2 year renewal for $149 is back

[holmes4]

Got an email saying that VOIPo is once again offering the promotion of a two year renewal for $149 (plus $36 taxes and fees) - this weekend only. Log in to vPanel for the details. According to the message, such promotions and heavily discounted new plans are going to be phased out.

[KayakinMike]

I'm tempted to do it. I'm already payed thru 2014 and this would have me paid up thru 2016. I'm grappling with paying my phone bill ahead by 4 years. A lot can happen in 4 years! But I do not like the sound of having to be on some kind of monthly plan, which sounds like they're moving towards. Decisions, decisions.

[holmes4]

Well, I was paid through 2015 and opted to take the promo to 2017....

[racerdude]

Tim - if I am reading the email correctly you are saying you are eliminating the yearly plans and going to a monthly only subscription service? I thought that was one of the main selling points of Voipo was that it was affordable service for those who were willing to commit for 1 or 2 years. Are you trying to go with a model similar to Callcentric/Voip.ms now and concentrate on per minute plans? If so, I'm sure you've done your research on this and feel this is more profitable for you, but are you accounting for the fact that many of us that signed up for service specifically did so for the unlimited yearly plan?

[VOIPPRO]

I am also in the same dilemma. My renewal is not until 7/1/2013. If I take $149 promotion now and if I happen to discontinue the service before 7/1/2013, I will still get my full refund right??

So, am I missing something?

[VOIPoTim]

Tim - if I am reading the email correctly you are saying you are eliminating the yearly plans and going to a monthly only subscription service? I thought that was one of the main selling points of Voipo was that it was affordable service for those who were willing to commit for 1 or 2 years. Are you trying to go with a model similar to Callcentric/Voip.ms now and concentrate on per minute plans? If so, I'm sure you've done your research on this and feel this is more profitable for you, but are you accounting for the fact that many of us that signed up for service specifically did so for the unlimited yearly plan?

Nothing is set in stone at this point and there aren't any drastic changes. We just plan to gradually shift away from the heavily discounted prepaid plans this year and hope to be away from them completely by the end of the year. We may or may not still offer prepaid plans in the future, but if we do they just won't be as heavily discounted (2 years for price of 1 type things).

Everything's still fluid at this time...we definitely just plan to not be as aggressive in the future with pricing. Regardless, our offerings will always be competitive.

The overall structure of the plans (unlimited within reason) will stay the same. With that said, we do have an entirely new offering launching in the near future that is usage based (similar to Callcentric/VoIP.ms from your example). That'll be a different option though because it's two different target markets. Our current offering is geared more towards users who want a mostly plug and play service (which will stay the same). A usage based option is generally best for people who like to tinker more or large businesses/call centers, etc. We have something new and unannounced launching for that segment soon.

[VOIPoTim]

I am also in the same dilemma. My renewal is not until 7/1/2013. If I take $149 promotion now and if I happen to discontinue the service before 7/1/2013, I will still get my full refund right??

So, am I missing something?

When calculating refunds, take any prepaid amounts and calculate your months used based on the monthly cost and deduct that from the prepayment. If you have a "fully unused" prepayment, that would be refundable in full.

[racerdude]

Thanks for the update Tim. I can certainly understand trying to change your business model and reach a different market of users, but I think it will be tough to compete with Callcentric, Voip.ms and Future 9 on the usage based plans since they are well established in this domain. What has really set you guys apart from your competitors is the exact thing you are wanting to eliminate so that will leave just Phonepower as the major player with aggressive prepaid plans. I'm sure they will be happy to hear of the pricing changes!!

It would be nice if you could consider "grandfathering" existing contract users and give us the option of renewing at the discounted rate. Similar to what the wireless carriers are doing when they introduce new pricing plans. Just a thought.

[VOIPPRO]

Thank you TIM. I am excited about portable international plan. Voipo has been great service to me.

[VOIPoTim]

UPDATE: To give customers the opportunity to ask questions or get personalized help processing their renewal, we've extended this offer an additional 24 hours through 11:59PM Monday.