"Your account has been permanently closed"

[letliveand]

Yesterday afternoon, I tried to make a call using fring (using the SIP configuration file quite recently) around 8PM and was told by the automated service that my account was not valid. I then tried to login to freephoneline.ca and, to my shock, I kept getting a message saying "Invalid Account". When I checked my primary e mail, my inbox had the following two e mails:

*All times are GMT - 8*

6:04:25 PM
Subject: NOREPLY: Your FreePhoneLine account has been deleted

Body: Dear FreePhoneLine User,

Your account has been deleted by either yourself or our staff. If you wish to inquire about this deletion, or reactivate your account, please be sure to call our local office.

Regards,

FreePhoneLine Customer Support

IMPORTANT: This email is an automated system and is not monitored therefore any replies will not be read or responded to. For further support, please view our support page to either call into one of our local offices between the hours of 8:00am and 8:30pm; or email for support 24 hours a day.

6:04:30 PM

Subject: [ "Free Phone Line" ] Your account has been closed

Body: Dear fpl_myemailaddress@myemail.com_1281242932405,

Your account has been permanently closed.

So, as of today, I've spent $50 on a configuration file and received about 5 weeks of useful service, during which there was an outage. Has anybody else had this issue before? How much time is it going to take for me to get freephoneline.ca to reopen my account with an SIP config file included? And, most importantly, is it likely that I will be able to keep the same number?

That being said, keep up the good work guys, and soon we'll all be free from 3 year contracts!

[Jake]

If you have paid for the file, your account should not have been closed.

AFAIK only accounts that are not logged into for 3 months get closed. There must have been some confused their end. Have you phoned FPL? I think I would have been on the phone first thing.

Hope you get it sorted.

[letliveand]

The last time I logged in was about 5-6 weeks ago when I retrieved my SIP configuration data. Since then, I have logged into my freephoneline computer softphone a couple of times and my softphone using the SIP settings dozens (maybe a hundred) times. I am posting this hoping for some information. When the freephoneline offices open on Monday, I will call in the morning if I have time and I will revise my post at the very top (or reply to it if I cannot revise it) to give an update on the issue.

I have a feeling this is a simple computer error. I love the minimalist approach that freephoneline takes and I truly hope they can find a good equilibrium between services/support and cost that will keep them alive for years to come!

*EDIT* When I say I logged in 5-6 weeks ago, I mean I logged in to this WEBSITE to check my settings.

[FONGO_steve]

If you can PM me your number, I'll take care of this first thing in the morning.
I am unsure how the account was deleted - all paid and/or certified accounts will never be deleted for inactivity, etc. There may have been some sort of bug on your account that caused it to not properly deactivate the activity monitor when you purchased (which I will have promptly looked into!)

[letliveand]

As of October 14th, Steve has reopened my account with the same phone number and re-enabled my SIP settings, with an easier to remember password by chance (= My account is now working flawlessly again.

Go FreePhoneLine team!!!

P.S. Steve is also a really nice guy... at the very least via e mail

[tigerking]

Letiveand,

Make sure you re-test the following voice mail box features as per the attached post link as it is happening on all the newly created user accounts unless FPL retrofit your account by not treating it as a new account.

I PM Kris and Steve with my FPL# and requested for a quick fix especially for feature 3. Your voice mail box is wide open for everyone access remotely!!

http://forum.freephoneline.ca/viewtopic ... &start=125

1. Not able to set the "personal greeting" in the voice mail although the system respond with OK but your callers always get the "Standard Greeting".

2. Not able to set the voicemail forwarding to e-mail option. No matter how hard you try to set it up in your web site account (Forward, Copy), it always bounced back with "none" and it is really "none". When your callers left messages into your voice mail box, you will never noticed by e-mail until you check your voice mail message on your softphone or ATA.

3. You cannot set up your PIN for the voice mail again although the *98 voice mail setup prompt you that is OK (Actually no PIN at all). When you perform remote access using say local number 778-803-4001, no matter what PIN you entered as per your setup in softphone, after you entered your mail box number (your FPL phone number), it will say invalid PIN. But without entering any PIN by press "#", it let you in!!! Terrible!

[FONGO_kris]

Make sure you re-test the following voice mail box features as per the attached post link as it is happening on all the newly created user accounts unless FPL retrofit your account by not treating it as a new account.

This was for the accounts created in the 2 hour period the upgrade took place, not after.

I PM Kris and Steve with my FPL# and requested for a quick fix especially for feature 3. Your voice mail box is wide open for everyone access remotely!!

Your account is not accessible whatsoever until you create a password on your local ATA / software phone to prevent such unauthorized access.

I have removed the rest as it only applies to a small number of accounts...

[tigerking]

I PM Kris and Steve with my FPL# and requested for a quick fix especially for feature 3. Your voice mail box is wide open for everyone access remotely!!

Your account is not accessible whatsoever until you create a password on your local ATA / software phone to prevent such unauthorized access.

I have removed the rest as it only applies to a small number of accounts...

Kris,

I did use the softphone to create my PIN and it said OK to me. However, when I access my account using remote access line, it didn't reconized my setup PIN but it allow access without a PIN (after entering the account ID (my FPL#) followed by two "#") (is that the defualt setting that no PIN can access any voicemail account or it is a bug???). My meaning of wide open is in this situation.

I have no way to setup a valid PIN but the reality is it is not need a PIN to get into my voicemail account remotely. Please check my PM to both of you and Steve on Oct 16, 2010 for details and I have my FPL number in the PM for you to follow up with what's wrong with newly created account after server upgrade.

I am not complaining the upgrade deficiency, it is understood that happen all the time, but I just want to share my painful experience and remind new users the possible leaking of their voice mail box contents if such bug (I guess it is a bug) is not fixed ASAP.