prepaid credit versus service charge feature request

I'd really like to use my BYOD SIP credentials for international calling, but that feature is disallowed due to security/fraud worries.

So here's my suggestion how to eliminate those security/fraud worries and so enable international calling on BYOD SIP devices...

If, instead of 60 free minutes, customers could get a free $1 of credit per month to use for international calling, after which international calling is disabled until they top-up their credits using a credit card. Then that would eliminate any significant security/fraud risk if someone stole my BYOD SIP credentials and started using my account to make expensive calls; I would only lose my current credits, VOIPo would lose nothing, and then I'd just change my BYOD SIP password and be more careful not to let anyone steal it again.

I understand that 60 minutes sounds better than $1 free per month, from a marketing perspective, but VOIPo could continue to market it as 60 free minutes per month even if the small print actually says that it's implemented as $1 free per month, based upon the per minute cost of the cheapest international calling rate.

The big benefit to VOIPo would be the elimination of the security/fraud risk but billing would probably be simpler also so that would be an additional side-benefit.

The benefit to customers would be that now the BYOD SIP device could be used for international calling because the security/fraud risks were eliminated. Many customers would actually see no difference but I think the inconvenience of customer initiated manual account credit top-ups would be minimal.

Maybe VOIPo could provide both the current billing model and this new one and let the customer choose which they wanted to use as a configuration option in vPanel.

If the user chooses the current billing model then BYOD SIP international calling is disabled.

If the user chooses the prepaid billing model then the BYOD SIP international calling is enabled.

What do you think, good feature or waste of time?

What happens if someone steals your credit card? (More realistic, a new account signs up with a stolen credit card...) I know, SIP creds aren't given until the account's ATA is set up (a nice extra address verification), but I do see the stance of keeping things simple and fairly tight, security-wise.

Keep in mind that you could always get an account with a BYOD provider for direct SIP international dialing when you're on the road, or you could purchase a prepaid international calling card, etc., if you can handle the connection fees... IMO, a BYOD prepaid provider in addition to Voipo may suit your needs nicely.

I like this idea as well it be nice to offer a pay as you go like they do now. But also offer a pre paid service for people that like to use your service as a backup or when their cell phone or other service is down.