CallCentric | Avoid Callcentric like the plague! 12/23/2012 - 15:20 | | | Bad network, very susceptible to problems. | Stay away from Callcentric!!!
I first used Callcentric five years ago for my main business DID. After about a 10 months with them, I ported the number to another provider because I noticed that a small percentage of calls to our DID would fail. I did some testing and found that instead of going to voicemail or hearing a busy tone, callers would get the message "this number is not in service". For a business, that is completely unacceptable. The damage to my business well exceeded the cost of VOIP service.
Nevertheless, I liked the website and thought they may be a good option for a residential DID. Boy, was I wrong!
I switched my parents over to them earlier this year because I figured Callcentric would be able to handle the low volume of calls on a residential number. If a call here and there didn't go through, it wouldn't be a big deal. Callers could just try calling right back and would probably get through.
I can't say how unhappy my parents were with the service they got from Callcentric.
Starting in September, there was a DOS attack that caused major problems with their service. You could not place calls with them and inbound calls did not get completed. This issue dragged on for over a month. They kept coming up with a "solution" that would last for a day or so only to have the exact same problems happening again. At first, I had some pity on them, but after time kept dragging on, it seemed like they were completely unprepared for this and were just grasping at straws for a solution.
During Hurricane Sandy, it became extremely clear that their network was very poorly planned. They have all their servers in one building in downtown New York and do not have any generator backups! As far as I could tell, they only have short term battery backups that will only last for a power outage of an hour or so. They were down for days and blamed the weather, but it was really because they had such poor planning and network design. Other providers based in NYC didn't have any downtime. What's going to happen the next time they lose power?
A well designed VOIP network should have uptime that is not dependent on the local power grid. Servers should be in at least two different locations, separately by hundreds or thousands of miles. Callcentric has neither of these things.
Bottom line, avoid them like the plague. They have a nice website and good prices, but you can't trust these guys to handle your phone service. There are several other providers that can take their place.
Don't be fooled by positive reviews. |