Lingo Reviews

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Lingo is a VoIP provider with lots of experience behind it. With nearly 15 years of experience, they are one of the most experienced of any of the voip providers we reviewed.

Our favorite offering from Lingo is the Smart Talk plan which starts at $4.95 per month. It has no activation fee (it is currently waived but you must use the PROMO code: LSTCJ1 ), free calls to other Lingo customers and unlimited calling to both landlines and cell phones in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico & the US Virgin Islands. It also includes unlimited calls to land lines in nearly 30 countries! They offer a free lease for the required Internet phone adapter. You only pay $21.95 for the shipping plus the first month service of $4.95 and taxes. Discounting the free month & shipping costs, the effect per month rate, based on a year, is $20.53 per month. NOTE: YOU must enter in PROMO CODE: LSTCJ1 on the payment screen to get this promotional rate on the final screen.
The South Asia plan offers a rate to call India for only 2.9 cents per minute to both landlines and cell phones. This is the lowest rate to India of any of our providers but the cost of this plan is $29.95 instead of the $21.95 for the Chatter Box. Also, you do not get the unlimited calling to the 22 countries but if you only call India frequently, the Lingo South Asia plan is the one for you.

Another alternative is the LatAm SaveMore plan which, instead of the 22 countries in the Chatter Box, has unlimited calling to Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Caracas, and Rio de Janeiro. It also has extremely low rates to 19 other Latin American Countries starting at just 2.9 cents per minute. The price of the LatAm plan is only $21.95. It is the best plan for anyone with friends and loved ones in Latin America.

Overall, Lingo is an outstanding offering and offers very aggressive rates. They also offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you are unhappy. After 30 days, there is a $99.95 cancellation fee if you cancel before 1 year. If you make lots of international calls, we strongly recommend you try Lingo as they do offer some of the best international calling rates of any voip service provider we have reviewed. Remember, you must enter promo code: LSTCJ1 to enjoy the $4.95 Lingo Smart Talk Plan which is the one we recommend!

Lingo
Activation Fee: $0.00
One Time Equipment Charge: $0.00
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
First Month Service: $4.95
Total First Month: $4.95
Month 2: $21.95
Month 3: $21.95
Total for Months 4 - 12: $197.55
Total Costs for the Year: $246.40
Average Monthly Costs: $20.53

Lingo Reviews Customer Reviews

So Far So Good, April 23, 2009
Anthony - Dallas, TX

Customer Service
5
Sound Quality
4
Reliability
4
Features
5
Price
5
Overall Experience
5
I just started with them after AT&T CallVantage shut down. Their international rates are excellent and the monthly price is nearly unbeatable. The sign up was easy and I'm making calls already with it and the sound is pretty good but I thought AT&T was a bit better. For the price, I think Lingo is worth it.

Lingo Phone Service, May 19, 2009
Justin - Salt Lake City, Utah

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
I have had Lingo for over a year when I signed up you had to continue service for at least 3 months. About 2 months ago they changed there Terms of Service to 1 year I had been having trouble with them for about 5 months, constantly I couldn't Hear anyone on the line I would call they would fix it for about 1 day and then would go back to not being able to hear on the phone. well I canceled because I didn't want their service any longer and because of the change of ToS well They just decided to charge my account not only one last monthly fee but 2 months after they charged me a 99.99 cancellation fee. They Will Not return my funds or even talk about it. I ADVISE Everyone NOT TO USE LINGO go with a company that wont Rip you off every chance they get.

Sound Quality of Lingo, May 19, 2009
Bob - Dallas, TX

Customer Service
2
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
2
Features
3
Price
1
Overall Experience
3
We have had Lingo for two years, and have never been really satisfied with the quality of the sound. It is almost impossible to get a clear, uninterrupted signal when calling toll-free numbers. Lingo made several excuses for this problem, but has never really fixed it. Sometimes we have to have the party we are calling call us back in order to get rid of the intermittant breakup of the calling signal. We are looking to get out of the service and into another provider.

Strange Name but Great Experience, May 19, 2009
Jennifer Flavin - Tampa, FL

Customer Service
4
Sound Quality
4
Reliability
4
Features
4
Price
4
Overall Experience
4
My family moved from Florida and I had used SBC/ATT when we lived in California. The old phone companies have really bad prices and setup fees that I found annoying. I saw all the Vonage commercials but I wanted to see what else was out there. I found this Voice Reports site and it made it a lot easier for me to shop. Most of the providers have pretty good pricing but I decided on giving Lingo a try since I felt comfortable with them after I read an article in Wired Magazine. I never used VOIP before and was a little cautious. I don't use my phone that often but I want to make sure that when I use it, I won't have any anxiety about the cost of per minute calls racking up. I signed up, got my equipment. I had some problems and got frustrated but eventually I got everything working with their customer service department. It's so much better than the old phone company and I get really cheap calls. It's a pretty good deal.

Member since 2005, May 21, 2009
Mike - Charlotte, NC

Customer Service
2
Sound Quality
2
Reliability
3
Features
4
Price
3
Overall Experience
2
I had Vonage prior to using Lingo. The first years were great. Until I had issues with various calls hanging up anywhere from 10 to 90 mins. I struggled on and off with that problem. Today, its now 90 mins. Had my conference call end in mid sentence. This year I have 4 touble tickets from 3/26 to 4/13. I had called 5/13 about an issue with a two minute ring between rings.They fixed it but now the issue with the 90 mins has started again. Oh, at the height of the email, I received a threaten message about my unlimit plan being limited. (lol) that was funny. I had it with them and have started to move my line over to another company. One with direct tech support. No tiers and bad communications. Btw, I never knew this, but they were changing the time on my phone. I had three calls to them about it. They were good when they started but I am leaving them now. Pray you never call them for a technical issue. Btw, their parent company is Primus in Canada. The Virgina office is just a waste of time to contact. Go ahead try to find the head of that snake. Support is in India. Tier 1 and 2 are bad and Tier three fixes the problems tier 1 and 2 broke. Btw, my new voip has better sound quality and better, knowledgable and understandable support. I am not hating on India but Lingo needs to improve their support.

Worth it, May 22, 2009
Anno - NY, NY

Customer Service
4
Sound Quality
4
Reliability
4
Features
5
Price
5
Overall Experience
4
I just started with them. AT&T CallVantage sevice is been shut down. The sign up was easy and I'm making calls already with Temp. Phone number that they have provided. Old number porting take 20 days. AT&T was a little better. Price is good + 90KB Bandwidth make a big difference.

Surprise Fees and Rate Galore, June 03, 2009
Peter - Boston, MA

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
2
Reliability
1
Features
3
Price
2
Overall Experience
1
I signed up for Lingo because the rate looked attractive for the country I usually call in South Asia. I after 6 months, they came up with this South Asia Plan where you pay $29.99 per month and with this plan the country I usually call will be 0.029 per min where the regular rate is 0.059. After I signed up, all went well for few months and I usually never check my statements. Last month when I was checking my statements, I found they were charging me $29.99 per month and the regular rates since last six months. When I called the customer service, no one could give me a clear explaination and promised to investigate this matter. After allmost a month, I allready spoke to 7 different people including 2 supervisors. As of today, they denied to give the credit back to me. I'll cancel the service now as I'm shooping for the right VOIP service and I'll take legal action. This is my story but two of my friends is going through the exact same thing. BEWARE!

Licensed Criminals Stay Away At All Costs!!!!!, July 28, 2009
LingoHater - Atlanta

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
These criminals are the scum of the earth! They overcharged my bank card and cost me three $35.00 overdraft charges! I emailed my bank statement showing their criminality and they refuse to reimburse me for the $105.00. I will be suing them in small claims court and I will be relentless in revealing their criminal enterprise. Do yourself a favor and run from these creeps! Don't let them screw you as they have me. They don't even deserve a rating, they're world-class losers! One thing, revenge is sweet! Lingo, you screwed with the wrong dude this time you filthy scum!

Lingo is the worst company that I have ever dealt with!!!, September 12, 2009
Robs - Campbell, CA

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
2
Reliability
1
Features
2
Price
2
Overall Experience
1
My experience with Lingo has only been bad. The customer service is appalling, they dont know what they are talking about and sound like they are reading off cards. They hang up on you and you generally hold for 10 mins before you can get through to them. They bill incorrectly, dont give them your credit card! You can never get to speak to a manager if you are having a problem. I have cancelled my service with them after 6 weeks of stress and are now trying to pay the final bill, which I have been chasing for 6 weeks. I am now being sent letters by a debt collection agency, how am I supposed to pay them if they wont send me a bill?!!!! Now my credit rating will be ruined through no fault of my own...All I can say is run a mile, the cheaper rate is not worth the hell you will go through...

Stay away from Lingo, December 24, 2009
Jack - USA

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
2
Reliability
1
Features
3
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
I have been a Lingo VOIP customer for last three years with a residential connection without a problem with their service. I switched my VoIP plan to their Lingo World Max "Unlimited" Plan about two months ago and things went horribly wrong. Like each of the hundreds of people putting complaints about Lingo - I have been a victim of their scam. After a month of service, they suspended my service saying (by email) that my usage was above normal!! So much for an “unlimited” plan – they cancelled my “unlimited “ service saying my call volume was above average!! Since 12/11/2009 my service has been disconnected – Lingo sent the following email to me: “Our recent reports indicate that your calling patterns and usage have exceeded the acceptable threshold for a residential customer. Effective today, your Lingo service has been suspended. Please contact Customer Care at 1-888-546-4699 so that we may provide you with other options to continue using your Lingo service. Sincerely, Lingo” It seems they are insinuating that I am using this service for business purposes, which I am clearly not since I don’t run a business and this phone is in home. I made several calls to my wife who is travelling abroad – which is the reason to begin with why I changed to the World Max plan. Despite a month of calling about 20 times and unlimited holds for hours, and several voicemails and emails sent to them, I still havent heard back from the so called "concerned department" to resolve my issue and give me back the phone service. The customer care people in the Phillipines always tranfer to this option 7 so called concerned department - which now a days is not even taking mesages saying the mailbox is full. The thruth I got from their reps is that their World Max plan rolled out to compete with Vonage has gone horribly wrong and they are loosing money in this business. So it seems they have chosen to fraud the customers instead - first by making them signup for a 2 yr contract to switch to the Lingo World Max plan, then suspending their service for “high usage” and then "resolving" the issue by forcing the customer to change their plan back to some other plan and making them pay a $99 cancellation fee as written in the terms and conditions!!! Now this is the information I got from their operators in the Phillipines. They have also informed me that there is a mass of customers who have lost their service because of “high usage”. And all the hundreds of complaints only confirms this scam that is happening right now – see hundreds of complaints similar to mine at http://www.my3cents.com/search.cgi?criteria=Lingo Is the FCC going to allow Lingo to manipulate customers with fine print ? Is this lawful to cancel a customer’s service and then not respond to them for several weeks, especially for an essential service as a telephone ?

LINGO SUCKS & F***KS, February 17, 2010
JOHN - SALISBURY MD

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
PLS DONT EVEN TRY LINGO .... I USED THEIR CONNECTION FOR 2 YEARS FINALLY AFTER MY CONTRACT IS OVER I CANCELLED AND GO FOR VONAGE BUT THEY CHARGED MY BANK ACCOUNT FOR 99.95 & WHEN I CALLED THEM THEY SAID THEY WRONGLY POSTED PAYMENT THEY WILL GIVE ME CREDIT FOR THAT BUT MY BANK CHARGED ME 3 x 35$ OVERDRAFT FEE IN TO MY ACCOUNT THEN I FILLED DISPUTE TO MY BANK THEN I GOT EVERYTHING BACK... SO PLS DONT GO FOR LINGO... TRY VONAGE ...

Scammed after being a customer for 5+ years, March 20, 2010
ExLingoCust - NJ

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
4
Reliability
4
Features
4
Price
4
Overall Experience
1
I had been a loyal, long time customer of Lingo - I had signed up with them in December 2004 and had no problems with them until last year. Based on their advertisements, I signed up for Lingo\'s World Max unlimited calling. I paid a $10 fee to make the plan change, which became active towards the end of October 2009. We make calls to India, predominantly to a few numbers. We were happily using the service when on Dec 16 my service stopped working. This being the only landline, my 5 month old infant and mother in law at home, we were pretty flabbergasted about the reason. When I called Lingo, I was told that they had sent an email 10 days ago (which had gone to my spam folder) about the fact that my usage was excessive and beyond the \"normal\" residential usage. I asked the guy to tell me how much was \"normal\" and what was the meaning of \"Unlimited\". He kept on blabbering about \"average use\", \"expected use\" etc. etc. and was never able to answer anything specifically. When I asked to speak to the manager, he said the manager was busy on another call. Finally, as I was traveling to India that evening, I asked what the options were - and he said that I will have to switch back to the previous plan (which did not have India free) - I could not restart on Unlimited World Max plan. It was almost that I was being punished for going over the limit of the \"unlimited\" plan. I asked him to switch the plan and restore the service (while at Chicago airport, waiting to board the flight). The next thing I did was to order Vonage right there, before boarding. Once Vonage was setup, they took almost 6 days for number transfer (happened on Jan 6, 2010). While looking up my credit card statements, I was appalled to see Lingo charges continuing on the card. I called them up to ask what the charges were for and was told that since I had not canceled the service, those were month charges for Jan and Feb. I asked the rep her name, her agent id and asked her to tell me what service did Lingo exactly provide in Jan and Feb to me, for which they charged my credit card. She said that even though I did not use the service, as per the terms and condition, as the account was still active, they had billed me. I corrected her saying that it was not a question of me \"not using the service\" - \"there was no service available to me from Lingo\" as the number had already been ported out of Lingo and I did not have any other number on the account. So if Lingo decides to bill me, it is charging for nothing and I am going to take this further - to the courts if required. She then said that she will request a credit for the two months that they charged me without service. I will wait to see if it actually occurs.

Worst ever!, June 29, 2010
Eman - Los Angeles

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
2
Reliability
3
Features
2
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
All I can say is stay as far away as possible!

Zero rating ( giving 1 star because otherwise you can not post review) , July 18, 2010
S g - Chicago IL

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
stay away . never fall for initial rates

Worst customer support ever, August 05, 2010
David - Cincinnati, Ohio 45244

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
2
Reliability
2
Features
2
Price
2
Overall Experience
1
I've used Lingo for 5 years. I've put up with dropped calls here and there. But the customer support needs to be shot. You get stuck talking to someone in a hut somewhere far far away that is reading a cue card in broken english. After perhaps 5 or 6 attempts you reach someone coherent who gives you a lame answer to your problem. The email they give out for support comes back undeliverable. My phone won't work so I guess I 'll next door to call them to cancel. They make it almost impossible to cancel (it has to be done over a phone, yay). It is hard to type this and not use a bunch of four letter words.

DnK Hawaii, November 22, 2010
David - Honolulu, HI.

Customer Service
4
Sound Quality
5
Reliability
5
Features
5
Price
4
Overall Experience
4
So far the only problem was the first "Box" we received was dead, would not power up. Called in to tech service "heavy India accent" and finally got them to send us a replacement "Box". Worked as soon as we plugged it in. So far we have called Canada, Parents in Wisconson, California, a friend in Austuaulia and all has worked as advertised. Happy with the calling experiance so far. It's been 3 weeks. The only problem is we have to dial 808 area code to make a local call, strange, but so far has not been a problem.

Awful Customer Service; No Good Faith; Look Elsewhere for Service, January 22, 2011
Mark - Chicago

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
3
Reliability
2
Features
4
Price
1
Overall Experience
2
I have been a lingo customer for over 5 years. The sole reason for sticking with them so long has been my ability to have a second line in a foreign country. Said number has been a problems throughout that time, working only sporadically and inconsistently. Several months ago, after hearing from friends about the line's failure again, I opened several tickets (no proactive action on their part for the entire 5 years) and, after waiting for weeks and me calling several times, I was advised that lingo no longer has the phone number that had been assigned to me. WOW! I wonder whether lingo stopped paying its bills to said provider or what else it screwed-up. Bottom line, my service has not working for 4 months (and lingo knows this), BUT I have been charged the $10 monthly fee (and continue to being charged said amount). I recommend people staying away from this company. I am going to start searching for other options.

Lingo is a bad joke!, February 15, 2011
Robert - Memphis, TN

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
I had Lingo for 1 year. 100% of it's Customer & Technical support is in India. An Indian told me that. I never had good call quality inside or outside the United States of America. After complaining, the tech support told me that they did not have the equipment that other VoIP providers had. Sounded like excuses to me. Always had trouble with making them understanding the problems. Their rates were good but without the good call quality, why pay them? 15 years experience? Doing what? I have a VoIP provider with less experience that blows Lingo out of the water. Usually Lingo is so far down the list of VoIP providers that they are not even listed, and so it should be. I only stayed 1 year with them because of the contract. Now I have been with Phone Power for 14 months and have never looked back. They put Lingo to shame in the first 2 months. My advice is to forget about Lingo, but I also understand to each his/her own.

Could not cancel after the 1 year contract, February 15, 2011
M&S - Cranberry TWP, PA USA

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
5
Price
5
Overall Experience
1
Like other have said, we had customer services problems. People on the other line had pre-defined answers. The service was not reliable. The worst thing for us is that when we had enough, after 1 year, we decided not to renew our service. We could not cancel. We had to dispute the charge on our credit card and port our number to other company. We could never get through to a manager to properly do this. They kept trying to charge us even tough we had emails acknowledging our cancellation request.

lingo is a waste of time and money, March 07, 2011
maruti - texas

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
plz guys dont go with lingo just waste of time and money very very bad customer service its my experience save you r money

Lingo VOIP review, May 09, 2011
Rashmi - Bangalore, India. Relocated from Boston, US.

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
I havent found a worse company than Lingo. I relocated to India and am trying to cancel for 2 months. They tell me that my account is suspended for non payment and continue to charge my credit card. When I finally get thru to them, they refuse to refund. They lie, they are extremely inefficient - don't know that the billing dept has charged me and my account is very much active -, impolite customer service reps who tell that the charges are correct and refuse to accept their mistake though its all in writing in emails. I am fed up. DO NOT SUBSCRIBE to Lingo, its a nightmare to work with them.

Lingo is worst company ever, August 05, 2011
Tarun Jain - Aldie, VA

Customer Service
1
Sound Quality
1
Reliability
1
Features
1
Price
1
Overall Experience
1
Please don't pick Lingo even if they are last phone company left on the planet. They'll continue to charge you even after you disconnect. Worst customer service ever.