For those of you that have tried Packet8's VoIP service and are less
than thrilled with it, but don't want to pay a cancellation fee, you
may find this thread at BroadbandReports.com quite interesting:
http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,13183857
As user "Minglewood" posted: "Does P8's Price Increase Avoid the
Cancel Fee? I think it does, as long as cancelation occurs before
using the phone on May 1. Anyone try this yet? This result is implied
in P8's new TOS. In addtion, it follows naturally from P8 changing the
TOS unilaterally. The customer can't be held to its promise (one year
of service) if P8 doesn't hold to its promises ($19.99 per
month). There is no doubt this fee is a price increase. Thoughts?"
Now I doubt that "Minglewood" is a lawyer, and I know I'm not, but
what he's saying does seem to make sense.
I wouldn't normally mention this but it seems to me that Packet8 does
a lot of things that might cause people not to like them, apparently
including trying to force high-usage residential customers off an
"Unlimited" plan and onto a Business service plan (until they complain
in a very public forum, anyway). My belief is that if you advertise
unlimited service, that's what you have to provide, and if you don't
you aren't going to be listed on the Resources for Michigan Telephone
Users web site, and that plus the fact that they utilize network
marketing companies (a.k.a. Multi-Level Marketing) to market their
service is enough against them for me to not list them. This bogus
Regulatory Recovery Fee is just another reason for me to not like
them.
Anyway, I don't expect that everyone will jump ship solely because of
this, but if anyone has been wanting a way to get out from under their
service without paying the cancellation fee, this just may be an out.
And, though I doubt they had any idea that Packet8 would do this, a
few days ago VoicePulse introduced a competitive upgrade offer for
those switching from another provider, where current and former
customers of competing VoIP services are eligible to receive a $50
cash reward (details at
http://www.voicepulse.com/plans/CompetitiveUpgrade.aspx ) so for those
wanting to quit Packet8 but not VoIP, there is an option for you.
I truly believe that companies should not be permitted to tack on
these fees, because they are not mandated by the government
(Packet8''s new Terms of Service even state that "This fee is not a
tax or charge required or assessed by any government"), so in effect
what they are doing is advertising one price but charging a higher
one. I have no idea why consumer protection agencies and regulators
are willing to look the other way when VoIP companies do this, but
they shouldn't.
Just a warning, I am seriously considering pulling the listing of all
companies that charge this bogus fee off the web site. Why should I
help send any business their way, when there are other companies that
don't do this? The only thing that has stopped me so far is the fact
that some of them offer some unique international plans that may be
beneficial to some customers even with the fee, and on the site I do
mention this added fee when I know about it, so people are warned.
But I still think it's a very, very sleazy practice and I have no
respect for the companies that add such fees.
How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html
If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/
Jack Decker (jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request)