What about TA equipment

[MacGyverLabs]

Hey Tim...

A number of equipment questions come to mind...

• Are you planning on offering rental, sale, and/or support of TA equipment for resellers?
• If yes to the above, what pricing are you considering?
• If no to the above, what equipment are you planning to 'certify', and is BYOD going to be allowed?
• Is support expected to be handled exclusively by the reseller, or will VoIPo provide a 'blind' support channel (i.e. web & phone number that's either non-branded, or branded specifically for the reseller) for reseller's customers to call for support issues?
• Others come to mind, but that'll get the conversation started...

Thanks!

[VOIPoTim]

In terms of technical support, we're structuring this the same way our HostGator program is structured. We will support the reseller, but the reseller's customers. So you'll be responsible for supporting your users, but if you need help with that, you can contact us for assistance. We won't be dealing with the customers directly.

We put a lot of thought into this to try to come up with the best approach.

I know some would rather not deal with support, but that's the only way to make the reseller program financially viable. There has never been a program offering white label support that has went mainstream to the extent that our HostGator reseller offering.

This model has worked very well in hosting which is actually much more technical and users can do all kind of things (file permissions, uploading, script, etc).

Beyond that, this gives resellers alot more flexibility to create custom packages and do what they want with their customers.

The more customers you deal with the more standardized and procedure oriented you have to be. If we did the support, we'd have to be extremely rigid with what was allowed, not allowed, etc because of the volume and also set pricing/minimums high so we would be ensured $x per resold client to cover administrative/support costs.

With that said, he's what we are planning to provide:

1) Generic support documentation that you can customize and offer to your customers

2) Common troubleshooting information/support steps

3) Support to you as the reseller when needed

4) Automatic provisioning tool for Linksys devices

[zevin]

I am sure Tim will be over to give comment later.

EDIT: I guess I am just too slow.... Sorry.

However, I was told the equipment will be available via drop shipping at cost to resellers.

Providing support will be the resellers responsibility but VOIPo will assist you in helping your customers.

Their reseller plan is much like HostGator's plans in that the reseller handles all aspects of their customers needs and VOIPo will support the reseller in what he/she needs.

[VOIPoTim]

In terms of hardware, there will be no restrictions for you and you can use whatever hardware or software (such as X-Lite) that you choose for your customers.

With that being said, we have designed our system around Linksys devices and X-Lite so we can't guarantee compatibility outside of them.

There will be a few options:

1) Purchase a Linksys device from us pre-configured. These will be priced in the $40s (basically at cost) and can be shipped to you or dropshipped white-label to your customer.

2) Use Linksys devices. If you use a Linksys device, our control panel will let you "provision" it so it will automatically configure for your customers.

3) Use other devices. If you use other brands of devices, you will have the SIP Credentials to configure them. We won't be able to help you if there are issues with them since we aren't going to be familiar with other brands/models of devices.

[fisamo]

So since you're giving resellers the SIP credentials, you are effectively giving resellers the option to offer full-access BYOD to their customers. Are the reseller accounts tied to separate SIP servers (not east01, central01, etc)? Will resellers be able to change sip credentials for their customers?

[VOIPoTim]

So since you're giving resellers the SIP credentials, you are effectively giving resellers the option to offer full-access BYOD to their customers. Are the reseller accounts tied to separate SIP servers (not east01, central01, etc)? Will resellers be able to change sip credentials for their customers?

Right it's basically full BYOD and the resellers can do whatever they want. There's a lot more protection with this for us because it's all restricted by accounting.

So if a reseller gives one of their customers BYOD and the customer forwards a number to itself causing a loop, it would only continue until the reseller's prepaid balance was depleted vs indefinitely.

This is one of the reasons the more BYOD oriented companies like CallCentric, etc don't have as many issues with loops...it's all prepaid and balance based and the acounting will kill the loop.

[fisamo]

So if a loop can deplete a reseller's account, does that mean that in-network (and/or SIP) calls are billed per minute? If so, is it at the same rate as PSTN calls, or at a 'discount'?

[usa2k]

I would expect in-network to be a $0.00, right?
Does forwarding always use PSTN?

Will sip calls be a reduced cost?

[VOIPoTim]

So if a loop can deplete a reseller's account, does that mean that in-network (and/or SIP) calls are billed per minute? If so, is it at the same rate as PSTN calls, or at a 'discount'?

In network and SIP are free, but still go through accounting since all calls are "rated" even if cost is $0 so can still be caught.

[usa2k]

In network and SIP are free, but still go through accounting since all calls are "rated" even if cost is $0 so can still be caught.

RATED: Meaning separate totals.

In SIP:
In On Network:
In PSTN - Domestic:
Out SIP:
Out PSTN - Domestic:
Out PSTN - International:
Out On Network:

Because all the minutes used are accounted for,
the free SIP calls could theoretically allow a reseller to charge for the time used.

VOIPo I expect will charge USF fees as a percentage of the cost VOIPo charges the Reseller.
Does that mean the Reseller needs to pay any USF on their mark-up?

Wondering what internalized fees VOIPo addresses and if the Reseller needs to consider additional USF and taxes?