AT&T CallVantage Service VoIP Telephone Adapter
AT&T CallVantage^sm Service from AT&T is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service that utilizes the latest in Internet technology to deliver features that are beyond the means of traditional phone companies. With VoIP, calls are transmitted over the Internet, allowing you to communicate nationwide for a single monthly fee. You pay additional charges only for international calls, which are billed at competitive prices. (AT&T CallVantage Service treats calls to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada as domestic calls.) Plus, AT&T’s Advanced Quality of Service (QoS) provides high voice quality.

AT&T CallVantage Service offers easy 1-2-3 hardware setup: 1. Plug phone cord and computer cable into adapter. 2. Plug adapter into broadband modem. 3. Log onto Personal Call Manager and open your account.

AT&T CallVantage Service is easy to set up. To establish an account, just follow the instructions on the welcome letter, included in the box. Setting up the hardware is also very simple: just plug the telephone adapter into your existing phone and plug the other end into your cable or DSL modem. All DSL and cable modems with an Ethernet port and at least 90 Kbps upstream and downstream speed are supported, as well as both Windows computers and Macs.

In addition to the standard features you expect from your traditional phone company, like caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling, and call forwarding, AT&T CallVantage Service provides a number of features made possible only by use of Internet Protocol technology. You can have voice mail forwarded to your e-mail inbox as an attachment, and then forward that attachment to relevant third parties. You can take your home area code with you when you travel, so your family or work can reach you without paying long-distance rates. And, with an elaborate variation of call forwarding known as “Locate Me,” you can maintain a list of places you’ll be visiting; when you’re out, AT&T CallVantage Service will ring them in sequence (or all at once) until it finds you.

Accessible either by phone or the Internet, the Phone Feature Manager provides access to a phone directory that can store up to 250 numbers, to call logs (incoming and outgoing for the last 60 days), and to many of your other phone settings. A reverse lookup feature lets you access the name and address information of an incoming caller, while the add-to-Phone Book feature lets you move any number from your call log to your Phone Book with the touch of a single button. A display-and-dial feature lets you easily call any number displayed in either your call log or Phone Book, and you can set up to nine speed dial entries. Taken together, that’s a lot for a phone service to do. With all the features that AT&T’s CallVantage Service makes possible, you can simplify and organize your communications like never before.

What’s in the Box
A telephone adapter for use with AT&T CallVantage Service, a 12-volt, 1-amp DC power adapter, a telephone line cord, an Ethernet cable, manuals, and service and promotional information

Terms and Conditions
Buying this item signifies your intention to sign up for AT&T CallVantage Service and to pay a monthly subscription fee. For details about how the Service works and for complete terms and conditions, visit www.att.com/amazon.

Customer Review: Flexible features, and a small UPS makes all the difference
We’ve had model DVG-1120M for over a year. CallVantage is a very full-featured service with many options. For example, if the electrical power goes out at your house, you can set up CallVantage so that house calls are automatically routed to a cell phone or to voice mail. There are also many other great features we use.

The VOIP box has been reliable though there are a couple of irritations.

- The documentation that comes with it is quite sufficient for basic plug-it-in-and-make-a-call. But for users who have a home network and want to set up networking features, the documentation is scanty to say the very least.

- The model we have has a few bugs and we (so far) haven’t received a firmware update for it. (Maybe customers have to *ask* for bug fixes?). The biggest bug-a-boo on our model is we can’t enable MAC filtering. The VOIP box stops responding the internal network whenever MAC address filtering is enabled. To re-enable the internet requires a hard reset and then reconfiguration. As another user suggested, it may be better to let the VOIP box act as a pass-through and use another more sophisticated piece of equipment to control the networking.

- We have a cable modem. After a power interruption the VOIP will usually not work right away if all the attached equipment - cable modem, voip, router, and computer - powers up simultaneously. The VOIP box is quite picky about the reset sequence of all attached equipment. Even a sub-second mains power outage may affect the cable modem and VOIP box.

- After a power outage the reset sequence of the VOIP box and attached equipment is painful. The documentation says to power off all the attached equipment and power them up, in sequence, with a couple of minutes in between. We get frequent power interruptions, often just 1-to-5 second outage blips, sometimes a few times a day. Resets were a major burden until we got a UPS.

To avoid burdensome resets due to brief mains power outages, buy a small UPS at a computer store or office supply store. It resembles a large heavy power strip and it will eliminate the seemingly-endless hours of hassle if your power is as unreliable as ours. (A UPS will not, however, last through a power outage lasting more than couple of minutes - exact time depends upon the size of the UPS and the power draw on it).

We enjoy the flexible, custom features of CallVantage and the VOIP box is fairly easy to use with the addition of a UPS.

Customer Review: just gave up
i had callvantage for about 10 months and it was always spotty. set up was a cinch, and the website they provide is excellent. however, from the moment i plugged the telephone adapter in, i had problems. i can’t recall the model number of the TA, off-hand. but it was one of their earlier linksys models. the installation instructions stressed that the TA needed to sit between my cable modem and wireless router.

my first issue became apparent immediately after installation. my phone worked just fine and i made a number of calls. my wireless router, unfortunately, was totally neutralized. i could connect to it directly. dhcp still worked. i could log in and play with my administrator settings (to no avail). i just couldn’t access the internet. as best i could tell, the Telephone Adapter was totally and completely blocking traffic that was coming from the wireless router.

this problem was eventually resolved by their tech support. i believe what they did was open up the TA to all traffic coming from my router’s IP. i didn’t question the safety of this solution… i was just happy to have my internet working. it was at this time that i was made aware of an interesting feature of this (and perhaps other) telephone adapters. the TA tests and maintains a minimum amount of bandwidth with the outside world. if the TA detects too much non-VOIP traffic passing through it from the internet to devices inside its network (or vice versa), it resets itself and/or blocks the traffic.

that bears repeating. if the TA determines its not getting enough bandwidth, it claims it all for itself… this has nothing to do with whether or not you’re using the phone at the time — an incoming call could come at any moment. but when the TA does this, and i never figured out how to adjust that cutoff threshold, you’ve got no internet.

at times, it took 10 or 15 minutes before i could connect to the outside world again. for someone who works in IT from his home, this is unacceptable. worse, for those 10 or 15 minutes, all the cost advantages of using this service evaporate. i’m paying $40/month for broadband internet access that i can’t use. in my mind, callvantage just got $40/month more expensive… because that’s all i can use my cable modem for.

other issues abounded, but they all seemed to trace back to the fact that my TA was bunk and seriously hogging my connection. i had a desktop computer connected directly to the TA and it exhibited every symptom of this problem you could imagine. slow downloads. pages not loading. strange browser errors about not being able to access a domain (blocking traffic to/from my DNS servers?) and web pages that would only load if i typed “http://” before the “google.com”.

i called callvantage customer service at least a dozen times, but not with great regularity. regardless of what the other reviewers have said about customer service, with the myriad problems i had with callvantage, not once did their customer service line keep me on hold for less than 10 minutes. these customer service representatives are trained to guide you through exactly two procedures: 1) resetting all of your hardware by powering down, then powering it all back up in order and 2) testing the speed of your internet connection using speakeasy.net’s online tool. most of the problems i had with the service required multiple calls to reach resolution (or reach kludge, depending on your POV). however, these first line customer service reps ALWAYS insist on you doing these two things first… carefully and calmly explaining that you called an hour prior and 1) reset everything and 2) tested your speed is useless…. say it to the wall before you call them… that might ease the frustration.

there were a couple times where it appeared that resetting everything solved the problem… but the solution was never permanent. and not once while doing the speedtest did a customer service rep tell me that i did not have a fast enough connection to continue using (and paying for) their services.

the final straws for me came when i suggested that perhaps they should send me a new telephone adapter, perhaps a more sophisticated model. the customer service rep explained, without a hint of irony in her voice, that it was company policy not to replace hardware until the customer had called 5 times about the same problem. the catch there is that, even if you call up every tuesday and friday to complain about the same problem, if you wait more than 24 hours between calls, they kick you out of the ticketing system and the next time you call it’s a “new problem”.

i explained that this was my 6th or 7th time calling in the course of a month about web pages not loading on my computer connected to the TA and she told me that i would be bumped up to the “next tier” of technical support. that pretty much did it… who the hell had i been talking to all along? the “next tier” conferenced into my call and there was some jabber about whether or not i reset the cable modem and TA properly (hilarious)… then they told me someone would get in touch with soon. two days later, at around 10pm, i received a call on my cell phone from a technical support person. i explained that i was miles away from my computer, and that it was friday night. he asked me to call him back at a certain 800 number which, now, i wish i could share with the world. unfortunately the piece of paper it was written on was torn to shreds when i called the number that saturday and was told that my “problem ticket” had been “resolved”. i would have to go back to “first tier” customer support, reset my adapter and test my speed a half-dozen times, and then maybe someone technical would be willing to hear my case.

that was when i gave up…. problems with loading web pages in my browser were clearly not going to be resolved by these people. what’s more, the phone itself started cutting out in the middle of calls. i’d pick it up and hear no dial tone. i’d call someone and get an operator explaining the number was not in service. simply deplorable.

when i called to cancel, the fellow i spoke to asked if he could entice me to stay by offering me a free month’s worth of service. i explained that my service had been near-useless for the last month and pretty damned spotty for the 9 that preceeded that. i’m rolling it back to a regular land-line. there isn’t enough “UNLIMITED CALLING!!!” advertising in the world that’s going to make me consider using this again.

-

Home Based Business Community & Clearinghouse - Business Opportunities
A home business community and clearinghouse of info on starting, growing, or selling a home based The Official “Confessions of a Home-based Business Entrepreneur” Home Based Business Blog has the
Source: www.homebusinessonline.com

HRN Home Based Business Opportunity Home Based Business Idea Home
HRN home based business opportunity work from home business ideas Homeowner Referral Network Home Remedies of NY, Inc. is one of only a few business opportunities that I have ever
Source: homereferralbiz.com

Best Home Based Business Opportunities Directory l Work from Home, MLM
Search our online expo of work at home, home-based business opportunities, network marketing Search the best home-based businesses directory to find the top home based business opportunities
Source: www.ineedahomebasedbusiness.com

Free Home Based Business Advice
A free ebook, written by a home based business owner, offering advice and providing resources to 5 Minutes After Reading This, You Could Be Starting Your Own Home Based
Source: www.home-based-business-advice.com

Home Based Business 4U
Starting a home based business is easy when you know how to take advantage of the many home business opportunities now available to you!
Source: www.home-based-business-4u.com

Type At Home
HOME BASED BUSINESS * INTERNET BUSINESS * WEIGHT LOSS * SUCCESS and announcing the amazing EMPOWERED MILLIONAIRE COACHING success system just released for ultimate financial mastery & personal
Source: www.homebasedbusinesssupersite.com

Home Based Businesses - Work from Home Business - Working from Home
We help home based businesses protect personal assets and add credibility. Work from home and be Home-Based Businesses. Now is the time to say goodbye to the boss and start your own business from
Source: www.corporate.com

Home Business
Copyright 1995 - 2005, All Rights Reserved Published by: The National Association of Home Based Businesses, (NAHBB) (cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the NAHBB)
Source: www.usahomebusiness.com

home based business oppourtunity-home based business work at home
The best home based business opportunity for anyone with the desire for a royal wealthy lifestyle. The fact that you are on this website tells me that you are interested
Source: ilikeliberty.com

Internet Home Based Business
Internet Home Based Business This blog is about how I am making money online from home through search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and selling links.
Source: athomebusiness.blogspot.com

Tags: why ebooks, hot ebooks, publishes ebooks, away ebooks, ebooks now, music ebooks, off ebooks, government ebooks