Possible alternative to Magicjack AND netTALK for Canadians

[lousk]

I am looking for a voip provider that offers Canadian telephone number within my local area is the GTA. My calls are mainly within Canada only. I already began doing some research on talkit(dot)ca and was wondering if someone would offer some feedback, possibly their own first-hand experience in that regard.

Thanks!

After what is happening with MJ, I originaly began looking into the netTalk DUO, but unfortunately it is too costly for my needs. For $101.87/year for Canadian number vs. $29.99/year for US number... I'm not that desperate.

[rutk103]

You can try VOIP.MS or vbuzzer.com. I have used both but unlike MJ their service is not $30/yr for unlimited calling. With VOIP.MS you do get 6 sec outgoing billing and a DID with 3000 min incoming for $4.95 - no GST or PST. Vbuzzer charges tax and has per min billing (not 6 sec) and the same charge for DID.

[F3DRIVR]

I am looking for a voip provider that offers Canadian telephone number within my local area is the GTA. My calls are mainly within Canada only. I already began doing some research on talkit(dot)ca and was wondering if someone would offer some feedback, possibly their own first-hand experience in that regard.

Thanks!

After what is happening with MJ, I originaly began looking into the netTalk DUO, but unfortunately it is too costly for my needs. For $101.87/year for Canadian number vs. $29.99/year for US number... I'm not that desperate.

I am also in Canada and was looking at talkit.ca but decided against it due to the need to buy an ATA that is locked to that provider and the startup cost was quite high. around $170.00. I ended up signing up for a free account at freephoneline.ca and paying a $50.00 one time fee for a config file to use the service on an unlocked ATA. That gave me a Canadian number for life for a one time fee of $50 but they only offer free calling to Major Canadian cities so because I call rural areas a lot I also bought a Nettalk Duo and a phone with 2 lines. I have freephoneline on line 1 and Nettalk on line 2. It is also nice to have the extra line so 2 people can use the phone at the same time and the startup cost was around the same as talkit even after buying the phone with 2 lines.

[lousk]

Thanks for your feedback.

I also bought a Nettalk Duo...

May I ask if you got a Canadian local number for an additional $5.99/month, or you ended up with a US number?

I am also in Canada and was looking at talkit.ca but decided against it due to the need to buy an ATA that is locked to that provider...

Is that not the same with netTALK's HW?

[F3DRIVR]

Thanks for your feedback.

I also bought a Nettalk Duo...

May I ask if you got a Canadian local number for an additional $5.99/month, or you ended up with a US number?

I am also in Canada and was looking at talkit.ca but decided against it due to the need to buy an ATA that is locked to that provider...

Is that not the same with netTALK's HW?

I got a US number on the Nettalk and a Canada number from freephoneline.ca

The duo can only be used on Nettalk but I have freephoneline working on my unlocked SPA2102. When I first read about freephoneline I had my doubts but the company is legit. You can get a Canadian number for free and use it on their softphone. If you want to use it on an ATA then you pay $50 one time for the sip info and have that number for life. The sound quality on the softphone is not that great but on an ATA it is surprisingly good. At least as good or maybe better than the Nettalk.

My original goal was to get both providers working on one line using PBXES and setting up dial plans so any calls that would be long distance for freephoneline would use nettalk to dial out but I had problems getting the nettalk sip credentials to work on my ATA so I decided to just buy a phone with 2 lines.

[jjgurl]

You do get what you pay for (FPL).
They do have their problems but for what you pay for, its awesome.

[mastdesi]

freephoneline is giving me really bad quality using a ata. it keeps cutting out and in every few secs. Mj was the best i ever had that compared to a landline. I freephoneline would allow forwarding to us numbers , then i could use the netalk.

[F3DRIVR]

freephoneline is giving me really bad quality using a ata. it keeps cutting out and in every few secs. Mj was the best i ever had that compared to a landline. I freephoneline would allow forwarding to us numbers , then i could use the netalk.

I tried it on a DLink VTA-VR which had been unlocked from Vonage and had occasional cutting out but ever since I switched to the Linksys SPA-2102 it has been perfect. I found configuration samples for various ATA's with different providers on a site called voipfan and followed that. I also connected the ATA directly to my DSL modem rather than going through my router.

[jjgurl]

freephoneline is giving me really bad quality using a ata. it keeps cutting out and in every few secs.

they talk about it here

I'm trying out the Jitter Level on extremely high

To me MJ was an alternative when FPL went down and had to make a call.

[tony]

I'll vouch for voip.ms. You can sign up for free and explore all the settings before committing to $1.99/month plus $0.0052/minute talk time (inbound and outbound) or $5.99/month for 3500 minutes inbound and 1/2 cent outbound to Canadian numbers. Yes, that's 30 cents an hour within Canada. You supply your own ATA hardware or use a free softphone.

Voip.ms is neat, you pretty much can set up your own switchboard with "local numbers", caller ID filtering (send certain telemarketing numbers to "line is out of service"), send calls to voice mail during sleep hours, and a ton of other features. The logic tree you can set up to handle calls is endless.

With one account, you can set up numerous sub-accounts. So I can call out from 2 separate lines on the Linksys 2102ATA, and softphones on our laptop, netbook, cell phone, and iPod. I can set any of those subaccounts to ring on an incoming call. Imagine the phone ringing at home and on the laptop simultaneously when travelling.

Calls between subaccounts are free. When travelling, I use the softphone on my laptop to call local 101 which is a line on the ATA at home. Free call home. I haven't tried from overseas, but I'd have a free call back home from anywhere I have a good Internet connection.

Cost wise per year, it can be 12 X $1.99/month plus 30 cents/hour talk time inbound or outbound. Or 12 X $5.99/month plus 30 cents/hour outbound only. In practical use, my combined home and business use is $5.99/month plus under $2/month for outbound calling or $96/year. Yes, more expensive than MJ, but without any of the hassles or call quality issues. And call quality with voip.ms is like a landline on the "value" setting. And outgoing faxing works fine.

Customer service is great, they know their stuff.

The other options I've looked at were Primus TalkBroadband and Shaw Phone but they were more expensive and had fewer features.

The only issue is 911. I have one voip.ms phone number (DID) and when travelling I don't want an issue of someone accidentally dialling 911 on my softphone or travel ATA expecting help at that location except help arrives at my home instead. I still have a landline for 911 but it's costing me $40/month. Any suggestions?

[mastdesi]

freephoneline is giving me really bad quality using a ata. it keeps cutting out and in every few secs. Mj was the best i ever had that compared to a landline. I freephoneline would allow forwarding to us numbers , then i could use the netalk.

I tried it on a DLink VTA-VR which had been unlocked from Vonage and had occasional cutting out but ever since I switched to the Linksys SPA-2102 it has been perfect. I found configuration samples for various ATA's with different providers on a site called voipfan and followed that. I also connected the ATA directly to my DSL modem rather than going through my router.

I have a spa 2102 that i am currently using. Can you tell me what settings should i use. Like give me screenshots of your spa 2102 setup pages. Please

[F3DRIVR]

I have a spa 2102 that i am currently using. Can you tell me what settings should i use. Like give me screenshots of your spa 2102 setup pages. Please

I followed the screenshots here:
http://www.voipfan.net/

[jsherk]

I highly recommend Callcentric:
http://www.callcentric.com/?aid=112532

You can read more in this thread:
http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/loca ... t8395.html