VOIP WATCH
Skype Offers Free PC-to-Phone Calling - Skype, the popular VoIP calling service, has upped the ante in the Internet calling game. Through the end of 2006, users of the company’s SkypeOut calling service can make unlimited calls from their Skype-enabled PC’s to any phone in the U.S. or Canada for free. Prior to this change, calls from Skype-enabled computers to regular landline or mobile phones cost between 2¢-3¢ per minute with the SkypeOut product. Essentially, this means that consumers can use Skype as a free calling service for all calls – local or long distance – within the U.S. and Canada. The biggest catch with Skype has traditionally been that users need to have a microphone and speakers (or a Bluetooth-enabled wireless headset and microphone) hooked up to their computers to make use of Skype. As we discussed several weeks ago, however, there are some devices, such as Vosky’s Call Center, that allow users to connect a traditional phone to their computer to make calls via Skype. For consumers interested in trying VoIP calling out with as little risk as possible, this free offer makes now the ideal time to give VoIP a test run to see if it meets your calling needs. Of course, along with the free Skype-to-landline phone offer, Skype users can continue to make PC-to-PC calls with other Skype users worldwide for free. Consumers should not consider Skype a total replacement for their traditional wireline or wireless phones, however, since SkypeOut-enabled phones are not able to dial emergency numbers such as 9-1-1. For more information on the SkypeOut free calling offer, click here or visit www.skype.com.
WIRELESS WATCH
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless Tie For Top Marks on Customer Satisfaction – The quarterly results for the influential American Customer Satisfaction Index study were announced this week and T-Mobile tied with Verizon Wireless for top marks among the major wireless carriers. For T-Mobile, this continues a trend of high customer-service marks that have made it a popular choice for consumers looking for a good customer experience at a slightly lower price than Verizon Wireless, the traditional industry leader in this category. Cingular and Sprint Nextel continue to fall below the industry average for customer service in the ACSI survey. A new feature of the ACSI survey is the inclusion of Cox and Comcast in the fixed wireline rankings, thanks to their aggressive roll-out of VoIP calling services. Cox topped the ACSI rankings for fixed wireline service, with AT&T and BellSouth tying for second place and Verizon and Comcast rounding out the results. As prices for voice communications services have dropped, wireless and landline carriers have increasingly been forced to try and differentiate themselves on features and customer service. For consumers comparing calling services, a quick check of the customer satisfaction ratings of the companies they are considering subscribing to could help save time and aggravation down the line. For more information on the ACSI study, click here.
TRAC AND YOU
How to Reign In Out of Control Wireless Bills – In last week’s edition of TRACNotes, we asked readers how many wireless minutes they are using every month and whether or not they are leaving minutes on the table or racking up big overages. Here is one response that we got from a reader in Maine:
“I had Verizon Wireless 200 peak minutes $29.95 plus tax monthly with free calling after 8 p.m. and on weekends. My [monthly] bill ran about $190 and peaked one month at $419. Therefore, I signed up with Cingular Wireless who is offering a plan with 800 peak minutes with Rollover,, free mobile to mobile and free calling after 7 p.m., for $79.00. Because I often call people who happen to be on the Cingular network, I'm not charged for those calls. Therefore, I accumulated over 8,000 rollover minutes."
“The Cingular plan calls for use or lose rollover minutes within 12 months, so I've been losing minutes every month. However, I'm saving about $100 monthly compared to my previous plan. I'm not economizing my cell phone use as I tried to do before, and the number of calls doubled because of so many dropped calls. Once my contract agreement is up, I'll drop to half the peak minutes, as it is obvious that I over-purchased.” – R.T.
Thanks for the e-mail. I’m surprised you didn’t have a heart attack when you got those gigantic Verizon Wireless bills. Unfortunately, these kinds of shocks are something we at TRAC hear about all too often. Verizon Wireless charges 45¢ per minute for calls over the monthly minute allotments of their plans. In your case, on a $29.95 monthly bill (pre-tax) that ended up being $190 on most months, you were probably going over your monthly minute allotment by something on the order of 350 minutes per month. The one month with the whopping $419 bill meant you likely went over your monthly minute allotment by more than 850 minutes. It’s no wonder you were anxious to switch!
That said, wireless users are generally better off paying for slightly more minutes than they are likely to use than not buying enough minutes. High overage charges can quickly wipe out any savings gained by buying a lower-priced monthly service plan that doesn’t have enough minutes to meet your calling patterns. While Cingular’s Rollover feature is certainly useful for avoiding overage fees, users who buy a too-large minute plan will likely find themselves losing minutes once the twelve-month window to use them expires. New Cingular subscribers, and existing subscribers whose service contracts are up and are considering switching service plan should take special care in choosing their Cingular calling plan due to the Rollover. Subscribers who buy a too-large plan will likely find that they end of wasting minutes that have been rolled over. Users who buy too few minutes will likely get hit with the 40¢ per minute overage fees.
The key for any wireless phone user is to do an honest assessment of their wireless calling patterns BEFORE signing a new service contract. A good way to do this assessment is to take the last three months of wireless bills, add up all the minutes used, and divide by three. This will give you an idea of your average monthly minute usage, enabling you to more accurately choose the plan that suits your calling needs.
INTERESTING LINKS
FCC Main Page: http://www.fcc.gov
FCC Complaint Form - http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cib/fcc475.cfm
List of State Regulatory Commissions: http://www.naruc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=15
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©2006 Telecommunications Research and Action Center. TRAC grants unlimited rights to reproduce TRACNotes or any information contained in it provided attribution is given as follows: "Source: Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org"
