Coming in July...

[will]

(snip)

We have a lot planned. After a lot of debate, we recently decided to shift our focus and we'll soon be moving away from the heavily discounted prepaid promotions and renewal offers. We'll be moving away from the heavy prepaid discounts shifting toward monthly plans so that we can focus on providing the highest quality service with the best features and support rather than simply trying to provide cheap phone service. We'd love to keep providing huge discounts, but we'd rather just focus on providing great service instead and have the margins to innovate.

(snip)

Consider my input on this issue a vote in favor of a grandfather clause for existing customers. From VOIPo's point of view, the whole point of having an annual billing cycle is to reduce overhead in the billing department, and the bulk discount for annual billing reflects that reduction in billing overhead. If VOIPo's desire to raise rates is based on the need for venture capital to "innovate" (whatever that means?), then it's only fair to put that burden on those of us who cost you more to do business with by forcing you to generate 12 invoices per year instead of just one.

[davefred99]

Voipo Tim,

When can we expect to see and hear about more BYOD features as promised.
I am on the fence as to whether or not I will be renewing my subscription because I really want to use my own device (OBI202) and while it is possible now there is not a lot of support and the Voipo ATA must be online just to setup any BYOD and you loose the ability to have multiple channels as you can only register One Byod at a time. other Byod providers offer sub accounts.
I am also concerned that per your recent messages you are moving away from being a value based discount provider to becoming more mainstream like a Vonage type provider. I left Vonage for Voipo and would never go back they have become to much like a regular Telco provider with to many nuisance fees and hidden costs. I know some of these fees are unavoidable but when I can I will do all I can to minimize them. I would really like to see more monthly options as your current $18 mos subscription is good if you need unlimited but many of us really want lower priced or PayGo plans.

Thanks for listening, Dave

[VOIPoTim]

Voipo Tim,

When can we expect to see and hear about more BYOD features as promised.
I am on the fence as to whether or not I will be renewing my subscription because I really want to use my own device (OBI202) and while it is possible now there is not a lot of support and the Voipo ATA must be online just to setup any BYOD and you loose the ability to have multiple channels as you can only register One Byod at a time. other Byod providers offer sub accounts.
I am also concerned that per your recent messages you are moving away from being a value based discount provider to becoming more mainstream like a Vonage type provider. I left Vonage for Voipo and would never go back they have become to much like a regular Telco provider with to many nuisance fees and hidden costs. I know some of these fees are unavoidable but when I can I will do all I can to minimize them. I would really like to see more monthly options as your current $18 mos subscription is good if you need unlimited but many of us really want lower priced or PayGo plans.

Thanks for listening, Dave

Hi Dave,

The BYOD functionality has already been released including the new international BYOD calling option. They have been available in the BETA control panel for quite some time now. If you have any questions about them, please e-mail support@voipo.com and an agent will be happy to assist you.

We do still require the VOIPo ATA to be connection to activate the BYOD feature for the first time. Since we only ship the ATA to the billing address, having this requirement verifies that the customer provided an accurate address and received mail there. Since there is a lot of fraud with VoIP, this is a requirement we have in place to protect us and verify the address.

[davefred99]

Hi Dave,

The BYOD functionality has already been released including the new international BYOD calling option. They have been available in the BETA control panel for quite some time now. If you have any questions about them, please e-mail support@voipo.com and an agent will be happy to assist you.

We do still require the VOIPo ATA to be connection to activate the BYOD feature for the first time. Since we only ship the ATA to the billing address, having this requirement verifies that the customer provided an accurate address and received mail there. Since there is a lot of fraud with VoIP, this is a requirement we have in place to protect us and verify the address.

OK thanks for the response.

I guess I was expecting something more than international calling which is of no use to me. It is what it is, I was hoping for more. I do understand security issues but BYOD use on Voipo is very limited, I guess I should be thankful you offer it at all.

Dave

[VOIPoTim]

OK thanks for the response.

I guess I was expecting something more than international calling which is of no use to me. It is what it is, I was hoping for more. I do understand security issues but BYOD use on Voipo is very limited, I guess I should be thankful you offer it at all.

Dave

We do have a "PAYG" type offering coming in the future if that's what you're hoping for. It's a lot different than the current offering so it has to be kept somewhat separate in its own "product line" but we do have something like that coming later this year. Is that more along the lines of what you were hoping for?

[davefred99]

We do have a "PAYG" type offering coming in the future if that's what you're hoping for. It's a lot different than the current offering so it has to be kept somewhat separate in its own "product line" but we do have something like that coming later this year. Is that more along the lines of what you were hoping for?

Yes but the devil is in the details ? How much later this year ?

[bigwillnola]

I'm loving the new control panel layout. The features are outstanding and I understand that more is in store. I have activated the SMS feature on my account but have found that I haven't used it yet. The primary reason is accessibility. I can't really keep the control panel page open all the time to look for new messages. I actually use GVNotify with a google voice number for sms txting from the desktop. That's the primary reason I even have a google voice number. Since I'm at my desk most of the time, this makes it easy to even avoid txting from my cell. A message simply pops up on my screen; I type a quick reply and send. Very convenient and it includes everyone on my contact list. This makes it even easier to simply click a name, see previous message (not many though) and send as needed.

All that to say, is this something that is in the work, planned on, thought about, rejected, reconsidered, or otherwise contemplated?

Thanks much! Keep up the great work!

[fergessen]

Having just one simultaneous ring has long been a (VOIPo) limitation.

Can we ever expect this to be changed? Even a couple of other numbers would help us greatly.

And, what of the JULY roll-out of the JULY "New Small Business Option" ?

Thanks in advance.


[QUOTE=VOIPoTim;27007]Exciting things are happening at VOIPo.

The new vPanel is FINALLY done and is being tested now. Here's a preview of what's coming in July.

5) New Small Business Options - New options for small businesses including easy to add rollover options that support up to 8 rollover/hunting lines on a single phone number.

[VOIPoTim]

[QUOTE=fergessen;27693]Having just one simultaneous ring has long been a (VOIPo) limitation.

Can we ever expect this to be changed? Even a couple of other numbers would help us greatly.

And, what of the JULY roll-out of the JULY "New Small Business Option" ?

Thanks in advance.

Exciting things are happening at VOIPo.

The new vPanel is FINALLY done and is being tested now. Here's a preview of what's coming in July.

5) New Small Business Options - New options for small businesses including easy to add rollover options that support up to 8 rollover/hunting lines on a single phone number.

We will add your suggestion about increasing the simul ring destinations to our feedback list for possible consideration in the future. I know some others have suggested it as well and it's there. It's something we may consider in the future if we can get the economics of it to work and come up with some appropriate safeguards to prevent business abuse of the residential line with that option.

In terms of the small business option, that's been available since July. You can contact support to add additional accounts/adapters to your existing account if you have a business requiring more than a single 1/2 line device. For example, if you need 4 adapters for your business, you can add 3 additional "virtual accounts" which are really a single account. You'd simply be paying for the number of accounts you need and we'd consolidate them into a single account with the same phone number (they all would ring in a ring all fashion when calls come in). This gives businesses the flexibility to purchase as many accounts as they need without having to have them actually be "isolated" accounts that don't work together. Support can assist with adding additional accounts if you are interested in this option.

[VOIPoTim]

At this time, I'm closing this thread since the new control has been out for a while and this thread now has over 100 posts.

If you have feedback or questions, please start a new thread.