Teleblend just sent me an offer email for $24.99/month Global Unlimited plan that includes unlimited calling to 47 countries including India, China, Mexico, Russia etc., so I got curious and went to their website and also found other interesting offers such as $99.99/year unlimited US calling plan (Sunrocket is back?).
Unlimited Calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico $15.95/month Unlimited Calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico $99.99/year South Asia Direct Plan $19.95/month Asia Pacific Plan $19.95/month NEW! Global Limited Plan $17.95/month NEW! Global Unlimited Plan $24.95/month*
Activation fee, contract and early termination fee are applicable for new customers, but are waived for existing customers, so see T&C.
I have never left teleblend after surocket debacle and almost never experienced any reduction in service quality, so I definitely recommend their service. I also don't have any hard feelings against them as I was able to successfully get the money back for the 1yr service that I lost with SR (which is one reason I never left them, though the other reason is that I was lazy to find another service ).
They do have referral program, but not something that would benefit referee, only the referrer, so not going to discuss that here (and is in general discouraged by mods here, so please keep that in mind).
I have google voice and my folks abroad have google voice and we do call each other for free with gizmo, but it is not that clean. Besides google voice is not a phone service, so please don't compare them.
why not?? there are more ways to do it with google voice except gizmo... sure gizmo is shaking at this point but alternative are there.. check the GV forums and you will know.
I am using GV since sunrocket closed, since then Gizmo was good working with GV (before it was grandcentral) since couple of months gizmo start palying, but it was flawless before and work rock solid for me for couple of years..
and BTW I also singedup with Teleblend when sunrocket closed and because of service down so many times, I canceled it within 2 months of signup... and definitely not recommend teleblend....
Let me get this straight: Sunrocket offers 2 years of phone service for $199, they shut operations one day and everyone looses phone service, their phone number, and all their money.. The same folks reopen as Teleblend and start charging everyone a monthly fee because they claim they are a new company... Now the SAME FOLKS are again asking for $99 per year??? You gotta be kidding.
Thanks for pointing out this is the "same" company that caused grief before. There are other [cheap] VOIPs out there. Be sure to do your VOIP research before committing to any company.
On a somewhat side note, I have no cell phone. I need a phone in the house (that is not dependent on a computer), so I choose a VOIP provider. Google Voice alone is not a solution for me. Be sure to do your VOIP research before committing to any company.
Zuke76 said: haridsv said: BTW, is there any proof that the new teleblend management has anything common with the old SR management?
There is a 100+ paged FW thread detailing the SR failure and how it became Teleblender. The thread is long since archived by the FW mods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunRocket I know how sunrocket became teleblend and followed some of those discussions on FW at that time. My understanding is that TB acquired SR assets as part of liquidation, so my question is why should you punish TB for your anger on SR? There were many speculations at that time that SR is actually doing fraud, but did anyone ever find a proof for the same?
I was Sunorcketer to Teleblend for last 2 years (15.99/mo). Then Vonage unlimited world came along so I gave Teleblend a call. ASked them if they could match Vonage and let me stay with them. Straight No. Are you going to match in the next 1 month? Again No. So I said bye bye. They held my number hostage for more than the required time so they could bill me for the whole month. Then their CS number stopped working. They would not respond to emails and charged me for another month. I got PO and disputed claim with my CC. Now couple weeks later they are trying to entice me with this same offer too. To hell with it. I am staying with Vonage for now.
haridsv said: Zuke76 said: haridsv said: BTW, is there any proof that the new teleblend management has anything common with the old SR management?
There is a 100+ paged FW thread detailing the SR failure and how it became Teleblender. The thread is long since archived by the FW mods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunRocket I know how sunrocket became teleblend and followed some of those discussions on FW at that time. My understanding is that TB acquired SR assets as part of liquidation, so my question is why should you punish TB for your anger on SR? There were many speculations at that time that SR is actually doing fraud, but did anyone ever find a proof for the same?
No one is stopping you from taking the risk of losing your money and sanity. The question now, is the risk necessary?
haridsv said: Zuke76 said: haridsv said: BTW, is there any proof that the new teleblend management has anything common with the old SR management?
There is a 100+ paged FW thread detailing the SR failure and how it became Teleblender. The thread is long since archived by the FW mods.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunRocket I know how sunrocket became teleblend and followed some of those discussions on FW at that time. My understanding is that TB acquired SR assets as part of liquidation, so my question is why should you punish TB for your anger on SR? There were many speculations at that time that SR is actually doing fraud, but did anyone ever find a proof for the same?
If I remember correctly the CEO of SR during its failure (Lisa Hook) was later linked to Teleblend.
I have been looking in to Teleblend and Vonage, in my case primarily for unlimited US/Can calling, and the unl. India plan is a nice to have.
Teleblend has an upfront $39.99 activation fee + $9.99 s/h for the adapter, if you don't have an old SunRocket gizmo; if you do, the activation fee is $5.95 (or $4.95, I dont remember, but no s/h) for most plans, except their $99/year plan or Unlimited Global plan ($24.95/month, unlimited int'l mins to India and select other countries). For those 2 plans, the activation is still $39.99 even if you use your old SunRocket gizmo. Also, the unlimited plan has an early termination fee ($39?), if you cancel in less than 12 months. Oh, and $15 to port an existing number too. All plans have tax and fees on top; they wouldn't say exactly how much those add up to, but the one time I got a CSR to list them, it had stuff like federal universal connectivity fee etc., In other words, the typical phone company overhead. $5+/month on top. No free trial period.
Vonage has an activation fee, but that all up-front costs are being waived currently. In effect, you get an adapter shipped (may be refurb) free. There are only 2 plans, $15/month for 500 US/Can minutes, or $24.99/month for unlimited US/Can/India. Plus $5+ tax and junk fees. $39 early termination fee if you cancel in under a year. 30-day money back trial. 2 free months for referer and referee. I believe there is a $125/year plan if you pre-pay too, but the CSRs don't talk about it. No charge to port a number.
Teleblend's package does not look attractive primarily because of all the up-front costs. Vonage has the back-loaded early termination fee, but that is only if you bail in less than a year. No porting or equipment or activation charges up front makes Vonage less expensive even if you end up paying the early termination fee.
Teleblend has been starting some advertising lately. Their prices have been falling to try and compete. I hope they're around for another year for the sake of those who have their service. $99.99/yr is a good deal. More comparative prices.
Ditto!!!!..... i am with Teleblend right now (too lazy to switch, but finally did about a month ago to Vonage.
Teleblend was horrible customer services, the calling (withing the same Central Office) was always a problem.... got tired of complaining and finally gave up and switched service...
Do so at your own risk....
trigeminal
New Member
posted: Oct. 11, 2009 @ 9:19a
Edit
*Double Post*
trigeminal
New Member
posted: Oct. 17, 2009 @ 4:52a
Teleblend has a pretty sketchy reputation on dslreports. There are many other voip providers that you can try so I'd suggest taking a look at some of them before considering Teleblend.
PAYG - Callcentric - Future 9 - VOIP.ms
Unlimited Plans - Vonage - ViaTalk (though they have been taking a bit of heat lately) - Voicepulse (one of the best voip providers out there) - VOIPo (new but solid following, and having a special currently, PM for an extra 4 months free if interested)
Thanks for all the feedback, I will keep it in mind. I have actually had pretty solid service so far, and couple of times when I needed support calls, I got good response (e.g., I needed an extra line for one day and they did add and remove the line timely, and there was no problem with billing). However, the feedback here made me not change my plan right now, may be I will wait for a few more weeks and see if it is even worth switching to an unlimited international plan and then choose a different voip provider. Not worth switching right now, as I don't want to fix something that is not broken.
trigeminal said: How has your service with Teleblend been going? If you are asking me (OP), I already mentioned that the service has been great. However, after reading the feedback here, I have decided not to make any changes to my service at this time. In the future, if I decide to move, I will follow one of the suggestions about choosing a voip provider that has a better luck in transferring the number.
xprzemusx
New Member
posted: Nov. 14, 2009 @ 8:53p
www.PhonePower .com best VOIP service around. Had SunRocket and got burned by them. Had Vonage - great service but every expensive. Now I have PhonePower , same quality service as Vonage and much cheaper for me with prepaid for 1 year. Now they even offer for free voicemail that catches fax transmisions - just let the call go to your voice mail. PhonePower is a great service at a great price and now they offer 24x7 live tech support. The offer 2 years prepaid for a total of $253 for unlimited service with 100 minutes of international calling.
xprzemusx said: www.PhonePower.com best VOIP service around. Had SunRocket and got burned by them. Had Vonage - great service but every expensive. Now I have PhonePower , same quality service as Vonage and much cheaper for me with prepaid for 1 year. Now they even offer for free voicemail that catches fax transmisions - just let the call go to your voice mail. PhonePower is a great service at a great price and now they offer 24x7 live tech support. The offer 2 years prepaid for a total of $253 for unlimited service with 100 minutes of international calling.
Phone Power is owned by the same people as DSL Extreme - been a customer for just over one year, couldn't be happier.
Also have one line easch with Future 9 and voip.ms for business - both are good, Future 9 will sell you a pre-configured ATA (plug and play).
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