 11/4/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I've given up using any simultaneous ring back function. No calls getting thru again, so i turned off the remaining one. Upload speeds were OK too, but as soon as I turned it off at the lingo website, I started getting my calls thru. Turned on, no calls, then turned off. Haven't looked back at this funciton. It was pretty cool when it worked though. I'll have to get a lingo cust rep on it and see why none of it is working.
Updated 11/14/2006 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well, the more you think you know. Got this reponse:
Simultaneous Ring feature is nothing to do much about bandwidth. It just needs proper configrations and also all the numbers which you have configured should be active and working. When you have one of the phone numbers are switched off or not working may cause problems recieving calls.
So I guess I'll try it one more time.
Updated 2/10/2007 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I haven't turned on the simultaneous ring feature, but all else is extremely well. I wish I could crack this not (simult ring) and use the feature. I'll try again and let everyone know. Who knows, they have gotten better and better over the last yr so maybe this quirk will work out.
6/12/2009 update >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
all i well and the service is really stable, Only time an issue has been w/ cable conn is poor.
11/21/2009 update >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Service flawless, really. Looking at uverse replacement because of deals and tv logistics.
11/28/2009 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Going to Uverse on 12/7 and will be terminating Lingo service. I'll report here if there is a problem w/ termination, else see review in Uverse section. I'll be assimilating w/ the fiber network. It is futile to resist. 
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Review by Fillimerica
Posted: 31 days ago
member for 1.2 years, 2 visits, last login: 19 days ago
Lake Hiawatha,Morris,NJ
$33 per month (month by month)
about 14 days
"Generally reliable service, good voicemail system"
"Increasing cost, prohibited from switching to best plans, fees, support"
"A decent technical provider near the bottom of the value proposition"
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Have been a Lingo customer for five years and can echo the opinions of many long time customers. The service started out as a great value and they have steadily increased the cost and added punitive fees.
Last year I tried unsuccessfully to switch from the $22/mo plan to an annual plan (Talk-365). It defies comprehension why they wouldn't want to lock in a good customer willing to prepay but they won't! Have also seen the taxes and fees escalate to 50% of the base charge got me looking elsewhere for a lower price and an annual contract.
The quality of the calls were generally good, with clear reception except that sometimes the person on the other end would complain about breakup. I couldn't hear it on my end.
I only had to contact technical support about call routing issues a few times. Not much to say except they took the message and the issues got fixed a few days later.
Contrary to what many other reviewers have stated, my cancellation experience was quite positive. I dialed the 917 number, chose cancel and was on hold for less than 5 minutes. A nice CS person politely closed my account without much fuss. Too soon to see if they try to keep on billing the CC, but I do have their confirmation email. Since I am beyond the 24 month term, they didn't want the ATA back nor was there a termination charge.
Moving on to PhonePower, which has also been a very positive experience so far!
Followup comments:  PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey | Why is Lingo so dumb? Excellent review.
Lingo has become less and less relevant in the VoIP marketplace.
It is almost as if they have a death wish.
I hope that you have a great experience with PhonePower! | |
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Review by curro
UPDATED: 60 days ago
member for 6.1 years, 904 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Seabrook,Harris,TX
$31 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
"Reliability and quality of voice are above average. E911 works!"
"Fees/taxes are as bad as traditional phone lines"
"Not economically worthwhile for the average residential user"
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UPDATE 9/29/09: Well after being with Lingo for over five years is time to move to 'better value for the money' VOIP companies. Lingo has really gone 'South' in terms of their cost and all the fees. Just take a look of my latest bill:
Federal Taxes & Fees: 0.19
Universal Services: 1.78
State Taxes & Surcharges: 1.82
County/Local Taxes: 0.50
Texas USF Surcharge: 0.96
Presubscribed Inter-exchange Carrier Chrg: 0.00
Subtotal for Tax and Surcharges 5.25
Regulatory Recovery Fee for xxx 1.99
Emergency Services Fee for xxx 1.99
Subtotal for Fees 3.98
Total Fees, Taxes & Surcharges: 9.23
Unbelievable!!! Back in 2004 it wasn't even three dollars! Yes I still need to call overseas but I am now trying CallWithUs plus Callcentric for incoming. In a few months I will do a review of these providers. Ciao Lingo ...
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I have been looking at VOIP for a while and I was going to give Broadvoice a try until I learned about Lingo through BBR and their three-month offer with unlimited calling to W. Europe for $39.90 ($29.95 activation+$9.95 shipping). It caught my attention their international plan because I noticed that on the average I already spend around $10/month to call Spain so I could see spending $15 a month for 500 minutes to US, Canada and W. Europe. Besides, their rates to other countries I was interested were pretty good too. I placed the order through a very helpful customer care representative in Virginia (Irina) and after I got the equipment the installation was a breeze following their instructions. I have to say that the voice quality is pretty good (as good as POTS on many instances) and the reliability is average with some improvement in the last week. I'd say average because at the beginning there were dropped calls when calling Europe and some incoming calls did not go through. Being new to VOIP I am impressed of the technology and I expect it to improve significantly in the upcoming two or three years. Oh by the way, the same customer representative who I ordered from gave me a courtesy call back to ask how is my service. Very nice indeed!
In general I like their web portal but there are some issues:
* There are a number of bogus calls shown in the log that although do not generate further costs to me they should be removed from their system.
* Every time I want to access various sections of "Manage Features" I need to reset my password. This is quite a nuisance. I haven't had a chance to call tech support on this so I cannot rate them yet.
I have not have a chance to test the caller ID yet but hopefully soon. I also like the fact that I can store up to eight numbers in their speed dial system.
Overall I am excited to try this technology and so far I intend to keep it especially if they continue improving their reliability and web interface. At this moment I do not see Lingo VOIP as a replacement of a traditional phone line or cellular service (which we have). I hope I can post an update later this year about Lingo VOIP.
Thanks for reading ... curro
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UPDATE 7/8/05: Well it has been over a year with Lingo and my overall impression is favorable with some comments. Lingo reliability is not A but more like a B+ because on the average you have to reboot the ATA once a month and also sometimes functions like 3-way calling do not work. Also so far I have not be able to do a call transfer (I have the original ATA made by Azatel). I call the first party then I press flash and get a dial tone, then I call the 2nd part and press flash again (so far so good). Everybody can talk to each other but when I hang up the other two parties get disconnected and this is gainst what Lingo says in their website.
At $22 a month with the international plan (we have family in Spain, Romania, Canada and other parts of the world) I am willing to put up with some occasional glitches. I am going to stick with Lingo for the time being. We have cell phone service for backup purposes.
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UPDATE 7/3/06: I have been with Lingo two years and I still believe they are a good value provided you use the international calls to Western Europe. I just tested their 911 service and it works as promised (E911). I have also referred Lingo to several friends/family with 80% retention. The down side is Lingo's customer service. Recently Lingo decided to turn off 'Selective Call Forwarding' to everybody without notifying the customers (Lingo claims fraud from some subscribers). Off course I was very upset about this and it took over three weeks to get this feature back for me! So if you are with Lingo and need customer/tech service it might take a while. On the other hand if everything works then just keep talking on the phone because the bill won't change much ($25 with all the fees) unless you call international numbers outside Western Europe/Canada.
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UPDATE 6/27/07: 'Knock on wood' the reliability is good for me after three years and Lingo futures are above average in my view. The caller id does not always show the name, especially when it comes to cellular calls (then again maybe this is expected). I have referred a couple of more folks and so far they have stayed with Lingo. I will continue to give them my business as long as they offer the current value or better.
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 Review by marcusj3000
UPDATED: 68 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 1228 visits, last login: 7 days ago
Alexandria,Rapides,LA
$28 per month (24 month contract)
about 14 days
"Great call quality, features, and price"
"CALL do not email for support!!!"
"Great value for phone service!!!"
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September 22, 2009
All is well only needed one reboot because router went down and didn't give VOIP adapter a IP address(I have it set as a static one now). plan keeps getting better with adding free calling to more countries. rates are cheap for even those that they don't agreements for. I see a lot of complaints that are mainly internet issues, equipment setup problems, general lack of knowledge, and congestion. A lot of people are not internet and technological savvy when it comes to dealing with stuff like this and it shows in their post. You can't have the cheapest internet plan and expect this to work with it because these adapters require a somewhat speedy and stable internet connection. If you already have problems with disconnects, slowdowns in speed,throttling, packet loss, or really low upload speeds from your internet provider, VOIP use is probably not your best bet. Be smart and do your research before you just order service for VOIP. Another warning is to check and see if you will have 911 service before you buy otherwise you might have an emergency and that's the wrong time to find out your VOIP is not 911 or E911 compatible. Lucky for me i checked and lingo had E911 access for my area. Might take them a week or two to get it setup. Your mileage may vary.
Feb. 2009
I came from being charged extraordinary amounts from AT&T having phone service through them but thought it was time to shop around. Tried Vonage but they didn't provide numbers for my area and I'm glad they didn't because Lingo is amazing unlimited to common countries like US/Canada/Mexico but having unlimited calling to 22 other countries like Western Europe is something the others don't have. One tip though is if you get VOIP you need to have enough bandwidth otherwise you will have call quality problems.
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Review by AndyCLT
Posted: 70 days ago
member for 248 days, 2 visits, last login: 70 days ago
Charlotte,Mecklenburg,NC
$21 per month
about 3 days
"Excellent call quality, reliable, Lingo routes calls around local telco's downed switching buildings (great during/after storms)"
"Not a single one!"
"I wish Lingo had always been around!"
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I've had Lingo for a bit over 4 years. The service is exceptional although the last time I called their technical support department (about three years ago) it was a miserable experience. But then again, calling AT&T's customer service is horrible as well. So here's why I like Lingo:
1) Great price! You just can't beat the price and Lingo offers so much more than Vonage. Lingo's FREE international long distance is the icing on the cake for me.
2) Excellent features. Once I locked myself out of my home (I left the keys inside) but I could open the door via my phone. I used my cell phone and call forwarded Lingo to my cell so that when the door would ring the home phone I could open it from my cell. Only Lingo could do that!
3) Most reliable service ever! Lingo worked great during both hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. When AT&T's switching offices went down and land line calls and even cell phone calls could not get through, Lingo routed calls around those switching offices and I was able to reach family and friends. Only Lingo could do that!
4) Detailed and accurate billing. I get more detail than I really want but I am not complaining. The whole thing is paperless and effortless. I can download PDF's of my bills and file them away on my PC.
5) Awesome call quality. Lingo sounds much better than AT&T's network. With Lingo I do not hear the persistent hissing that is ever present on modern land lines.
6) Do you travel internationally? Well, take Lingo's box with you! I took mine when I was in Paris and plugged it into my hotel room's internet jack. I was able to receive and make calls as if I was back in the states. I even sold my home in Florida while I was in Paris without incurring outrageous international call fees. All thanks to Lingo!
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Review by Eutopiate
Posted: 86 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 152 visits, last login: 10 days ago
Georgetown,Williamson,TX
$40 per month (12 month contract)
"fantastic feature set"
"very dubious charges on the bill"
"complete control of your incoming calls comes at a price"
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I've been with them for years and have utilized their call treatments extensively and withs problems. It utilizes customized schedules and caller groups. The option exists to block "unavailable" numbers. You can also upload your own custom greetings. I expect if it's not the best, it's one of the best feature sets available.
I do intend to find out for myself though. A few months ago I got an email from them saying how sorry they were but they were being forced to collect more taxes and fees. These "recovery fees" have skyrocketed and they now collect a "county tax" which, as best as I can tell is never passed on to my county. I don't mind paying a little something if it's going back into my community but when I called the two local entities that might possibly collect this tax, neither had ever heard of Lingo. My bill has gone up more than $10 a month since I signed up.
The customer service is just plain awful. They respond with poorly rehearsed algorithms if it's a technical problem. For billing I just got a bunch of flabba-jabba listing possible but not definite added costs that go into their recovery fees and the insistence that no matter what I said, they were allowed to collect taxes for my county.
If you've got to have the complete control they offer, be prepared to pay what they want. Don't expect any justification of their extra charges.
Followup comments: PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey | Lingo bingo These folks must be very clever to think up those various extra charges.
Lingo has a high proportion of negative reviews on this website.
Their parent company---Primus---filed for bankruptcy in March and emerged from it in July. | |
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Review by josmon
UPDATED: 87 days ago
member for 88 days, 1 visits, last login: 87 days ago
Fortville,Hancock,IN
$25 per month (24 month contract)
about 60 days
"Customer service is the WORST"
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Before I ordered, I called them to confirm if my home tel number can be ported. They kept me on 5 min hold and came back and said yes. I wanted to be double sure as many other companies said they can not port that number. So I told them that they are the first to say that they can port so are you sure and the response was sure. So I ordered the service. It took r4 weeks for the adaptor to show up and sent many emails and phone calls and there was no response, but for every email, I promptly got a customer satisfaction survey.
Later after almost a month, I got an email that my primary number which they had confirmed at the time of ordering can not be ported. So I gave them the option of another number. No response. Many emails no response. Finally last week when I called and after waiting and hearing the music for 47 min, I got a person who said that request was cancelled. So I told them that I want to cancel and the response was that I have to pay $99 to cancel. I told her that I ordered only because of the confirmation that my primary tel can be ported, or else I would not have ordered an extra line to cut cost. She said she will put an executive escalation.
Sent 3 emails asking about the decision on executive escalation and got one response saying that if I want to transfer my line I have to submit the forms again.
Finally called yesterday and after waiting and hearing music for 34 min got a person and he said he will transfer me to the accounting to wave the $99 cancelation fee and waited again for 17 min and finally the phone started ringing and the line was disconnected from the other end. I was using the land line to call to make sure that the line will not be dropped as in case of a cell phone.
So the Bottom line is, my experience so far, the customer service is THE WORST and you may get trapped.
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Review by Mango
Posted: 260 days ago
member for 338 days, 479 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Vancouver,BC
Contract price not specified.
"This company spams forums - avoid."
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This company has spammed at least eight forums (including this one) that I've found so far. First "browynscott" or "alisonfarell" makes a post that says, "I am planning to switch to Internet phone. Heard good things about Lingo, how is it?"
Then, "philipwinthrop" or "pwinthrop" shows up a few hours later and says that "as per their website and some of my friends", they have "got good rates and neat features". In one post, he said he may even sign up himself! If that's not a testimonial, I don't know what is!
In the spirit of keeping spam under control, I recommend you to avoid this VoIP provider.
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Review by helpdeskdan
Posted: 273 days ago
member for 273 days, 3 visits, last login: 111 days ago
Cheyenne,Laramie,WY
$21 per month (12 month contract)
"Nice when it works"
"Horrible tech support, illegal policies"
"Avoid it! Use a product you can actually cancel, google "Pay as you go VIOP""
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PLEASE - Read, use a search engine, you will find I'm not the only one.
I liked Lingo at first. It was cheap, and it worked well. But, then one day, people could not hear me. I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. Just locally, and just outgoing calls - long distance calls were fine. Easy - a local carrier problem.
It took me SIX WEEKS before I could FINALLY get somebody at Lingo to actually try my sip number and find that the other guy couldn't hear. Meanwhile, me and everybody else in my town using Lingo couldn't call locally. Every time I call, I would get the same old garbage, "Is your adapter plugged directly into the wall? Because that could cause the problem, even though your long distance works fine." Yeah....
It took them another month to fix it too. No refund for the lost service.
One day, my adapter goes bad. I know it's the adapter because pings to my adapter are good, but ping THROUGH my adapter to my cable modem are intermittent. Test all cables, yada yada, (no voice cert, but I am a CCNP) and of course everything works great without the VOIP adapter. Call lingo, "Please send new VOIP adapter!" They wouldn't do it. They insisted it was a problem with my ISP! What idiots!
But, why would they care? Read on.
Hence, I go to cancel my service. But, they illegally change their policy. "We changed our cancel policy to two years instead of one, so you have to pay $100 bucks." I never agreed to that! So, they decided to keep all my money, well over $100 bucks. Not a darn thing I can do about it.
Great policy Lingo! It's more cost effective to make people want to quit than to stay.
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Review by docmonkey
UPDATED: 299 days ago
member for 4.6 years, 38 visits, last login: 299 days ago
Columbus,Franklin,OH
$28 per month (month by month)
about 3 days
"Western Europe calling, overall price, speed of delivery, THREE YEAR CUSTOMER HERE!!"
"line noise and echo rarely, occasional reset of ATA box"
"This review will be updated as I use the service more. A+++ for europe calling"
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2 Feb 09 UPDATE _________________________________________________
Wow has it really been that long... coming up on 4 years with Lingo. Still going strong.
In fact since our Europe options have expanded our bill is down to the standard $27.95 a month (or what ever it is now).
I have had zero problems, in fact since I have put it on a battery back up with the cable modem and the router I havent had to reboot it in several months. My inferance from that is that it was those little power flickers that were causing the equipment to malfunction.
Im still using the same box I got back in April of 2005 and other than having little user fix items I have to say that the amount of money Im saving is AWESOME!!!
There are absolutely tons of VoIP providers that can give you free calling in the US/Mexico/Canada. I still have yet to see any one that gives unlimited calling to Europe and other overseas venues, I look periodically to make sure Im getting the best deal.
In closing there isnt much to add to this update, we have Lingo as our only house phone, we love it, and if you need to call overseas I dont think there is any cheaper solution.... or any more effective one. Im an almost 4 year subscriber and Im still a customer, if you knew me that would mean alot more to you. Just know when it comes to goods and services there is almost nothing that Im loyal to if there is a better deal somewhere. Show me the service!!! then you get my money.
11 March 08 Update __________________________________________________
Well I have been a customer for coming up on 3 years now.
I have to say that I have continued to have a VERY good experience with Lingo.
The 3 people that I have reccomended it to in the past are still using it and aside from things mentioned in my review already (from a 2 years ago) no real complaints from any of them.
Having to power cycle the ATA is still an uncommon but not abnormal occurance (Im still using the same one they sent me all those years ago). I would say maybe twice a month at most and Im pretty sure I have gone several months in a row with never touching it.
The wife logs 35+ HOURS a month !!! thats right more than an hour a day to Germany!!! This set up has saved us quite literally thousands of dollars if you simply convert the time into our old MCI fee scale (and that at 3 years ago with no inflation).
I still continue to tell people about my great experiences and I have to say that I would tell anyone that was looking for a VoIP provider Lingo has certainly done right by me!!
04 May 06 Update__________________________________________________
Over a year come and gone. Had an issue last night where the router had to be bounced and then had to bounce the ATA but thats not really Lingos fault. The issue just prompted me to come and update my review here.
Im seeing more people saying that putting the ATA infront of the router is the "Best thing" I dont disagree that it seems to work for them, but its not always the best solution. There are other ways of doing this and I have had mine behind the router (and the firewall) for over a year now and I have had great service!
Iv only used Tech support once recently and I got a good one so the problem was resolved in about 3 min, so I guess its still hit or miss.
I see alot of people trolling for referals which I guess is ok, but I always have to wonder why is it that you only see people 2 weeks after they get the system and they post a few reviews to stay on top but then disappear for ever? You can choose to dislike Denzel for his "pro Lingo" posts but at least hes been around for a long time constantly updating his reviews and responding to peoples questions.
Yes there is a way to contact me for a referal but you have to read through my review to find it. Im not gonna bother spamming it every 2 weeks, this is supposed to be informative not a free advertisment.
13 March 06 Update _______________________________________________
Well we are nearing our 1 year anniversary and we havent even considered switching service. Our call quality is still good (Im not really an audiophile so as far as Im concerned if I can hear the other end clearly thats plenty for me). We havent had any billing issues, or tech support issues. Have added a switch and 2 more PCs to our network brining the grand total to 1 2Nic Server, 3 PCs, 1 Lingo ATA, 1 network connected printer, 1 multimedia box (for surfing on the bigscreen) and 1 switch to add the ports I needed when we passed the 4 ports the router had.
I wish there was better caller ID, but thats about all Id ask for if some one really made me pick something to "fix".
Our friend in Germany thats using the box we sent him is absolutely ecstatic about it!!!!! He RAVES about being able to call his family and have his family call him without having to deal with extra line charges or special numbers. He even took the box with him when he deployed (outside of west europe is all Im allowed to post about the location) but he talked one of the local national school Directors into letting him use thier internet connection in trade for volunteer time helping around the school. So all his guys were able to call home twice a week for 2 hours per call at no charge to anyone. Thats win win people!! One thing that was a little tricky was making sure he had the right power so he didnt mess up the ATA (he solverd this buy using a small standard UPS (250 watt) hooked up to a voltage convertion transformer.
There is talk about his unit taking up a collection to order a few of these boxes (with numbers in different major cities) so more people can take advantage of this when they deploy.
Even if you dont like Lingo as a company, I highly reccomend keeping an idea like this in mind if you know any Military people that are overseas or heading overseas to a place where they will have access (even if its only a couple times a week) to a connection that will allow Internet access. Believe me when I say that being able to talk to loved ones is SO important to our military members when they are seperated from thier loved ones.
Toujours Pret!!
5 Dec 05 Update------------------------------------------------
Well, Merry Xmas and all the other holidays, just posting an update that the systems has been working well thought Id post a quick summary of all this stuff in my log below so you dont have to read through it all to get the jist. Yes I have bought this for a friend as a Xmas gift and I consider it money well spent (hes stationed in Germany and now his folks can call him with a local number)
This marks about 9 months of use and we are very VERY happy with Lingo.
We use it for mostly Germany calling, and calling state to state (just dont have many in state calls to make).
We have the ATA hooked up to the house wiring and run 2 phones (4 total- 1 old corded phone in bedroom and 1 cordless with 2 expansion phones).
We did have some mild problems with echo, static, and garbled conversations but cant say thats very common any more as long as I dont have alot of uploading going on (torrent stuff set at max upload of 60k/sec doesnt cause any issue but bumping to 100k+ causes really bad PL and garbled convo).
We also took the advise of another poster and looked into the cordless phones and found that they are also part of the problem, when we use the corded phone in the bedroom most issues clear right up (if they are happening). We havent been able to afford a new cordless phone set up so we are stuck with this for the time being.
My setup is Wide Open West cable (4.8+MB down 300+K up speed), Cable modem, Netgear router, then ATA hanging off the router. No special port forwarding or firewalling was needed infact the more I played with it the worse it usually got.
I would say it has definatly been at least Cell phone quality at all times, and most of the time I cant really tell the difference between landline (PoTs) and the Lingo line.
SUPER SUPER service for people calling overseas to the "Unlimited calling areas"!!
As always I caution anyone to make sure you have:
A. Solid Broadband connection with at least a 150K/sec upload speed
B. Good reliable power (or make sure all your setup is on a UPS)
C. Backup landline or cell phone (if you live in a power loss area or your ISP isnt dependable you dont want to get stuck without communication abilities). Many phone companies have very very cheap line fees if you want to just have 911 and emergency outgoing calls and unlimited incoming calls (outgoing are usually on a per minute basis but incoming is still unlimited). In my area I have a $12 "backup" POTs line
D. Dont be afraid to post if you are having issues and expect a day or 2 of "growing pains" while you tweak and figure out what works best for you.
It will likely take you a week or so to figure out the best settings and setup. So be prepared to work with it a little before getting frustrated that it doesnt work perfectly "out of the box".
Yes I think this would be a great gift for friends and family, and even soldiers in bases overseas where they have steady broadband access (this isnt guys in Iraq unfortunately but established bases in friendly countries).
10 Oct 05 Update ----------------------
Getting the box for my friend took longer than we would have liked, but it wasnt really a customer service issue, just took a while to ship it/recieve it. Would like to see a more streamlined process for getting a replacment ATA (maybe make the bar where they finally acknowledge that the ATA is most likely the cause and send a replacement easier to get past).
Service still isnt an issue from lingo, due to occassional Cable issues (I believe I just need to upgrade my cable modem) Im still holding onto a PoTs line that is downgraded to pretty much Incoming calls only, no long distance, no local calling, no 800 etc... basically its an incoming line with any outgoing local calls paid per minute and no long distance at all (its our failsafe).
30 Aug 05 Update ----------------------
Well we have been with them since middle April and Im sorry to say we continue to have excellent service and calling experiences. We are logging consistantly over 800 minutes a month to germany and 300+ to US calling. Once in a while we do have to hang up and call right back due to line noise, maybe 1 in 15 calls to germany, but calls in the US remain at least POTs quality.
I have done more tweaking and playing with my router, because of games and other applications, and although I did manage to screw up the service once when I was messing with some port forwarding I fixed it right away and really have yet to have an issue thats actually not user caused.
There have been some isolated instances of calls being connected but no voice either way, and a couple calls saying the number isnt in service when you hang up and redial it works fine, I even remember one "all lines are busy" thing on a sunday afternoon to NC, but my cell didnt get though either so I assume that was at the destination not the source.
The guy in my office, who I signed up (and yes the $25 credits did go in properly), had an issue this weekend where his ATA box just died, Was showing power light only and no traffic or indicater lights otherwise. Took him over 2 hours on cell (was dropped the first time at 45 min cause battery died), on hold, to get to Customer support. They diagnosed it after some discussion (as a tech my partner says thier understanding of the equipment is less than desirable) and shipped him a new one to arrive in 4 business days. Not to bad but Id think they would use the same shipping they do for new customers to get replacements out (if not have strategically stationed depots where there would be spares for just such occasions). Its only day 2 of the wait but as with my family they use it for international calling and there just is no way to touch the cash advantage of LINGO over any traditional international long distance. **update** took 4 business days to get the new ATA, worked out of the box ***
All told I have enjoyed the heck out of telling MCI exactly why they arent getting my business back, and I have even had them hang up on me when I tell them they will have to beat $22 a month for unlimited calling to all the areas and voicemail etc... that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
After almost 6 months, I cant believe it took me so long to get to this... please make sure you read all of my post as I have learned a fair bit about how this service works and how to make it work well for you in the past half year. There is more to this than just plugging it in, as a responsible consumer you owe it to yourself to know the shortcomings of this product and how to provide it with the best possible platform to serve you.
I will happily give recommendations, hey I can use a free month as much as the next guy. Send requests to docmonkey at rocketmail com.
9 June 05 Update --------------------
On the second month now and the service has been EXCELLENT!!! I hate to rave after seeing the experiences of other people but we have been using the unlimited package to call Germany and all over the US (and a couple to canada) and if anything the quality has gotten better.
Call quality is very solid and reliable, havent had a real issue with calls dropping (my cell drops more calls than the VoIP does), line quality is good and echo isnt really an issue any more than maybe 3-4% of the time.
Im afraid I dont know what issues people are having but we sure arent having them here. My comfort lvl still isnt high enough to drop the POTs line yet, but if we keep having this lvl of success I will have to seriously consider it.
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13 May Update--------
We are past the one month mark, have logged well over 200 hours of calling to germany and at least 100 hours in the US (local and long distance).
Germany calls are fairly clear, occasionally we have a static heavy connection, Echo or get weird issues where we dont hear incoming traffic (including the ring when its ringing the destination phone). This is always cleared up by hanging up and just calling back. People from germany say that we dont always get a ring on our end when they call us but it does route them to voicemail when that happens.
Local calls arent so good Id say about 75% of the clarity you get with a standard POTs line. This doesnt clear up, but we believe that it may be related to the type of switch the destination is connected directly to..... IE people on copper switches in older areas have the degraded connections but people on fibre have a fairly clear connection (very much like a normal phone or better).
Long distance runs into a "cant complete this connection" thing occasionally on holiday weekends but the calls average about the same quality as a standard phone.
My setup is still Cable modem into Netgear router with the Lingo box hanging off just like any other network device. I tried putting the Lingo in front of the router and it was horrible as a phone (I didnt even worry about the router). I tried the DMZ suggestions and port forwarding with it back behind the router, that was horrible (dropped calls, bad echo and constantly rebooting the lingo)... for us we get the best service with a straight from the box standard hook-up. Just plugged it into our router (without making special port changes), made the cable connections and powered it up.
We are running the whole house off the box, just disconnected the outside line from the house wiring and patched the lingo stright to it (3 physical phone connections). No issues with this so far.
On the whole I dont know if I would be *as* happy if my reason for getting this wasnt the unlimited Germany calling..... but since it is Im absolutly pleased and I would heardily reccommend this to people that need to call the "free" Western europe countries alot.
Oh ya and I upgraded my connection to 8MB and I play online games down load video on a different PC and talk on the phone with no effect to the line quality.... that also means it doesnt get better when Im not doing these things and on the phone, but consitancy is more important to me. Ive gotten very used to the email notification of voicemails and Im not sure I'll ever be happy if I lose that feature. Caller ID still doesnt work it only displays the number.... which is ok but I could wish for it to work right someday soon.
Giving some serious thought to getting a "virtual number" so my daughter can call me on a local number from a different state.
Oh and I have a Primus Model iAN-02EX Rev 1.0 interface box. Just incase people want to make comparisons of hardware.
Still havent had to interact with customer support (billing) ... the tech support guys were competent when I spoke with them, helpful and very easy to work with once you make them understand that you are competent with networking gear (I moonlight as a LAN analyst).
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15 April 05 Update-----
Been using the box for makeing calls to germany (logged at least 3 hours a day) for the first week.
Had a few line problems, little echo, noise on the line etc... just hung up and redialed fixed most. Speaker phone isnt always dependable, echo and noise seem to multiply.
Had to reboot the ATA once with a lost dial tone.
For the most part its operating just like my old phone, oh ya and I have mine wired to my house phones (which might be some of the noise, line loss and all).
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11 April 2005 The beginning.......
I signed up on a Wednesday evening, recieved the box on Monday afternoon, today, (not bad for ground shipping).
Got on the site here and ran some line tests to evaluate my speed up and down (approx 4500/490 average) with just PC running.
Connected the box to my Netgear router and let it do its update thing, attached a phone after 5 or so minutes and started using it.
Called some friends and ran line tests while we were on the phone talking... had music loud in the background to make sure I was getting constant transmission and started running line tests again. Averaged out around 1700/470 which really surprised me I figured I was gonna get hit on the upload not the download speeds.
There was a touch of choppieness in the line every once in a while while I did large file downloads and uploads but honestly nothing that cause the conversation/music to become hard to understand (once in a while a "sounds like" word had to be repeated).
Wife started calling Germany this morning and the line quality was excellent. Had a 15-20 min convo with father-in-law and I dont think we dropped 1 word (wasnt running UL/DL stuff at the time though).
Caller ID thing would be nice but the honest truth is that we only get calls that I either want to, or have to take, so caller ID is just an early warning. Havent played with Voicemail or other advanced funcitions cause I couldnt access my menus. Will try to sort this out today with Lingo.
All in all out of the box Im seeing a very positive result so far.
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