VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Fax to Email Service - Opinions Wanted
Hi,
We're going to be adding fax-to-email service in the very near future to our product line, primarily as an add-on to existing accounts.
What sort of pricing schemes do you guys find reasonable for such a service? Any specific features that you think should absolutely be included? What is your likelihood of taking advantage of such an offering at various price levels?
Thanks!
-Brendan |
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dcurrey
join:2004-06-29 | A price per fax type deal. Very rarely need it so a monthly service plan wouldn't be very useful to me. |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Castle Rock, CO | reply to VTBrendan
PM sent |
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dipswich
Premium
join:2003-06-27
Raleigh, NC
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·VoicePulse for Bus..
·ViaTalk
1 edit | reply to VTBrendan
I'll throw out $3.95/mo for the virtual number (to match regular virtual number pricing) + options for either <= $0.05/min (per-use) or $4-$8/mo (flat-rate) to cover the value-add from using the service.
Receiving a fax and delivering to an email address configured in the control panel is the "absolute." Along with the same privacies expected with voicemail (i.e. staff can't open FAXes).
Other niceties--
Hold on Viatalk server for up to 14 to 30 days in case of "email gone bad."
Option to only send a link or voicemail. User visits control panel to choose real-time delivery method (email it, download it, FAX to another number).
The reciprocal email-to-fax service, or at a minimum, a method to upload a document via the control panel, billed at per-minute rate similar to incoming.
edit: lost a "less than" (<) symbol in original |
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PHTP15
join:2006-06-13
Bloomington, IL
| reply to VTBrendan
I would be prepared to pay for individual faxes but can imagine that those with greater need would want a monthly fee. A fee of 10 to 15 cents per page would be reasonable to me. If you need to have flat rates, I suggest that they should be tiered for various volume levels. A low end of $3 a month would be acceptable to me. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| reply to dipswich
The setup we have does not require a virtual number - you will have an option in your control panel to enable the feature. Once its enabled, all faxes coming into your main VT line are detected and redirected to our fax to email system.
-Brendan |
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dipswich
Premium
join:2003-06-27
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T U-Verse
·RoadRunner Cable
·VoicePulse for Bus..
·ViaTalk
| said by VTBrendan  :...all faxes coming into your main VT line are detected and redirected to our fax to email system. That's elegant. I would still want the option to add it as a virtual number only (or selected numbers only) so that I don't have to publish a main number as a FAX line. I'm not willing to risk the possible annoyances with publishing a main number as a FAX number. |
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dcurrey
join:2004-06-29
·ViaTalk
| reply to VTBrendan
said by VTBrendan :The setup we have does not require a virtual number - you will have an option in your control panel to enable the feature. Once its enabled, all faxes coming into your main VT line are detected and redirected to our fax to email system. -Brendan Thats pretty cool. Was wondering how you would be able to do it without adding a number thus requiring at least a minimum monthly charge.
Guess my per fax price would work. Think it would be easier to sell them in blocks in advance instead of billing 1 at a time. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| reply to dipswich
Hi,
This will work with our Virtual Numbers as well, so if you didn't want to publish your main number as a fax number, you can simply add a V-Number and publish that instead. The difference in could would be that of adding a V-Number. We're doing it this way to keep overhead as low as possible, as we want this to be a cheap enough solution that its viable for home users w/light usage, as well as the more obvious target of business customers.
-Brendan |
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td100776
Premium
join:2002-12-19
Manalapan NJ | reply to VTBrendan
I currently use Trustfax from Comodo, maybe their pricing options will give an idea of what people are willing to pay for this type of service.
»www.trustfax.com/index.asp |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY | reply to VTBrendan
Currently, we're leaning towards a small monthly charge (few bucks) that includes X number of faxes, and then allow upgrades from there.
-Brendan |
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dipswich
Premium
join:2003-06-27
Raleigh, NC
·AT&T U-Verse
·RoadRunner Cable
·VoicePulse for Bus..
·ViaTalk
| For a breakage-based monthly fee, $1.95 would be my limit.
For the truly occasional recipient, a few months of a fee makes it a rather expensive convenience option. As a compromise, maybe a minimum fee in months when a fax is received is an option? That, in conjunction with an "approved senders" list could keep it affordable.
I assume blacklisting, for when I'm not shopping for Disney vacations, works with incoming FAX, too. |
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Boolah
join:2003-11-08
| reply to VTBrendan
It would seem to make more sense to get a CallCentric DID for $1.95/month + $2.37 E911 fee and $0.015/min. The Fax Reception feature is free with all of their accounts. If you presume that you can receive one page in one minute, you could receive 45 pages per month, have your own DID and pay the E911 fee for $5.00/month. |
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CyberSultan
Premium
join:2006-07-20
| reply to dipswich
said by dipswich :I assume blacklisting, for when I'm not shopping for Disney vacations, works with incoming FAX, too. I would assume that incoming fax calls would also be affected appropriately by the custom call routing feature of the VT service. I would want to avoid paying for faxes from spammers. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| We're looking at it this way...
For the occasional faxer, a 2nd number is not necessarily something they would need or want if it would in fact increase the cost of the plan.
For a business, if a 2nd number is necessary, the $4 for the number most likely wouldn't be a show-stopping fee.
-Brendan |
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taylor2767
join:2007-07-12
Columbus, OH | reply to VTBrendan
I would agree to a per fax cost for those of us who only ocassionally receive faxes. |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ
·PHONE POWER
·ViaTalk
·VOIPo
·Callcentric
2 edits | reply to VTBrendan
Brendan -- off the top of my head --
Fax to Email Service
Technical Issues include
• File type for incoming Faxes? TIF, PDF, DOC. File size (which varies with the different formats) may be important to some folks.
• SMS capability for Text Beepers as well as Emails?
• Incoming on ViaTalk Local DIDs or TollFree #s (or both)?
Outgoing Faxes
• Capability for outgoing Faxes (T.30/T.38) -- currently hit or miss? (I know, I know. -- It's VoIP not FoIP!)
• Capability for Email-to-Fax outgoing service thru VT?
Considerations for Fax Service Pricing
• Free incoming fax services already exist (J2 Fax, eFax, K7.net, etc.) -- although these do not generally provide DIDs in the customer's rate center.
• You may need multiple pricing models/tiers.
• Folks with residential VT accounts tend to have only occsional use for incoming or outgoing faxes -- suggesting a per fax charge (with or without a small monthly maintenance fee) -- I would consider at most a $1.95 monthly fee, just to "hold" the VT Fax DID -- with a per page fee of at most 2.5¢ (at or just above the per minute charges by most providers for pay as you go incoming VoIP calls). For "bargain-hunting" homeowners, they are very price sensitive and would be scared off by a perception of "high" prices.
• Small/Home Business customers -- using Residential VT accounts --might want an "unlimited" monthly/annual Fax plan. They might be willing to pay anywhere from $4 to $10 dollars for an unlimited monthly plan -- but keep in mind that in the business world (even small business) it is not a big deal for a company to post a Washington State (k7) or Massachusetts (eFax) or Pennsylvania (J2 Fax) phone number because business people have no problem faxing to distant area codes.
• Large Business customers would fall into a different category -- for which I don't have enough savvy to make a recommendation for pricing (although RockyBB might have some good ideas in this area). But given that only 1% of folks who posted in the BBR's good, bad, ugly area indicated business use for VT, I don't think "Big Business" is a major concern. |
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VTBrendan
Viatalk
Premium,VIP
join:2005-06-27
Clifton Park, NY
| Hi,
Incoming faxes will be delivered via email as a PDF, as well as available through the CP interface. SMS notification (and email) are both easy additions that we will make. The default DID for incoming will be your VT number. If someone wants an out of area number or a toll free number, they can order those for their account and they will work as well as the main number, however the goal is to keep the low level package cheap and affordable.
Outgoing will be via file upload and email to fax.
How bout something like $2-3/mo. which included 50 incoming & 50 outgoing per month? That seems to be in line and/or cheaper than most current stand alone offerings.
-Brendan |
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td100776
Premium
join:2002-12-19
Manalapan NJ
| said by VTBrendan :How bout something like $2-3/mo. which included 50 incoming & 50 outgoing per month? That seems to be in line and/or cheaper than most current stand alone offerings. -Brendan This sounds perfect for me, right now i pay $30/yr for 150 total faxes. |
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CyberSultan
Premium
join:2006-07-20
| reply to VTBrendan
said by VTBrendan :Hi, Incoming faxes will be delivered via email as a PDF, as well as available through the CP interface. SMS notification (and email) are both easy additions that we will make. The default DID for incoming will be your VT number. If someone wants an out of area number or a toll free number, they can order those for their account and they will work as well as the main number, however the goal is to keep the low level package cheap and affordable. Outgoing will be via file upload and email to fax. How bout something like $2-3/mo. which included 50 incoming & 50 outgoing per month? That seems to be in line and/or cheaper than most current stand alone offerings. -Brendan $1.99 sounds good to me.   |
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