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TekSavvy TekTalk (VoIP) Experiences

98K views 86 replies 37 participants last post by  the_refleks_78 
#1 ·
This thread is for discussion of TekSavvy' TekTalk service by subscribers only. Please share your experiences. How was the installation and setup? How does the service compare to your last telephone provider? Do the advertised features work? How well were customer service issues resolved?
 
#56 ·
I ordered TekTalk last night (after staying on hold for more than 1 hour) but the guy never gave me the authentication password for my phone number. I need that to enter into the OBI110 panel.

I hooked up the OBI110 to my router and can ping it but when I tried to use voip.teksavvy.com and my phone #, it came back with the following error

Register Failed: 403 From: URI not recognized

I called the new phone # using my cell and got a message from Bell saying this number has not been assigned yet. I am on hold with Tek again right now to get to the bottom of this. Very frustrating.
 
#57 ·
TSI is not the company it was a few years ago. In my opinion, their customer service has become worse than Rogers and Bell. I had so many problems over the last couple of years that I cancelled all services with them. Except for a few low end packages, even their prices are not that appealing any more.
 
#58 ·
I tried my darndest tonight to get TekTalk going with the OBI110 and I simply couldn't, after 2+ hours, so I had to call it a night and will tackle it over the weekend as we have friends coming tomorrow for dinner.

This is what I did

- Factory reset the OBI110 (I previously configured it to use a VoIP.ms account and it worked flawlessly)

- Connect the OBI110 to the router (DI-524) which in turn connects to the Teksavvy modem (Thompson DCM475), pretty straightforward setup

- I logged into the OBI110 and keyed in the server (voip.teksavvy.com), the phone number and the authentication password that I received from Teksavvy

- I made sure relevant settings are in place, courtesy of Mango's guide to configuring the Obi (http://www.toao.net/500-mangos-guide-to-configuring-an-obi100-obi110-and-obi202-ata)

- I rebooted the OBI and made an echo call. So far so good

- OBI shows my account is registered. I made an outgoing call and after about 40 seconds got a message saying *The number I dialed could not be contacted by the service provider*

- I used my cell phone to call the TekTalk # and the TekTalk phone keeps ringing and when I pressed Talk, all I got is busy signals.

So that's that. It looks like the Obi and the setup are working as they should be. So I am leaning towards the Teksavvy side, i called Tech Support and hung up after waiting for 30 minutes, I know they won't be able to give me much support because I didn't purchase the ATA from them but I was hoping they can shed some light.

Will tackle this again later on. Like I said, I got the OBI working with a VoiP.ms without any fuss, not sure what's the deal with TekTalk?
 
#59 ·
For the last couple weeks I cannot answer a call.
The phone will ring, I see the CID show up and when I pick up the phone i get dead air. At the same time, the caller gets forwarded to voicemail...
At this point I cannot answer any calls.
I sent teksavvy support an email, but no answer from them...
Any ideas? is it a problem on their side, or some setting on the ATA??
 
#62 ·
Noob here too, I love the unlimited service from teksavvy but begins to hate the tektalk box... This message is for Mango or anyone who could help me: the long delay between the dial and the actual communication is killing almost all my call, people on the other line just hang up after a moment and i get only the busy signals. I saw the first posts on the first page but I have no idea how and where to give this long string of signs, can anyone help me??? I'm really at two fingers to cut the tektalk service.
 
#64 ·
Having Frustration with this service.
I followed Mango's suggestions until finally the phone started working again.

Unfortunately I cannot answer any calls... as soon as I pick up i can talk for 10 seconds and then the line goes dead. Completely frustrating that I am paying for a home phone and simply cannot use it.

Any suggestions? Tech support is so slow and have not given me much to work with?
 
#66 · (Edited)
Here's my experience with Tektalk from Teksavvy.

If you are thinking of subscribing to the $9.95/month Tektalk from Teksavvy, don't waste your time and money and go with Primus VOIP instead.

I've been with Primus VOIP (cable) for about 5 years. Everything has been fine, but I got tired of paying $39/month (total w/tax) for a bunch of options I don't need and for the free unlimited long distance in North America.

Since I often log to the Teksavvy website to check my internet usage, I decided to take a look at their voip services. And they have this $9.95/month, so I thought it might suit me better than paying $39/month with Primus.

So I ordered their Grandstream ht-502 at $50 + $10 shipping + tax + 1 month of service.

First, they were supposed to connect me yesterday, but it never happened. I had to call them today to get my ata box activated. Not very reliable, eh? (I received the box 4 days ago and it was plugged and waiting to be activated by TekSavvy).
Second and this is the main reason not to use Taksavvy, the quality of the call was about 60% compared with Primus VOIP (cable).
Third, with Primus you can do *67 and your number and name are not displayed. You can't do that with Teksavvy. I called Teksavvy and managed to get them to remove my name and instead it showed 'Private number' where the name normally appears, under the real phone number showing up on the call display.
Fourth, Primus will issue you a credit (if one is due) if you change services. With Teksavvy, although I called today to cancel the service, the same day that the service was activated (one day late, btw), they don't issue a credit.
Fifth, the ata from Primus connects to the router, while the ata from Teksavvy must be connected to the cable modem and from the ata then go to the router. I prefer to have the ata behind the firewall of the router, even if the ata has a built-in firewall.
So in the end, I'm out of $80 and have a brand new useless Grandstream ht-502.

One more thing, when I was talking to the guy in their cancellation department, he tried to blame me for the ata not working yesterday cause it was plugged after the router. I took the opportunity to correct him. Having the Grandstream plugged after the router meant I could make calls without any problem - they could hear me and I could hear them. But if someone called me, they would hear me but I couldn't hear them. He then said something about they were doing a lot of maintenance yesterday and that's why I was not connected when I was supposed to. I couldn't believe that he was trying to blame me for their shortcoming! Talk about adding insult to injury.

Regarding customer service, except for that individual in the cancelation dept who tried to blame me, I would say that it is excellent overall.

During the last 5 years with Primus, I never once was without service. The quality of the call has been consistent and basically equals to the best pots line you can have.

My mistake was not checking Primus' website. Otherwise I would have seen that they are offering a similar package at $9.95. The difference is that they charge you and additional 40 cents/month for the 911 service and you have a 2 year contract, but the first 3 months are free.

So if you are considering switching to a $9.95/month package, my advice is to try Primus. Take the monthly plan at $15/month for the first few weeks and when you are satisfied with the service, switch to their $9.95/ month for two years.

Anyone wants to buy a brand new Grandstream ht-502? ;)
 
#67 ·
I have a question, I don't know if anyone can answer it.

Since I have the Tektalk Basic service until the end of the month, I have been playing with it a little.

In order to be able to receive calls and hear the other party, I MUST connect it directly into the cable modem. If I connect it into the router, I can make calls no problem, but when I receive calls, I do not hear the other party, though they can hear me.

So I was wondering if there is a setting in the router I need to change in order to have the Grandstream connected to the router, instead of connected to the cable modem???

I ran a ports check and found out that most ports are CLOSED, not STEALTH when the Grandstream is connected to the cable modem. Compared to having all my ports STEALTH when connected to the router. IOW, the router is offering me more protection.

For those who wish to test their ports, https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

select Proceed and on the next page, select All Service Ports (the silver button).

Thanks.
 
#70 ·
From your router's control panel, navigate to Advanced >> Setup >> WAN Setup. Look for the option "Disable SIP ALG" and place a check in that box. SIP ALGs very often don't work properly. If it is currently enabled, it is more than likely causing your problem.

Under Advanced >> Security >> Block Services, be sure nothing is there that could be causing your problem. Also, check your port forwarding and remove or disable any port forwarding to your ATA.

If neither of those solve the problem, navigate to Advanced >> Administration >> Logs. Clear your log, make a test call to cause the problem, and then refresh the log. See if anything there gives you a clue about what is going on.

If none of those work, consider installing Tomato firmware on your router. Tomato is a third-party firmware which happens to be VoIP-friendly. If you do this, navigate to Advanced >> Conntrack/Netfilter, disable SIP Helper (if that option exists), and set UDP Timeout Unreplied to 10.

Good luck. Let us know how things go.

m.
 
#72 ·
Thanks Mango...
I will try this latest setting to see if that helps.
I had tried pointing the ATA to the DMZ and that seemed to help. My phone calls were lasting as long as I wanted finally.

NOW, all of a sudden i pick up the receiver and I get several fast beeps and then dial tone. When I dial the number it does not ring. I have configured my line to ring the main line, plus 2 cell numbers at the same time. When the number is dialled, it only rings the cell... nothing else.

I have already reset the modem, the router and then the ATA. The ATA says it is registered...
any other ideas?
 
#71 ·
I thought bringing a bit of feedback here as well...

I have been with TekTalk for about a year now. So far, I've had satisfactory service for about 25% of the time.

Problems with account settings:

First of all, when I initially enrolled, Teksavvy made a mistake and game me a phone number of an area far away from my physical location which resulted in every call being placed to be long distances, and others calling me would also have a long distance call. That was true even with next door neighbors. I also had paid the $5 to have my name on Canada411 and in the phone directory.

I was surprised to have an area code that didnt match my physical location, and I was right, TS made a mistake and admitted it, then they gave me a new phone number.

After they gave me a new phone number, my name got removed from the phone book. I called them back and the lady said that I had never paid the initial $5 and therefore if I wanted to have my name displayed, I would have to pay this fee. I argued that I had paid it (on my first bill) but she wouldnt listen.. I shut up and paid it again..

My name got back on the phone book.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my name is GONE AGAIN! Geez, whats going on with these guys!?


Problems with ATA and firewall:

I am using a pfsense router with IDS/IPS features (Snort, etc). After almost a yeat fiddling with that crap, all I can say is that their Grandstream ATA is the flakiest least stable POS I have ever seen.. The slightest firewall/router hiccup makes the ATA go offline and need a hard reboot.

The ATA HAS to be connected right after the modem (between the modem and the router) othewise, they simply dont support it. I've got a SoHo so you think I will have my servers and network go through a crappy device like that? The ATA should be connected AFTER the firewall/router and behave like all other networked devices, that is, no problems. This device is clearly a very low end one and needs to be installed exactly as intended otherwise it will not work in the long run..

I've had all kinds of problems. From picking up the phone and hearing "device not registered", phone calls dropping, busy tone when I pickup the phone and no-one else is using it, and now, when I get a call, I pickup, and hear nothing but people can hear me...

Annoying.


I just spoke to the customer support to have my name put back on the phone book and Canada411, and he said that my name has never been removed... When I told him that a reverse lookup on canada411 yield to no result, he was baffled.

They also messed up my name entry (forgot a letter in my name)



I am displeased with tektalk to the point that I may seek another service provider...

Any recommendations and also any recommendations for a RELIABLE "enterprise" grade ATA ? I am thinking about getting a Cisco VOIP phone and eliminate the reliance on POTS wiring and separate ATA..
 
#73 ·
If possible, don't use DMZ as it's a security risk. However if things absolutely won't work any other way, then be sure your ATA has strong passwords.

If the fast beeps/dial tone happened after my suggestions, try reversing them one at a time to see which one caused the problem.

Keep us updated on how things go.
 
#74 ·
I ended up with no dial tone.
I reset modem, then router then ATA... nothing. Reset ATA several times and I would not get any dial tone.
I undid the DMZ and I undid the "Disable SIP ALG" setting on the router, still no go.
I have now done a factory reset on the ATA and just put in the voip.teksavvy.com proxy, my acct and password
I now get dial tone. I will test this out for a day or two and see what happens before i touch anything else.

BTW- I had tried to get tomato on my router and almost bricked it... do not want to try that again...
 
#75 ·
Have been relatively happy with TekTalk for about 6 months (can't beat the price!) and I use there cable internet as well.

But the service has been a little flaky, and after i started messing around with a VPN things have really been unpredictable (i always had the ATA connected after the router). After some back and forth with TekSavvy i decided to hook up the ATA before the router and things are working great.

However, I think this causes another problem. The Grandstream 502 is limited to 10/100Mpbs ethernet. My router is has gigabit ethernet and wireless AC.

Is the ATA limiting the speed of my network? If it is can I do anything about it?
 
#77 ·
In that config, yes you would be potentially limiting the throughput from the modem, to the router, having that inbetween.

That being said.. it will depend on what internet package you have.. it might not even effect it.
 
#78 ·
If the modem's output is going through the Grandstream 502, it could easily be affecting internet speed. Don't know much about the Grandstream 502 but just because it has a 10/100mbps port that doesn't mean it's capable of processing 100mbps. It could be considerably less. Another thing to consider is that, in this configuration, the Grandstream 502 is more susceptible to being hacked. Make sure the firmware is current to limit exposure. The best way to hook it up may be to put a Gb switch after modem and before the Grandstream 502 and router. Put the Grandstream 502 on one port and the router on the other. Two IPs from TSI will be required for this configuration. Some cable internet services include 2 IPs. Don't know if TSI cable does.
 
#80 ·
Stevenash - can you link to that forum thread as I would definitely like the ATA to be after the router since we use a cordless phone basestation - and the cable and modem we use is in the basement - we dont want to put the base station in the basement as the cordless handsets may sound flaky in the regular floors of the home. Luckily our home is fully wired with gigabit so i can put the ATA into one of the network jacks on the main floor if I can get the right config you have mentioned. :D
 
#81 ·
Whether this will work reliably or not depends on your router. If your internet connection is heavily used, it will need to support QoS to give VoIP traffic priority over normal internet traffic.

Give it a try and see how it works. If you have problems, let us know what isn't working, and what ATA/router you are using.
 
#82 · (Edited)
Wow,i should have come here before singed up with them.. internet cable and voip.
Nightmare.Now 3 days without phone. Grandstream never registered whatever i do. I get dial signal but callings end up ''busy'' set up is ATA to router.
router is Belkin. Ata is not firewalled. Than's for any advices. Before i cancelled with teksavvy.
Thank's
 
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