If you're unfortunate enough to have an account and rely on this company for your calls don't expect any help if their system goes down or you have an issue. They issue a telephone number which is never answered, if you tweet them they ignore it, email them and you get a ticket stating they'll be back to you in 2 days. I think this outfit is being run out of somebodies bedroom!. On the plus side it seems cheap, on balance I'd rather have a system that actually works otherwise it's actually very expensive!

Have used sipgate for 2 yrs - no problem now big problem for the last 2 days no access to web page and no response from Sipgate when emailed. I use text messaging a lot and now am completely stuck - just topped up too. What's going on?

Had the account little under a year now. Fairly simple to setup. For noobies however the help files are not very well written and many basic elements you wish to setup for a basic call centre with front of house aren't very well answered. Initially I managed to get most of the help I needed from their email support (although don't expect to hear anything back inside 2 days!). Now however the support is awful, I've had a couple of issues raised now for over 3 weeks!! and not had any response - that's a pretty bad show when you're trying to run a business and you're PAYING for a service. I would NOT recommend this service and I'm currently looking to switch to another provider.

Hi, there!

I am using sipgate - as uk and de version without any difficulties.
OK, for some reason there was a downtime in the last days, but fixed as soon as I realized it. Quality is best - I checked a lot. Perhaps because they are running their own VoIP equipment instead of others only renting them or kind of whitelable business. Support was really kind and helpful - I feel comfortable with this company, they take care of the cust's queries...

As well, they are improving features and product range frequently - others dont!

my recommandation: sipgate!

I found it very difficult to set up, in fact never achieved it. When sent emails with questions to their help desk they never answered all the questions and were of no hgelp at all. In the end gave them up as a bad job and sent their equipment back asking for a refund for which I am still waiting four months later!!!

Would certainly NOT recomend them to anyone

I've been with Sipgate for ages and until now no problems. Now inside a month I've been unable to dial out to China twice. The first time I reported it they took 3 days to investigate and of course came back with no problem found. Let's see how long they take this time.. Watch this space.

Okay, mixed feelings here... but cannot recommend them.

I own 7 sipgate accounts and till recently had nothing bad to say :

- Setup is incredibly easy
- voice clarity is excellent (provided you have spare bandwidth and depending, of course, on the codec you choose in your telephony device. ie, and poor quality calls is almost certainly NOT their fault)
- Cheap as chips with free DID number, even free if you don't make calls to conventional landlines or don't fund the account in any way.
- Allows multiple appearances (devices in different places)
- Allows flexible forwarding (always, on busy, after n rings, etc)
- Free voicemail + sending audio or notifications to your email.

However,

After forming my limited company, printing up business cards, letterheads, launching an expensive advertising campaign and buying GXP2020 devices at 100 UK pounds each (also from sipgate) I found that they had given my number away to another subscriber WITHOUT making ANY attempt to contact me or even being able to provide any explanation for this.

So, I woke up one morning and someone else was answering the number of my new Limited companies head office... after over 3 grand had been spent on establishing our presence.

Angry, oh yes!

This is unforgivable for a telco. Surely I have a right to recompense ... wouldnt you... well... here's the clincher!

Sipgate is NOT an ITSPA member... so they are completely unregulated and can do what the hell they like. And they do! A lot of people seem to have had costly problems with them and when they do it is always the same, Sipgate are simply NOT accountable - in fact, they don't seem to give a damn even when they clearly mess up.


If your spanky new number is important to you then go with an ITSPA registered voip provider. I cannot stress this enough. There are many in the UK, and their customer care is far better.

Sipgate is cheap, but there ARE others that are uk-based, regulated, free AND voluntarily regulated!

So sipgate. Cheap, yes, but NOT in a good way! YOU don't own the number, THEY do... so number transfers between providers are at their discretion, and if they disappear or decide to reallocate the number you're not covered at all!


Mine isn't the only horror story with non-ITSPA providers - Avoid at all costs!

-Brian

they take your private details and sell it

Good option of numbers across the country (UK) with teh option of 0845 or 0870 numbers too.

one of the main reasons i went for this company was because i was able to us it with my smart phone nokia (the website even gives a step by step guide of how to do this) which makes life quite easy. For me this means wherever i am in the world and have a wifi connection i can make calls very cheaply and receive calls for free.

another bonus is the ability for voicemail to be forwarded to email for free.

the only thing to be aware of is to check that your wifi phone works with sip.

other than that enjoy :)

My review relates to the customer service rather than the quality of the telephone service.

I had ordered a router from Sipgate in January 2009. After having been on holiday my router would not sync with the DSL switch anymore. I used my old device to test the connection as my ISP told me they could not pick up the signal to my device.

Cutting a long story short:

It is broken. Trying to get an answer out of them is proving to be a sheer nightmare, though.
I am being asked to return the item to an address in Germany and to pay for it as well! My emails asking whether I will get reimbursed for the cost of returning it, seem to be getting completely ignored and I am still waiting for an answer to this date.
My first email was sent on 20th July and I had auto responders back telling me that my enquiry will be dealt with within 48 hours at the latest. Five days later I stil had not heard anything.
The last email I received asked me where the item was as they have not yet received it back, to which I replied that I will not send it until I know if I am getting reimbursed for an item that broke due to no fault of my own.
Other than asking me where the item was and where to return it to, I have not yet had a reasonable answer to my question.
There is also NO telephone number you can call to speak to an advisor which is really frustrating, especially if you have to let off some steam. ;)

All in all the customer service is absolutely APPALLING. I cannot believe emails are just being ignored like that. I am slightly lost for words; calling it "utterly atrocious" is a bit of an understatement but I do want to keep clean after all. :|

Sipgate has an easy setup.

If you get your broadband through cable, and you do not make that many calls then I would recommend Sipgate and get rid of your cable phone. I have had no problems with my Sipgate phone.