We are just learning about Practicom. My initial impression is that the portal may have some advantages over Updox. On the other hand, as best I can tell, Practicom really doesn't help with document management, and Updox is terrific for that. In other words, they are complementary with some overlap. Of course having both may not be practical, depending on pricing.
mez, as to your issues...what I am hearing is that the whole pricing structure of Practicom is being re-evaluated so we will have to wait and see what the cost will be.