VOIP Questions, VOIP Answers

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Frequently Asked Questions Get answers to your VOIP questions to ensure you get the service that's right for you.
	Fax, Alarms, Credit Card Readers, Other devices that use phone connections. Does your city have 311 service? Alternative to dialing "311" may be listed here 311 online VoIP Mechanic, Learn about VOIP VoIP Mechanic Site	What should I expect using VOIP Phone service?


	Why should I change to VOIP phone service?	The reason to change to VOIP is to save money and get all the extra features you want at no additional cost.

	What is the minimum start up cost?	The minimum start up costs for any of our services is the cost of the monthly service and a line connection or port fee of $25.00. For residential services we loan and ship free an ATA device. For business services the customer supplies their own equipment.

	What should I expect from VOIP phone service?	VOIP service is powered at your home or facility. When the power is off you will not have VOIP phone service unless your modem, router, ATA device, and phone are on a battery back up system. VOIP service is portable, you can take it with you when you travel and make local calls from your phone. With VOIP service there is no need for a long distance service, all calls within the USA and Canada are considered local calls. From time to time you might have no service, because your internet connection has failed, or because your router has lost it's connection or the ability to preform it's function. If your internet connection or your LAN is overloaded with network traffic, you phone quality will be degraded. Your call might drop. There are many reasons for this, your connection to our servers can travel through as many a 12-15 routing points. Any one of these has a potential of loosing your connection. If this happens, just call back. If our servers are down or we can not get to the internet, or the providers who route to us are down, you will not have phone service. This hardly ever happens, but it has happened. We make every effort to limit the negative things described above. However we thought it is important to describe the worst case possibilities.


	What if I want a new number? Can I choose the new number? Can I get a new number in another area?	New numbers are assigned automatically based on the E911 address you enter in the sign up process. The number will be a local number for your address. If you want a new number local in different area ( not local for you ), we can do this. Contact us for more information.


	What is the process when I port my number? ( keep my existing number )	The loosing service provider has control of the porting of numbers. They set the port date and it is their responsibility to stop their billing process when the port is complete. After we submit a port request with the documents you provided, we receive notification from the loosing provider that the port is accepted and they give us the planned date for the port. 5 to 10 days before that port date, we set up your TinCanTalk service, program and test an ATA device and test your TinCanTalk service. This is your start date and the day we capture and settle your first credit card charge. This will be your billing date each month from then on. The billing should be automatic and you should receive a receipt by email. We ship you the ATA device and email you a "service is active" notice. It usually takes about 2 or 3 days for you to receive the ATA device. Once you have the ATA device or soft phone software set up after your service is active, you can make calls. Incoming calls to your phone number will continue to come through the former service until the port is complete. You will need a phone connected to both services until the port is complete. You will know it is complete, when you begin receiving incoming calls on your TinCanTalk service. Once you are sure that the port is complete we recommend that you call the billing department of your former service and ensure that they stop billing you for services. There are things that can happen during the port process that can stall the port and are out of our control. But, we make every effort to avoid any delays and make sure you have everything you need in advance of the port, so you will not be without phone service.


	What am I agreeing to when I sign up?	Some VOIP Providers are not clear about their payment terms. We have included below a brief summary of our payment terms, to avoid any confusion now or in the future. TinCanTalk's payment terms are simple and clear: When you sign up for any of our plans, you are agreeing to the following: At sign up: To pay the monthly service fee and a $25.00 number connection fee. Each month: To pay in advance the monthly service fee and any overage and international calling fee from the previous month. At time of Account cancellation: To give a one billing cycle month of advance notice of termination. To pay any unpaid monthly fees, and any overage and international calling fee from the previous month, and you will return any equipment we have supplied for free. You pay the shipping cost. When you sign up for any of our PBX services, you agree to the above terms, but there was no free equipment provided.


	What am I actually paying for?	You are purchasing a monthly service. We provide access to telephone service over the internet to your local internet connection. Our responsibility ends at your local internet connection. For residential and single line business plans we loan you a device to consume these services. For PBX plans you must provide your own equipment, IP phones or ATA devices. We offer ATA devices for sale. We will make every effort to train you in the use of the devices and services. We will help or teach you how to set up your router and LAN. Over the phone we help with connecting analog phones to ATA devices. We provide USA based technical support by phone and email.


	What if the loaned ATA device fails?	If the loaned ATA device fails, we will replace it at no cost to you.


	The ATA device I received looks used?	You may receive a used ATA device. We reloan devices returned from customers. These devices are tested and in good working order. This should not cause any problems with your phone service.


	What do I need to use TinCanTalk services? Do I need a computer?	You need a high speed DSL or Cable connection and a touch tone phone. We provide the phone adapter. No computer is needed to use TinCanTalk phone service. If you want to share your high speed connection with your computer and phone, you will need a router.


	What if my DSL is on my land line, if I port my number will I loose my DSL connection?	This depends on your DSL connection provider. We have found it is important to contact your current phone company and let them know you plan to port your phone service to a VOIP company and you want to keep your DSL without phone service. In most cases they will try to discourage this action, even to the extent of telling you it is not possible. All phone companies have the technical ability to provide DSL without phone service. This is often called "dry loop DSL" or "naked DSL". It is important to make these arrangements in advance of porting your phone number. If this is not done, when the phone number is ported, you may loose you DSL connection.


	Where is TinCanTalk located? Does TinCanTalk have U.S. based customer service?	Business Office and Customer Support Services: 260 Lindo Lane Unit A Morgan Hill, CA 95037 Phones: Office (408) 779-1748 Email: info1@tincantalk.com billing@tincantalk.com support@tincantalk.com


	Will TinCanTalk service work with a satellite or cellular internet connection?	The best connection types for our service are cable or DSL.


	Can I pay by check?	We prefer payment by credit card. We do accept payment for services by check in yearly payments in advance.


	What is the start up cost? What is the cancelation costs?	There is a number connection fee of $25.00. There is no charge for our standard shipping of the ATA device to residential customers. There are no termination or cancelation fees. Residential customers pay the return shipping on the loaned ATA device upon termination. The first charge on your credit card will be the connection fee and the first month's fee. We supply the ATA device at no charge to you. It is on loan to you for as long as you have TinCanTalk phone service. Failure to return the ATA device upon termination will result in a $79.00 charge on your credit card for the ATA device. Please read our complete Terms of Service


	When do my charges start?	When you sign up there is an authorize only hold placed on your credit card. It may appear as a charge or a debit memo on your account. The charge does not actually happen until we activate your phone account.


	Who do I contact for answers about my credit card charge or billing?	Business Office: 260 Lindo Lane Unit A Morgan Hill, CA 95035 Phones: Office (408) 779-1748 billing@tincantalk.com



	People say they hear beeps when I talk to them? I am getting random DTMF tones. Sometimes the listener gets it and I don't hear it, other times I get it and they don't.	This is a common problem with VOIP. The technical term for this is DTMF talkoff. Google this term "DTMF talkoff" Talk-Off, or Talkoff, is the term that describes when a human voice is able to trigger touch tones, or DTMF tones during a telephone call. Talk-Off occurs when a signal processing system tries to translate sounds into to touch tones. Some people's voices are able to recreate touch tones frequently relative to the general population. BTW, it happens with male voices...just a mention because I've read that high frequency female voices can cause tones to be generated. (Don't shoot the messenger)


	How long does it take to get TinCanTalk phone service? Do I cancel my current phone service first?	Brand new numbers take just a few days, if there is E911 service available at your street address. Keeping your current phone number is considered a port to TinCanTalk. Porting numbers have the same need for E911 and usually take only 10 working days to transfer. However many things can effect the time required to port existing numbers. DO NOT TERMINATE YOUR EXISTING PHONE SERVICE IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR NUMBER. Only active numbers can be ported.


	When I travel, can I take my phone?	You can either take your ATA device and a phone or use free software on your computer. Contact us for more details.


	Fax, Alarms, Credit Card Readers, Other devices that use phone connections. Will my alarm system work using VOIP? My satellite tv provider requires a phone line, can I use VOIP service for this? Can I use my credit card machine with VOIP service? Can I use my fax machine with VOIP service? Faxing over VOIP, check out this site VoIP Mechanic	Every device that uses a telephone line to communicate has a built in modem for this purpose. These devices will work if you can access their control settings and slow down their communication rate. We have customers using these devices successfully. We can help with these devices, however we do not guarantee they will work. Analog devices such as fax machines, alarm systems, satellite television receivers, & credit card machines are not supported over the VoIP service. These types of devices were designed to work on the analog phone technology to communicate and transmit information. The way VoIP compress's and converts the analog signal into a digital signal is not consistent enough for the analog signal. You are also relying on the internet connection from your location to our servers, back to the PSTN for the signal to be fully transmitted. If there are any dropped packets or high latency times, the compressed digitalized analog signal will become corrupt and not be processed correctly at its destination. For this reason we cannot support these devices and cannot guarantee they will work on our network. There are a few things that can be done to optimize your chances of faxing. We recommend that you set the BAUD (or transfer) Rate to 9600 and turn Error Correction Mode (ECM) off. With these settings your chances of using an analog device are the best we can offer.




	What is the definition of Residential service?	Residential Use of Service and Device. If you subscribe to TinCanTalk residential services, the Service and the Device are provided to you solely for residential use. You shall not resell or transfer the Service or the Device to another party without our prior written consent. You are prohibited from using the Service or the Device for auto-dialing, continuous or extensive call forwarding, telemarketing (including, without limitation, charitable or political solicitation or polling), fax or voicemail broadcasting or fax or voicemail blasting. We reserve the right to immediately terminate or modify your Service if we determine, in our sole and absolute discretion, that your use of the Service or the Device is, or at any time was, inconsistent with normal residential usage patterns. In addition, you will be required to pay our higher rates for commercial service for all periods in which your use of the Service or the Device was inconsistent with normal residential use. We consider more than 3000 calling minutes per month inconsistent with normal residential usage.

	What VOIP Services does TinCanTalk offer	Tincantalk offers the following serviices VOIP home phone service VOIP residential service VOIP business phone service VOIP business service Virtual PBX phone systems for business VOIP Hosted PBX services VOIP call forwarding services VOIP residential toll free services VOIP business toll free services VOIP service for installed PBX systems SIP Trunking service for existing phone systems, both analog and digital.