BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·Comcast
| reply to N9MD
Re: [VoiceStick] Well I am back and in charge of VoiceStick
N9MD ---- WOW do you write well. The content of your note does not scare me, it is the fantastic way you write that concerns me. I will now and forever feel like a rank armature when I type 
Yeah, God bless America (or is it God bless this mess). I have spent my entire life in highly competitive industries. I did 20 plus years in the Appliance industry, ranging from working for a major manufacturer to owning a couple of my own companies. From there I was at the start of the internet selling online computer parts and systems. I also owned a quality online auction (Sold them both and they were driven into the ground)
And because I could not get enough pain, I even started a 3 star restaurant in a small resort town at the same time. (That put me in intensive care for 4 days
So what does this all mean? It means I am too stupid to find an easy industry where the gross margins are great, and the competition is light.
(Well I did try doing a trouble shooting job after VS and dang near got murdered in MSP airport --- Made the newspapers --- had to quit !)
Yes, you are right. Too many players, too few gross profit dollars, and too many mooch and abusive customers.
I think there are two answers. Land lines are dead, cell phones and VOIP are the future and they will merge. (This is step two in my plan, more on it later)
The longer term answer is service.
You will never win on price as the mooch will always find your price too high, and will leave at the drop of a penny. It is going to take the mix of a unique set of products that WORK and customer service that is top notch.
The normal customer just wants value and service (I hope my cable company reads this)
If I can deliver on that then I am a winner.
I might as well do this job. I always love a good rat race.
Thanks for taking the time to write such a great letter.
I am in AWE. Bruce |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ
·VOIPo
·ViaTalk
·PHONE POWER
·Callcentric
| said by BruceN  :N9MD ---- WOW do you write well .... Bruce Oy! Don't blame me. Blame my writing skills on my Mom (who made it to age 90), with a Masters degree in English Lit .... a school teacher throughout her active years, she named me for Clifford Odets (the writer). She forcefed me grammar, vocabulary and syntax when I wouldn't eat my broccoli. 
Incidentally, if I recall from the following posts, you may owe me a round of golf: »Re: [VoiceStick] BYOD configurations needed
Cliff |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | I think I am banned now in about 8 states to never touch a club. My ex boss for decades ago tried often to teach me. No luck!!
Come here to Georgia again and I will caddy ! |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to BruceN
said by BruceN :(Well I did try doing a trouble shooting job after VS and dang near got murdered in MSP airport --- Made the newspapers --- had to quit !) When I saw your statement above, I just LOL. You just reminded of an old accident happened to me when I tried to catch a leaving bus (public transportation) and felt off the sidewalk skidding through the back wheels of that bus (nearly ran over me).
Yes, you are right. Too many players, too few gross profit dollars, and too many mooch and abusive customers. Unfortunately, these are all facts.
I think there are two answers. Land lines are dead, cell phones and VOIP are the future and they will merge. (This is step two in my plan, more on it later) I reckon this is already happening and pioneered by SIPBroker. SIPPhone/GizmoProject seems to have been promoting itself with this feature and called it a VoIP Backdoor Dialing.
The longer term answer is service. Here is one for you: Add the SMS capability and let end users choose an option to have the incoming messages forwarded to their e-mail addresses.
--
Mazilo
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574 |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| Yeah you are right about SMS.
Our brain guy, Mark Hewitt is figuring this into the new system.
As to my MSP thing I had 200 people (rightly) upset and screaming at me at the airport. It took the riot police to disband them.
I had been given bad info, and quit on the spot. So much for me looking for an easy job |
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hoolahoous
join:2004-08-25
Red Valley, AZ
1 edit | reply to BruceN
I think first goal of VS would be to get the VS brand 'out' in public.
One approach would be to have a media blitz like vonage. But that would need some really serious money.
Other strategy of voicestick could be word of mouth. (Just like Sunrocket). VS can gain the confidence of 'tech' people (read : people on this board ). For voip, people usually talk to 'tech guy' they know to find out how it works and what company is 'good'.. Lot of my colleagues and relatives have asked me about voip and which provider they should be choosing. What do you think I will recommend ?
I recommended Sunrocket (because of their superior service, technical and customer service) to several of them and they signed up. I can't do same for viatalk since their service is not reliable, customer service is subpar. Point is not which company is better. Point is, that people trust the 'tech guy' to make decision for them.
So though I have selfish interest in having asterisk trunk, I will recommend VS if I find the service to be reliable and easy to deal with.
edit: fixed typo..  |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| Based on #1 we don't have piles of money, #2 Vonage HAD piles of money, but not now.... I like the Word of Mouth approach
We will have marketing funding, but it is going to be used on the new other web site.
Great input! |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ
·VOIPo
·ViaTalk
·PHONE POWER
·Callcentric
| reply to hoolahoous
said by hoolahoous :... Other strategy of voicestick could be word of mount. (Just like Sunrocket). Unfortunately, Mr.Ed died several years ago. So much for word of mount
And for SunRocket, I believe the marketing tool was "the Bird is the Word!" from the 1963 song Surfin' Bird by the Trashmen. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | No kidding.... Mr. Ed died |
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soitgoes2
Premium
join:2005-01-14
·Future Nine Corpor..
2 edits | reply to BruceN
Bruce,
Although I am not an active poster, I do read these forums regularly. As a current VoiceStick account holder and former VoiceStick customer (in the sense that since the no-notice changes I have not topped up my account or really used the service), I was extremely pleased to see you return to VoiceStick and to this forum: it was your active involvement in resolving customer issues that had led me to try out VoiceStick last year.
I'm going to expound on two issues that have come to mind. Please bear with me.
What is abuse?
A user who used VoiceStick primarily to receive incoming calls should not be characterized as an abusive user. This usage pattern was a flaw in the VoiceStick pricing and marketing model, and in most cases was likely not an attempt on the part of your customers to abuse the system. Also, you have to put yourselves in the mind of a consumer who is used to paying Ma Bell only for outgoing calls who does not understand the intricacies of the telephone fees that VoiceStick might have to pay to its carriers. Indeed, there are termination fees that are paid to carriers for calls made to DIDs--even if i2Telecom doesn't see that money, someone does get paid. Lastly, the new MyGlobalTalk service that i2Telecom is releasing will encourage consumers to take advantage of myFaves, Sprint-to-Home, and Alltel's myCircle in order to circumvent charges for wireless minute charges. While that is simply institutionalizing the functionality of i2bridge that already exists, it represents a different marketing attempt.
My take-home message: provide clear, sustainable pricing utilize marketing that is consistent with your cost structure
Information is power
The most serious problem with VoiceStick was not the increase in fees per se; rather, it was the concomitant lack of notice or information that frustrated me and many other customers. It goes without saying that the party that sets the terms of the contract (VoiceStick) should be expected to abide by its terms without fail. That did not happen.
I would have stayed an active VoiceStick user if I had had any confidence that my costs were going to be stable for even a little while. The FAQs and advertising on the website were not updated to keep up with changes in VoiceStick practices, and, for a time, the most reliable information was found not on voicestick.com but on this very forum, and it's still unclear to me exactly what fees apply to the various plans and/or DIDs. Rates have changed without any notice--one of my destinations jumped 800% (yes you read that right), the cost of domestic calls has almost doubled, and the cost to call toll-free numbers jumped by more than a factor of 10.
My take-home message:
Customers want a bargain, but what they want even more is stability, fairness, predictability, and information
Sorry for writing so much, but thank you for reading. |
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soitgoes2
Premium
join:2005-01-14
·Future Nine Corpor..
| reply to BruceN
said by BruceN :triumph, yeah the USB stick is somewhat dated. You make a good point about the desires for some user groups to have access to VoiceStick directly from a USB drive. But does it have to be a dedicated VoiceStick USB drive? Maybe VoiceStick could provide an easy way for non-technical consumers to make their existing USB sticks VoiceStick capable. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| You can load just the application of the softphone on your stick. It would just lack auto start up. IE: you need to click the icon to start it up.
Or you can also load the app on your hard dire. Also you can use an ATA in the normal manner.
ALSO you can use the i2bridge with any telephone, even a cell phone.
Lots of ways to go! |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to soitgoes2
I so much agree with you. The powers that took control should have issed out emails telling people of rate/program changes. No one likes a Gotcha ! It makes for all kinds of bad feelings.
I always tell people, give me the bad news as I can take it. Don't hide it, cloud it i smoke or withhold it.
As to abusers. We NEVER figured a user with a few hundred min. as an abuser. There are many services that do not measure in bound, but pack the cost into say a $8.95 a month DID fee. And they have a cap on what is normal.
What I am talking about is a person (typically out of country)that runs hundreds of calls with thousands of minutes. He has a box on his end and is reselling termination to the USA! Now that is abuse. And I have seen WAY too many of these guys.
I am sure that all you can eat restaurants have stories of people carting out food in bags, coats and pockets. There will always be the sneak theif!
Thanks for your comments, and taking the time to write some good ones.
Bruce
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artisticcheese
join:2004-11-09
Carrollton, TX
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VoiceStick
1 edit | reply to BruceN
Hello Bruce,
I went through P8-->Broadvox Direct-->Sunrocket-->Voicestick.
So I have experience with different VOIP offerings, so far what I like in voicestick is low international rates and i2bridge.
What I hate is completly rudimentary website (can not even customize time zone when displaying call logs for example) and rudimentary basic VOIP service options.
I really miss some basic VOIP service I was getting from other providers
* Selecttive incoming call blocking
* Ability to dial US numbers without requiring to dial 1 first
* Anonymous call rejection
* Webbased voicemail access
And especially I dearly miss feature which is was very unique to Sunrocket - Signature Message Screener, i.e. ability to screen calls coming to your VOIP line and redirect them to local phone number if you wanted to take them.
Are there any plans to bring Voicestick on par with competition in terms of basic VOIP services? |
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Quattrohead
join:2005-02-09
·VOIPo
| Many have been bitten by or taken the piss out of SR, but they had many good idea's and service features. I would like to see some of those in other voip offerings.
Also, VS had/has some great features and offerings, I would like to see the last 8 months wiped away and start the building process right from where it stopped when Bruce left. It does sound like the tech guys did continue to develope stuff behind the 9rick that had control in the 8 months of hell, so I really feel VS is worth revisiting when things are sorted out again. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA
·Future Nine Corpor..
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| reply to artisticcheese
We are doing a major, long planned, upgrade from the current soft switch.
This is going to entail a new from the ground up web site, a new billing system, and an open source soft switch.
I have been asked for a wish list. Maybe it neds its own topic as to not bore people.
Is there a forum interest in coming up with the worlds longest list of tinker toys for a VOIP service.
We may not get them all, but I am from the school of if you don't ask you don't get! |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | reply to Quattrohead
Yes you are right. The network guys actual brought this to a head.
See my post above.
A new topic maybe?
I would love to have a 10 ft long list. |
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soitgoes2
Premium
join:2005-01-14
·Future Nine Corpor..
| reply to Quattrohead
said by Quattrohead :so I really feel VS is worth revisiting when things are sorted out again. So do I. And I really want to see VoiceStick succeed; having read through all of the SEC filings I see how Paul Arena has made a serious commitment to make this work. |
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BruceN
Hi
join:2006-11-17
Roswell, GA | I too believe in Paul. He is dedicated, very hard working, and is an all around good guy. I trust him! |
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celtic
join:2001-02-08
USA
| reply to BruceN
It all sounds good but I don't have the patience to play a what if posting game. Bring the cost of outbound back to $.012 and I'll start making calls. If calls work as before I'll make additional deposits. I haven't used VS since you raised the rate in mid September. As I successfully use your service I'll get interested in discussions and additional services. |
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