JohnILM
Holla
join:2003-03-15
New Rochelle, NY
| Why does OptimumVoice cost anything?
With services like MagicJack, Skype, or Ooma ... who for the most part allow you to make calls over the internet for free or extremely low prices, why doesn't OV cost relatively nothing?
Now, I personally don't have any experience with the other voip services, but I get the general idea that it is really inexpensive.
Are there extra things that OV does that increases the price, or is it a simple matter of people will pay because they don't know.
Thanks for info and opinions. |
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RickNY
Premium
join:2000-11-02
New York
1 edit | OV is very close to what you would get if you had a regular landline.. True E911, service from a company that is not likely to disappear, no reliance on a computer to make the service available, etc. Also, your broadband provider is your telephone provider -- so you never have to worry about one company blaming the other for problems when they occur. Magic Jack, you cant port in your number.. With Skype -- you dont have a phone adapter, so you either have to use a headset attached to your computer or use a Skype-enabled phone which will cost you more money.. I'm also not sure if you can port your number in to Skype. Im not familiar with Ooma but it seems like you can port your number and use a regular phone.. Looking at their rates, they charge you $9.99 per month but also charge you $4.99 extra for voicemail and a $19.99 charge for phone support if you need it.. Ooma charges for directory assistance as well -- $0.99 per request -- and a regulatory recovery fee of $11.75 per year.
Also, if you use CV's other services, there are cost incentives to use OV over something else -- for example, if you subscribe to Boost, you save $5 there.. Additionally if you subscribe to OV and an iO TV package, you save there as well.
So in short, it depends on what services you use I guess.. I use most of the OV services available, and I get it for one rate, no additional fees. For me, its a great value, and I'm sure others feel the same way. I switched to OV from Vonage and found OV much more reliable. Plus, I hate having a phone company where my name doesnt show up on other people's caller IDs when I call. |
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dgaraffa
join:2000-10-23
Ringwood, NJ
1 edit | reply to JohnILM
With that same thought process..
Why does Brinks Central Station Home Alarm Monitoring have a price of $39.99 (made that price up - I have no idea the real price and would rather type this long winded confession then simply Google the price) when Joe's Fish House and Alarms Inc does the same central station monitoring for $9.95 per month?
Here's a little hint.. not all 'back end infrastructure' are built and maintained at the same level and some have 1 or 2 redundant fall over call centers and the other doesn't |
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Network Guy
join:2000-08-25
New York
 ·PHONE POWER
·Broadvox Direct
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to JohnILM
Optimum Voice has one notable advantage that VoIP CLECs do not, and that's in-network softswitches. The typical caller won't know or care about this if the ISP allocates the appropriate amount of bandwidth on the channel reserved for SIP traffic. Off-network SIP traffic is competing for routing priority with all other types of IP traffic.
However, if the VoIP CLECs use network carriers with good national peering agreements or properly aggregated POPs, again, it's a non-issue.
E911 service depends on local county where service is used and trunk access arrangements with city emergency service call centers. It makes the difference between your 911 call routing like a regular call through PSTN or getting routed to emergency trunk lines, and whether the call center can look up caller via ANI or ALI.
If you need EMS at your location by picking up a phone and not saying a thing, OV or telco will work for you. Most other VoIP providers, it's hit or miss. |
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Stu Pidaso
join:2006-10-12
West Islip, NY
| reply to JohnILM
Magic Jack Business Solution.
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sharksfan3
Premium
join:2004-02-16
Poughkeepsie, NY
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
·Optimum Voice
 ·Optimum Online
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to JohnILM
said by JohnILM  :Why does OptimumVoice cost anything? Businesses exist for the sole purpose of making money.
With the discounts offered by Cablevision for bundling all three services it works out to where OV doesn't cost much more than Vonage. |
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IllIlIlllIll
EliteData
Premium
join:2003-07-06
Lindenhurst, NY
| reply to Stu Pidaso
that would work if the usb hub is supplemented with an external power supply.
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