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Voice of Doubt
| reply to redshift
Re: [Other] Allo.com
If you cannot lower yourself to read a comment by an unregistered user then feel free to skip this. For everyone else, I offer these observations.
I found a couple of things that give me pause. First, in their features, they offer "ID Spoofing", which I thought was either now illegal, or was going to be made illegal soon. In any case, it's not the sort of thing I'd advertise as a feature, but then again, IMHO their feature list seems a bit sparse compared to some other providers.
Second, their page on their residential unlimited plan states that they offer "Unlimited calling within the USA and Canada." That's great (ALL VoIP providers in the USA should at least offer that), but I always like to know how a company defines the USA (does it include Alaska and Hawaii? What about Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and similar US territories?). So I went to their terms and conditions and found this:
"3.1.5 Unlimited Residential Plan: This plan has Monthly Recurring Charges; for calling to any other country Allo International Credits must be purchased in advance. This plan includes unlimited calls in North America and a primarily Phone Number from the USA or Canada. ....." (emphasis added)
Really? Does that include calls to Mexico, the various Caribbean islands, and other points that are in North America but not part of the U.S. and Canada? Hopefully you see the problem - you can't rely on either page to explain what's actually included in the unlimited calling area. Seems this is something that should be more carefully defined. But wait, there's more... reading further down in the same paragraph, I found this ominous note:
"..... You agree that Allo.com Residential Service Plans are not to be used in conjunction with regular, consistent activity which could be considered commercial. You agree that all usage is subject to audit and review by Allo.com. A single account should not be used for purposes inconsistent with regular residential usage patterns as defined by Allo.com. We reserve the right to immediately disconnect or modify your Service if we determine, in our sole and absolute discretion, that your use of the Service or the Equipment is, or at any time was, inconsistent with normal residential usage patterns." (emphasis added)
In other words, if they decide that you've passed some invisible threshold, they can throw you off their service, or change you to a different plan. So much for "Unlimited." Haven't we had enough of this sort of bait and switch? If you're going to advertise unlimited, then dammit, don't say that you don't really mean it in the fine print.
Already they are starting to remind me of another company that offers their own equipment, and that has had a history of advertising unlimited service, but then throwing people off the service that actually use it. I think they need to get someone to take a good hard look at their ToS and perhaps make it a bit less customer-hostile (and also clarify the unlimited calling area).
Having said that, I think a lot of the other providers would do well to spend some time checking out Allo.com's website (and in particular, both their affiliate program and the fact that they actually encourage use by Asterisk and Trixbox users, no matter which plan you're using). Until we see their track record over a few months (and in particular, how well they do on quality of service and on their customer service) we won't know if it's all glitz and no substance, of if they're a solid competitor. | |
redshift
Premium
join:2004-03-23
Beverly Hills, CA
| Voice of Doubt,
I think you make some very valid points. However I think if you read a lot of other voip providers TOS you will see that they have similar clauses about disconnecting if your usage is not consistent with residential usage; but what that means exactly is left for us to ponder...
I just came across them accidentally, and although they offer a similar deal to viatalk (2 for 1) they don't have the 50% refund thing that viatalk does, so that's why I'm surprised I haven't heard more about them in this forum...again that's why I'd like to know if anyone has had any experience with them.
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"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." | |
tommy13v
Premium
join:2002-02-15
Glenville NY
 ·ViaTalk
| reply to Voice of Doubt
What they don't tell you is that, sure you can make all the calls you want(Unlimited calls) but its not unlimited minutes.
Every company uses this verbiage in the TOS even the Bells.
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