nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
 ·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
| reply to BruceN
Re: [VoiceStick] Well I am back and in charge of VoiceStick
said by BruceN  :I know that customers are the best place to figure out and fix what is wrong! And the bunch up here are without doubt the best. On that, you're definitely right. I am glad to see that finally some other companies are starting to realize this. 
I do have a personal account with VS, but I have pretty much stopped using it once I got sick of the incoming charges and attitude I got from customer support. At one time I remember a rep telling me that VS doesn't support ATAs other than Grandstream. That's around the point I decided to take my business elsewhere. Or to be more exact, attitude from customer service at multiple companies, including VS and ViaTalk, drove me to start my own company.
We pay for both incoming and outgoing calls. The calls cost us the same. What we had going on was a large abuser base that made zero outbound and a ton of inbound. My thought was to stem the abuse was to adjust the difference in rates. I totally hear you, but I think my problem with it personally was less about having to pay for it, and more about how much it cost. I know not all DID providers were created equally, but in general incoming calls don't cost $0.011/min to provide. If you do the math, a customer that receives 3 calls a day, each 10 minutes, that's 900 minutes monthly. 900*$0.011=$9.9 per month, and that's not even including taxes & fees.
I do like the way you're taking things though, it is rare to find executives who listen these days!
And finally- out of curiosity, I know your main target is residential customers, but do you plan on offering wholesale services to smaller providers perhaps? ViaTalk for example does that, but their pricing models and support are abysmal.
One market that is totally waiting to be tapped is E911 for smaller providers. To date I have had zero luck with finding a provider which doesn't require me to sign 12 NDA agreements before allowing me the pleasure of paying them thousands of dollars just to "set up". ViaTalk does offer E911 for their own numbers, but they too are $0.011 which prevents me from using them. What would be great for smaller providers (and a good source of income for a larger company like VS) is a third-party E911 service. Something like $1/DID or similar, without all the monthly minimums and ridiculous set up fees.
But, I'm dreaming. I am sure you have a lot on your plate these days. Good luck!!!
--
Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| Yeah things got all screwed up while I was gone. Paul (CEO)did some adjusting to the group and made me an offer I could not refuse.
Besides I like Paul a lot and the job I took after i2 almost got me killed, and I needed a couple months off to think about nothing.
But I am back and hitting it hard!
Today was a busy day. I got a far better deal on outbound, and shortly will have a better deal on inbound. We have been paying insane termination rates (retail schnook prices ). We are a public company, go look at the books, we were paying about $2 for every $1 in termination sales.
Paul calls me the "fixer". I have been going full blast 18 hours a day 7 days a week. We are making head way.
Customer service. We are a clean slate. New ticket system tomorrow!!!!!
Garbage fees, gone. If we need them to stay in business, I need to go do something else. We are going to win customers on quality products, quality service, decent prices and my good looks...... Well at least the first 3 !
e911, what a rape of the system. I think that there must be price controls. Every provider is the same price! Anyone know of a deal for less the one buck? IM me.
Look for rate reductions and whole programs to come AFTER the new billing system and switch are set up.
ALSO go check out my beta thread for myglobaltalk |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ
·VOIPo
·ViaTalk
·PHONE POWER
·Callcentric
| reply to BruceN
said by BruceN :As to prior numbers, when it is a Level 3 account, and we close it, we surrender it back to Level 3. So, are we stuck with ordering a new DID from your existing inventory -- in my case only Passaic NJ in the 973/862 Area Codes -- or can your "numbers" people special order a number for a location such as Wayne NJ -- at least for us "friendly folk" in the BBR Forums? |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | Go look at the myglobaltalk.com site. We still have Level3 numbers there. |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ
·VOIPo
·ViaTalk
·PHONE POWER
·Callcentric
2 edits | said by BruceN :Go look at the myglobaltalk.com site. We still have Level3 numbers there. Some observations regarding the "number selection" lists shown on the myglobaltalk.com site.
MT VIEW NJ (actually the rate center for my home town of Wayne NJ) correctly lists 973-988-xxxx numbers for this Rate Center -- but also shows 650-265-xxxx numbers in Mountain View CA.
BUTLER NJ correctly lists 973-850-xxxx numbers for this Rate Center -- but also shows 724-602-xxxx numbers in BUTLER CA and 859-740-xxxx numbers in BUTLER KY.
ALLENTOWN NJ correctly lists 609-357-xxxx numbers for this Rate Center -- but also shows 610-628-xxxx numbers in ALLENTOWN PA.
BURLINGTON NJ correctly lists 609-531-xxxx numbers for this Rate Center -- but also shows 262-806-xxxx numbers in BURLINGTON WI, 336-506-xxxx numbers in BURLINGTON NC, 765-560-xxxx numbers in BURLINGTON IN and 781-328-xxxx numbers in BURLINGTON MA.
CHATHAM NJ correctly lists 973-457-xxxx numbers for this Rate Center -- but also shows 217-697-xxxx numbers in CHATHAM IL and 508-593-xxxx numbers in CHATHAM MA.
The same problem applies to other cities in NJ, all of which have "sister" cities in the US: COLUMBIA, DOVER, ELIZABETH, ENGLEWOOD, FLORENCE and lots of others.
I am a bit confused that FRANKLIN PARK NJ, along with correct 732-658-xxxx numbers, also lists 847-737-xxxx numbers in RIVER GROVE IL?!?
Oh well, time for a bit of housekeeping.
Addenda:
• Even beyond showing numbers for identically named towns, I just discovered totally incorrect listings. For example, WHITEHOUSE IL shows numbers only for WHITEHOUSE NJ and WESTWOOD IL shows numbers only for WHITEHOUSE NJ -- no numbers in Illinois.
• When I went to search thru Rate Centers in Florida, I was suprised to see half the cities in Illinois and New Jersey appended to the Florida listing --- I suspect because I had searched these other states before looking at Florida.
We seem to be beyond "housekeeping" here -- seems more like we should rebuild the system. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| Thanks for the great insight. Alas there is not going to be a fix to that table.
This is a hang over of Level3. On VS we have already given Level3 the boot. The same will happen for www.myglobaltalk.com
It will happen in the re write of the code.
If anyone grabs a Level3 number we will still keep it there until some day we decide to do a mass port over.
If you are in a hard to get area, PLEASE look at this pool NOW and grab a DID.
Do it on the beta that will be out latter today for myglobaltalk.com and it will be a freebie plus $10 of credit to you!!! |
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gbh2o
join:2000-12-18
Greenville, NC
·Future Nine Corpor..
·callwithus
·MyPhoneCompany
·VBUZZER
·Voxee
 ·Embarq
·VOIPo
·STANAPHONE
·Axvoice
·Packet8
| Argh! I looked and found a number in Williamston NC [local to Greenville] noted it also listed numbers for same city in NJ and KY. Thought I'd check a rate for a call first and when I came back that _one_ number was gone and Williamston had disappeared from the list! ;-( Just can't win. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | I think you might be JINXED on this! SORRY |
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mbsc
join:2008-05-15
Fountain Inn, SC
| reply to BruceN
said by BruceN :If ANY of you have thoughts, suggestions, or ideas please let me know. Bruce Hi Bruce,
I'm looking for a VOIP provider to eventually replace my AT&T land line service. One of your customers recommended your service, but it currently lacks two features that are essential to me. First is the ability for incoming calls to ring multiple numbers either simultaneously or sequentially. In my current setup, I have Call Forward No Answer set to ring my home 4 times, then roll over to my cell if I don't pick up here. Call Forward Busy Line also rings my cell immediately if my land line is busy.
The second is anonymous call reject. Since I "wash" all my incoming calls through my home number, I rarely have to see "unavailable" calls show up on my cell. Your customer said you were in the process of doing software upgrades and I wanted to see if these services were planned.
Thanks! |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to BruceN
Thanks!
The prior upgrade got scrapped as the vendor was full of it. They made great claims as to what they could do.
We pulled out of this plan 3 or 4 weeks ago.
The new plan is to rewrite our internal portal from Windows (it sucks) to Linux. We are 50% of the way there now. Next will be a rewrite of the billing package. We are on the to do list right now. Expected finish is late July.
The next step is to move off of our feature limited switch onto a large more powerful OPEN SOURCE switch sometime in August.
This new switch will allow us to have all of the bells and whistles.
We are known for good quality calls (we don't buy the cheap gray routes) but we are also known for having a short list of features.
The new switch will give us greater call volume, and will be hosted on site in our own NOC. This is going to be a big step forward.
Thanks for thinking of us, hang in there.
Bruce |
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Hilbe
join:2002-12-13 | Is there any chance we'll get some features like 7 digit dialing and Caller ID + Name with the new switch? Those are my 2 most missed features... |
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nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27 | reply to BruceN
Out of curiosity- what are you going to be using for the new switch? Asterisk, or something else? (you mentioned open source) |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | We are getting quotes from FreeSwitch. Asterisk would not handle the load we are building for.
I'll have a class 5 VERSO Clarent swich for sale towards year end |
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celtic
join:2001-02-08
USA | reply to BruceN
Any progress on getting a better outgoing price? Both quality and reliability are great, but, no better than competitors with a lower per minute cost. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | reply to BruceN
We are now at 1.9 out to the USA.
I want to do a minimal asterisk program at 1.5 and a deep cut at 1.15 for moderate volume.
Any thoughts? |
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