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sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

2 recommendations

sammoats

Premium Member

New CircleNet $8 and $15 BYOD plans

Hello DSLReports,
We're announcing some changes to our recent BYOD plans the changes are in response to requests we've gotten from users here and on the Obitalk forums.

We're relaxing the rule that you must use a CirlceNet device on our $8 and $15 plan. We will now allow BYOD devices but we're adding another antifraud provision in their place. Calls on the $8 or $15 plan must originate with the callerID of the CirlceNet DID associated with the account.

Also I wanted to provide some idea of where we'd start looking for fraud/abuse here.
On the $8 residential / small business plan unless your using an autodialer we won't even look at your account usage until you use 5,000 minutes total monthly.

On the $15 plan we'll work with you to transition to a per-minute if your average monthly usage over 90 days is >10,000 minutes. At that point you really need a dedicated trunk thats about 6 hours a day on the phone.

The changes will appear on our page later today.
Thanks,
Sam

josephf
join:2009-04-26

1 recommendation

josephf

Member

What are the defined differences between the $8 plan and the $15 plan?

What does a "CirlceNet device" refer to?

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

2 recommendations

sammoats

Premium Member

The $8 is targeted for home or small home business use, you need to be using this service from a residential address. If you're hitting 5K minutes or more consistently each month we'll probably talk to you to verify it really is a residential line and if this pattern continues for more than a few month and it's for business use we'll ask you to step up to the 15.

The $15 business service has no such requirement and a more generous cap before we start talking with you about converting your to a per-minute plan.

We originally required that anyone purchasing these plans also use a ATA that we supplied. Part of this was to prevent the service from being used as a fall through trunk for other VOIP providers or being used for all sorts of nefarious reasons. (Look up call back route, traffic pumping, or lovely ideas like these »straticsnetworks.com/cna ··· sharing/) T

This rule caused problems for folks who already had devices that they like to use ,like older obi device in particular. So we change it to still accomplish our goal but be more customer friendly. You can use your own devices but calls originating from either of these plans MUST use the callerID that's associated with the plan.

If you need to be sending multiple callerIDs or a callerID that isn't the one associated with your plan you need to be buying our per-minute service for your PBX.

Our goal is to provide a service that 99% of our customers will love that is essentially unlimited for them while at the same time making sure that the 1% that should be paying per call are.
Sam

josephf
join:2009-04-26

josephf

Member

Do the plans include a DID? (Otherwise which Caller ID is associated with the plan?)

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 recommendation

sammoats

Premium Member

Yes, they do come with 1 DID each. The DID is limited to 3 channels inbound.

hapollo
join:2007-05-13
WesterOS

hapollo to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
said by sammoats:

The $8 is targeted for home or small home business use, you need to be using this service from a residential address. If you're hitting 5K minutes or more consistently each month we'll probably talk to you to verify it really is a residential line and if this pattern continues for more than a few month and it's for business use we'll ask you to step up to the 15.

using quick math, it seems it can also benefit those residential users who talk more than 420 mins/mo on the pay as you go per min service since the average USA rates are about .0019/min. ($8/.019)=421 mins.

is this a fair assumption? Also there are taxes and fees on the $8 but not on the pay as you go per min plan.

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 edit

sammoats

Premium Member

Duplicate post sorry.
sammoats

2 recommendations

sammoats to hapollo

Premium Member

to hapollo
Your math is off by a factor of 10, $8 at $0.0019 would get you 4,210 minutes.

People really don't realize how affordable we are until the try us out .

Sam

hapollo
join:2007-05-13
WesterOS

1 recommendation

hapollo

Member

said by sammoats:

Your math is off by a factor of 10, $8 at $0.0019 would get you 4,210 minutes.

People really don't realize how affordable we are until the try us out .

Sam

Thanks Sam.

oops, my bad. Great deal! In my case, I'm researching for my parents who ported their old landline to GV and keeping the phone number for those old old friends who haven't called in ages and still have their old number. Since they have cell phones with unlimited calling their average call volume is less than 200 mins/mo.

So with CC for Free incoming and your Circlenet for pay as you go outbound, it still less than 50 cents per month for them. Think that will be the route I go on June 18th. The $10 initial sign up should last them about 2 yrs!

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

sammoats

Premium Member

Sounds like a solid plan to me .
Happy calling,
Sam

hapollo
join:2007-05-13
WesterOS

1 edit

hapollo

Member

said by sammoats:

Sounds like a solid plan to me .
Happy calling,
Sam

Well, thanks for providing various cheap and affordable plans for us forum members. We appreciate it.
Cinti
join:2016-08-04
Boston, MA

Cinti to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
Hello, Sam.

Does this BYOD plan also require a three-month up front payment?
rant_at_home
join:2008-06-22
Winnipeg, MB

1 edit

1 recommendation

rant_at_home to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
For the last two years we have used Anveo's Canada Unlimited plan at US$49.99 per year. I considered that a great deal. Before that, Nettalk's plan for a similar amount.

I then looked at our usage for the past year. Found out we only used less than 6 min/day

So, $1.50 DID x 12 months = $18
6 x 365 = 2190 minutes
2190 x $0.003 = $6.57

To most destinations my per minute rate is half of that. Regardless, my yearly rate without getting any deals on a DID or rates lower than $0.003/min, I end up paying less than $25 per year, so Circlenet has cut my cost by more than half.

I could use Canada's FreePhoneLine but the $100 startup is not quite viable right now, and I'd still be better off using Circlenet for outgoing to places outside FPL's calling area.

As far as I can see, Circlenet is the best deal out there for the average retail customer. Even if your ISP throws in free phone with your monthly plan, there's still going to be long distance not covered by them that Sam will beat. ***edit*** Which means even if you go with someone else for local, Circlenet can act as an extra outgoing service provider. In that case, you don't even need a DID from them. Just an account and credits.

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 recommendation

sammoats to Cinti

Premium Member

to Cinti
Nope, we'll add a signup button this weekend for it in month to month BYOD version. In the meantime just ask us and we'll convert your account.

Sam

hmishra
Premium Member
join:2006-01-04
Flower Mound, TX

hmishra

Premium Member

Along with this plan, I wonder if you would consider a sort of "world" calling plan like some of the companies offer. As long as it would include my most often called countries, I would prefer it to added expense of international calling.

hapollo
join:2007-05-13
WesterOS

1 recommendation

hapollo

Member

said by hmishra:

Along with this plan, I wonder if you would consider a sort of "world" calling plan like some of the companies offer. As long as it would include my most often called countries, I would prefer it to added expense of international calling.

If I'm not mistaken, they already have something like this in the $8 plan

»www.circlenet.biz/index. ··· dential/

It just depends on if the free countries are the ones you need to call, making the $8 plan even better deal.

Our free international calling zones include:

Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece , Guam, Hungary, India,Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City

But I am sure Sam will be along soon to answer your question in detail.

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 recommendation

sammoats to hmishra

Premium Member

to hmishra
We do, included in the plan would be calls to the list that Hapollo has provided.

Also if you'd like an overseas DID in place of the US one that can be arranged.
Sam

hmishra
Premium Member
join:2006-01-04
Flower Mound, TX

hmishra

Premium Member

Indeed yes. I should have checked the details of the BYOD plans instead of assuming that it just covered domestic calls! My bad..

Thanks for the clarification.
Pufferty
Perpetual Newbie
join:2014-07-07
Rockville, MD

Pufferty to sammoats

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to sammoats
Sam, if we were to get a DID in Sri Lanka, my wife's family could make local calls. My question is: what would we be charged? Pardon my ignorance.

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

2 recommendations

sammoats

Premium Member

Your not the first to ask me that question, sadly the telecommunications providers which are intertwined with the government in Sri Lanka have basically killed legal VOIP in the country.

Per the Telecommunications commission when I asked about a year ago about perhaps installing equipment and providing DIDs

"VOIP is not allowed in Sri Lanka for the purpose of to by-pass international telecommunications services under the Telecommunications Act No 25 of 1991 and its amendment Act No 27 of 1996."

The best I can do is offer a rate dialing into the country of around $0.13. Again the lions share of that $0.13 lands in the hands of the regulator.

Sam

josephf
join:2009-04-26

josephf

Member

How much do competitive providers charge for a DID from there?

What other countries act similarly?
Pufferty
Perpetual Newbie
join:2014-07-07
Rockville, MD

4 edits

2 recommendations

Pufferty to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
Typical backwards nonsense. I wouldn't expect anything better. Meanwhile, Vibr, Whatsapp, and Telegram do effectively the same thing.

Try getting a domain name from SL. Just a mess.

Some of the older folks here may remember me trying to install an Obi there, and wisely warned me of the country's idiotic stance. I was still successful; as with 3rd world beauracracy comes 3rd world enforcement. I was able to talk with my then-girlfriend back here (now wife) in the States while I completed a clerkship in SL's High Court of all places!

josephf See Profile, if I remember correctly, some other countries mentioned at the time with such rules included some Emirates. But I could be misremembering.

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

1 edit

cb14 to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
Sam, does that international calling zone include mobile numbers?
Also, what is the amount of taxes etc charged let's say for 33141 zip code.?

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 edit

2 recommendations

sammoats

Premium Member

Yep it does include mobiles, but it does not include things like UK premium numbers (Think 1-900 but for the UK).

In 33141 you'd be looking at taxes like these:
State Sales Tax 6.0% * I might not need to charge this one we'll check*
State Communications Tax 6.8%
State Gross Receipts Tax 2.37%
County 911 Fee $0.40 per line

Also Florida does have a county level communications tax that's between
0.0% - 7.0%. If your seriously interested we'll get the exact number here.

Sam

* I also wanted to be up front and clear with the restrictions that calls placed using the flat rate per month accounts have caller IDs that match the number assigned to the account. No callerID spoofing here.
sammoats

2 recommendations

sammoats to josephf

Premium Member

to josephf
said by josephf:

How much do competitive providers charge for a DID from there?

I'm not sure that anyone does at this point but it isn't something I've looked at in a few years.
said by josephf:

What other countries act similarly?

Several countries behave this way and from my experience it's for one of three reasons. So as not to start some crazy political war I won't name them in particular but you can tell by looking at a providers rate deck, if the cost is more than $0.10 something somewhere is fishy.

First the telecoms network is source of revenue for the nation, especially international calling. They can extract money from outside of their little fiefdom without directly taxing the residents. Often these people will acquiesce if your willing to pay enough (I mean get the right licenses).

Secondly some nations are paranoid about any communications method that they don't control. They're much more concerned about their citizens communicating in ways that they don't understand or monitor than they are in providing a decent life for those same citizens. These are a lost cause for the time being.

Third is incompetency and institutional momentum. 'We're the telephone company, we're the only one there ever was or ever will be so scram. We make money each money, have forever and will continue to for ever. Scram with your the world in changing step into the 20th century nonsense, 1899 was awesome!". These tend to be slowly coming around kicking and screaming.

That's my view.

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

cb14 to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
At this point of time my inquiry was informational. But it is a good deal.
If the cell home taxes are any indication it would be over 15 % in the given zip code.
deeiche
join:2016-04-06

deeiche to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
In the past I've tried to port a POTS number in 575-289, but other VOIP providers said the number was not available. I contacted New Mexico State Corporation Commission and they said there wasn't any reason it could not be ported.

I just did an NPA-NXX lookup and it shows a portable block, but no wireless block. Is there a way to get this number to a VOIP provider?

sammoats
Premium Member
join:2014-02-16
Winchester, VA

1 recommendation

sammoats

Premium Member

Sorry we can't port from that NPA/NXX, none of our CLECs have a presence there. That particular exchange is weird, it's on it's own switch from Valor Telecom, you might have luck with a voip provider that uses wind stream as a CLEC.

Sam
deeiche
join:2016-04-06

1 recommendation

deeiche

Member

thanks for the quick reply.

The switch supports a small town in rural New Mexico. The local calling area is pretty small too. What they do sell with their overpriced ($70/mo) POTs service is unlimited long distance.

Is there a way to lookup voip providers by CLEC?
deeiche

1 recommendation

deeiche to sammoats

Member

to sammoats
Sam

Through some additional work I found one VoIP CLEC in Cuba NM Rate Center. Onvoy based upon it's purchase of both Broadvox and Intelliquent. I created backorder in my Vitelity account for a number, who knows when the order will fill.