usa2k
Please PRAY for Rebekah
Premium,MVM
join:2003-01-26
Canton, MI
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
 ·WOW Internet and C..
·Broadvox Direct
|  reply to BruceN
Re: [VoiceStick] Well I am back and in charge of VoiceStick
My account has been sleeping in disinterest.
Don't know if it exists anymore ... had $20 in pay as you go ...
Never really got my ATA playing nice, and then things went down-hill on its reputation here.
Time will tell . . .
--
Jim -- USA2K, SEE: Darlin' REBEKAH, VoIP since 12/2002, Packet8 since 12/2006. VOIPo in Beta, and former Vonage . . . |
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Glurg
@server4you.de
| reply to BruceN
Re: [VoiceStick] Well I am back and in charge of VoiceStick
Welcome back.
Encourage ata-to-ata calls:
free plan where you get a pseudo-number you can use in an ata
Allow 'quick dial' numbers like callcentric's *75xx, that can be mapped to a sip url. If I then register my ata to voicestick, I can type in *7501 and be connected to somebody's sip address.
Test all outgoing calls against the Enum database, so that if somebody has his pstn number registered there, the call will be automatically routed via sip-to-sip. This is mainly to give Enum a boost; it's a good idea but needs subscribers. This also makes voicestick a little different from the rest of the pack, as I don't know of anyone that does this.
You said:
As to free incoming, I am going to look at it. It is free of course on monthly plans, but is now charged for on pay as you go plans. It was my idea to charge for it, BUT it was supposed to ALSO include a major drop in out bound costs. That part did not happen. I was one of the people in the abuser database, but can't complain about being charged for incoming. I don't know of anybody who allows free incoming calls. Callcentric, which has a good reputation, charges 1.5 cents per minute for incoming and about 2 cents per minute for outgoing, and it isn't hurting them.
But if you can undercut them and still make a profit, great.
One thing I notice is that callcentric charges 3.95 as a setup fee for DIDs plus 1.95/month. Maybe you could undercut them a bit on those.
I can't recall the extent of your DIDs, but having lots of them, including Canadian ones, would be an attraction.
Let users set up a whitelist, so that the only people allowed to get through on their DID are the numbers they specify, up to 10 numbers, say.
I have 6 or 7 people I want to hear from. The rest can be blocked or go to voicemail. Right now, I hesitate to give out my voip number in case it gets into the hands of telemarketers or cranks. This would let me give it out to anyone I'm doing business with, and remove it when the business is finished.
By the way, is callcentric in the sipbroker database, with its own *xxx number? It should be, since sipbroker has pstn gateway numbers all over the world which allow calls to be made from pstn to the vosp's userid.
So, if voicestick had a sipbroker id of *999, and a user had a voicestick userid of 17771234567, somebody could dial a sipbroker pstn gateway number in London, and then type in: *99917771234567, and be connected.
Sipbroker also allows an alias to be mapped to the userid, so I could specify an alias of 1234 at my sipbroker account and have it point to 17771234567@sip.voicestick.com, and whenever someone dialed the sipbroker gateway number, they would follow it up with *01111234 and be connected.
In this case, *0111 is the sipbroker access, so that it knows that 1234 maps to my voicestick account. It's almost short enough to give out as an extension.
Would it be worth selling an *unlocked* ata that is pre-programmed for some voicestick userid and password, and has $10 of credit?
The idea would be that even the most computer-fearing granny could be connected to voip by buying one of these and plugging it into the router (that somebody had set up for her).
'Voicestick - the friendly gateway to the voip world - so simple to use, even granny can do it'.
Is voicestick reliable nowadays? It had several outages but I haven't heard here of anything lately. If something does go wrong, put a notice on the website and keep it current until things are fixed. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | reply to N9MD
Great idea. FOR SURE we are going to lift any sort of ban on Asterisk TOMORROW!
I will go look at their program.
Was wondering if Asterisk users need some sort of special program...... Any thoughts? |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to triumph
triumph, yeah the USB stick is somewhat dated. Our #1 user is our folks in Iraq. They often borrow a computer and the stick allows them to run the application and they do not need to download and set up an app. (It is rude to download onto a borrow system)
I would bet that better then 50% of our shipments are to the middle east.
I think the future is cellular dial arounds (Bridge) We are working on something for that. It is hot! The network guys were not affected in their projects.
I think we can get a good jump in the game if we are priced right, our service works, and we offer good Customer service. All of these need to be fixed, no doubt. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to hoolahoous
hoolahoous, you just hit all of the hot buttons I had in a special weekend meeting.
I am with you on all of these points.
As to caps, yeah on a "unlimited" program, every one has caps as it is sold on the basis of Residential. I think every one is cool as long as you publish WHAT the cap is, and what any cost would be going over.
As far as a 1/2 hour reload, we are changing Telco switches. I need to see what the new spec is. We are moving to a new open source switch, and new billing platform. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | reply to usa2k
Re: [VoiceStick] Well I am back and in charge of VoiceStick
usa2k Hi! IM me your VS DID number and I will look.
Thanks for the input!!!! |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to Glurg
Re: [VoiceStick] Well I am back and in charge of VoiceStick
Glurg WOW!!!! Thanks for the long input. I am spinning a bit on your ideas. I will get Mark and Travis to look at it.
With the new switch and billing coming they are maxed out for maybe the next 6 weeks, BUT all of this is going to allow us to add new and more modern features.
Mark Hewitt is the guru behind all of this. He is one of the fathers of SIP and is our C level guy on the network side. I will also show him this entire thread we he gets up here to Atlanta. |
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Quattrohead
join:2005-02-09
·VOIPo
| reply to BruceN
Welcome back Bruce, you are the most respected VP on DSLR 
i2bridge is the best feature you have. It allowed me to call abroad from my cell phone so simply, loved it.
Stabilize the situation and just provide good honest service and I am sure all of us here will support you.
Come up with a plan and I will likely sign up again. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | Hey thanks!!!
IM me I want you to take a sneak peek at something. It is for cell phone use, and VOIP |
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Ricci
join:2001-11-04
Tampa, FL
| reply to N9MD
Hi N9MD.
Just to add one small info to your message. I'm a Callcentric customer with a $5.00/month DID and I have unlimited inbound. Even the cheap $3.00/month DIDs have unlimited inbound.
Just to clarify that unlimited is available at Callcentric even if you don't have a monthly outbound plan. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| Thanks for the input. My dead cost for DID's is 50 cents, and inbound costs us .09 cents a min. So at around 500 min a month the deal goes negative.
I have not studied them, a great (but limited) work around to carrier inbound termination cost is a PRI. One would need a PRI in a rate center to have zero inbound termination cost. That is maybe not practical, so one would need to limit the areas of DID's to the places where you have a PRI (PRI's are not cheap)
I will need to go over there and see how they are doing it. It is either a cap on the "unlimited" or limited DID areas, or it is a money loser due to abuse.
Anyone have another view on this?
Welcome the input!!!
Bruce |
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triumph
join:2007-01-03
Austin, TX
 ·AT&T Southwest
·Callcentric
| reply to BruceN
For asterisk users, it would be great if you came up with a support section with example configurations, such as Callcentric has done:
»www.callcentric.com/support/device/asterisk
Also, another neat feature I've run across has been this asterisk macro from VoicePulse, which looks up and compares rates, and sends the call through the cheaper provider:
»connect.voicepulse.com/FlexRate.aspx
And back to the VoiceStick, last night I started searching for the USB flash/bluetooth adapters and found a couple. It would be great if you offered something similar, pre-configured to work with your service.
1)Vidcom USB Flash/BT adapter
2)MPlat FlashPhone F4K(USB Flash/BT adapter)
3)Review of MPlat FlashPhone F2K (USB Flash/integrated headphone/mic jack)
Would love to take a peek at your new site once it's up and running. I'm not a big user, just a hobbyist. |
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meister_sd
Premium
join:2006-01-29
La Mesa, CA
| reply to BruceN
said by BruceN  :Was wondering if Asterisk users need some sort of special program...... Any thoughts? Asterisk users are generally more advanced users that shouldn't use much, if any, of your customer service needs. I see CS as a big chunk of revenue lost. Also, you could state that * users are only supported via a forum, as long as you monitor it very regularly. On any CS, people hate to wait a long time for a resolution.
The N2N plan should be brought back, but with limits. There are many hobbyist and part-time voip users who used this and weren't abusers. I used it, before the * no-no, for testing and demonstration. I think if you have a very reasonable cap of 100-200 minutes of free incoming, you would attract back a lot of people who could/would turn into higher paying customers. I probably averaged about 30 minutes a month of incoming a just a few outgoing - again as testing/demonstration. I still had a balance from the initial $5 given after a year. (Don't know if this is good or bad from your end!  )
I use CallWithUs as our DID. I pay $4.70 that includes 3000 free incoming minutes. That is ALOT of minutes for the average person, especially since people still have home phones and cell phones. We have a Tokyo DID with them and I also tested them with outgoing calls and it also is great. I don't mind so much the setup cost since it is a one time fee but no more than twice the monthly charge. Mine was the same as the monthly charge, I think. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| OK, just finish a phone meeting with the guru or gurus. He is our head of system development.
We are making a transition off of our old (real old!!!!) Soft Switch. We will be state of the art in 30 days (Which of course will become 45 days)
I was asked for my wish list for asterisks !!!!
Bring it on guys! I want to look good, and seem like I know what I am talking about (I am a novice at Asterisk's)
In the meantime, he still want to keep Asterisks off the system, as the system is rather fragile!! (At least it is an answer)
When the new switch is installed I want to be state of the art, best program on the net.
That is where this forum comes in. (Maybe we need to move it to it's own topic?)
Bruce |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | reply to triumph
Lots of little users are just as good (if not better) then one big user.
I will go look at these links. |
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gbh2o
join:2000-12-18
Greenville, NC
·Future Nine Corpor..
·callwithus
·MyPhoneCompany
·VBUZZER
·Voxee
·Embarq
·VOIPo
·STANAPHONE
·Axvoice
·Packet8
2 edits | reply to BruceN
Quite frankly Bruce, asterisk 'types' don't need a lot of extra bells and whistles. The asterisk platform and add-ons allow us to do pretty much anything we can think of.
I would suggest two programs:
One for the 'normal' residential end-user that gets all the goodies and concentrates on a semi-flat-rate offering. As you browse the competition you'll see that most offer a limited plan with 'free' incoming on a provided DID, and a pot of 200-500 minutes outbound in a month. Other popular plans like Vbuzzer offer a DID, free inbound and around 1500 minutes out for $15/mo. $18-25 a month seems to get a more 'unlimited' pot, usually soft-capped and looked at for abuse at around 2500-3500 minutes. _Don't play the game with the 'unlimited' tag... you really don't mean it. Of course a 'business' or SOHO similar setup seams to run $10-20 higher for the same features. You may want to offer BYOD availability [_very_ limited support, maybe user to user in forums] as well as a fully supported, but unlocked ATA of your own on lease, rent-to-own or out-right purchase basis. Make it one with only limited user options if you want to retain sanity in your customer service department.
Since you seem to have excellent wholesale pricing available to be able to offer many of your termination rates, you should be able to enter the 'bulk' business provision arena also. At the lower end of this program you find the residential asterisk user, followed by businesses running their own asterisk [There certainly are other PBX software type systems here too] and then the real bulk business buyers that eat DIDs and minutes 24 hours/day. I believe these very different groups all are seeking almost the component level of services. Sell me DIDs optionally with either no included minutes but a fair per minute rate in/out, or DIDs [higher cost to average actual usage costs] that include an incoming and/or outgoing bucket of minutes with overages at a slightly elevated, but still fair price which encourages them to buy bigger buckets, if available. Again, you don't need to offer many fancy features in this arena other than a straight-forward control panel for managing their rented assets; i.e. this DID gets linked with this server/destination point. I'll bet if you query RockyBB, he would gladly offer many sound suggestions from the perspective of a knowledgeable reseller/user consultant[I think]. I guess the one feature we smaller guys do appreciate is a fail-over to a pre-designated number if [_when_ if you have Embarq] our 'broadband' circuit dies for a bit. For the bigger customers, you may want to also be able to sell a bit of a reliable pipe to service them, if required. Short version, for asterisk, think bare-bones. And yeah, using enum and associated services could actually eliminate a good percentage of actual termination fees since more and more users are directly addressable via a VoIP URI [hope that's an appropriate terminology].
BTW, the i2bridge was a perfect solution for my Mother [didn't want routers/switches, ATAs or anything else cluttering her area], and for my Mother-in-Law who doesn't even have broadband service. At least it was until the costs kept escalating without warning or sanity. Then my mother went back to OneSuite and my M-I-L uses my asterisk system features.
My own little world for play consists of geographically dispersed asterisk boxes linked together as well as a PBXes account for safety. I rent DIDs and buy minutes from several different providers, so I have lots of trunk options. And yes, I tend to choose the lowest cost, _reliable_ outbound route for calls. My extended family throughout the US have a flock of my ATAs and are my users; they yak to each other quite a bit now. Only a few have access to my external termination [except in emergencies] since I'm footing the bill and it's only a hobby, it's only a hobby, it's only a hobby. Then there's always my nephew in Shanghai and my sister-in-law's folks in Bogota ...
But what the heck, I'm just a ROF and end-user myself... so what do I know? |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| I think when we get to the new switch we are going to be wide open to many things, and that is why I am asking for the info (and I am getting GREAT info) at this point.
As I mentioned before I hear a target date of 30 days. I have seen some of the specs, and will be seeing even more this next week.
I think having broad product offers is the way to go. Why tie in to just one or two types of offers. |
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tomb9992003
join:2007-12-28
Friendswood, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
1 edit | reply to BruceN
Welcome back, Bruce, I was one of the Sunrocket "castaways" who went to Voicestick largely due to your postings on this forum last year in your other tour at Voicestick. I'm just a basic residential customer originally using my unlocked Sunrocket SPA2102 and then switched to the Grandstream device provided by Voicestick. I'm on the annual "unlimited" plan and I haven't been impacted by the price changes that upset so many people.
I've been very happy with the service, and the only outage in six months was just a couple of weeks ago for about an hour. My only real complaint is the limited voicemail system. Seems like you can't access it from a phone to change settings, so I can't change the greeting. Also, you're stuck with 4 rings before voicemail picks up. One other minor complaint is that using the softphone causes it to take over the line from the ATA for some period of time after you shut it down, so all of your calls go to voicemail.
EDIT - You should also do something about the website, get rid of those cheesy photos! |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ
·VOIPo
·ViaTalk
·PHONE POWER
·Callcentric
2 edits | reply to BruceN
Bruce --
Not to demean those techies who love their *Asterisk, I would venture to say that the vast majority of your potential "new customer" base are just looking for a less expensive telephone service.
The erudite and technically gifted BBR posters offering all sorts of advice here are in actuality greedy, ego-centric gnomes (not necessarily a bad thing ) -- each looking to get a lot of fun things to play with at little or no cost to them -- and caring little for VoiceStick's (or anyone else's) ability to make a profit. And I am one of them!
Most of the "helpful" posters already have three or more providers being used with * or on a combination of ATAs or SoftPhones.
I would venture to guess that most folks who signed up with VS a few years back chose the N2N Plan (and delighted in the ability to pick their DID from a truly enormous list of locations throughout the US) --- and proceeded to use the DID for free incoming calls and little or no outbound calling. Hence, no profit for VS.
My "guess" is easy to prove. Just look at the numbers of VS moochers ... er-r-r customers ... who abandoned the service when you (Bruce) left and the pricing structure was revised drastically. I was one of them!
So, you ask, just what road should VS travel?
Well, if you are targeting people who already have VoIP service, you have a tough job ahead:
• You will have to beat the "cheap" pricing that already exists with Unlimited, Limited and PAYG Per Minute Plans.
• You will need to compete with BOGO-Year Free offerings (which as we know contributed in part to SunRocket's demise -- and which many of us believe is a current source of fiscal concern for at least one other "popular" vender).
• You may need to offer "special" features not available with other providers: Bridging, Virtual Numbers with Independent CallForwarding and VoiceMail (not tied to the main number).
• You will need to determine if VS can "survive" without resorting to adding "extra" fees, charges, tariffs, tolls, penalties (E911, USF, etc.) -- that tend to tick people off. And if you do add such fees, at least clearly state in advance -- in large boldface type -- which ones are mandated and which ones are just to boost VS's bottom line.
• Decide if you want to return the ability for a new customer to choose his or her DID from your previously displayed lengthy Availability listing. This can be a good or bad thing -- depending mostly on your pricing structure. In the past I am sure that a lot of "nice" number xxx-xxx-x000 and xxx-xxx-xx00 hording went on, especially with the N2N Plan. But many of us truly appreciated this DID selection feature when SR and VS were in their heyday.
• In the past, VS could only be used with the proprietary SJSoftPhone (as I recall). You must determine if allowing use of non-proprietary SoftPhones and permitting BYOD ATAs (PAP2s and others) will entice "techies" to sign up.
• Customer Service has been a thorn in the side for many VoIP veterans -- for providers and customers alike. So you best give this area of your operation a good going over.
Then there are the folks thinking about entering the VoIP world for the first time:
• Newcomers to VoIP will make their provider selection by comparing pricing and features -- with very little thought given to customer service performance and system outages -- since they have nothing to compare except PSTN.
• Newcomers will want to just pick up a "real" telephone handset and simply make or receive calls using "real" phone numbers (DIDs). So SoftPhones and Sticks may be a turn off rather than a turn on --- except in Iraq, apparently.
• A small number of potential newcomers to VoIP may be niche users who would benefit from a "Stick" gimick or from an on-screen SoftPhone --- which require that their computers be turned on. But ultimately, this setup discourages outbound calling (because one will soon tire of having to actually wait for the computer to boot up before a call can be made).
• As with the oldtimers, you may find that newcomers are enticed by Virtual Numbers with independent VoiceMail and CallForwarding. CallCentric, for example, offers truly inexpensive DIDs at $1.95 per month with low per minute incoming and outgoing charges actually encourage a customer to sign up for a second or third separate account to get "cheap" but full-feature additional DIDs with independent CallForwarding and Free VoiceMail -- and pay only per minute charges for the additional DIDs when and if they are used. To me, that's value!
And whether you want to attract newbies or techies, think long and hard as to what equipment your customers will use. If I were only interested in the bottom line, profit-wise, I would only allow use of a VoiceStick supplied ATA (locked) or a proprietary SoftPhone or a proprietary USB Memory Stick -- to minimize the headaches encountered with customer service when users are permitted to use a host of poorly supported BYODs. -- Oh, that's already how several of the currently successful VoIP providers operate. So I guess it all boils down to price, price, price and customer service and maybe one or two gimick features not available with other providers. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to tomb9992003
HI!!!
Well I should make you real happy. Web site, yeah photos are terrible!!!!
There is a new site in the works. It is being done with a VERY talented bunch out of Calif. I have seen a lot of their work, and we should have first class!
It all ties in with the new Telco Switch and billing platform.
I will IM you a link to another site they just built for us. It is not ready for prime time but this will give you a strong hint.
ALSO with the new switch we will have a much larger feature package. The current voice mail runs on a very old ersion of software. It is all going to be brand new.
Projected date is 30 days (So figure 45 Days)
Thanks for the input (BTW the annual program was the last thing I did before I left)
Bruce |
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