Lingo is one of the most popular telecom products offered by Primus Telecommunication, one of the most well know telecom companies in the USA. Due to the strong international presence of Primus Telecommunication, Lingo offers wonderful International calling plans along with unique capabilities like the ability to choose international phone numbers in any major international city.
The Home and Office plans offered by Lingo are also pretty much competitive especially when coupled with their "First Month Free" offer that is available with their Unlimited Plan.
Features:
Lingo is one of the most feature packed VOIP services available in the market. Besides the basic features like Call forwarding, Call Waiting, Voice mail etc Lingo also offers some special features as follows:
Universal Phone Number:
This feature allows you to have an International phone number for most of the major cities and countries across the world. That way, if a customer subscribes for an number in Argentina all his calls made to any other number in Argentina would be considered as local calls whereas his calls to USA numbers would be billed as international calls from Argentina to USA. Additionally, people in Argentina can call you for local rates.
Local Number Porting:
If you are moving from your traditional phone service to Lingo, you can get your old number transferred to Lingo. It's an easy process, the customer just needs to fill up an online form and also send in a authorization form to Lingo for getting the local number transferred. It generally takes 15-20 days to get the number transferred.
However, for customers using DSL connection it is advisable they make arrangements to move their internet connection to a separate phone number with their local telephone company because in most cases they would require a phone number to get their internet connection.
Emergency Calling Service:
Lingo's emergency calling service routes your call from Lingo's network to the network of Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in your local area. As a lingo customer you are automatically enrolled in this service. The appropriate PSAP is determined by the physical address you supply when you sign up for Lingo. Therefore, if you do not provide the correct address, your call cannot be routed to the corresponding PSAP for your area and could delay the required emergency services.
Important Note: Lingo Emergency Calling Service is not like traditional 911 services . Emergency Calls made from Lingo Voice over IP phones will be routed to the PSAP's general access line, which is different from the 911 Emergency Response Center. You will need to inform them about the nature of your emergency, including your location and telephone number, because PSAP personnel will not have this information at hand.
General Features:
Other than the above-mentioned features Lingo also offers several other general features that are commonly offered by most VOIP Providers. This list would include, Voicemail, Three-way calling, speed dial, Call Forwarding, Simultaneous ring, Call waiting, caller id, call return (*69), caller id block, Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR), DND, Last Number redial.
One issue that has often been a cause of annoyance for many Lingo customers is that Lingo does not offer Caller id with Name. It displays only the number and no Name is displayed.
Plans Offered:
Lingo has set up his plans to cater to the needs of both the residential as well as Business customers and it offers a wide range of plans in both the categories to choose from.
Home Plans:
There are three plans for domestic customers, Lingo Link for $7.95/month, Basic Plan for $14.95/month and the Unlimited Plan for $21.95/month.
While the Lingo Link plan offers free In-network calling to other Lingo subscribers, the basic plan has 500 residential calling minutes each month for USA, Canada and Puerto Rico in addition to that. The Unlimited Calling plan offers unlimited calling to USA, Canada and Puerto Rico and 21 countries.
Office Plans:
This includes one plan, the Business Buzz plan for $49.95/month. You get unlimited business VoIP minutes each month to call anyone in
the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico plus low International rates to many countries. Also includes a free fax line!
International Plans:
The Global Gabber plan for $34.95/month offers unlimited calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico plus get 300 international minutes including calls to Mexico, China, Japan, UK, and more.
Customer Service:
Unlike many other VOIP providers Lingo provides customer service through emails as well as on phone. However, it is often reported that there is long hold time to reach the customer service and the outsourced customer service people are often unable to meet the customer expectations.
Other Details:
Lingo offers a money back guarantee if the product is returned within the first 30 days and the usage is not more than 500 minutes. Also, the product has to be returned in its original packaging with the UPC or barcode else they will charge a cancellation fee of $39.95.
Current Specials Listed on Lingo Site *(as of 12/07/2005)
Lingo offers a 1-month free usage in the Unlimited Home Plan as well as in all Office Plans and International Plans.
To Read More about Lingo or to buy and download immediately, follow the link below:
Write an online review