Lingo user reviews

Pros none; None

Cons They say $21 plan and charge around $28 a month. No company has that much hidden charges. call quality is bad. their customer service is bad, they carge for full month and give service for only few days. unlimited calling in entire US.

Summary They say $21 plan and charge around $28 a month. No company has that much hidden charges. Call quality is bad. Setup is difficult. Their customer service is bad, they carge for full month and give service for only few days when you discontinue. Their Terms and conditions are very complicated and it favors lingo only, not the customers. If you want any more headaches go for lingo.

****** My suggestion is, Go for magicjack, it is $40 per year unlimited calling in entire US. ******

Pros No technical problem to report

Cons They treat customers like dog food.

Summary No complaints about any technical
issues, but it seems Lingo(Primus)
has taken their marketing plans strait from AOL. Plan was advertised at $19.95.
After 1.5 years I'm up to almost $27. Then just try to get them to shut you off. I'm having to block
payments with my credit union.
Way too much crap. No humans reply to Email. I'm going to Skype.

Pros Best price by FAR! Good call quality, return policy, etc

Cons Equipment can be sketchy

Summary I have had Lingo now for over 2 years (Sept' '04). I am not going to say it has been problem free, especially in the beginning, but overall it has been a great experience. Considering though when I first subscribed it was considered fairly new technology and a new service, I am amazed how few problems I have actually had. The main pro for me is the price. In fact I don't think that their prices cannot be beat (I subscribe to their $22 plan for unlimited calls to the US and Western Europe), especially if, like me, you call Western Europe a lot. If you have relatives in this area also, I would say you cannot go wrong with this plan. You can call to any regular land line, any time, without incurring any additional charges. I occasionally had problems with call quality in the past, but most of this has been remedied with the purchase of a 5.8Ghz digital phone. I would say over the last 4 months, since I moved house, I have experienced less than satisfactory call quality 2-3 times. I have never done tests where I compare call quality when downloading or uploading files, but I know I am regularly on the internet when I am also on the phone and this does not seem to affect the call quality. In addition to this, I get tons of features. This may be the case with all providers, but even so, the list is far greater than those offered (for a price!) by regular phone companies (Qwest, Cox, etc). I get call-waiting, caller-ID, voice mail (which I get emailed to me, which is a really cool feature), multiple methods of call-forwarding and more.

Cons are that, as a few people have mentioned, you occasionally have to reboot the router. This has diminished though for me, and now is to the point where I have to reboot maybe once every couple of months. The hassle of this though is far outweighed by the price savings.

Overall I would say Lingo is excellent. Great call quality, great price, great features and great support. I would absolutely encourage people to try it out, if for no other reason that I would hate for them to have to raise their prices, or go out of business because they couldn't compete.

Pros cheap int'l calls, reliable, quality is excellent

Cons customer service does not exist

Summary I have used this service for the past two months, my number was ported when promised (15 days)and telephone calls have been spectacular. My theory for any negative feedback regarding call quality is that the internet connection is to blame, not lingo. I'm using a WISP (wireless internet service provider) and my conection is 1012/128 and call quality is excellent, even when online at the same time (lingo voip box prioritizes traffic to phone call).
Even with the increase in rate (was 19.99, now 21.99) my bill still comes in at 25.00. And that includes all of my western european calls. Vonage just started an offer that includes 4 european countries (uk, ireland, spain, and ???)
And the best part, power adapter is multi-voltage (100-240) so take this box with you when you go on vacation, plug in to the net, and you're up. My advice, use cable or wisp in conjunction with lingo and say bye bye to expensive phone bills.
One caveat, customer service, if you every need it, is a long wait for someone non-technical to try to help you. My advice, email any question you may have and save the phone time for family and friends.