Ziply Fiber landline customers have been facing several problems with their service since its inception. The most common complaint is about the poor sound quality of calls. Many customers have also reported dropped calls and call failures.
Unhelpful and unresponsive customer support, terrible service, and long wait times to reach support have forced customers to look for Ziply Fiber VoIP alternatives. This article provides information on the drawbacks of Ziply Fiber landlines and the best alternative.
Drawbacks of Ziply Fiber Landline Service
1. Landline Service Is Not their Primary Focus
Landline service is not Ziply Fiber’s primary focus. They focus on their internet services, so you will have to bundle your home phone with their internet.
Switch to Community Phone, the wireless home phone service, fighting to keep landlines alive. Their wireless landline base does not tie your phone to the internet or bundle it with other services. Talk to their specialists to learn more!
2. Poor Customer Service
Several customer complaints and reviews state that Ziply Fiber customer support reps are unhelpful and difficult to reach. As per customers, the reps are difficult to understand and do not follow up on customer commitments. This customer apathy has forced several customers to look for better landline services with reliable customer support.
3. Deposit Fees & Credit Check
Ziply Fiber conducts credit checks on your account before deciding the deposit fees you must pay. The credit check can impact your credit score negatively. The company may increase the fees if the credit rating is not maintained or adjust the deposit fees against other outstanding payments.
4. Patchy Connectivity
Ziply Fiber’s internet phones need more bandwidth than normal browsing. So, you need a high-speed internet connection for good call quality. Fluctuating internet connectivity in urban areas and blind spots at home will lead to issues such as call drops, jitter, latency, and poor voice quality.
5. Questionable Reliability
Ziply Fiber’s internet-based phones will go down:
- If you or the company have a power outage
- Ziply Fiber has internet issues
- Network outages
- Scheduled or unscheduled maintenance.
Such issues make internet-based phones highly unreliable if you want to stay connected with loved ones or emergency services.
6. Your VoIP Number May Be Marked as Spam
VoIP numbers are the highest source of unwanted calls. Studies have shown that over 66% of high-risk and 61% of nuisance calls originate from VoIP numbers.
A WOW VoIP number may sometimes lead to your number being mistaken for spam and blocked by the provider. Or, your loved ones and friends may ignore your call, fearing it to be spam.
7. Phone Lines Down During Power Outages
Ziply Fiber’s internet phones will go down during a power outage. Investing in a battery backup unit can be an option, but it is expensive and is not the perfect solution. Backup power units can help you only if you have a power outage, but if your VoIP provider has an outage or other issues, your phone lines will be down.
8. Safety and Security Issues
Calls made through your Ziply Fiber phone will leave you vulnerable to hacks, attacks, malware, and internet-related threats. Hackers may intercept your data when you use the internet for communication, leading to data and identity theft.
For example, you may be liable for credit cards, expensive purchases, and loans you never took.
9. Poor Call Quality
Call quality and clarity of VoIP phones depend on the strength of the internet connection. Internet speeds depend on various factors like network congestion, time of the day, your device, surrounding vegetation, etc., and are inconsistent throughout the day. This fluctuation can lead to call drops, latency, and poor call quality.
10. Lack of Flexibility
Internet-based phones boast flexibility claiming you can make or receive calls anywhere. However, since call quality and connectivity on your Ziply Fiber phones depend on your internet's strength, it will only be consistent in some places.
Blind spots at home, the distance from the modem/router, and the number of obstacles between you and the modem/router will influence call quality and connectivity. These scenarios can lead to call drops, jitter, latency, and poor call quality, even if you have a high-speed internet connection from Ziply Fiber.
11. Installation Costs and Challenges
Ziply Fiber requires internet installation at your home to provide you with landline service. The expertise required for the installation and the company’s customer response will determine the speed and accuracy of the installation and the subsequent working of your phones. Be ready to face several technical issues if the installation is incomplete or incorrect.
12. Challenges With Emergency Tracking
First responders, especially 911, cannot trace your location accurately if you call them from your Ziply Fiber phone. Since the information comes from an IP address with no GPS data and is not from a physical address or cell tower, location tracking becomes difficult.
13. Specialized Hardware
You must buy a specialized VoIP router, special ethernet cables, and a VoIP-compatible phone to start using your Ziply Fiber landline. You will be stranded without a phone if the technician does not install the hardware correctly or the setup is incomplete.
Community Phone - The Best Ziply Fiber Alternative
Community Phone provides reliable wireless landline phone service that eliminates the need for internet or copper connections. Their wireless landline base connects your phone to local cell towers to provide reliability, excellent call quality, and safety. The company’s partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure you have great connectivity across 99% of the US, including rural and low-reception areas.
Enjoy unlimited nationwide calling, the freedom of wireless access, and several fantastic calling features like spam call blocking, 3-way calling, call routing, call forwarding, call waiting, caller ID, landline texting, and more at affordable prices.
How It Works
The Community Phone landline base does not tie your phone to the internet as it works off resilient cell towers. The company's partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure connectivity across 99% of the U.S., including rural areas. The built-in antennas on the base amplify signals from mobile towers to ensure superior voice quality in low-reception areas.
The 12-hour backup battery in the base ensures your phones continue working during a power outage or blackout in your area.
What Makes Community Phone Better than Ziply Fiber?
Here are some salient Community Phone features that make it better than VoIP providers:
1. Connectivity
Community Phone has partnered with nationwide carriers to ensure coverage across 99% of the U.S. Since the wireless landline base does not need an internet connection to work, you will not face issues such as call drops, jitter, or latency.
2. Reliability
Resilient technology makes your Community Phone landline the most reliable option to stay connected with loved ones and emergency services. Their landline base works off resilient cell towers with power backups to support them during a massive outage. The base also has a 12-hour backup battery that keeps your phone working during a power outage or blackout in your area.
3. Security
Since Community Phone does not tie your landline to the internet, it does not leave you vulnerable to hacks, attacks, data, or identity theft. You get an additional layer of security as the wireless landline cannot be wiretapped like conventional landlines.
4. Call Quality
Community Phone has partnered with carriers nationwide to ensure robust coverage and clear voice quality in rural areas. The landline base has built-in antennas that amplify mobile signals to ensure crystal-clear voice quality in poor-reception areas.
5. Geographical Limitations
Community Phone's landline service covers 99% of the U.S., including rural areas, making geographical limitations and the monopoly of certain carriers a thing of the past. You can take your Community Phone landline anywhere in the US, as all you need is a power outlet and a phone to have a landline.
6. Flexibility
Community Phone's partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique landline base design ensure excellent voice quality and connectivity across 99% of the U.S. Experience extreme flexibility with your Community Phone landline, as you can take it anywhere without changing the number. Plug it into a power outlet and a phone, and your landline will work as well as new!
7. Installation
You do not need a technician or advanced skills to install your Community Phone landline. You can set up your landline in 30 seconds with the following steps:
- Unwrap the landline base
- Connect the base to a power outlet. Do not turn it on yet.
- Hook your phone to the base per instructions in the manual (Phone 1/Phone 2 port)
- Toggle the ON/OFF switch to the ON position
- Turn on the power and wait for 5 mins. Once the base finishes setup, make a test call to ensure your phone works as intended.
8. Emergency Tracking
First responders can easily track your location in an emergency, as they can trace the data originating from the cell tower and zero in on your location.
9. Hardware
You don't need fancy equipment for your Community Phone landline, except the landline base and a SIM. You will receive the SIM with the base when you sign up with Community Phone.
The landline base is compatible with all phone models, saving you the hassle of buying new phone equipment. Save time and money with the zero-cost installation of the landline base.
Community Phone Landline Features
Spam Call Blocking
Scammers made about 200 million calls to unsuspecting victims in 2022. Since scam calls have been steadily increasing year after year, manual call blocking is no longer effective. According to reports, con artists have even discovered techniques to get around the STIR/SHAKEN regulations that the government has implemented for customer safety.
Get the Community Phone spam-blocker, your one-stop solution to barring unwanted and unlawful calls from ringing your phone. The spam blocker challenges robocalls and blocks them before the call can ring your phone, ensuring protection against spam.
The "Safelist," a new Community Phone feature, allows you to list the numbers you want to accept calls from. Your phone will ring to let calls from these numbers through and block all others before the phone rings. You can update your allowed list anytime to add or delete numbers, or Community Phone specialists will be happy to assist you.
Studies report that several people miss legitimate calls fearing spam. Understanding the need to balance robust spam protection and legitimate calls, Community Phone is launching another iteration of the Safelist soon. This feature will allow you to accept calls from numbers you want and route the rest to voicemail. Since Community Phone will not block other numbers, you can check your voice messages and respond to the ones you deem necessary.
The soon-to-be-launched "blocklist" is an aggressive spam blocker that blocks over 6 million spam calls based on an ever-growing database of spam numbers and a spam score. You can actively contribute to this database by adding a spam number to protect yourself and other Community Phone customers from scams and fraud.
Talk to Community Phone specialists to learn more!
Call Waiting
The call-waiting feature helps you handle two calls simultaneously. You will hear 2 beeps when there is an incoming call while you are engaged on one call. You can place the first call on hold, talk to the second caller, or route it to voicemail.
Call Forwarding
Enable call forwarding to forward important calls when you cannot answer them from your business landline. You can opt from one of the several Community Phone options to forward your business calls to a number of your choice.
Temporary Forwarding: Use the manual process to turn call forwarding ON/OFF if you are temporarily away from your business phone. Here's how you can enable it:
- Get a dial tone
- Dial **21*1
- Dial the 10-digit number you want the calls forwarded to and #
- Three beeps will indicate you have enabled call forwarding
Follow the same steps, but press ##21# to turn off call forwarding.
Unconditional Forwarding: Forward all calls from your landline to a cell phone or another number of your choice and ditch your landline.
Conditional Forwarding: You can program several phone numbers to ring simultaneously with one incoming call, allowing the person available to answer the call.
You can also have numbers ring in succession if the first number is busy or does not answer. For example, your cell phone can ring if you do not answer your landline within 20 seconds.
Call History
Enable the call history feature and access information on incoming and outgoing calls to and from your Community Phone landline.
You can use this feature to
- Return missed calls from known contacts
- Store legitimate contacts
- Check caller information against known contacts
- Send a message or
- Block spam calls.
Caller ID
On Outgoing Calls
Opt for the caller ID feature so the recipient can see your number or name when you make outbound calls. This feature can help loved ones answer your call or return missed calls without mistaking them as spam.
Incoming Calls
You will be able to see the caller ID of the person calling you if:
- The person has enabled caller ID
- Has registered in the national register
- Your phone can support the caller ID feature.
Community Phone does not use third-party apps to provide the caller ID feature.
Landline Texting
Studies reveal that millennials and later generations prefer texting to talking. Stay in touch with younger children or grandchildren by texting them from your Community Phone landline through the landline texting feature. The unlimited text feature and 2-way messaging enable you to see the messages from the recipient and continue the conversation.
3-way Calling
Connect with 2 or more of your loved ones simultaneously with the 3-way calling feature, spend some great moments, and create memorable experiences. You can connect with your loved ones on the same call and hear them speak simultaneously without worrying about free calling apps, internet bandwidth, or patchy and dropped internet calls.
Benefits of Switching to Community Phone
Community Phone members enjoy the following benefits:
Unlimited nationwide calling and text: Stay in touch with loved ones across the U.S. with Community Phone's unlimited talk and text.
No internet needed: The Community Phone landline base works off cell towers without tying your phone to the internet. Since your phones are not dependent on the internet, they will continue working during an internet outage or maintenance.
Number choice: You can get a new local number FREE when you sign up with Community Phone. You can also transfer your existing number through their unique hand-held porting process.
Zero-cost Installation: The landline base does not require a technician to install it. You or anyone in your business or household can install your Community Phone landline in under 30 seconds and be ready to make calls in 5 mins.
24/7 reliable customer support: Contact Community Phone customer support via phone, email, and live chat 24/7 to experience world-class support from live agents. Glowing customer reviews on BBB and Trustpilot are testimonies of their commitment to customers.
Works during power outages: The 12-hour backup battery in the landline base ensures your phones continue working during power outages and blackouts.
How to get a Community Phone landline?
Follow these steps to get a Community Phone landline:
- Call Community Phone at (866)-340-6256 and speak with a specialist.
- The rep will check your area for coverage. Since Community Phone covers 99% of the US, this should not be an issue.
- You get a local number FREE when you signup. Choose a new number or port your existing number. The specialist will help you get a similar number if your preferred number is unavailable.
- Choose a plan to suit your needs.
- Complete the signup process
- Wait for your landline base, and install it per instructions. You can contact Community Phone support if you have challenges or questions.
- Wait until the base completes the setup. Make a test call to check if your landline works as intended.
FAQs
What are the drawbacks of Ziply Fiber VoIP landline?
Here are some drawbacks of the Ziply Fiber VoIP landline:
- Landline service is not the primary focus. So home phone service has to be bundled with their internet.
- Credit checks to decide on deposit fees
- Terrible customer support as per customer reviews
- Battery backup is required to work during power outages
- Inconsistent internet will create issues such as call drops, jitter, and poor call quality.
What is the best alternative to Ziply Fiber VoIP landline?
Community Phone is the best alternative to the Ziply Fiber VoIP Landline. Get unlimited nationwide calling, outstanding calling features, and the freedom of wireless access at affordable prices when you sign up with Community Phone. You can also port your existing number through their hand-held porting process in 3-5 business days without disrupting your service.
Conclusion
Ziply Fiber landlines may appear cheap when you bundle them with internet or other services. However, since all of the services run on the internet, the bandwidth will be distributed, causing a poor telephonic experience, poor TV viewing experience, etc.
Switch to Community Phone, the best wireless landline service that does not tie your phone to the internet. Experience the reliability of a landline, the freedom of wireless access, and the great features at affordable prices. Try their service for 14 days FREE without obligation to feel the difference.