asterisk users - Jan 2009 - Beware of DIDX & Super Technologies

I assume most people here know what a joke DIDX is -- but in case you
didn't already know, please avoid these people.

Basic features of their service don't work, their tech support
refuses/drags their feet to fix them for a month and if you post
publicly about them, they terminate your service.

Instead of investing their effort in reading mailinglists to terminate
customers maybe they should invest their efforts in fixing the issues
with their service first.

This is all despite the fact that they don't control the numbers they
sell -- that I understood and can deal with (it never was an issue
since most of the numbers we had with them were from Global Crossing
-- "Vendor # 701534" in their system)

Hell, I was planning to get off their service anyways, if they would
have allowed me time to properly port out the numbers, they would not
have created an enemy for life.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rehan Allah Wala <rehan at supertec.com>
Date: Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 13:56
Subject: Your DIDX account
To: Andrew Joakimsen <joakimsen at gmail.com>
Cc: "muneeb @ supertec. com" <muneeb at supertec.com>, suzanne
at supertec.com


Thank You for this email Andrew,

Please move your numbers in next 3 days somewhere, we will close your
account as per
your request on Tuesday.

Rehan
> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 13:09, Trixter aka Bret McDanel
> <trixter at 0xdecafbad.com> wrote:
> > On Sat, 2009-01-03 at 12:14 -0500, Andrew Joakimsen wrote:
> >> Can you look at ticket # 702556000194?
> >>
> >> This is very simple:
> >>
> >
> > apparently it isnt.
> >
> >
> >> Asterisk is down, I am simulating that with the command "stop
now,"
> >> Calls should then go to the failover SIP address, but they do not.
> >>
> >> I have been back and forth for weeks with your support and they do
not
> >> figure it out. I am not even sure they understand what I am
saying.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > is this related to the below request for a non-profit doing a
telethon?
> > If it is I am confused by it.
> >
> > If it isnt, I am unsure what ticket system you refer to.  Additionally
I
> > am unsure what your setup is since you havent even provided more
> > information.  Odds are the equipment that is supposed to do the
failover
> > isnt even asterisk.  Further I do not think that its a business list
> > question (unless you are asking for a consultant to fix your problem
> > with failover).
> >
> > Or was this supposed to be a private email to someone at supertec that
> > you posted to a public mailing list?
> >
> >
> >>
> >> On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 15:34, Suzanne Bowen <suzanne at
supertec.com> wrote:
> >> > There is a Northwest Florida organization
http://www.linkingarms.org who
> >> > wants to have a telethon using open source telephony
technologies. If anyone
> >> > reading this is interested in talking with the executive
director Kenny
> >> > about this, please email me OFF the list so we won't
bother the list with
> >> > further details.
> >> >
> >
>
> You are right, the message was sent to the wrong person. But now that
> this is out in the open, let me explain:
>
> DIDx has an "alternate ring-to" feature. So if our Asterisk
server is
> down, the calls can roll-over elsewhere.
>
> This feature is not working. The calls do roll-over, but there is no
> audio (even using DIDx's own "carrierx.us" proxy) and drop a
few
> seconds later. Testing from a landline, the caller hears a few seconds
> of silence and then a reorder tone. If we set the "alternate
ring-to"
> proxy as the primary ring-to, it does work. Clearly the issue is on
> DIDx's end.
>
> I conducted my testing by issuing the "stop now" command at the
CLI
> and called the DID number from an AT&T landline phone.
>
> I was promised last week this would be looked into, fixed, etc. But no
> response thusfar. I am going to stop using DIDx as it has been one big
> headache. On top of this not working, the CDRs on their website are
> incorrect -- either they have inept programmers or they do absolutely
> no QA testing on their code -- but they'll gladly sell you a copy for
> upwards of $20,000.
>
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com--
>
> asterisk-biz mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz


Rehan Ahmed AllahWala
Msn/Yahoo/GoogleTalk/Email: Rehan at Rehan.com
http://www.supertec.com/ - Internet Telephony Solutions
Http://www.DIDX.net - DID Number Market Place.
Don't Remember Me ? Visit http://www.Rehan.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you,
then you win."
By Gandhi.

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live
forever." - Gandhi

Never dealt with them personally, but I have been made to understand by 
everyone else I know who has in no uncertain terms that:

- Technical, billing and business-related issues abound.

- Support is pretty much a pointless waste of time as you suggest.

- Basic features don't work reliably.

- Backend provisioning is broken;  numbers no longer designated as 
active continue to be tested by their system.

- Billing continues despite cancellation.

- A substantial language and timezone barrier is a big impediment to 
basic communication about routine service issues and basic customer care.

#1 complaint about DIDX specifically is that nobody that speaks English 
coherently or understands SIP issues on a more than passing level can be 
reached.

That's just what I've heard from the acquaintances I have that deal with
DIDX and other SuperTec entities;  I cannot claim to know independently, 
so I can't personally endorse their opinions.  And the people I am 
thinking of aren't really involved in Asterisk or on these lists, and so 
they are not here to speak for themselves.  So please take that as a 
qualification.

Super Technologies has a marketing and product presence under a variety 
of other domain names and brands, all commonly united by Gratuitous 
Capitalisation of Nouns, abundant error's in basic grammar, punctuation, 
structure, and usage of English generally.

An additionally common feature is bizarre and eccentric whitespace 
between words and terminating punctuation. ("Want to Use Voip ?")

www.virtualphoneline.com
www.superivr.net
www.carrierx.org
www.phone2net.com
www.super-phone.com
www.ip-pabx.com
www.call-x.com
www.superpbx.net
www.superphonedirect.com
www.superphonewireless.com
www.schoolmanagementsystem.net
www.healthmanagementsystem.net
www.superfax.com
www.groovytel.com

... and doubtless a number of others.

Andrew Joakimsen wrote:
> I assume most people here know what a joke DIDX is -- but in case you
> didn't already know, please avoid these people.
> 
> Basic features of their service don't work, their tech support
> refuses/drags their feet to fix them for a month and if you post
> publicly about them, they terminate your service.
> 
> Instead of investing their effort in reading mailinglists to terminate
> customers maybe they should invest their efforts in fixing the issues
> with their service first.
> 
> This is all despite the fact that they don't control the numbers they
> sell -- that I understood and can deal with (it never was an issue
> since most of the numbers we had with them were from Global Crossing
> -- "Vendor # 701534" in their system)
> 
> Hell, I was planning to get off their service anyways, if they would
> have allowed me time to properly port out the numbers, they would not
> have created an enemy for life.
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Rehan Allah Wala <rehan at supertec.com>
> Date: Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 13:56
> Subject: Your DIDX account
> To: Andrew Joakimsen <joakimsen at gmail.com>
> Cc: "muneeb @ supertec. com" <muneeb at supertec.com>,
suzanne at supertec.com
> 
> 
> Thank You for this email Andrew,
> 
> Please move your numbers in next 3 days somewhere, we will close your
> account as per
> your request on Tuesday.
> 
> Rehan
> 
>> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 13:09, Trixter aka Bret McDanel
>> <trixter at 0xdecafbad.com> wrote:
>>> On Sat, 2009-01-03 at 12:14 -0500, Andrew Joakimsen wrote:
>>>> Can you look at ticket # 702556000194?
>>>>
>>>> This is very simple:
>>>>
>>> apparently it isnt.
>>>
>>>
>>>> Asterisk is down, I am simulating that with the command
"stop now,"
>>>> Calls should then go to the failover SIP address, but they do
not.
>>>>
>>>> I have been back and forth for weeks with your support and they
do not
>>>> figure it out. I am not even sure they understand what I am
saying.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> is this related to the below request for a non-profit doing a
telethon?
>>> If it is I am confused by it.
>>>
>>> If it isnt, I am unsure what ticket system you refer to. 
Additionally I
>>> am unsure what your setup is since you havent even provided more
>>> information.  Odds are the equipment that is supposed to do the
failover
>>> isnt even asterisk.  Further I do not think that its a business
list
>>> question (unless you are asking for a consultant to fix your
problem
>>> with failover).
>>>
>>> Or was this supposed to be a private email to someone at supertec
that
>>> you posted to a public mailing list?
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 15:34, Suzanne Bowen <suzanne at
supertec.com> wrote:
>>>>> There is a Northwest Florida organization
http://www.linkingarms.org who
>>>>> wants to have a telethon using open source telephony
technologies. If anyone
>>>>> reading this is interested in talking with the executive
director Kenny
>>>>> about this, please email me OFF the list so we won't
bother the list with
>>>>> further details.
>>>>>
>> You are right, the message was sent to the wrong person. But now that
>> this is out in the open, let me explain:
>>
>> DIDx has an "alternate ring-to" feature. So if our Asterisk
server is
>> down, the calls can roll-over elsewhere.
>>
>> This feature is not working. The calls do roll-over, but there is no
>> audio (even using DIDx's own "carrierx.us" proxy) and
drop a few
>> seconds later. Testing from a landline, the caller hears a few seconds
>> of silence and then a reorder tone. If we set the "alternate
ring-to"
>> proxy as the primary ring-to, it does work. Clearly the issue is on
>> DIDx's end.
>>
>> I conducted my testing by issuing the "stop now" command at
the CLI
>> and called the DID number from an AT&T landline phone.
>>
>> I was promised last week this would be looked into, fixed, etc. But no
>> response thusfar. I am going to stop using DIDx as it has been one big
>> headache. On top of this not working, the CDRs on their website are
>> incorrect -- either they have inept programmers or they do absolutely
>> no QA testing on their code -- but they'll gladly sell you a copy
for
>> upwards of $20,000.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com--
>>
>> asterisk-biz mailing list
>> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
> 
> 
> 
> Rehan Ahmed AllahWala
> Msn/Yahoo/GoogleTalk/Email: Rehan at Rehan.com
> http://www.supertec.com/ - Internet Telephony Solutions
> Http://www.DIDX.net - DID Number Market Place.
> Don't Remember Me ? Visit http://www.Rehan.com
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you,
> then you win."
> By Gandhi.
> 
> "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live
> forever." - Gandhi
> 
> _______________________________________________
> -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
> 
> asterisk-users mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users

-- 
Alex Balashov
Evariste Systems
Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel    : (+1) (678) 954-0670
Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671
Mobile : (+1) (678) 237-1775