AT&T CallVantage: fare thee well, we hardly knew ye

CallVantage may have survived being sued by Vonage, but there's one thing it couldn't survive -- progress. After thrilling us for some time now by magically transmitting people's "voice" over something called the "internet," AT&T's VoIP service will begin weening off customers over the course of this year. Folks will be able to switch to either another AT&T service, transfer to another service provider, or drop off the communications grid altogether -- where they will finally have the opportunity to spend their lives in solemn contemplation, with nothing but the babbling brook, the sweet sound of songbirds, and a journal of their thoughts to keep them occupied. The company says that it's pulling the plug to concentrate on its U-verse voice service, which can only mean one thing: Watson's got to them. We knew that guy was up to no good.

[Via MobileTechNews]

[Ron @ Apr 23rd 2009 1:40PM]

WTF is on your right cheek, my dear Watson?

[Xenoterranos @ Apr 23rd 2009 1:58PM]

WATSON: Did Ron just call me out on my hideous face parasite?

HOLMES: Indubitably.

[OneLove @ Apr 23rd 2009 2:14PM]

wheres the other stooge?

[Chad @ Apr 23rd 2009 2:01PM]

When I got U-Verse last Nov. they didn't have VOIP available so I went with T-Mobile @Home service for $10 mo. If you need a land-line (local utilities won't accept a cell number for contact) and already have a T-mobile account it is definitely the way to go.

[NutMac @ Apr 23rd 2009 2:11PM]

Are there any SIP-based VoIP providers making money? Vonage, the biggest VoIP provider in US, has $45 million in cash with over $200 million in debt, lost $40 million last quarter.

[Adam @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:23PM]

Yes,

To my knowledge, Packet8 (8x8), is the only pureplay voip provider that's actually making a profit. They primarily sell residential and small-med size businesses, and have now turned their sites to bigger fish (enterprise).

Their res offerering is similar to callvantage / vonage, and the likes... Their business product runs on hosted PBX also known as IP Centrex.

Cheers,

Adam

[TechnoBabble @ Apr 23rd 2009 2:27PM]

Another inspired Engadget graphic. Thanks for the laugh guys... :)

[WFinancial @ Apr 23rd 2009 2:55PM]

We use Nextiva and it was better than our ATT service. We weren't on call vantage. Nextiva is a good one.

[Major4Play @ Apr 23rd 2009 2:55PM]

What a hugely interesting tech story.....lol

[Deano @ Apr 23rd 2009 3:10PM]

Why doesn't AT&T doesn't just repackage this as a $20/month option for iPhone users?

Google Voice is great and all, but the fact that it's not using your main cell number is a show stopper. Sure you can tell everyone your new number, but when you call and text them, it comes from your cell # and never your google voice number.

So take my iPhone service and map it to Callvantage, give me a web view of my iPhone Visual Voicemail, add SMS in and out all from my real iPhone number (including saving my SMS activity history) and you have a winner.

Apple and AT&T have "hinted" at deeper integration with AT&T and uVerse witht he upcoming iPhone 3.0, hopefully we'll see this.

[Gumby @ Apr 23rd 2009 4:00PM]

Oh holy hell. First Sunrocket and not ATT. I think someone is trying to tell me not to use voip for my home phone service.

[abward @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:18PM]

I've had it for over 2 years. Best sounding, most reliable VOIP service. It just plain works.

Too bad they are killing it.

[scott @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:53PM]

It was the best BYOB VoIP Service, although not the cheapest.. I had it since the service inception and I will miss it.

Anyone have a good solid recommendation for another BYOB VoIP service that offers rock solid voice quality and possibily a softphone service like the CallVantage?

I'm considering switching to VoIP your life for the home phone service, but I'm stumped for the softphone choice (which was an add-on for $15/month)...

[JKL @ Apr 23rd 2009 10:42PM]

Check our callcentric. I have used them for a while now and they are great. Much better than every other clown i have used: packet8, vonage, sunrocket and verizon voip. Especially for BYOD. They have great reviews on dslreports.com too.

[JKL @ Apr 23rd 2009 10:40PM]

If anyone wants a great VOIP provider they need to try callcentric. They're BYOD so you have not know what you are doing but it's well worth it.

[Roman411 @ Apr 24th 2009 9:25AM]

CallVantage blew more than the Santa Anna winds and a $3 crack wh0r3 put together. The amount of times my calls got dropped was a bit obscene.

[dodgerblues00 @ Apr 27th 2009 10:48AM]

AT&T will still offer VOIP, but on the U-VERSE side.


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