VOIP or PTSN?

[ejconcepcion]

VOIP or PSTN?

I have spent most of today dealing with and inbound call problem with Vitelity.

Some inbound calls come in and callers can't hear me. Outbound works fine. According to Vitelity, it's a call routing problem with one of their carriers. I can't even forward calls to my cell phone because the problem still occurs when forwarding.

In a business environment a day without phone service is painful and unprofessional.

Should I call and order a few PSTN lines from ATT or try another voip carrier?

 

[tshif]

Unfortunately, this type of thing can occur with any VOIP vendor. The good news is that it really doesnt seem to occur thatoften for the reputable providers.

The bad news is when it does happen - unless they provide a fallback method of delivery, such as through pots, your inbound calls are at risk.

In this case - if it was really a carrier based problem (routing? ok...), you might just as easily had the problem even with a reroute to pots at the provider level.

In some areas analog / pots/ etc lines may suffer as many issues as VOIP - even more in rural areas. And they can take loads longer to get resolved.

I feel your pain - but this may be a case of "random conjunction", and you got the fuzzy end of the lolipop. If its a blip on an otherwise flawless radar screen - chalk it up to it being "your turn" and move on. Remember, analog lines arent perfect either. ... It would be helpful if the previous analog servce had been problematic also...

If this becomes anything like a regular occurance - or is not resolved within 12-24 hours, politely but firmly escalate your case to higher level tech support and dont stop till you get a reasonable plan for correction out of the vendor.

If they are disinterested in helping you - regardless of whos problem they think it is - thenit may be time to port your numbers to a different vendor.

- just 2 cents from tshif

 

[briankelly63]

I have a voice quality issue with Vitelity on incoming calls... There are other providers that have servers located closer to NY where I am that would probably provide a better connection but I was trying to take advantage of the $3.99 special rate for PIAF customers.

I'd try a larger carrier like a Bandwidth.com, (perhaps through the FREEPBX site) or some others that I'm sure will be suggested by other forum members. In a business enviorment price would not be my top concern. Perhaps before you sign up with someone else you could get their server ip's and do a trace route to them. The shorter the better.

PSTN's can have there own issues initially but they do seem to be a little more robust. I'm surprised on a daily basis how many call quality, dtmf issues there are in this business.

Brian

Update: it seems that my setup for incoming calls which is to forward a PSTN to my Vitelity DID is the root cause of the noise issue. Exactly why that is we may never know. There are calls that work fine and have no noise but the configuration seems to create a more frequent noise issue than if the call is made directly to the DID.

 

[jroper]

Hi

It's all about price - as a general rule, there are companies who are dedicated to providing services to business, and those who are providing services to residential customers.

Residential services are very price conscious, and thus the margins are lower, and the loss of one customer does not make a big impact on the bottom line.

Businesses in General terms, are not so price conscious, and will pay higher prices, but expect quality as well, and the loss of one customer is often significant, which tends to concentrate the mind, from a supplier perspective. But there is usually more support available, as the margins are greater, and the carriers are usually higher quality.

I speak in general terms here, and make sweeping generalisations. However, I think it is good practice to concentrate on choosing suppliers who are more business oriented, than those who are residential oriented, as the quality of calls, and support, will usually be better.

Thus, issues of DTMF, dropped calls, and other VoIP foibles simply do not arise. (quite so often).

Joe

 

[ejconcepcion]

Thanks for the feedback. At this point I'd prefer to stay with VOIP.

Can you recommend a few providers that would be good for a business environment?

Thanks