[Video] Part 1: Minute Packages for Virtual Numbers
AVOXI president, Barbara Dondiego, responds to questions about our new minute packages for virtual phone numbers and talks about how packages work and what you need to look for in the services.
Script:
Hi, welcome to our video blog today here at AVOXI.
Today we're going to talk about minute packages. How you buy a package service. How those services work. And, how a packaged service can best provide you a solution for virtual numbers. We're excited to go over this topic with you, so let's get started.
AVOXI's been around for close to 20 years, so we have a lot of experience with international numbers, virtual numbers, local services and the communication software that ties all those things together. We get a lot of questions from our customers about how to really understand prices, the minutes, and the packages. So today, we're going to talk about what those things mean. The goal is to ensure that you understand all your options and to enable you to make the best choice for your business.
When I'm personally looking for a communication solution, I look for three things: pricing, packaging and controls. Those are the three things we’re going to talk about in this video blog.
Components of a Minute Package
Pricing: First of all, let's go through pricing, I want to know exactly what I'm being charged for. I want understand what the monthly recurring fee is. What the usage charges are and if there are any other fees I should know about.
Packaging: Now let's go through packaging. If I'm looking at a package, I would like to understand what’s really in it. How many minutes do I get? If something is unlimited, is it really unlimited or does it have some type of cap on it? What kind of features or software comes with my package that I don't have to pay for and what is extra that I might want to add to my solution.
Controls: Third thing is controls. I want to understand how easy it is for me to really use this solution. Do I have a great online interface? Can I easily change my settings, my configuration? Can I add new users; can I change my messaging, my call routing? If something happens to my number, can I easily reroute my service to somewhere else?
I want to know all those things and I want to do that quickly. Those are the three things I look at when I'm looking at a package and a solution.
Comparison of Minute Packages for Pricing, Packaging, and Controls
So today what we're going to do is we're going to look at three competitors and talk about how they fit into those three areas of packaging, pricing, and controls.
Tollfreeforwarding.com Package Pricing
If I look at Tollfreeforwarding.com, I'm just going to put in a US number. I'll put in a regular 800 service that I'm going to terminate to SIP or VoIP. What that means is that I can terminate the call to my own PBX or that I can terminate it to a hosted PBX--something that's in the cloud that has a SIP connection. What that does for me is that it allows me to essentially have a cheaper price and more flexibility.
When I put in my specifications, I see here that they have a 400 minute package for $9 a month and the additional minutes are 4.1 cents. That means that after I go through my 400 minutes, every other minute is 4.1 cents, and I pay $9 a month whether I use 400 minutes or 200 minutes. But $9 a month isn't very much, so that's really great for my budget.
Global Call Forwarding Package Pricing
Let's go to some other competitors as well; the next one we're going to go to is Global Call Forwarding. If we look at Global Call Forwarding’s website and their pricing, then we see that they have a 200 minute package. But their package is $12.95 month. That’s quite a bit more for only half the minutes compared to Tollfreeforwarding.com. Now their additional minutes are 5.2 cents. So where Tollfreeforwarding.com's minutes were 4.1, Global Call Forwarding is 5.2; so for every minute over 200, you pay 5.2 cents a minute.
Freedomvoice.com Package Pricing
Let's look at one more. Let's go over here to freedomvoice.com. On freedomvoice.com they also have a 400 minute package just like tollfreeforwarding.com. The monthly pricing is very similar at $9.95. They also include additional minutes for 3.9 cents. So it’s pretty comparable to Tollfreeforwarding.com.
As you can see, the prices range pretty broadly just for one country, one number type, and one termination or end point combination. These examples show one number going to SIP trunking. That's why it's really important to take a look at all of your options and determine what's going to be best.
Part 2: Available Friday, April 6
