review of tk6000

newtoncd · Post by **newtoncd** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:12 pm

I didn't know where to post this, mod's let me know if this is okay .... a review of the netTALK tk6000 device.

Order process:

The order and checkout process for the site was easy, but they definitely try to sell additional services. If memory serves, there were at least 4 different options (extended warranty, additional devices, extra cash for rush shipping and an offer to pay it all at once and save $10, etc.) on the checkout process. I use Firefox v3.5.1 and the ‘YES’ button was quite large, the ‘NO’ button was very small and a little hard to select. I selected no to all options.

I ordered the unit on 7/29/09, the order was received at their warehouse on 7/31/09 and I received a tracking notice on 8/1/09. Others are having issue with the lengthy period it takes to ship the product. The tracking notice said it would ship soon and I should receive the product in 7-10 days. Item is shipped via fedex and was delivered on 8/11/09. The 30 day money back guarantee starts the day it is shipped, so the countdown started on 8/1/09, thus the first 11 days of my money back guarantee were spent on the delivery truck; not liking that. They have announced they are looking into this and they moved my date out.

At no point in the ordering process was there any indication that I would get a local area code; to me, that was annoying. I live in the greater Denver, CO metro area, so that shouldn’t be an issue. You need a login for the area code listing and you don’t get that until you receive the device. I don’t know why netTALK has it setup that way. Also, according to the forum, they program the device with a phone number already on it prior to shipment.

They have since addressed the local phone number issue and will be posting the info to their website.

I will say this much, their customer service has been outstanding.

Installation:

Not sure it could be any easier. Plug the device into your router, plug in a phone, power up the device and wait for it to ring. You are then ready to call. They also push out updates which will require an occasional reboot of the device. I have it running through our central phone jack on our home and each of the wall jacks has a dial tone.

There was an issue with the Panasonic DECT 6.0 phones and the device not recognizing the DTMF, but they have fixed that problem.

Call Quality:

So far, has been good. We have experienced an occasional garble/stutter (both ends), but I will need additional time to see if it is an anomaly or a real problem.

I know magicJack has fixed the beep issue, but so far we haven’t experienced any beeps.

Features:

Local number for those in major metropolitan areas (others may have to look into Google Voice), caller ID, call waiting with caller ID, three way calling, unlimited local/long distance, no need to leave a computer on because it plugs directly into your router, no need to run an ATA (but I was able to configure it quite easily to run my Linksys PAP2T-NA, the option to plug into your computer via USB (for traveling or other reasons), $100 + shipping for a lifetime subscription (of course, not sure how long the company will be in business -- hopefully awhile)

mykroft · Post by **mykroft** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:14 am

My question is - is this device locked into them only or if some day they are gone you can configure/hack it to use a different provider/service etc?

crackerjack · Post by **crackerjack** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:02 am

mykroft wrote:My question is - is this device locked into them only or if some day they are gone you can configure/hack it to use a different provider/service etc?

It does have an embedded webpage for administration but it is protected by inscrutable username/password combo

mykroft · Post by **mykroft** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:50 am

Then its not worth the risk for the amount of the product when they cant guarantee they will be around for the next 5-10 years

JOFTAA · Post by **JOFTAA** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:34 am

mykroft wrote:Then its not worth the risk for the amount of the product when they cant guarantee they will be around for the next 5-10 years

Agreed. I'll bet Magicjack is not around in 5 years, either. At least not as we know it now.

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:25 am

Features:

Local number for those in major metropolitan areas (others may have to look into Google Voice), caller ID, call waiting with caller ID, three way calling, unlimited local/long distance, no need to leave a computer on because it plugs directly into your router, no need to run an ATA

I noticed you didn't mention Voice Mail or Call Forwarding. These may be important to some folks, particularly since the traditional phone companies still charge extra for them.

newtoncd · Post by **newtoncd** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:27 pm

Darkman90808 wrote:
Features:

Local number for those in major metropolitan areas (others may have to look into Google Voice), caller ID, call waiting with caller ID, three way calling, unlimited local/long distance, no need to leave a computer on because it plugs directly into your router, no need to run an ATA
I noticed you didn't mention Voice Mail or Call Forwarding. These may be important to some folks, particularly since the traditional phone companies still charge extra for them.

Good point. The voicemail is getting rolled out "soon"; right now they have it set to 8 rings to let your own answering system pick up.

I am not sure about call forwarding, I will have to look into that one.

For me, the garble problem persists, so I am opening a trouble ticket soonest.

For comparison purposes, the stutter hasn't happened while using my PAP2T-NA, which is interesting.

newtoncd · Post by **newtoncd** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:14 pm

mykroft wrote:My question is - is this device locked into them only or if some day they are gone you can configure/hack it to use a different provider/service etc?

I would say it is definitely locked into nettalk.

mykroft · Post by **mykroft** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:28 am

JOFTAA wrote:
mykroft wrote:Then its not worth the risk for the amount of the product when they cant guarantee they will be around for the next 5-10 years
Agreed. I'll bet Magicjack is not around in 5 years, either. At least not as we know it now.

True, but look at the cost difference for the hardware - much easier to take it in the shorts when/if MJ goes under.

newtoncd · Post by **newtoncd** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:05 pm

Just to follow up my own thread, the garble/stutter problem is really bad on both the tk6000 device and my ATA, especially when talking with Vonage customers. Not sure why this is happening. Tech support is looking at it now, but we are back to magicJack for now.

stav · Post by **stav** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:51 am

Do you need to dial the 1 and the area code for all US calls?
Thx for being the guinea pig on that..!

mistress lee · Post by **mistress lee** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:11 pm

Does TK6000 have a time limit for calls, like MJ's two hour limit?

crackerjack · Post by **crackerjack** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:21 pm

mistress lee wrote:Does TK6000 have a time limit for calls, like MJ's two hour limit?

max of 90 minutes per call

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:01 pm

max of 90 minutes per call

Time limited calls, garbled voice problems, no call forwarding or voice mail. Hmmm... I think the shine is beginning to wear off.

bitstopjoe · Post by **bitstopjoe** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:30 pm

NOT TO MENTION limited area codes AND costs more than MJ... YEP sounds like a winner to me.....................NOT........

Joe Sica

jetaray · Post by **jetaray** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:50 pm

crackerjack wrote:
mistress lee wrote:Does TK6000 have a time limit for calls, like MJ's two hour limit?
max of 90 minutes per call

Do you have any proof of this? If so kindly point me in that direction.

The terms of service seems to indicate anything over 5000 minutes (83 hours) a month is considered excessive use. You would need to talk 2.5 hours a day to reach that limit. The paragraph below is from the TOS for the TK6000.

“c. Prohibited Uses of Service
You are expressly prohibited from reselling or transferring the Service or netTALK.com Equipment to any other person for any purpose, without express written permission from Copyright © 2009 netTALK.com, Inc. All rights reserved netTALK.com in advance. In addition, you are expressly prohibited from using the Service for auto-dialing, continuous or extensive call forwarding, telemarketing, fax broadcasting or fax blasting, or for uses that result in excessive usage inconsistent with normal residential or home office usage patterns. If netTALK.com determines, in its sole discretion, that you are reselling or transferring the Service or that your Service is being used for any of the aforementioned activities, netTALK.com reserves the right, without advance notice, to immediately terminate or modify the Service, or to change your calling plan to a different offer on a prospective basis, and in addition, to assess additional charges for each month in which excessive usage occurred. If you subscribe to a calling plan which included unlimited calling of any type, unless otherwise specified by your specific plan in marketing materials associated therewith, any usage in excess of 5,000 aggregate minutes per month, taking into account all types of calling in your plan which are provided on an unlimited basis, shall be presumed to be not consistent with these restrictions and shall be subject to the conditions above.”

I wonder how many people talk 2.5 hours on the phone each and every day. I sure some do but is it personal use or business use?

newtoncd · Post by **newtoncd** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:01 pm

I didn't know about the time limited calls, I probably didn't read the TOS close enough ...

But, as of today, the garble/stutter problem appears to be fixed. They really do respond well when you open a ticket.

The new customer portal (with voicemail) is being launched this week (or maybe next week). They would probably go a bit quicker if I wasn't submitting trouble tickets ...

And, finally, the cost is hard to figure, because the product is now $100 for a lifetime ... as I said in the other post, lifetime is relative because there is no assurance the company will be around long-term.

kulumbaa · Post by **kulumbaa** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:29 pm

its true there is a 90 minute call limit read it from there own forum posted by the site admin

[url=http://forum.nettalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=183[/url]

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:54 pm

I did manage to find this:

http://forum.nettalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=32

Calls to the US and Canada will appear as a limit of 90 minutes
but calls to the US and Canada are unlimited.

Seems like double-talk, but I guess you have to own one to find out.

jetaray · Post by **jetaray** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:04 am

The following is a quote from a site admin of the netTALK forum and the poster simply asked if a single call is limited to 90 minutes.

Quote from netTALK admin,
“All of our customers are valuable to us. Nevertheless, we have chosen to offer a service that is both unique and cost effective. We realized early on that while it may not happen often, it is possible in the VOIP world for a telephone call to hang, when the call had actually terminated. To maintain our cost effectiveness, while preventing an excessive unjustified cost, we have chosen to place a reasonable limit on all calls. We picked 90 min as the cutoff since we believe this will cover 99% of our callers needs. We truly hope that you will understand this requirement and continue to support our company and its’ move towards change.”

I understand the reasoning, but wonder how often that specific problem occurs. I know nothing about how the VOIP service determines when a call ends but can live with it (90 minute limit) because you can simply redial and continue to talk, end result cheaper service for me. Now if I had a business I would never use such a cheap service like magicJack, netTALK or other service that does not make the income to help pay for and maintain a high quality system. I would be willing to pay extra for reliable service to prevent problems. It makes sense that a more reliable system would cost more to maintain.

joe123 · Post by **joe123** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:24 pm

mykroft wrote:Then its not worth the risk for the amount of the product when they cant guarantee they will be around for the next 5-10 years

Buy with a credit card and if/when they go under, have the Credit Card company refund your money back.

You are buying a service and if the company cannot deliver said services and you paid with your Credit Card, you may be able to get your money back.

Depends on the quality of the Credit Card company you use. Your milage will vary.

mykroft · Post by **mykroft** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:38 pm

ya, but most CC companies will not let you charge back like a year later etc.

joe123 wrote:
mykroft wrote:Then its not worth the risk for the amount of the product when they cant guarantee they will be around for the next 5-10 years
Buy with a credit card and if/when they go under, have the Credit Card company refund your money back.

You are buying a service and if the company cannot deliver said services and you paid with your Credit Card, you may be able to get your money back.

Depends on the quality of the Credit Card company you use. Your milage will vary.

Nobody beats the Whiz! · Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:13 pm

No credit card company is going to let you charge back that far after the fact. To suggest otherwise is crazy talk. CuhRazy!

I find it conspicuous the way their website uses the word "Lifetime."

Never does it say something clear like "for life," or for "your lifetime." Usually when you see the use of "for life" in the fine print it will clarify along the lines of "for the normal life of the product."

Instead, with the TK6000 we get varying vagaries:

-"For a lifetime" (emphasis mine). Wow "a" lifetime. The lifetime of an ant?

-in the small print we get this statement: "You will receive free unlimited local and long distance calling Lifetime!" Wow. What is a "long distance calling Lifetime?" That seems purposely garbled. Do they mean the lifetime of my free calling, which presumably has a drop dead date? Is it capped at that $200 of free value in my offer?

-They finally define it in the TOS: "shall be narrowly construed as providing the customer with the
ability to make a reasonable amount of calls within the United States consistent with normal
residential use for the life of the product, and within any limits established according to
NetTALK’s general terms and conditions, and are subject to the terms and limitations of this
Agreement."

-That can mean that in 2 years, when they decide to "take advantage of industry technological advances, and unveil our newest TK7000" that the "lifetime" service will come to an end. You now have to pay again.

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:48 pm

That can mean that in 2 years, when they decide to "take advantage of industry technological advances, and unveil our newest TK7000" that the "lifetime" service will come to an end. You now have to pay again.

Having been in sales and marketing for "a lifetime", I've learned to take sales-speak with a large grain of salt. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

IMO, one of the reasons for MagicJack's success is the low entry fee. Even though each MJ cost me a tad under $53 after you add tax, license, and dealer prep, my little brain kept focusing on the $20/year.

I also think MJ has the advantage of being first. I know, there's Vonage, ooma, Skype and now the tk6000, along with a host of others but MJ seems to have combined marketing and cost to create a serious competitive advantage. I guess because I don't see the tk6000 being advertised on the infomercials, I have to wonder if they're a serious player.

However, competition is what made this country great. Love to hear from others using it.

conniemadagain · Post by **conniemadagain** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:20 am

Talking about "lifetime" ...

Years back a court decreed that "lifetime" when stated with no other wording such as "as long as you own" etc means seven (7) years ...

So lifetime is 7 years ...

saa001 · Post by **saa001** » Thu May 06, 2010 12:58 pm

"Lifetime" service does not mean YOUR lifetime, it is generally defined as the "lifetime of the product" which could mean five years.

newtoncd wrote:I didn't know about the time limited calls, I probably didn't read the TOS close enough ...

But, as of today, the garble/stutter problem appears to be fixed. They really do respond well when you open a ticket.

The new customer portal (with voicemail) is being launched this week (or maybe next week). They would probably go a bit quicker if I wasn't submitting trouble tickets ...

And, finally, the cost is hard to figure, because the product is now $100 for a lifetime ... as I said in the other post, lifetime is relative because there is no assurance the company will be around long-term.

asragov · Post by **asragov** » Fri May 14, 2010 2:09 am

I didn't realize that you absolutely have to use a phone (or some sort of tricky adapter with your RJ-11 jack) - this product will not accept headphones, even when connecting via USB.

I was unable to even get decent sounding dial tones, and the voice quality was very choppy under different circumstances.

It is a great idea, but seems to not be ready for prime time.

ydkjman · Post by **ydkjman** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:11 pm

Has any one gotten and tried the new netTalk DUO from nettalk?

Its been about 5 months since any one has posted here about it.

http://www.nettalk.com

nailgunner · Post by **nailgunner** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:15 pm

ydkjman wrote:Has any one gotten and tried the new netTalk DUO from nettalk?

Its been about 5 months since any one has posted here about it.

http://www.nettalk.com

Probably because this is a MagicJack Forum. There is a NetTalk forum where you should be able to get all the reviews and information you desire.

ydkjman · Post by **ydkjman** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 5:28 pm

nailgunner wrote:Probably because this is a MagicJack Forum. There is a NetTalk forum where you should be able to get all the reviews and information you desire.

Thats right what was I thinking. I guess this whole thread that was talking about the NetTalk was posted in the wrong place. Moving on

conniemadagain · Post by **conniemadagain** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:29 am

what is their forum address ??

the one I found (http://www.nettalk.com/forum/viewforum. ... 7611901fb4) looked like ghost town based on the date of the posts ...

thanks

Nobody beats the Whiz! · Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:34 am

conniemadagain wrote:what is their forum address ??

the one I found (http://www.nettalk.com/forum/viewforum. ... 7611901fb4) looked like ghost town based on the date of the posts ...

thanks

Just go to the root:

http://www.nettalk.com/forum/

conniemadagain · Post by **conniemadagain** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:47 am

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... thanks ...

also duh on my part ... lol

Nobody beats the Whiz! wrote:
conniemadagain wrote:what is their forum address ??

the one I found (http://www.nettalk.com/forum/viewforum. ... 7611901fb4) looked like ghost town based on the date of the posts ...

thanks
Just go to the root:

http://www.nettalk.com/forum/

conniemadagain · Post by **conniemadagain** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:41 pm

OK ... i bit the bullet and ordered one ...

will be testing with bellsouth ethernet ele outlets set up for faxing/talking ...

if this doesn work i will blame the whiz!!!

Nobody beats the Whiz! · Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:01 pm

conniemadagain wrote:OK ... i bit the bullet and ordered one ...

will be testing with bellsouth ethernet ele outlets set up for faxing/talking ...

if this doesn work i will blame the whiz!!!

Wait, there's someone using my name over at the NT forum????

It wasn't me!

rsfdpn · Post by **rsfdpn** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 8:22 pm

I have been using NetTalk for the last 11 months. I am very happy with it. Call quality on NetTalk is better than Magic Jack. I also have an ATA device with MJ working great for the last 18 months till recently

NetTalk works great with one exception: Google Voice when forwarded to NetTalk has problems. I overcome that by forwarding GV to MJ, MJ to NetTalk. No need for an ATA or computer on all the time. I ordered NetTalk early on and got lifetime service for 100 bucks.

With Magic Jack doing rolling passwords, should try NetTalk.

magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

review of tk6000

review of tk6000

Sent device back

netTALK DUO

Re: netTALK DUO

Re: netTALK DUO

NetTalk tk6000 works great