Well ain't this a shame.
(I fully expect this link will not be up for long so here's the text of it from the Primus Tech Support site:
"(2004/06/01 21:06:48) We are currently experiencing problems on on our VOIP service network-wide in Canada. As a result, affected customers will be unable to make or receive calls. We hope to have this problem resolved as soon as possible."
When your entire VoIP network crashes you prove a number of things:
1) You must have a single point of failure, which means that somebody in your organization doesn't get that whole "up-time and reliability" thing.
2) You should not be charging anything like the price you are charging for the service, given that you have demonstrated a lack of interest in investing in reliability (ie: re-read the first point).
3) You have power washed any good will or early adopter enthusiasm out of the product.
4) This does not yet seem to be a good business proposition for an investor or a prospective customer.
I have written elsewhere about some of the innate strengths and stealth moves that have been exhibited by big Telcos in the midst of this VoIP bubble. The full text of my comments from 04/08/04 follows here:
I recently tried the Primus version of
VOIP, but have since cancelled the service within the 60 day trial
period. TalkBroadband is not price competitive, is paired with average
long distance plans and has traditional voice mail (ie: it does not use
email or sms for notification and has no web interface). On top of
that, I could not get 2 numbers transferred from an exchange that is
advertised as being transferrable. What really convinced me to give up
on it however was a new service that Bell Canada is offering; Single
Number Reach (SNR, www.bell.ca/snr) They probably should call it 'VOIP
killer'. Priced at C$19.95/month with vmail, it is a virtual number
service with faxing, web interface, pager/email/sms notification and
find me/follow me features. That was what I was hoping VOIP could do
for me, now I've got it with my standard telephone and without the
annoying 10 second wait for a dial tone and the extra piece of bling on
my crowded desk. On top of that I ended up cancelling a couple of
standard lines that had been used for dedicated fax and switch
re-directing, saving about C$90/month.
VOIP, but have since cancelled the service within the 60 day trial
period. TalkBroadband is not price competitive, is paired with average
long distance plans and has traditional voice mail (ie: it does not use
email or sms for notification and has no web interface). On top of
that, I could not get 2 numbers transferred from an exchange that is
advertised as being transferrable. What really convinced me to give up
on it however was a new service that Bell Canada is offering; Single
Number Reach (SNR, www.bell.ca/snr) They probably should call it 'VOIP
killer'. Priced at C$19.95/month with vmail, it is a virtual number
service with faxing, web interface, pager/email/sms notification and
find me/follow me features. That was what I was hoping VOIP could do
for me, now I've got it with my standard telephone and without the
annoying 10 second wait for a dial tone and the extra piece of bling on
my crowded desk. On top of that I ended up cancelling a couple of
standard lines that had been used for dedicated fax and switch
re-directing, saving about C$90/month.
Then there are the 'soft' features;
dealing with Bell customer service is actually pretty good. They have
definitely worked on the process and made the experience more useful.
Dates of activation are stated and they do it on time or sooner. My
Primus experience was less satisfying. It took about 5 CSR contacts and
a lot of waiting to figure out that my numbers could not get
transferred. The on-line sign up service for TalkBroadband has no on
screen or email verification. I went through the whole process, waited
2 days and then called them -- there was no record that I had signed up
-- and yes I did click the right button.
dealing with Bell customer service is actually pretty good. They have
definitely worked on the process and made the experience more useful.
Dates of activation are stated and they do it on time or sooner. My
Primus experience was less satisfying. It took about 5 CSR contacts and
a lot of waiting to figure out that my numbers could not get
transferred. The on-line sign up service for TalkBroadband has no on
screen or email verification. I went through the whole process, waited
2 days and then called them -- there was no record that I had signed up
-- and yes I did click the right button.
I have played with FWD using the X-Lite
client and it's cool. Their voice mail system has been down for weeks,
but you get what you pay for. There is much that VOIP will do for
communications, but the widespread and useful services are going to be
offered by the companies that have the capital and resources to make
them work seamlessly. Primus has screwed up what could have been a
great launch with a featureless and expensive offering; their attempt
at tweaking things with some price and plan changes this week look
pretty weak.
client and it's cool. Their voice mail system has been down for weeks,
but you get what you pay for. There is much that VOIP will do for
communications, but the widespread and useful services are going to be
offered by the companies that have the capital and resources to make
them work seamlessly. Primus has screwed up what could have been a
great launch with a featureless and expensive offering; their attempt
at tweaking things with some price and plan changes this week look
pretty weak.
(c) copyright 2004,2005,2006,2007 by Bradford Gibson. Almost all rights reserved. Citation for journalistic, academic or weblog use is permitted with attribution.
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