Reviews for iTalkBB (VOIP)

[cromundt]

I Talk BB is the biggest scam - They draw you in to their scam by first offering free trial... make sure you really want a sign up bcos they will charge you cancellation even though I did not use their trial box. Although their sales staff insisted I won't have to pay anything!!! (TO MY FACE). Then it's a different story when you return. Even when I brought the box back for return the staff on site insisted i do not pay anything too!! 1 week later, I got the call from obviously the far east some where... asking for payment. Plus the fact that our alarm system also works on the land line hence it wil not work if internet is down.. Anyway, if you are ready to sign up , thats fine. go ahead<i am sure the line works. Howver if you are thinking of just bringing it home for a trial , it's not worth it. If you don't send them a chq immediately they hound you like you loansharks. Typical.. ppl .. they are used to the way they do it over where they are from and they are using the same method in north america. Plus , their support staff speaks such poor english , one can hardly comprehend. I think if they are really trying to break in to the north american market and not just cater to their kind of ppl, they should learn how to speak the universal language - ENGLISH!

[cromundt]

It's really a typical scam company that will draw you in with the brochure rates and promises of no charge for trial (in the shop, to my face!) I never even opened the box since coming home realizing it will not work with my alarm system... Hence returned it (i believe it was 2 days after the trial date)>>> even then, I dbld confirmed with the sales rep at the PACIFIC MALL store if they will charge me any fees and he kept insisting no. However, a couple of weeks later, they hound me and my husband for a cancellation chi > They hound you like loan sharks.. Obviously, to their company's point of view they are smart to get money from us, we cancelled anyway so we are no longer their customer and no longer valuable to them - hence it's ok to offend us. Plus, the fact that their labour is so cheap, they have hundreds of call agents to hound us day and night for a chq. It's not even the mere cancellation amt I am pissed at, it's how cheesy they are to promise me there is no charge and then, let their billing / customer service in china deal with us here with poor english. I speak their language but it doesn't matter, they are a bunch of thick skinned ppl. Will not pass me to manager , they are like robots , will just repeat their instructions ...I HAVE deliberately let it drag on.. I hope the more reviews ppl read and realized from others' experience how not to trust a foreign company. We are just not used to this kind of dealings...

[roadieweb]

Horrible service, and inconsistent information. Nobody seems to know what they're talking about. Talking to different people, different department give you totally different answers. Even their written notice aren't consistant with what they say. Wasted my time dealing with this company.

[Jimboski]

I've been with iTalkBB for about a year now? No problems really and never had to call their customer service..

[kenyam101]

I recently cancelled my iTalkBB service, but its definetly NOT a scam... I was a customer with iTalkBB in Ottawa. However, I signed up for the service when I was visiting my Aunt in Markham at First Markham Place. I never actually had a problem with them, the service was excellent. I was with them for three years, not a single dropped call. The actual service was better than Vonage (dropped calls a lot) and Bell (its Bell... nuff said), plus it was a lot cheaper.

The only CSR rep I ever had to deal with was the guy at First Markham. His English was not bad, but my aunt insisted that we spoke Chinese, cause that way, she can read the nuisances and his body language better (she thinks she can pick out a liar just by looking at them....)

Got home, plugged it in and bingo, everything started working. I never had to deal with another CSR until the day I cancelled. But that's when I realized that there bad reputation was well deserved...

I decided to cancel cause I didnt want to deal with a company from China. The whole principal of supporting them made me feel as dirty as a Beijing alley. Plus, all the rumours that their people cant speak a word of English? Sorry, how stupid can they be?

So I signed up with a new company from Montreal called VOIP.MS. Its a no-frills company, limited customer support, but its cheap, reliable and pay-as-you-go, so nothing comes out of my credit card unless I authorize the transaction (unlike iTalkBB). Had the number ported to them, and iTalkBB was surprisingly efficient at doing so. There email technical support is excellent, despite claiming to be no-frills. Plus, supporting a Canadian company, so the CSRs tend to be more helpful and far more polite.

I finally called there call centre to formally cancel after porting my # over. The lack of English skills is completely over-blown. They speak passable English, although its clear they are reading off a script (So does Rogers and Bell operators). However, they clearly don't understand the concept of Canadian customer service.

They asked me why Im switching and I was honest, I told them I didnt want deal with a Chinese company. Her stupidly dishonest response "iTalkBB is an American company, and all of the staff are American, I am from Virginia"... HAHAHAHA, English is passable, not excellent. They are clearly foreigners from China!

They said they'd email me with address to mail back the ATA in 24 hours. 24 hours later, nothing, so I called them back. This time, she said an email will be sent in 15 minutes... I said "just give me the address", she responded, please wait 3 minutes... I said "3 minutes or 15? Are you making this up?" her response, okay, I send it now check your email. So I finally got it.

The whole time, both reps gave me attitude. Every time I ask them to repeat something, they say it back sarcastically like I'm an idiot (when clearly it is them that's half illiterate). Clearly, all these Chinese operators are born in the "One Child Policy" era, cause spoiled brats come to mind when you hear their voices.

I'm glad I'm rid of this company. Just have to send back the ATA and I'm free. I chose the timing of my cancellation because my Credit Card on file recently expired. If they try to charge me even after cancellation like some people had to deal with, well, they cant.

I don't expect a shady company from China to understand the collections system, so I dont think that will be a problem. If it is, they will call me in which case I'll explain to them that I cancelled. I'd rather have them chasing me around than the otherway around.

[Type_Zero]

So far, I had to call their customer service twice for initial setup.

Once because I waited 2 weeks and their adapter still haven't arrived since the order date. When I called them, they told me the adapter hasn't even shipped out yet . But I got the adapter 5 days later after I called. The second time was when I ported my home phone number to them. I could make outgoing calls but cant receive any incoming calls with the ported number. Give them a call to fix it and I had to wait til next day before I got a phone call from them to actually fix problem. On both occasion, their reps' English was way too heavy with Chinese accent and had to ask them to repeat everything a few times. Not recommend for English speaking customers.

On my end, the quality seems reasonable but on the other end, seems like the quality is very bad from I heard. Tried calling it with my cellphone and it does seem pretty crappy when compared to landlines but still audible. You get what you paid for.

I rarely use the home phone, so 8.99(10.87 after incl. regulatory fees) beats paying $40 to Bell.

[wilsonlam97]

You pay almost nothing with the rates at VOIP.Ms and fpl is literally free after setup. Please, I'm helping you save money. Don't waste your time with italkbb.

[Jimboski]

You pay almost nothing with the rates at VOIP.Ms and fpl is literally free after setup. Please, I'm helping you save money. Don't waste your time with italkbb.

Doesn't FPL go down often?

[rivet]

The advantage do italkbb is that they are one of the rare companies that provide you a Chinese access number so you friend can call you on that Chinese number instead of your Canadian number. That feature alone would worth the price for some people. For people has no friends in China, VoIP.ms oe fpl is probably the way to go

[wilsonlam97]

Doesn't FPL go down often?

I heard its decently reliable (maybe 98.9% up time?)

Voip.Ms is still cheaper. I'm sure you could setup a access number with them. In the end you still save more. (2 lines?)

Edit: I guess the main selling point really is the access number. It wasn't very easy to find a cheap HK/China DID provider.

[Jimboski]

I heard its decently reliable (maybe 98.9% up time?)

Voip.Ms is still cheaper. I'm sure you could setup a access number with them. In the end you still save more. (2 lines?)

Hmm.. Is the process of FPL easy? I don't want to switch If It's going to be a hassle.
I do know that It's one time fee.. That's about It LOL.
Thanks.

[wilsonlam97]

Hmm.. Is the process of FPL easy? I don't want to switch If It's going to be a hassle.
I do know that It's one time fee.. That's about It LOL.
Thanks.

You need a unlocked voip adapter/terminal/box/converter/gateway or whatever people call it. Then it should be very easy afterwards. You might have to fill in the settings manually or they might provide a auto config file.

Setting it manually should be straightforward and easy. You might need to set the stun to stun.xten.com and enable stun if you want it to work behind a router.

[Jimboski]

You need a unlocked voip adapter/terminal/box/converter/gateway or whatever people call it. Then it should be very easy afterwards. You might have to fill in the settings manually or they might provide a auto config file.

Setting it manually should be straightforward and easy. You might need to set the stun to stun.xten.com and enable stun if you want it to work being a router.

Sounds expensive.. The "fill In the settings" should be easy.
So basically everything Is manually set up by the customer right?
Do you have a detailed guide for this?
Thanks!

[wilsonlam97]

Sounds expensive.. The "fill In the settings" should be easy.
So basically everything Is manually set up by the customer right?
Do you have a detailed guide for this?
Thanks!

Right. But this is only if you want a solution for your whole home. If you want to just call from your computer there are voip clients for that.

PM me for details.

[TheWhiteStig]

Nothing can beat iTalkBB's Global unlimited plan, but if you're just making calls within Canada, freephoneline.ca would definitely be a better choice.

I'm happy with my iTalkBB service because my wife makes ALOT of oversea calls, but two of my friends decided to switch out and they both had a painful experience like many other described on this thread (and I feel bad because I was the one who referred them at the beginning). To make the matter worse, iTalkBB emailed them a PO Box address in Richmond Hill for adapter return but refused their package! My friends had to send them the box again at their own cost, that adds up to about half of what they would pay if they were to keep the adapter for other use. Unfortunately iTalkBB is not a member of CCTS, but for those who couldn't resolve their problem with iTalkBB, you can file a complain to CRTC:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/t12.htm