Ougoing Toll Free Calls Counting

[GreenLantern]

uf_shane:

I'm talking about a customer with a regular "FULL" local account. They don't have any Toll Free Numbers on their account.

They are frequently calling a Toll Free Number at their corporate HQ for conference calls.

The conference calls last 45 to 90 minutes. The company HQ pays for the incoming Toll Free line and incoming calls.

But my customer was using up their allotted minutes on what should be free calls to them.

Customer didn't like that, so I already lost that account. But I would love to see this issue addressed so it doesn't come up again later.

Adding a dollar limit similar to how International calls now have a dollar limit would solve the problem.

[uf_shane]

Hmm so it is a catch 22... toll free numbers were created to in theory make it so that when you called that number it was a local call instead of a toll call (long distance)

When you call a toll free number with a cell phone, you bet that counts against the minute usage

I think there is a misconception by the user on this... now if VOIPo really does not charge usage fees on an outbound call to a toll free number, who is eating that cost?

An outbound call is an outbound call does not matter what number is called unless it is a call to a country or area that becomes a Toll call.

I speak from experience in working with a Telco handling PUC escalations. Believe it or not if you have a metered plan with a Telco then yes calling toll free does count towards that meter.

Though I understand your situation, your customer is actually wrong in this instance and the PUC would actually back you.

[uf_shane]

Just to point out...

Call from
43221XXXXX

To
86638XXXXX

Start Time
10:50

Duration
116

Fee
0.000

This is a call from one of my numbers into a conf call... Toll free and correct me if I am wrong Tim, that 116 minutes of duration did go towards minute usage, right?

[GreenLantern]

Ok, here's another one. I have a customer who wants to switch from Vonage.

She only uses about 160 US/Canada minutes. But she makes about 500+ Toll Free calls (outbound) each month.

We went over her Vonage bill... they separate the TF calls out and show them as "FREE CALLS". They do NOT count towards her 500 minute Vonage limit in any way.

So, I would like to ask Voipo to handle this by modifying their tracking software.

Toll Free calls need to be tracked separately.

[chevyman]

So is there any update on this, the counting of minutes to toll free numbers do they count or not?

[VOIPoTim]

So is there any update on this, the counting of minutes to toll free numbers do they count or not?

The system is designed to count all usage (including TF) in the minute limits, but resellers are NOT charged for the toll-free minutes. This is by design and allows resellers to maximize profit.

This is standard in most cases even though some providers don't do it. As an example, if you call a toll-free number from your cell phone it still uses your minutes even though it's toll-free.

We have the suggestion for making this something the reseller can toggle on/off in our feedback list for consideration in future updates.

[GreenLantern]

I don't think we should worry so much about what cellular companies are doing. Voipo resellers don't compete against cellular.

Instead, we should look at what the major voip companies, like Vonage, are doing. They separate out Toll Free calls and do not count them towards minutes used.

I realize this may have been a "design" decision by Voipo, but I suggest it needs to be reconsidered. It doesn't maximize profit for resellers. It makes us uncompetitive in a significant area and makes our system look somewhat haphazard.

My own personal first choice would be to see TF calls simply separated out so they don't count against the minute usage limit. I believe the TF calls already have a distinct flag in the call logs, so they should be easy to separate out.

Another option would be an implementation that allows for a single dollar limit setting for an entire account, including any sub accounts (like virtual numbers, fax numbers and toll free numbers). This would allow resellers to bundle various types of numbers into a single service plan with a pooled usage limit. Right now, resellers have a disadvantage when selling addon virtual numbers, fax numbers and toll free numbers. We have to either build a separate bundle of minutes into the price, which makes us less competitive, or we must bill by the minute which requires a lot of hands on billing each month.

I'm eager to see improvements in these areas.

[VOIPoTim]

It's something we've added to our suggestion list to review for possible future development.

I don't think we should worry so much about what cellular companies are doing. Voipo resellers don't compete against cellular.


Instead, we should look at what the major voip companies, like Vonage, are doing. They separate out Toll Free calls and do not count them towards minutes used.

This is just our take and everyone has a different business model, but I strongly feel the real competition for VoIP companies is landline and cellular. That customer base is where 99% of the profit is for VoIP providers. It's definitely what's fueled our growth this year (we've quadrupled in staff and doubled in customers already this year).