Any chance for a world calling plan?

[walletless]

I was wondering if there are any plans to introduce a "world calling" plan similar to the VT_WORLD plan from Viatalk (or Vonage). Basically, for an additional $8.95 per month, VT allows users to call several countries (including India) unlimited (actually capped at 5000 minutes, but thats plenty for most residential customers like me). Full list of countries is here.

Vonage also has a similar offering, where you pay $24.95 per month and get unlimited callsto US, Canada, and several countries including India.

If VOIPo offers something similar, I would jump left, right, and center on that one. Any plans?

[voip123]

I prefer to stay in the current price + 60 minutes free for international calls.

Before I switched to VOIPo I was with Vonage. You can buy a calling card at as low as 1.2 cent/min for international call if you are still using a phone to make calls. Skype can give you free call. The reason I switch to VOIPo is SAVE MONEY.

How about to get another VOIPo service for your relatives in foreign countries? They can call you in US for free. You call them free as well. Why pay $24.95

Do the math. It is simple.

[usa2k]

Although I have no need of the free 60 minutes I get now, perhaps VOIPo could add such a plan ...

A world plan may be a great way to skim high usage international customers from the reseller market. They may be more of a nuisance to resellers than a benefit.

I'd suggest pricing below Vonage, but limited to a specific number of countries (Pick 4 out of XXX to call.) If the whole "world" is offered, that does not seem like a Residential Plan.

Just my thoughts ...

I wonder how many VOIPo accounts exist where the customer is not really based in the USA? I know Packet8 used to force such users to a more expensive plan. Vonage in Canada, and UK do not have a World Plan. I bet many still manage to use it (Vonage.ca is way over-priced!)

[VOIPoTim]

I was wondering if there are any plans to introduce a "world calling" plan similar to the VT_WORLD plan from Viatalk (or Vonage). Basically, for an additional $8.95 per month, VT allows users to call several countries (including India) unlimited (actually capped at 5000 minutes, but thats plenty for most residential customers like me). Full list of countries is here.

Vonage also has a similar offering, where you pay $24.95 per month and get unlimited callsto US, Canada, and several countries including India.

If VOIPo offers something similar, I would jump left, right, and center on that one. Any plans?

It just wouldn't be profitable to offer a truly unlimited international plan at our pricepoint.

The ViaTalk plan is capped at 1200 minutes per month so the cost is not much different than paying per minutes rates depending on the destination so it's a lot different than the Vonage oering.

Vonage is priced significantly higher and has some extra recovery fees that push it over $30/Mo so at that pricepoint there's a lot more flexibility.

If we introduced unlimited plans side by side, it would be very hard to do since VoIP businesses are built on overselling and knowing that most users will never use many minutes. If we had a low cost plan like we offer now and a higher cost one including international calling, people would choose the one most appropriate for their calling patterns and we'd never have the law of averages on our side with the international one. Since it's the default plan for Vonage, the average is based on all their customers. If they offered a cheaper plan beside it, the math would stop working.

[walletless]

Actually, if VT offers 1200 minutes for $9, its well under 1c per minute. That would be heck of a deal! There are also other players, such as Lingo that offer similar plans.

But if this increases your cost, I see the point.

[usa2k]

I admit the KISS pricing you have seems to work!

[Russell]

I admit the KISS pricing you have seems to work!

I couldn't agree with Tim's logic more. My gut feeling is those who'll flock to such a plan would be those who drive a hard bargain and will maximize usage. So, unless VOIPO costs are covered at max usage to the most expensive country offered they'll lose money. Such users are fairly savvy and know how to get max bang for the buck.