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TalkBroadband - Canadian VoIP with Primus
Andy LaCroix just alerted me to the fact that Primus is offering VoIP, in Canada, with Canadian area codes. The service is called "TalkBroadband".
I'm currently walking through the sign-up form, and it all looks very good. The basic service, at $20/month, includes "a phone line, Touch Tone Service, Call Hold, Caller ID Block".
Read on for more details (yes, I've already signed up).
The following area codes are available (as of Jan. 2004):
416, 647 - Toronto 403 - Calgary 514 - Montreal 613 - Ottawa 604 - Vancouver 780 - Edmonton 905 – Hamilton numbers only.
You can choose a number from any area, it doesn't have to be the one you're actually in. As well, I noticed that as an additional feature, and at a charge of $4 per month, you can purchase a second number. So, you could have one number in Vancouver and one number in Ottawa (which is probably what I'll do, but I'll try it out first).
What about power failures? Well, there is this: For the rare occasions of power failure, Primus provides a free Backup Call Forward service
It's your choice to either forward the call to a backup call answer service or to another phone number. I'm opting to have it forward to my cell phone number.
Well, we'll see how it goes. I'm all signed up and should be getting my package in the mail!
Update: was doing some conjecturing about the hardware used for this. The picture on the front page of the Primus site looks like a D-Link. Here's a link to the DVG-1120, plus a review from BigBruin. The review is quite positive, although the way it was setup, being on the phone completely nuked the broadband connection for other traffic. I will have to experiment with how I install, especially as I am using my e-smith server as my router.
Send to friend
Please advise bottom line advantage in compareson to hi-speed Internet from Rogers, landline telephone & fax from Bell.With thanks,R<.
If you're curious about the VOIP with primus, try there "test" website (http://voiptest.primus.ca/). You may have to unplug your existing VOIP modem if you have it for successful testing.
If I had tried this before I ordered it, I'd never have gotten the VOIP. Anyways, mine (shaw highspeed) fails usualy about 4 out of 5 times. Reason? My guess, I'm in Edmonton, Alberta. The rely station is in Toronto. My phone calls are subject to the internet delays in the servers from Edmonton to Toronto, which are many. I think they need to distribute there relay servers around, or arrange for high speed links from supported cities back to their Toronto office.
PS: Remove the "-" on emails.
Ivan.
I just recently moved from Edmonton with my talk broadband service. Never really had any major connection issues.. only when i was downloading like mad. I was up in Lancaster Park, which is the military base there in Edmonton. I just got posted to Kingston and they want 55 bucks to change my number. Just as bad as Bell !
I don't know if it's a relay issue. I'd blame the ISP in this case.
I sent our talkbroadband gateway to Japan and we've never had a problem with our service. Mind you, my inlaws in Japan have a 24 Mbit connection to their home.
Hello,
I have Aliant phone service in New Brunswick and I pay $24.95 per month for Basic Unlimited Internet Service-Dial-Up-.
Is there any other place that I can get a cheaper price,I mean,come on it's freakin' ridiculous to pay that and don't forget the taxes on top of that!!!
It use to be $14.95 now it's 24.95 Hi Speed is $29.95
Any suggestions
295.ca
It only $2.95 a month
Tedderh@yahoo.ca
I've been seriously considering switching my phone service to either vonage or primus. I had settled on Primus because with the package I wanted they're a little bit cheaper than vonage.
However, after having had 3 bad experiences with primus in the last two days (and I haven't even signed up yet) I'm beginning to second guess my decision.
My first phone call to their "customer service" line had me on hold for 45 minutes yesterday before I finally gave up. Today I had some trouble with their online signup page. After choosing a "bundle" I was still forced to select a long distance plan, even though my bundle includes a long distance plan. I was also asked to select other features even though my bundle appears to include all those features.
I assumed those options were for the benefit of people not choosing a bundle but I wanted to be sure, so I phoned their sales line for help. The lady who answered the call gave me the distinct impression that I was bothering her. She was completely unprofessional and even raised her voice at me when I informed her that the signup form was confusing.
When I asked her what was meant by "Estimated Monthly Spending" she said "it doesn't matter what you select here because it will automatically change it to $120". So my question is "what's the point?" Will the signup form also ignore some of the other selections I make?
Then when I told her I wanted my complaint about the form to be passed on to the appropriate person she tried to dissuade me by saying "why don't you just select whichever one you want?". And she was clearly annoyed by me. I insisted that I wanted my complaint to be passed on and she said "fine!".
Is she supposed to be the first point of contact for potential new customers? She answered the sales line for crying out loud!
So after that nasty experience I started searching and found this very informative forum, and after having read some of the other comments I do not believe I will be signing up with Primus. Perhaps I will look into Shaw's new phone service.
Well, well, where to start. I recently had a bad experience with my local phone company here in Winnipeg, and decided to check out other avenues for phone service. I signed up for Primus TalkBroadband, as the price was cheap, it's new technology, and I figured I have nothing to lose. I decided to check it out for a month or two and see how it goes. I received my gateway on March 11th, and I sit here still waiting for them to activate my line. I called their tech support, and it appears someone did not provision the line correctly, and it will take 3-5 business days to fix. After numerous calls, conversations with tech support and customer service, and numerous requests to speak to a supervisor (at which none are ever available), I still wait here to have my line activated. I informed them that with such a new technology, people are going to be skeptical, and as such they should bend over backwards to ensure happy customers. I guess this is not their priority.
I called "my" number yesterday, and had a nice conversation with the gentleman in Vancouver who had recently disconnected "my" number due to service quality issues. yay. At least I'm getting a $20 credit on my account. w00000
I am looking for someone to reffer me to TalkBroadBand so I can receive the $15.00 credit and the referrer will receive a $30.00 credit, but what I need is your name and either your Primus account number or your phone number
Please email me at averyisiah@yahoo.com
Thanks, link below so you can see the program details:
http://www.primustel.ca/en/residential/talkbroadband/referral.html
I've been using talk broadband for just about a week. Can't complain abouit quality or disconnects. So far I've impressed a few people with the service and I'm using a cordless phone. I suspect there will be service outages but I'm prepared to handle them; I still have my Cell and wired line.
I have had primus broad band for about two months now. I have always had problems with the phone disconnecting on me at various time intervals. I don't receive all of my calls many don't ring and go to voicemail. Many times I don't have a dial tone when trying to call. I also get the echo when talking.
I have been calmy trying to correct the problem with primus and have contacted them by phone and via email as the hour wait for tech support always gets disconnected while on hold. Nobody has called me as per my numerous emails
One other thing that really needs to be addressed; When leaving a voicemail with someone, if I don't actually exit the system the phone will not hang up when I do, I will get the one ring after a minute or so and still be connected to the voicemail system. You can imagine when A message is left there is a message, then hold music for a minute of so and finally me picking up saying hello .....hello....hello.
I went over everything in my system with a tech and according to him everything was set up properly and and the system appeared working fine from there end. Not the Case though.
I have put my account on hold and won't be paying my bill anymore.
It would be good if it worked but for now it sucks!!!!
I had those same problems. It turned out that if the high speed modem is set to router mode (ie username and password configured in the high speed modem for automatic logon) is being used, it will automatically sever your connection every 2 minutes. This is not a problem for a computer but not good for voip. I had to change my highspeed modem for a model that supported bridge mode (speedstream 5200 for me) Then you configure your login PPPoe in the voip firmware and voila. Computer has to login with dial up PPPoe now but no biggie.
I ended up changing my phone # later down the road so I just ordered another and cancelled the old one since it's a 1 month cancel delay. I had a problem with the new one not connecting properly. I wanted to update the firmware for kicks but the CSR said it was the latest version. After an hour of this and that I finally convinced them to send me the update and it worked as soon as the firmware was flashed. My only gripe is that they don't publicly post the latest firmware on the website so I could have done this on my own before calling them.
Tip... Second level tech support can do line provisioning
Works great unless I'm uploading torrent files. I just limit the upload speed on Utorrent to 40kb/s when on the phone.
Hello: Has anyone tried Yak's new VoIP product? I just saw their ad in the Toronto edition of the Metro and their packages begin at $12.99 a month. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Don't go there! I cannot believe the company exists. The customer service is awful and today I cannot use my phone at all. This is difficult seeings how I am trying to build a business on line. Maybe just go back to the land line.
I've been trying to contact tech. support for the past 2 days. There's a 45 minute wait. Totally unacceptable. My talkbroadband box is going back to Primus.
It seems the voice quality is still an issue though ...
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Canadian Lifestyles Forum @ http://lifestyles.vipros.com
I have Primus talkbroadband. I have been trying it out for a month now. I find once I have been on the phone for about 10 minutes I can hear the person fine but they can't hear me or it is a pretty choppy sound anyway like I cut in and out on their end. If I keep trying to talk to see if it clears up, like a cellphone changing towers, it just gets worse to the point where they can't hear me at all so we just hang up. I also find that sometimes I get feedback where I hear my own voice echoing. That's really annoying.
I have Shaw Digital Cable and Internet service. I live in a small town 2 hours south of Thunder Bay, Ontario. 2 weeks ago I just had new cable lines run through out the house. This fixed my internet so it would stop dropping out on me but it still hasn't fixed my talkbroadband. I have also switched from using an older phone to a brand new cordless 2.4 MHz phone which I also just purchased last week. This still hasn't cleared it up. Now I am told I shouldn't use a cordless. I was also told to move my phone away from the D-Link DVG-1120 unit because the phone was causing interference so I moved it and used the phone again but it still seemed to give me feedback and fuzzyiness and the person I was talking to kept saying "Pardon, Excuse me, what was that?"
I will now buy a new corded phone to see if this fixes the problem. I really would like to see this service prevail over Bell who practically has a monopoly on everything even though they are the most expensive service to use. I have not disconnected my phone line yet though as I still don't trust this service very much. It has been pretty unreliable. Although I have had no problems with sending faxes out!!! This alone has saved us a bundle on long distance fees with all the faxes we send.
I don't know how much longer I will use it. I have heard however that there is a new service coming out very shortly to Ontario. I don't know if they are set up to do anywhere else yet but I will keep everyone posted. Supposedly it offers the same service, better quaility because it is a newer system for an even cheaper price? But the proof is in the pudding. Like I said I will keep you posted over the next couple months. Supposedly they want to start advertising starting this September for the beginning of the school year.
Does anyone have any other tips or suggestions? Would having a DSL internet connection work better than cable? What is the difference between DSL and cable? I have also read that I maybe should run RG-11 cables from the connection to the other side of our house to where my computer is hooked up since it is about 50 feet of cable I need. I was also told to put in an amplifier. I think this is what I have but I will have to go into the basement and take a closer look to see what Shaw installed!!!
I also read that you can pay an additional fee and have the cable company take the cap off the speed of the internet transmittions. I will have to see if Shaw offers this.
Thanks
Crystal
10 minutes problem: call Primus, that is a problem on their end or with your hardware box.
Cordless etc.: basically, the compression used by cordless phones makes any call made with Primus pretty terrible. Use a corded phone (I know, this sucks; it sucks even in my tiny apartment).
Cable vs. DSL: unless your cable connection is really terrible, DSL won't make it any better. That being said, if your local neighbourhood has your cable being shared, your connection speed might be very low. Try a speed test to see what your connection is like. Paying for a higher connection speed won't help, since it doesn't guarantee a minimum speed.
As for "someone" else, there is Vonage. They are very similar, but you may find that they work out better. It might even be worth it try them for a month and see how it goes.
Cabling: if you are running your phoneline 50ft, it might be the source of the problem all by itself -- it could be picking up interference (the long cable can act like a radio antenna). Try plugging in with a very short cable for testing purposes and see if the quality goes away.
Good luck, Crystal!
Hi,
Got TalkBroadband for fax service. Free activation and you can move with your service with no reinstallation charges for the VoIP phone line. Initial test results with good ISP such as Magma that's less than 20 millisecond ping away from Primus:
Pluses so far:
- Audio quality better than POTS
- Able to get solid 52 Kbps modem connection over it (fax mode enabled)
- Works with TDD/TTY/Text text telephone
- No phone line activation charge at this moment
- No reinstallation charge (can move anywhere there is highspeed)
Problems so far:
- Setup can be a little difficult if D-Link unit is misconfigured
- Calls have been dropped after a timeout period (especially data/fax calls)
For my detailed report on TalkBroadband, search for "Mark TalkBroadband" at http://groups.google.com ...
Thanks,
Mark Rejhon
http://www.marky.com
I've copied this comment to a TalkBroadband forum topic, in the Telephony forum.
I got back from a couple of days away, and the package from Primus was waiting for me. I'm fiddling right now (non-standard setup), but am capturing my impressions. Will post a full report in a day or so.
I got my TalkBroadband service yesterday. For some reason, the call display wasn't functioning properly. Also the ring on my phone sounded choppy with a few tests. I havent' talked on it more than 10 minutes per call but call quality is by far inferior to your copper wire line. Get it if you're a cable modem subscriber and you have a mobile as a backup. That's what I'm doing. For $35 plus tax it's cheaper than what Sprint/Bell offer. However we'll see with higher call volume in the next couple of weeks, whether it's worth keeping or not. I surely hope they improve the waiting times on their customer service lines... last night I waited something like 1/2 hour!!!
The connection charge is a charge to connect to the PSTN. Sprint has this charge for their "low rate" local access. When I asked Primus, they said it is currently being waived. Note this is different than the system access fee for LD. It is possible, the other fellow didn't understand and confused the issue.
You're right about E911 charges. It likley won't apply until the regs are in place. This will be years from now.
I can't see why alternate LD couldn't be used. To get the optional area codes, they are dropping an MG into a POP in that area code. unless of course they are allowed to block it.
-christian
I've made 6 calls with my TalkBroadband service so far. 4 of them were dropped within the first 10 minutes (including the first one with Boris). I've started setting my stop watch when I get on the line, which I don't think is a very good sign. The voice quality is about the same as my old phone except on one of the calls, my own voice was echoing back into my ear like crazy.
Unless the nine-fives reliability improves, I won't be keeping the service. Once they get the kinks out I think it will be great though.
-Mary B
hmmm, I wonder if any 10-10 long distance carriers will work on talkbroadband... probably not eh? ah well, I guess there ins't really any use for them, since one can get 5 cents a minute to anywhere canada/us with talkbroadband. I dont believe there are any better rates out there. So I guess, this posting is useless. :)
"Special" features related to things like choice of long distance carrier likely just wouldn't work (since the traffic is going over Primus' IP network, rather than phone circuits). However, calling cards usually have an option for local access numbers, which might be useful for overseas calls.
Sorry I don't like to be anonymous. My name is Christian.
No problem Christian, thanks for the feedback. If you want to take the time, you can sign up for an account. Or, if you already have an existing login to something like Yahoo, Jabber, or another Drupal site, you can sign in using that (the full list is displayed on the account page).
I believe the "connection charge" wouldn't apply, unless that is the $2.95 "system access fee" for long distance (which would be similar to Sprint). As far as I can tell, there are specifically no E911 services supported, so there shouldn't be a charge for it. 411 (do people still use that instead of the web?!!?) will likely be the same high charge that everyone seems to be billing.
The pricing is obviously going to be tricky. If I were Primus, I would really lower the prices on all the "extra" services, since they really don't cost them anything. Since currently long distance is only allowed to use Primus, I would think they would make more money by getting higher adoption, counting on the revenue from long distance. And, of course, I haven't seen anything like voicemail-to-email support, which is something that I actually would pay for.
Can't wait to get it up and running!
I was checking into this a bit today. It is a D-Link GW. I too would be putting it behind my e-smith/mitel server. Looking forward to your test bmann. Particularly on bandwidth usage and QoS tagging. It is using SIP so incoming ports will likely need to be opened appropriately.
I talked to the tech help desk but they were clued out. He didn't know which compression codec was used, which ports were used, what softswitch was used, whether FAX or modem was supported. The help page says FAX is supported but you need to ask for it. Likely T.38.
My biggest concern is the pricing. If you want basic plus Call Display ($7 !!!) it comes out to $26.95. only cheaper than Bell by $3.00. HOWEVER, they have not yet instituted their connection charge (which Sprint also uses). They said it was not charged yet but will in the future. I believe for sprint it is around $4-$5. They also ave not added any E911, 411 charges. So in the end it will be more expensive than Bell.
I guess it depends on the exact features you want or the virtual area code, or mobility aspects.
You can add unlimited long distance in USA and Canada for $20.
Can anybody give any feedback on the voice quality?
What about QOS issues and voice compression?
I am very interested in this service but there is very little
talk jabout the quality of the service.
I should be getting everything setup next week, at which point I'll outline my entire setup and descriptions of quality.
If you follow the link to the BigBruin review (which used the same hardware) the quality was said to be excellent, with no appreciable difference from an analog phone call.
VoIP is the way to go!
The company I work for put in a VoIP system and it saves us about $10,000 a month in long distance. That's great for the business community, but what about the rest of us? The Primus system is a good start. It is good to see some new options for the home consumer and not just big business.
-Jamie
From the look of things can't keep a phone line from Bell with High Speed and disconnect the land line, since it needs to be active for High Speed Internt access right? The Ultimate Bundle (has way more features than Bell) from Primus costs less than Bell Canada with 2 features.
Competition is always good for the consumer :)
CRTC ruled that Bell can no longer force people to get a phone line to use Sympatico High Spped service. Call bell and order a dry loop line.
As I said, if you actually want to save money and not just try out some new features, going with a non-telco high speed option (like cable, wireless, satellite -- anything that doesn't use a phone line) will allow you to cancel your basic voice service.
Features and long distance is where Primus will make money, since if you use their VoIP service, you have to use their long distance unless you do something like use calling cards with local access numbers.
Current (2004-01-14) price is $29.95 /month for "Basic Service".
M ;-)
I looked for it to be sure and 29.95$/month for basic is from the Business section. Residential services are still 19.95$/month for basic service.
I just looked at the bundles page again -- still lists Basic as $19.95, and the Power Bundle at $29.95.
As of the end of October, Bell Sympatico customers do now have to have Bell telephone service to keep their high speed. As I reciently (December) changed my telephone service to Sprint Canada yet still keeping my Bell Sympatico Internet service. I wish I knew about this TalkBroadband service before switching to Sprint. But Hey, Sprint Canada had a promotion that offered 6 months of free Canadian long distance (24/7). I'll switch to TalkBroadBand in another 5 months.
OK -- but you still have to pay *someone* for basic phone service -- as opposed to cable broadband, where there would be no basic charge. I highly doubt that Bell would allow you to keep high speed without paying basic phone fees (to either them or Sprint).
... I said "majority of satellite internet access schemes". I would hazard a guess that the systems you have seen are much more expensive than the typical broadband connection. It's too costly to put a satellite in space to receive signals from small dishes, and small "hot" dishes used to transmit everywhere. But, just like a sat phone, I'm sure that there are solutions out there.... I just don't think I would want to be the one paying the bill.
Doesn't include any long distance.... ouch.... that's the prime seller for someone like Vonage. I guess you can have one cities worth of LD by selecting your area code in the appropriate area. But that seems a bit limiting.
If you absolutely must have a phone at home (say, for a couple where one has a cell phone and the other just uses the phone at home), this is cheaper. Primus' long distance rates are quite competitive, or you could also use a calling card with local access number.
You are paying for broadband already, and this gets you phone access for cheaper that what you pay for a basic phone line. Of course, this means you would have to use cable or some other non-DSL/phone company method of broadband.
Also, this of course also works for areas where there are no phone lines. I'm thinking specifically of satellite Internet access, but there might be too much latency with that, leading to more of a radio-style communication.
More news when I actually have it in my hands. Supposed to take a week or so for it to get shipped to me, so the end of this week at the earliest.
The majority of satellite internet access schemes use dial up for upstream data... so I don't think you're gonna be able to do that, if you used 2-way satellite, I imagine a satphone would be cheaper.
What are the several 2-way satellite systems, and what are their installation and monthly fees?
I am on satellite internet 2 way service, provider is Xplornet I have the basic plan 128 kbs upload 500 kbs download cost is $50 per month. You can get for alot more money of course 500 kbs upload and 2.0 mbs download. I am trying to get VOIP now I have had a bad experience with Vonage customer care and canceled service before they ever managed to get me connected. Any advice on how is the best VOIP service???
Behind the times, my friend. I've seen several 2-way satellite systems here in BC that do not rely on dial-up, and they have been comparable to broadband.