Interest/Feedback - PAYG/BYOD

This will not apply to the bulk of VOIPo users, but I know some of you that use BYOD also use PAYG services like Callcentric, voip.ms, Future Nine, etc in addition to VOIPo service. I wanted to get some feedback from those of you that do.

We now have a unique opportunity to be very aggressive on incoming calls and DIDs in certain areas due to a new arrangement related to intercarrier compensation and we are exploring options to see if a seperate PAYG offering is a good opportunity to look at.

We have previously steered clear of that market because we don't feel it can mix well with unlimited residential offerings and if we did something, it would likely be completely separate without all the normal residential features.

What would be your dream pricing structure (reasonable...we don't do anything that we don't see profit in)?

Do you like flat rate DIDs with a softcap? Metered?

What pricing for incoming calls/DIDs would win your business if you're currently using that kind of service with a PAYG provider?

What do you think is missing in this market?

We'd like feedback from everyone who has opinions on this, but just so there are no surprises, check http://www.voipo.com/RC-Jan09.xls and review the ratecenters in question. Areas flagged as Tier 0 are the ones we can be extremely aggressive in so we'd be focusing on them if we did something like this.

voip.ms per-minute plan is very attractive. I think it's $0.99 for DID, $0.015/min incoming and outgoing, plus $1.50 for e911.

Actually, I almost left you for voip.ms, stayed only because you offered discounted 2-year renewals.

I use voip.ms and F9 even now, but for international calling. Your $0.20/min rates to Russia are not competitive at all. It's 7 times more than what I can get from F9. Even calls to Moscow are twice as expensive as e.g. SkypeOut (that has the best voice quality so far, in my opinion).

If you or one of your new resellers could implement a pay-per-minute plan similar to that of voip.ms, I would definitely switch to it after my current contract is over. Even if TF calls in that plan were rated, I'd just route them through F9 for free. If you stop offering discounted renewals, I'll consider switching to voip.ms, simply because I don't spend that much time on the phone domestically to pay $18/month.

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Originally Posted by eaf

voip.ms per-minute plan is very attractive. I think it's $0.99 for DID, $0.015/min incoming and outgoing, plus $1.50 for e911.

Actually, I almost left you for voip.ms, stayed only because you offered discounted 2-year renewals.

I use voip.ms and F9 even now, but for international calling. Your $0.20/min rates to Russia are not competitive at all. It's 7 times more than what I can get from F9. Even calls to Moscow are twice as expensive as e.g. SkypeOut (that has the best voice quality so far, in my opinion).

If you or one of your new resellers could implement a pay-per-minute plan similar to that of voip.ms, I would definitely switch to it after my current contract is over. Even if TF calls in that plan were rated, I'd just route them through F9 for free. If you stop offering discounted renewals, I'll consider switching to voip.ms, simply because I don't spend that much time on the phone domestically to pay $18/month.

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Do you use many of the features? Curious how big of a priority that is...

If we do a PAYG option, it'll likely just be incoming/outgoing service with voicemail and caller ID. Features drive up the support costs a lot with that kind of service.

Nah, if I switched to voip.ms, I wouldn't rely on anything but CNAM and failover, not even on VM. Their IVR is great, but if I already have it in Asterisk, so why switch? One important feature of voip.ms though is that they explicitly advertise and support customizable caller id.

Oh, if you meant, VOIPo features, then it's the same. Just caller ID with names and failover to cell in case if the service or asterisk are down.

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Originally Posted by eaf

Just caller ID with names and failover ()in case if the service or () are down.

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Agreed-

;)

I've kept my old call centric line because it is so cheap and rarely used. Glad I did when I found voipo doesn't allow international calls from BYOD. I don't make many but was happier to pay .05/minute instead of having to call from my cell.

PAYG isn't of much interest. I like 1 low monthly rate. I had a Vonage 500 outbound minute plan for 2 years but when they tried to jack up the price (from $15/month to $18/month) I planned on leaving. They offered to give me unlimited for a year at $15/month so I stayed finally leaving for call centric (then voipo) because vonage did not offer a call routes/treatment feature.

What I've seen alot of people want is more than 2 channels on a flat rate did. People are scared of per minute no matter what you tell them.
I wonder if you could do something like a flat rate for 2 channels and for every channel you add you get an aditional x number of minutes added to the soft cap.

I'm thinking about something with a fixed number of channels that would be a bit cheaper than the vPRI offerings offered buy some voip providers.

Tim,

So, are you still thinking about PAYG plans? Is there a chance they'll be added? And if they will, can you tell us the preliminary pricing?