Comments on: Free World Dialup moving to $30 annual membership http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/ The ramblings of an often lucid mind... Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:24:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Jorge http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-222 Jorge Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:15:43 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-222 Me gusta FWD y deseo permanecer, pero no lo uso lo suficiente como para pagar $30. Si FWD incluye llamadas ilimitadas por un año a PSTN por $30/año entonces los pagaria y me quedaria. Pero $30 solo por tener un numero VoIP, con otros proveedores SIP puedo obtener un numero gratis. Saludos desde Venezuela Me gusta FWD y deseo permanecer, pero no lo uso lo suficiente como para pagar $30. Si FWD incluye llamadas ilimitadas por un año a PSTN por $30/año entonces los pagaria y me quedaria. Pero $30 solo por tener un numero VoIP, con otros proveedores SIP puedo obtener un numero gratis. Saludos desde Venezuela

]]> By: Required http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-221 Required Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:50:19 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-221 No reason why fwd shouldn't move to a pay-for service basis or any other sort of revenue-or-not model if it wants to. Every reason why it should have done so in a less screw-you sort of way. Many alternatives to their "from next month give us money or get lost" line could have led to a mostly-paying user base within a year and still retained a decent approach to long time users who valued, used and needed their service but who - especially right now - can't afford to go onto a paid basis. Personally, I had a fwd number for years but never used it for more than the week or so I was chatting to the person who requested me to set it up, so it's no skin off my nose how they "move" to a new business plan. But it's skin off everyone's nose that they've yet again shown that contempt for the consumer is a fundamental trait of American enterprise. No reason why fwd shouldn’t move to a pay-for service basis or any other sort of revenue-or-not model if it wants to. Every reason why it should have done so in a less screw-you sort of way. Many alternatives to their “from next month give us money or get lost” line could have led to a mostly-paying user base within a year and still retained a decent approach to long time users who valued, used and needed their service but who – especially right now – can’t afford to go onto a paid basis. Personally, I had a fwd number for years but never used it for more than the week or so I was chatting to the person who requested me to set it up, so it’s no skin off my nose how they “move” to a new business plan. But it’s skin off everyone’s nose that they’ve yet again shown that contempt for the consumer is a fundamental trait of American enterprise.

]]> By: LJ http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-220 LJ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:51:14 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-220 FWD was a great way to "cut my teeth" with SIP and to be able to test the interaction of different SIP devices. But, while a fun "hobby" it isn't worth $30 a year to maintain. There are other providers offering the same features for no cost, at least at this point and a number of free windows and Linux based VoIP pbx's. It used to be difficult to set up your own SIP server, but not any more. I just can't justify $30 a year for a service i use on occasion, yet, I'm sure that there are many that use FWD enough to justify it. FWD was a great way to “cut my teeth” with SIP and to be able to test the interaction of different SIP devices. But, while a fun “hobby” it isn’t worth $30 a year to maintain. There are other providers offering the same features for no cost, at least at this point and a number of free windows and Linux based VoIP pbx’s. It used to be difficult to set up your own SIP server, but not any more. I just can’t justify $30 a year for a service i use on occasion, yet, I’m sure that there are many that use FWD enough to justify it.

]]> By: sergio http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-219 sergio Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:39:04 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-219 It's just about economy. Internet as a technology platform for economic developement is huge and amazing. A company must survive. And the owners want to sail the world. I think that only services/products from educational institutions will remain 100% free. I mean, ALL services/products. If we take a look at RedHat, they started as 100% free, then choose a market, start to profit but maintaining another free product. FWD should do the same. Charge the $30 anual fee for a PSTN number, but ramain free for the 100% IP SIP switch service. It’s just about economy. Internet as a technology platform for economic developement is huge and amazing. A company must survive. And the owners want to sail the world. I think that only services/products from educational institutions will remain 100% free. I mean, ALL services/products. If we take a look at RedHat, they started as 100% free, then choose a market, start to profit but maintaining another free product. FWD should do the same. Charge the $30 anual fee for a PSTN number, but ramain free for the 100% IP SIP switch service.

]]> By: voip http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-218 voip Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:44:33 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-218 <strong>voip...</strong> The first reason for going digital is economic. Some providers can save households up to 50% or more over comparable landline service. When international calling is in play, the savings can become even greater. The second is the added value. Because so... voip…

The first reason for going digital is economic. Some providers can save households up to 50% or more over comparable landline service. When international calling is in play, the savings can become even greater. The second is the added value. Because so…

]]> By: Alok http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-217 Alok Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:43:55 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-217 Yes, FWD needs to monetize the huge user base, but is this the best approach. You have some interesting products and you are right in saying that the real value will be in the applications sitting on the network and not the network itself. More on http://truvoip.blogspot.com/2008/08/would-people-pay-for-inbound-sip_06.html Yes, FWD needs to monetize the huge user base, but is this the best approach. You have some interesting products and you are right in saying that the real value will be in the applications sitting on the network and not the network itself. More on http://truvoip.blogspot.com/2008/08/would-people-pay-for-inbound-sip_06.html

]]> By: cosinity blog » FWD to begin charging $30/Year http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/comment-page-1/#comment-216 cosinity blog » FWD to begin charging $30/Year Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:24:32 +0000 http://briantroy.com/blog/2008/08/10/free-world-dialup-moving-to-30-annual-membership/#comment-216 [...] Brian’s Blog Post [...] [...] Brian’s Blog Post [...]

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