First of all, I’d like to apologize to anyone whom I ever mentioned Packet 8 to in the past. Here’s why…
After being an ATT CallVantage subscriber for over 2 years and finding the service to be reliable, high quality and feature-rich I decided to switch to Packet 8 because the service appeared to be similarly featured and $10 per month less expensive. I had also told several people that I thought it was a good deal and that they should try it, so I was taking my own advice.
In all fairness to me, I also based this decision on the fact that call quality via services such as Skype, Yahoo IM and other VoIP offerings have improved so dramatically in the past few years. The logic was that any large VoIP carrier would probably offer similar call quality, so Packet 8 seemed like a relatively good deal ($20 per month vs. $30 with ATT).
I couldn’t have been more wrong…
After ordering and installing the Packet 8 service, everything worked. I wouldn’t say that it worked well, just that it worked. Over the next 60 days or so of using the service we came to learn much more about the difference between Packet 8 and ATT. Here are the things they DON’T tell you about their service before you sign up:
- It takes a long time to get a dial tone. You have to wait 5-10 seconds before you can even dial the phone. This meant that on our phone system, when we dial the number and then hit the talk button no call would ever go through. This is because the phone basically adds a pause for a reasonable time to wait for a dial tone and then dials the number. With Packet 8 you have to hit the talk button, wait an eternity and then dial. May sound like a small annoyance, but after you’ve done this 100 times it get’s really old, and this doesn’t occur on CallVantage.
- You must dial 1 before every number. That’s right, even local numbers within your area code. What’s up with that? With ATT and every cellular phone I’ve ever used you only need to dial the area code and number. Why can’t they get their system to do the same?
- Although calls were always completed (assuming you didn’t jump the gun and dial before the dial tone came on) at least 50% of the time we experienced intermittant issues where either we, or the people on the other end of the line, were not able to hear or distinguish what the other was saying. This type of thing is very hard to pin down and it took a while before we suspected that Packet 8 was the underlying cause; however, with ATT we had never had this issue, and since switching back the call quality issues have disappeared. Nothing else has been changed in the equation.
- Faxing will absolutely not work through a Packet 8 phone line. There are all sorts of threads on their community forum with tricks people claim to have employed, but it just doesn’t work. Works perfectly on the ATT line though…
- You can’t check your voice mails on-line with Packet 8. This is such a standard, basic feature of VoIP that I never considered it. But basically you have to call in to get voice mail.
- Their web site simply sucks. The usability and navigability of it is awful. You can tell that they only intend for people to use it to set up the service, but they don’t intend you to go to it on any sort of a regular basis. And why would you, I guess, when you can’t check voice mail there, and it’s nearly impossible to find features such as “find me/follow me”.
- Their Web site also doesn’t allow you to modify or remove your stored credit card information. So, I guess they intend to hold on to your credit card data no matter how you feel about that.
So, after these and other annoyances I decided that Packet8 was not for us. I went online looking for some way to put in a service disconnect, but to no avail. Remember, the web site sucks.
I then found a way to open a ticket and asked them to cancel the service, after which I immediately received the following letter:
Dear Customer,
In regards to your email, we are sorry you’re considering canceling your packet8 service.
If it is your desire to cancel, please contact a customer service representative the day you would like your packet8 service to terminate.
A 5.99 monthly fee gets you all the packet8 to packet8 phone calls for free but for those regular calls it will cost you 3.9 cents per minute. This is an attractive option for those who wish to finish out there 12 month agreement instead of receiving a $59 Deactivation fee.
Please note that if you choose to terminate your Packet8 service within twelve (12) months of the purchase of the service, a Disconnection Fee of fifty-nine dollars ($59.00) per account would be charged to your credit card as indicated in the Terms and Conditions.
To Contact Support
1-888-898-8733Packet8
Monday – Saturday 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM P.D.TThank you,
Packet8
Gee, you think they get a lot of cancellation requests? They are obviously well prepared, and they instantly want to point out to you that they are going to charge you $59 the second you try to cancel. Also, they make you call in to the 800 number to actually cancel.
So, I called in and told them I wanted to cancel because the call quality was very poor. I also explained that I didn’t think they should charge me a cancellation fee because I had an expectation of reasonable call quality when I signed up and they did not deliver.
The rep proceeded to tell me that since I didn’t call in and open trouble tickets and try to work with their tech support to solve the problems that they wouldn’t waive the fee. Had I done so, they would – but they had no reason to believe that I actually had problems. I asked for a supervisor, but that person took an even harder line.
They said that if I had wanted to cancel without penalty I should have done it in the first 30 days. It didn’t matter to them that I had paid for the hardware, the initial setup fee, and the monthly fees up to this point. They still wanted their $59 cancellation fee.
So, bottom line is, I would no longer recommend Packet8 to anyone, for any reason and I now appreciate ATT CallVantage far more. I’m not claiming that ATT is perfect, for example their tech support hold times are too long, but it’s still far superior and well worth the extra money.
Footnote:
For the techies out there I should state that the Packet 8 Terminal Adapter was connected directly to the cable modem in front of the router. The call quality issues were NOT because it didn’t have unfiltered access to the net.
Additionally, we pay for the highest level of cable modem service offered by our ISP. We get 12 mb down and 768kb up. We use a Uniden phone system with 10 handsets and it is in perfect working order.
I see that you made this post in Oct. of 06. In fairness to all parties you should know that all of the issues you had with the service have been upgraded (local number dialing, online voice mail, everything). With the exception of the website still sucking, and also their fax line service i believe they offer as another line for a very low cost. As per your call quality issues, i am guessing that your isp is ATT or is running on the ATT backbone. They are famous for being against net-neutrality. They probably use QoS to drop their competitors packets on purpose as they have been caught doing in the past. So despite your direct connection, and your large amount of bandwidth it was probaly your isp and not packet 8 as I have been a customer for years and always gotten call quality superior to traditional phone service, and further more i always get instant dial tone. Last but not least, you made a legal contract, you understood the risks involved, its all in nice Arial font. Alltel for exsample charges a $200 early termination fee for their cell service. Guess $59 ain’t so bad when you think about it. However if what you said is true, their customer service is crap (the supervisor being rude). That is a shame, but again I’ve never known anyone but you to report that.
NEMO: You don’t have any idea what you are talking about. You sound like you work for the stupid company. This SMART man has it exactly right. This is not the first I have found that Packet 8 SUCKS! AND I am another who has been deceived by this company and I think that a Class Action Lawsuit needs to be started against this fraudulent company. Unlike the other guy, I never used the service, because when I signed up they told me it was fax capable. THEY DO NOT HAVE FAXING CAPABILITIES, one of the many lies that I was told. The customer service does suck. I’ve been hung up on several times, transfered countless times, and with no avail have been able to get these people off my back. I am still fighting with my credit card company to remove the fraudulent charges. Anyone else with me?
Can’t even get signed up on-line. When contacting live help, the response is a lagging ticker saying something like. ‘Looking for an available Tech’….. until finally another, ‘Cannot find one’. Granted it is midnight. Though, this is a sign, believe me, especially for those who are trying to get a message out at that time and cannot get dial tone, or anything resembling a phone to work.
Back to the tin can string routine!
End of trying to sign on with P8.
On to Vonage…. seems logical, hmmmm.
Kema
Well, in Holland we are having HUGE problems with VOIP. Mostly it’s capacity problems that will deactivate the telephone lines and DSL connections. On my personal blog i am viewing this trent in Holland (Dutch) and i think it’s still not ready to deploy at 50% of the customers. Better wait…
Well, Vonage is also NOT good! see http://askmrcreditcard.com/creditcardblog/review-of-vonage-voip-phone-service/
Frank
I build VOIP networks for a living. I’ve used PacketHate for years, and despite occasional outages, mostly liked it UNTIL my DTA (terminal adaptor that you plug you analog phone in to) bit the dust. The support case stayed open for 3 weeks. You can only swap an ethernet cable and do a hard reset so many times. when they finally agreed with my original statement – that I thought the 3-year old DTA had gone bad, they informed me it was out of warranty and I would have to pay for another. I told them to get bent.
I was a Packet8 subscriber too. I switched to a virtual pbx system provided by Easy Office Phone http://www.easyofficephone.com instead. I have had no quality issues at all. I like that they charge us not based on the number of employees (extensions) we have but rather its based on the number of telephone lines we use on average in a given month. We currently have 8 employees and we are only paying $99 a month for this service because on average we only usually have two people on the phone at once. I think this is a better business model because its less expensive than paying per extension (more like a traditional pbx system) yet we have no limits of the number of incoming/outgoing simultaneous calls. The customer service has been really good, we were assigned an account manager who we can call anytime if we had a question or need help.
Thank you SO MUCH for your blog and comments. I was a SunRocket customer and they did all right, but just went belly up. They have now selected Packet8 as one of the companies SunRocket folks can sign up with instead! Zoiks! THanks for warning me away!
I was a former Sunrocket subscriber who signed on with Packet8.
I chose the annual plan ($199) for former Sunrocket subscribers.
I prepaid the plan + equipment shipping costs.
Low and behold a small $3.69 charge appeared on my credit card this month (about 6 days after my 30 day trial). In addition to the $3.69 charge, I was also whacked with a $5 detailed billing charge.
I about busted a jugalar vein. Whats the point of prepaying for a year if they are going to whack me for another $9 per month?
Of course when I called, the customer service rep told me I could not cancel my account. Well. actually I could. I would be charged a $59 termination fee, but would not get a refund on my $199. I about went ballistic.
My advice is to stay away from Packet8. Or go the monthly route. If u go the annual route, you will have no way out plus be charged additional fee’s on a monthly basis.
Alan,
I’m sorry to hear about your issues. But if it has been less than 60 days and you charged it on your credit card initially you should be able to lodge a dispute with the credit card company and get the fees reversed on grounds of false advertisement. Just make sure that the agreement you signed up didn’t explicitly state that there would be additional monthly fees charged.
John
“Give me a couple of minutes while I pulled out your account”!!!! What a system they have internally for customer support! Can you believe it takes 120 seconds to pull out a single record?
I have the same situation: former SunRocket customer, same deal of surprising charges in my credit card and same situation with cancelling the account. Now I also want to add that it took 29 minutes to get a CSR to answer the call.
On the other hand, if you don’t follow up on you LNP forget about Packet 8 will do that!!!!
I am a Vonage customer and, I have to say DUH!!! to myself, I don’t know what in the world I was thinking when I chose Packet 8. Please stay away from this company.