VoicePulse Free Trial til December

[VoicePulse]

Greetings PBX-in-a-Flash users!

Since this is the Providers section of the forum, we'd like to introduce our services to any newcomers.

VoicePulse is an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) and was started in 2003 using Asterisk as the backbone. Since then, we've grown to become the only Asterisk-based ITSP to be written about in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The New York Times, US News & World Report, San Jose Mercury News, NBC Television, The Boston Globe, PC WORLD, PC Magazine and more!

We originally started our service as a residential offering, but quickly realized the potential of the open source VoIP market. In late 2003, we launched the VoicePulse Connect for Asterisk service and it has grown tremendously ever since, due largely in part to projects like PBX-in-a-Flash.

Let me start off by saying that we are NOT the perfect service for everyone. We're not the cheapest and we don't give away our hard work for free. In return, we've been in business for 4 years, have added many new employees and have maintained an almost perfect reputation for customer service ( http://www.dslreports.com/comments/2416 ).

Our strengths are:

• Extremely good US termination (starting at $0.005) with no volume commitment
• Very competitive international rates
• Very good DID coverage in the US
• No incoming per-minute charge

Some unique services we offer:

• A FreePBX module that will auto-configure your PBX-in-a-Flash in under 60 seconds
• Customer service via phone or email, Mon-Fri 9am-7pm ET
• An API to do everything you can do in the account center
• A least-cost routing API to allow you to send some calls to us and other calls to another provider, maximizing your savings
• East coast (NYC) and west coast (SFO) datacenters
• Custom pricing for larger customers

Since we cannot monitor every VoIP-related forum on the Internet, we ask that you contact us with ANY questions or problems you may encounter with our service via email ([email protected]) or phone (732-339-5100).

Regards,

VoicePulse for Business & Wholesale
W: http://www.voicepulse.com/connect/
P: +1-732-339-5100 M-F 9am-5pm ET
E: [email protected]

 

[jpe]

I'll give them guys a thumbs up. I have been using VoicePulse Connect for all of their four years in business and have never had any problems what so ever.

 

[tel0p]

k

the 'least-cost routing API' is a cool feature.
being able to send my own CLID(RPID) is important. does Voicepulse offer that?

[edit - answered my own question: yes]
http://voicepulse.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/voicepulse.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=71&p_created=1097625495&p_sid=FlhbGdVi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=&p_sp=&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[dobbs]

Great voice quality

I think one of the best features VoicePulse Connect offers is a scalable number of channels. This is particularly important for an inbound trunk. The standard default package offers 4, and more can be added as needed.

The old module that installed IAX along with SIP trunks worked better though than the current module which only installs SIP. I've found IAX offers better stability and if you want to use faxing, it's a much better bet.

Also, even though it's for FreePBX installations of most types, it is private branded. For these reasons, I can't recommend using the auto API configuration module at this time. The manual setup works very well though.

 

[jehowe]

Per channel pricing is too high though....

Beyond the first four channels it's $20 per month for each extra channel. For a prepaid per-minute plan like VP Connect, i'm not sure why they'd charge anything.

Fortunately four channels is enough for my needs and they have proven stellar serving both as a primary and backup trunk, with great rates to boot. I'd recommend them to almost everyone.

 

[clarocque]

I have been impressed with their support!!

 

[dad311]

I have been impressed with their support!!

Me too. I called for support and talked to a real person within two rings! NICE.

 

[Vik]

International caller-id?

I have been using Voicepulse's service to forward calls on to my cell phone. For all 10 digit numbers, the number passes to my cell without any hitches.

However, if a international call comes in, or if the provider sends 11 digits, VP can't pass the caller-id.

anyway to work around this issue?

 

[cliff]

I used the following in extensions_custom.conf for a Voicestick DID. It sent the call to the FreePBX files in a usable format. Originally Voicestick sent a +1 for CID and later changed to 10 or 11 digits but did not include the AC for calls from the same code.

[custom-vs-did]
; custom-VoiceStick to strip 1 from DID and +1 from CID
exten => 13016370440,1,Goto(1,1)
exten => 1,1,Set(FROM_DID=3016370440) ;strip 1 from DID
exten => 1,n,Noop(user-callerid: ${CALLERID(name)} ${CALLERID(number)})
;exten => 1,n,SetCallerID(${CALLERID(num):2}) ;strip +1 CID prefix
exten => 1,n,Set(CALLERID(number)=301${CALLERID(number)})
exten => 1,n,Set(CALLERID(number)=${CALLERID(number):-10})
exten => 1,n,Goto(ext-did,3016370440,1) ;send to ext-did

 

[tshif]

Beyond the first four channels it's $20 per month for each extra channel. For a prepaid per-minute plan like VP Connect, i'm not sure why they'd charge anything.

Fortunately four channels is enough for my needs and they have proven stellar serving both as a primary and backup trunk, with great rates to boot. I'd recommend them to almost everyone.

I Agree - their extra channel fees make it impossible to even consider them.

 

[Vik]

Cliff thanks for that tip. Maybe shortening all inbound caller-id to ten digits is one way to go. But I am hoping someone from Voicepulse has an easier work around?

Vik

 

[VoicePulse]

dobbs,

We have released a new version of the module, 0.5.0, that no longer mentions "trixbox", just "FreePBX" to accomodate PiaF users.

 

[clarocque]

Is this still SIP or does it support IAX again?

 

[VoicePulse]

tshif,

A little known fact is that discounted per-channel prices are available on a case-by-case basis. Feel free to call in and talk to business development for more information.

 

[Vik]

Voicepulse, any way of allowing to set caller-id > 10 digits? (for international call) without shortening it?

Vik

 

[troycarpenter]

For those who balk at the price, you can always split your services between two providers.

I use les.net for unlimited incoming calls at $3.99 per month. I use Voicepulse Connect for all my outgoing calls (as long as the flexrate comes in lower than les.net).

So, if you sign up for a voicepulse connect account, but never request a DID, you won't pay any monthly charges, only the outgoing per minute charges.

 

[VoicePulse]

Vik,

We had to enforce this 10-digit CID policy due to one of our underlying providers. However, we are actively working on relaxing this requirement in the near future.

 

[VoicePulse]

Troy,

Your method of using VoicePulse service (in conjunction with another provider) is probably the most cost-effective option for most customers. In fact, we encourage our customers to use FlexRate for just that purpose!

 

[frontline]

I have been looking into the DSL reports reference given in the OP. The reviews for the connect service notes the requirement to fax back a contract to initiate service.

The is also information that all calls are rounded up to the next penny.

Are these conditions still in place?

 

[troycarpenter]

For your first question: yes, and it may be considered worse than that. You have to fax in and confirm all your information up front, but there could be a gotcha later on. If you change your credit card info (like when your card expires or you want to use a different card), you will need to re-fax everything before you get re-confirmed. It's not a big deal until you actually have to do it, and the remote API stops working until they re-confirm you. They lost my paperwork once when I did it and it eventually took over a week to get re-confirmed. Calls still work, but you can't make any changes in that state.

I don't know about your second question.