Review of AT&T CallVantageAll reviews of |
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After doing my research, it seemed like AT&T had the best call quality according to most reviews, so after trying it out for a couple weeks, we finally switched our old POTS number over to AT&T and were very happy... For a few months... Eventually, the cost of the basic AT&T CallVantage plan dropped from $29.95 to $24.95 and I decided to use the AT&T account management settings online to change to the cheaper plan since no one had informed me about the price change. AT&T lets you change calling plans at any time (there are three - the normal plan, the international plan, and the local-only plan). Within an hour of doing this, I could no longer accept incoming calls. The phone would ring, and as soon as I clicked to answer, all I got was a dialtone. The calling party would just hear the line ringing. I called AT&T to speak with customer service and they took me through the basic troubleshooting (reboot the telephone adapter, etc.) and finally escalated my case. I was told I would get a call back the next day. It never happened. I had to call them, and after waiting on hold yet again for a while, I was finally brought to L2 tech support. They confirmed that the issue was with AT&T and not my adapter. I was told they would call me back after they had conducted some internal tests. During this time, my outgoing calling features stopped working, presumably because they had configured a telephone adapter at AT&T offices to "spoof" mine so they could help diagnose the problem. They did not call me back. I had to call them. In fact, I have had to call them several times on my cellphone because I am told each time that someone is looking into it, and I will definitely get a call back. It has now been two weeks since I have had a working phone. The only bright point out of all of this is that my account settings at AT&T still work, and I am able to forward my calls to my cellphone. However, I am now out of peak cell minutes, and my issue is still not resolved. I don't know how AT&T calls this acceptable. I have been pleasant with every person over there with whom I have spoken, and perhaps that's the problem. The local cable company set me up quickly with a new VoIP account with them, and I am now forwarding my AT&T calls to that number. AT&T meanwhile has my old POTS number, and I hope they will give it up when the cable company calls for it. It has now been four days since I have spoken to anyone at AT&T. I have a feeling they have just given up on me. So if you're thinking of AT&T CallVantage, think about how you will do without a phone for two weeks or longer if anything goes wrong. You might be fine, but you might not. Is it really worth it? Followup comments:
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CallVantage has many "included" features that I find very handy, such as "Locate Me", which rings as many as five other numbers either sequentially or simultaneously. The web site is very well laid out for manipulating these many features. I also currently use one of the many "premium" features (call blocking), for which extra is charged. Once a number is entered, it can go either directly to Voicemail or be blocked entirely. (Great for blocking Comcast, who recently would not take seriously my request to "stop calling me" so they could sell me "digital" television). Other "premium" features include items such as local add-on numbers so others can call you from a distance via a local call. I also really like having Voice mail sent to me as a .wav file. It's just easier to interface with CallVantage via my 19" LCD PC screen versus my telephone keypad. Since getting Callvantage, Comcast has offerred me VOIP for $45 a month (base fee) and Verizon has sent me offers for unlimited local and long distance for about $65 a month or so. I wonder why they bother, at those prices. CallVantage is VOIP, but the features and service are very much telephone-like, only less expensive. Customer service - only needed them when buying. Not one technical problem since the installation. Followup comments:
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I have been a customer of CallVantage for over a year. I now have two telephone lines, one user number and one Simple Reach number. Reliablity is top dollar, I never ever have a problem. The only down side is I need more Simple Reach numbers with other prefixes and ATT has been slow on this end. Tech support and customer care show knowledge and concern for the customer. My cell bills dropped 400 bucks a month thanks to Voip. What do I dislike, I hate have the Dlink TA in front of my router. I have their tech support trying to put it behind my router. Would I switch no. Would I recommend it absolutely. They did take the incentive to recommend others, but I still recommend it. The features are great. I especially use the Call & Send feature. I like Call Filtering.....I like being notified by email when I have a voice mail, by sending a text to my cell phone. Voice quality has been superb. And it all works with Linux network...No microsoft here. Btw right after I came onboard, I could not use their Call Manager because I did not have Expolorer. I sent an email to them. Three days later my Linux browsers worked. Good product, good price. I pay the high end cause of the extra numbers. Buy it, it works....... Followup comments:
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Like I said, we had two POTS lines we we wanted ported from Verizon. This limited our selection of VOIP providers, but all of the majors allowed this port. We set up the contract on line, and was assigned a date about 10 days in the future. The contract was for the porting of both lines. We received our adapter in about 5 days. The first line ported as expected, but for some reason at the last minute the second line did not. I received an email the evening before the second line was to port saying that the order was cancelled. I immediately called customer service, who said they had no idea why the order was cancelled and that there were no notes in the service order indicating why it wasn't completed. They rescheduled the second line porting, but that also took another 10 days. They begged my forgiveness, which was unnecessary but nice. The port date came, and all went well. I needed to call to straighten out the bill. The on-line order offered 1 month free service (per line), but the original line started billing from the day they shipped the telephone adapter (not the install complete date). The second line didn't credit the free month, because the order was placed by phone instead of the internet (because of the mystery cancellation of the original second line order). Customer service corrected both of these and credited my account. That was the installation story. My advice, if you want to port two lines, make an online order for the first line. After that one ports, make another online order to port the second line. You can "add a line" on the Callvantage customer website which you can access after you sign up. Other than that, service has been fine. Like most reviews, the quality is like the best cell phone. It isn't quite POTS quality, but close. I was even able to fax without turning on the fax/modem support, so the call quality is quite good. Customer service has been very good, all US based. Technical support has also been quite good, US based again, but like all they are not excellent technicians. Configuration issues with your cable/dsl provider (of Verizon fiber optics, which I have) may be beyond them. The contract is $24.95/month/line, month to month (no long term commitment). With the new Gore-Tax and state 911/receipts taxes it ends up being about $27/month/line. My math tells me I'l save about $1000/year over my old POTS service (local, features, and long distance). Note on US based support - this is very important to me since I have had my dealings with Indian based support. Other than being authorized to apologize, I have never had a satisfactory technical or customer support experience with Indian based support. I also don't believe that everyone is named "Laura" or "Ben"! Followup comments:
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November 8TH - 2006 I received an email from AT&T and my number will be ported by next week. FINALLY!! But yeah AT&T Call Vantage rocks!! It's way less than Time Warner Cable's Digital Phone, + AT&T has more features than Digital Phone and ability to chose an area code besides where I live. That's the power of AT&T! Thanks! PS. I PAY $64 BECAUSE I HAVE 2 LINES. MY OWN LINE + THE HOUSE PHONE FOR MY FAMILY. ALL FOR UNDER 60. NOT BAD AT ALL!! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOVEMBER 5TH - 2006 I'm still waiting for my number to be ported from Verizon to AT&T CALL VANTAGE. So far their service is great. No problems what-so-ever. But the porting thing, is taking long then I expected. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OCTOBER 5TH - 2006 No problems so far. Just recently I ordered SIMPLE REACH NUMBER so my friends from CALIFORNIA can call me locally and it rings to my room number (NEW JERSEY). So far so good and there was NO set-up fee or charges to get a SIMPLE REACH NUMBER. AT&T ROCKS!! ______________________________________________ SEPTEMBER 26TH 2006 Been a customer for a very long time. AT&T has been very helpful and the price can't be beat. They dropped their price plan from 29.99 for unlimited local and long distance to Canada and Puerto Rico to 24.99. Not bad at all! I'm looking forward to be their customer for a very long time. BTW by October 4th, my number should be ported back to Verizon (landline telephone line), wait at least a week or 2 then request to transfer my number to AT&T Call Vantage. We'll see what happens. Other than that, I'm happy with their services. If only they offfered Call Transfer, 611 Customer Service, Repeat Dial (*66), Return Call (*69), and Unlimted Calls to anywhere in the World for a low flat fee. Optimum Voice is doing great and they are offering WorldCall for like 19.95 for up to 500 minutes to anywhere in the world. Not bad offer. But I'm happy so far with AT&T. Thanks. ******************************************** JULY 13TH 2006 I reordered AT&T Call Vantage because me and my family currently have Time Warner Cable as our VOIP for 3 months now ... but their service is good but no 3 way calling, do not disturb feature, call filters, or call logs. That's why I signed back with AT&T. We tried bringing our number back but Time Warner Cable will not release our number so I have to sign up for Verizon for local service to bring our number back and then bring the number to AT&T. But it's going to take awhile to get our number back ... it's not that easy but we'll try! I love their service and I would recommended for everybody to get. Thanks AT&T! - Bryan NOVEMBER 23RD 2005 AT&T CallVantage service is doing great for us. Simple Reach Number was delayed because their was a problem with the order but it got resolved. It take about 6-7 days I believe. All I know AT&T works for us. I wish Call Filtering was included with the monthly plan but it isn't. Problem with Call Filtering, if u block people who blocks their telephone number, they will get a message saying u need to unblock ur number. That's not the problem, the problem is if u have relatives from other countries and their number is either unavailable or no data to get the number, they will also receive a message instructing them to unblock their number. That's one problem I have with AT&T Call Filtering... it not only blocks in the United States but also Internationally. Be careful because AT&T isnt the only company but others who have anymonous call rejection option, will also block internationally. Preventing u to receive incoming calls internationally. That's all for today. . . see ya next review . . . OCTOBER 30TH I still have no problems with AT&T CallVantage... I love their service. Try it and believe me its worth to have their service. ~~ Original Review ~~ I had AT&T CallVantage before, and I say their service is excellent.  OCTOBER 24TH Hello. I had AT&T CallVantage before (May 2005) but we returned it because we didnt know we needed expandable cordless phones to work on different works... but now we have their service back. AT&T CallVantage changed our life. We could call out unlimited from outside, local or even Canada. Plus we get great services like Call Waiting, Caller ID with Name, 3 way Calling, Call Forwarding, Locate Me, Do not Disturb, Voicemail and many great features. Try AT&T CallVantage.... its a great way to start when its ur very first time VOIP or switching from ur current VOIP. AT&T CallVantage lets u use ur current home phone number (not if u have DSL on that line), and bring ur line from analog to digital phone service. I loved their service because all calls are clear and no echos like other VOIP providers. U can trust AT&T because they have been around 125 years and they have experiences and well known than any other carriers. Want to be able to save money on ur phone bill? Well AT&T CallVantage lets u save more and not pay any extra dime from the FCC Line Charge which everyone pays for traditional phone service and higher taxes. With AT&T u pay 29.99 per month and fewer taxes. Round it around $32-$35. (Taxes vary by state) Call all ur friends around the United States and Canada UNLIMITED. No more looking at the time to get off the phone. I can call out and be on the phone for over 2 hrs and still its unlimited. I choice AT&T CallVantage because I had their service for less than 3 weeks and they service made me wanna keep their service again. I tried SunRocket, too many outages and u can be out of service for 2 days straight or maybe 3 days. Verizon VoiceWing is still good but they dont provide 100% Caller ID with Name so u have to keep guessing who called. And if u have a good memory of who belongs that number, then it shouldnt be a problem. Sorry but I cant be remembering everyone's number... I need to know who's number belongs too. Far now my number is stuck with Verizon VoiceWing... pretty soon AT&T will bring that number back to make it work with CallVantage. I'm still waiting but we are still using the temporary number. Over all Im very excited with AT&T and their service. I wouldnt change to another provider. Thanks AT&T. Followup comments:
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After months of increasing dropped calls on both of our CallVantage lines, ATT finally "fessed up" this morning. I have Comcast as my cable ISP. As Comcast incrementally increased data throughput, our ATT CallVantage service dropped calls at an increasingly alarming rate. This morning, 2 incoming calls were dropped, along with 2 outgoing calls; one being placed to ATT's CallVantage service department. I have had Comcast cable internet for years, and experienced a variety of speeds. Download speed was initially around 2 mbps years ago, but recently topped 8 mbps within the past year. At no time did ATT notify us that their CallVantage D-Link model #DVG-1120M/US Telephone Adapter was only rated to 784 kbps. When asked why I was not notified, the ATT rep suggested that I put an online suggestion that they notify customers. Since ATT can use "traceroute" to determine a customer's ISP, and since the TA "phones home" every 24 hrs, a customer should not have to notify ATT that other customers may also be experiencing problems. We even went so far as to have DSL installed for a month, but calls were still dropped, apparently because the DSL speed was too high (along with high "jitter," measured with the help of PingPlotter PRO software). We were going to cancel CallVantage service, but we'll wait for this new TA to arrive overnight. If other people are experiencing dropped calls while using a cable modem, give ATT a not-so-nice call, and request a new TA. If the new TA solves your dropped call issue, BE SURE TO REQUEST YOUR BILL BE ADJUSTED FOR ATTs NEGLIGENCE. LLoyd in Ft. Lauderdale Followup comments:
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Not everything was great at the start. I had a dropped call problem 9/29 thru 10/2. Although it wasnt Callvantage's problem. It was ATT/SBC which had a bridge tap on my physical phone line which caused my DSL speed to swing from very very high to very very low. How do I know it was a bridge tap? The repairman for DSL (on my att line) told me that is what he thought it was and he pointed to where the taps were located, one in front of my house on a pole and the other behind my house on another pole. Although he could not remove it as his department didn't do that type of work. He closed my repair ticket and issued another ticket to the proper dept. Another guy came out and checked the tap in the back, wrong one. He then checked the tap in the front bingo. He removed the bridge tap and I havent had anymore dropped calls. Time zone problem (solved) Go to 192.168.15.1, enter user for both user and password, go to system (top of page), go to localization (left side of page) and select your proper time zone. When you make the change in settings the setting will not update instantly. When I called service the woman told me to wait 24 hours. ( It took me two hours to see the change. Was it because I changed the setting or I called callvantage repair? I do not know) I am happy and will email again when I take my TA to Arizona to use on my DSL line there. p.s. I have DSL express for 12.99 for one year. It is way faster than Comcast Cable. Everyone in this neighborhood has internet cable and it sucks the speed way down certain times of the day and night depending on how many people are on line. DSL gives you your own line, just you. Goodbye comcast! please note to get DSL you must have a home phone to put DSL on. To get VOIP you must have cable or DSL. If you have DSL and then get VOIP it would behoove you to just tell Callvantage that you want a new number with them. Trust me its far easier and faster to get on board with the service. Do it over the internet. I ordered off the internet. 1. order DSL (package came in two days) the same night I ordered Callvantage (package came in three days). Took me two days to figure out the bridgetap problem and the 3 hours different in time on the display of my phone. All problems solved. Followup comments:
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Given the lack of service and support I've been able to get from almost ANYONE these days, I've come to the conclusion that you're largely on your own and should merit services based on price and availability. My first interesting experience with callvantage was that my answering machine no longer worked properly. Calls would be left which would have dead air after them until the 3 minute message limit, followed by that loud phone company klaxon, and "if you'd like to make a call...". Turns out at&t doesnt produce the tone that tells an answering machine that the call is over. Maybe they've fixed that since, but there was no mention of this limitation on their web site. Their customer service people were also unaware of it, and until I found some internet postings that confirmed this as a product problem, it remained a mystery. I ended up using their voicemail, which stinks because even if you dial '***' from your home phone, it still asks you for a PIN. They decide what your pin looks like...it has to be six numbers, cant be repeating numbers or common patterns. In other words, nothing that I was already using or could easily remember. This is when calling from the callvantage line itself! Why do I need a PIN?!? We had a 2 day outage of service last winter. When I emailed them, I got back a reply that they had experienced a lot of snow, the datacenter was down, and they couldnt respond for 4 days. Swell. I paid extra for a company that actually had a name and a reputation for reliability, and they apparently have no decent facilities to manage downtime. I then bought a fax machine and enabled "fax and modem support". Its nice that low speed modems like my directivo's work fine without this on, but my old series 1 tivo's and my laptop wouldnt connect without the fax and modem support. Turned it on, worked GREAT. But for the next few days, when I dialed "***" for my voicemail, I'd get a fast busy signal. After a day of this, I tried the 800# that I would call if I wasnt home. Same fast busy. So I called customer disservice. Yes, thats a problem that showed up when they put in the new fax modem firmware into the TA. No, they had no idea when they'd be fixing it. No, they would give me no service credit for the PITA factor. Someone out there explain to me why I cant dial an 800# because I have a fax feature turned on? Besides forcing me to get a second fax-only line from AT&T? Recently, the TA has started rebooting itself periodically. When it does, it rings the phone once to let you know its up. There is no way to turn off this 'feature'. The TA has rebooted itself in the middle of the night, with the single ring resulting in the "jump out of bed, who died?" response. Once it went off at 6am on a sunday morning. Call customer disservice. He had me run a 'testyourvoip' test and says that the .7% dropped packets is the cause. We have a little talk about how the internet DOES indeed drop a packet every now and then, and that .7% is not that bad. He then says maybe I'm having power outages. Nope, the unit is connected to an on-line UPS. Oh...THATS the problem...the callvantage TA *must* be plugged directly into a wall outlet, you may NOT use a power strip or a UPS with it. By the way, I did that. The unit still reboots itself about once a day. Hopefully DURING the day. He says its my ISP, my ISP rings out the line and does some loop tests. No problems with the line. I check the router stats...almost no errors or retransmits in something like 70,000,000 packets. ::) Four hours of ripping my network apart and being on the phone with callvantage and the ISP, I do a little googling and find this is a known problem with the new firmware they put on the older TA's for the '911 intercept' they have to have since the new FCC order went through. Swell. So I respond to the callvantage guys email, tell him the power strip is not the problem, my ISP is not the problem, its a known problem with this model TA's firmware, will they please replace it or I'll need to take my business elsewhere. He never responded. Back to SBC local service. After reading the reviews on other VOIP providers, it appears their product and service quality isnt even as good as at&t's. I dont have time for this... Update, I just read the comments attached concerning the accuracy of my report. This report was and is accurate as to my experience with the product. While some of these problems may have been resolved since I stopped being a customer and while some may have even been fixed while I was still a customer, that doesnt change the facts. Basic telephone stuff like answering machines didnt work. There was no mention in a FAQ or common questions that the problem existed or that it was resolved. I was left to figure this stuff out on my own. When I called for support, the onus was put on me to do hours of work when the problems were well known and not something I could resolve. When I asked for a new device...vehemently asked for a new device...I was denied. When I told the tech I knew about the problem, what the solution was, and that I wanted the solution (a new TA), it was denied. If I was paying 10-15 a month for this from some fly by night outfit with six guys working for them, that'd be one thing. $32 a month from the one of the biggest and oldest telecom companies on the planet. You'd THINK they'd get their product to work with an answering machine before launching it. You'd THINK that when they implemented fax and modem support they'd get the voicemail working at the same time. You'd THINK that when a problem is well known they'd let their employees and customers know about it and tell them when its resolved. More fun to pretend that the problems arent there. Then nobody gets in trouble, and who cares if the customers leave? Sixteen thumbs down. But again, i'm not going to pick on them in a vacuum...I rarely see a decent product launched and good customer service anymore. Someone writes a marketing spec, the product gets slapped together and shoved out the door before its ready, pour millions into promotions and advertising, hush on the problems and fix them as best as can be done as cheaply as possible, hire the cheapest guys who can read a script in english to deal with the customers, and lets give someone a few months for free to get them on board to replace the people we lose due to the half assed product quality and no assed support. Followup comments:
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*UPDATE* At&t lowered their rate for their 29.99 plan to 24.99. Just go on to your web account manager and change it under plans. Followup comments:
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AT&T CallVantage
(14)
Farmingville,Suffolk,NY
$30 per month
about 15 days
"Call Quality, Price, Features"
"Customer Service, Some Features Lacking"
"Great if you don't have a problem"
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