My center just "upgraded" our phone system to a VOIP based system.

[ghostsofgiants]

Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be shackled in a public square and pelted with tomatoes.

x(

[Droopy]

1. Is that one of those voice recognition deals?

Those things suck for everybody.

[ghostsofgiants]

2. No, it just means our phones are now using the internet instead of a regular phone network.

The sound quality is fucking horrendous.

[Madrone]

3. Ha! Now you get to troubleshoot insufferable customers AND your own phone system!

:D

I've spent the last 24 (not consecutively, of course) hours troubleshooting my VOIP connection at home. All incoming calls disconnect me after 30 seconds. :cry: Outgoing all work fine. :shrug: I talked to 2 different African (I suspect, based on the accent) gentlemen in 3 different calls last night, and another person obviously from the states today. I do have to give them all credit - they were all AWESOME and very helpful - up to and excluding the solution to my problem but... we can't win them all. I've been escalated to 2nd Tier! :woohoo:

I think they all appreciated the fact that #1, I know what I'm talking about troubleshooting/networking/overall IT-wise and #2 that even though I know more than the average bear I certainly don't think I know it ALL, and I definitely don't come off that way.

[GOPisEvil]

4. You don't know it all?

But, but...I thought you were always right.

I'm so confused. :cry:

Oh, and I hope they get that problem fixed. I'd like talking to you in more than 30 second increments. Of course, I guess you could call ME, since that works well. :P

[Madrone]

6. Yeah ... if it weren't for Suzanne trying to get ahold of me I wouldn't really care that much.

But I CAN'T call her - those calls only work one way. :( I've stopped answering though (she tried 3x again today) so maybe she'll just think I'm not home instead of hanging up on her.

I was on the phone w/ support for close to 2 hours this morning!


BTW - I AM always right! Mostly because I don't claim to have full knowledge of shit I know nothing about. Makes it easier to always be right that way!! :P

[GOPisEvil]

9. Let's hope the second tier people have a clue.

Have the people there even heard of this problem before?

[ghostsofgiants]

7. This is my first experience with VOIP phones. Something tells me I won't be getting VOIP for my own

[Madrone]

12. Actually, I'm totally down with mine!

Cheaper than Vonage, I've had them since May of '05 and have had almost ZERO problems. Plus I can call to 21 different countries for FREE - all for $20 (plus taxes) a month. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone in any other countries to CALL but... I COULD. If I did. And stuff.

Plus they let you BYOD and will help you configure it, and you can build your own asterisk box to interface with it if you want. They are way more "open" than the other companies. Oddly enough, everything I've read about them online says they SUCK - but that's never been my experience. Calls to support yesterday evening (the ones that landed somewhere in Africa, I'm guessing) were answered IMMEDIATELY. The call I made today made me sit on hold for awhile, but again, awesome and very helpful guy on the other end that was genuinely interested in figuring this out.

Anyway - it's weird to me to see how much complaining there is about them online because I've had nothing but positive experiences with them. Besides bitching about the actual phone service there are many complaints about their customer service, and their TOS. :shrug:

[GOPisEvil]

13. I've had both Vonage and now Time Warner. The quality is great.

I think it's your company's tubes. ;)

[Madrone]

15. Hey Biatch ...

Just for the hell of it I just called myself from the cellphone and ... it didn't hang up. !?!!?!? Wanna call me for testing purposes?

[Madrone]

16. Haha!! Nevermind....

Talk talk talk talk beepbeepbeepbeepbeep....... x(

[GOPisEvil]

17. Yep. That sucks.

x(

[GOPisEvil]

5. You know, my last two employers have had VOIP systems and they work fine.

:shrug:

[ghostsofgiants]

8. Clearly your employers were more competent in the implementation of the VOIP system than mine.

[GOPisEvil]

10. One was the State of Texas, the current one is a large insurance company.

So, in each case, I'm guessing we overpaid for people to take too long to do things correctly. ;)

[ghostsofgiants]

14. I work for an outsourcer for Comcast, so I'm guessing many corners were cut...

And many people were underpaid. x(

[RevolutionaryActs]

11. We have that at my work.

Sometimes it works fine (no better than the regular line though) or either it's all static-y, the call drops, or the other person can't hear you at all. Annoying.