Lots of questions posted here and a fair amount of them are complaints - I myself have been guilty of that at times.
This is NOT a complaint - this is a Compliment - Just got Sangoma Connect going for a customer and it is fantastic!
The Auto-Provisioning E-Mail that get’s sent works first time and the app works really well in usage. We have a Hosted provider that uses the same base App (They call it Nimbus) but you have to manually configure it, and it is missing several features you all have enabled.
Before FreePBX had this, we moved quite a few people to Hosted just to get this feature (easily - I know we could use SoftPhones, but deploying and maintaining all the one-offs was a pain) and be able to support it.
Outstanding!
I am in the process of moving three customers (about 100 phones total) back into FreePBX because they really liked some of the features, but had moved to Hosted when COVID hit.
Sangoma Connect has worked well for me. Had some weird firewall issue the other day, but it was transient.
The 20 user minimum block is annoying. The price is fine at $199/year for 20 users. That is pretty much nothing. But so many customers hate paying for more than they need.
Why by 80 licenses with I only need 64 kind of thing. Math is math and the price is barely different at that point ($0.21 per user per month), but it is perception not math, that drives the arguments.
User Count
Cost per Year
Cost per User per month
64
$796.00
$1.04
80
$796.00
$0.83
Anytime you are at a multiple of 20 users it comes out to $0.83 / month / user
The minimum 20 user count is what has kept me from deploying it to small businesses and is very annoying. There is no reason why a small office that would not have 20 users would want to pay for 20 users. At that point it’s cheaper for them to utilize a different solution. I’ve had success in larger environments with zulu/connect but man they are really missing out on cash from smaller businesses especially with the whole WFH craze going on.
The trade-off that I see is manual configuration. Sangoma Connect is giving you simple deployment and provisioning, and if you are only setting up five users maybe it’s not that big of a deal to spend a couple hours setting up those users by installing apps on their phones and desktops and entering config by hand.
I just loaded it on my iPad, I’d like a soft phone solution for when that’s where I’m working. Unfortunately Sangoma Connect is stuck in portrait mode on a machine I use in landscape.
If someone here doesn’t have a suggestion to solve this, you might need to open a ticket with Sangoma to see if they have any suggestions, or perhaps would be willing to take some suggestions. Sangoma Connect is a commercial product, so we’re in the same basic boat you are.
I see in the above postings a little griping about the price - I disagree. While I would like the pricing a little more granular, (10 users would make it even easier for small systems) I think you all are approaching installing and charging for it wrong - here is what we do:
It costs us $179.10 - That is for 1 year for 20 users. So that is $14.925/Month (cost) or $0.74625/User/Month - That is CHEAP!
Because we bill our customers monthly for their phone service, we just add a line item on their bill:
Sangoma Connect (20 Users) - $20.00 - so we make a little money on it every month - not a lot, but it is an enabling feature, not a profit center. But we don’t lose money installing it.
Then because it is a premium feature, we also charge for configuration and implementation per hour - so it is never a “Cost” for us - it’s always profitable to deploy.
It would be easier to swallow for the little guys to have it sold in increments of 10 or even 5 - I think the reason it’s not is that remember, when you buy Commercial Modules, Sangoma is then obligated to support you - Imagine having an end-user or integrator enable a single license and then asking for and receiving support for a problem - Sangoma would be upside-down on that transaction almost from the first instant.
Just a theory, but since we sell and provide support to our customers, I am pretty sure I am right on their pricing structure.
[Clarification: the math is off slightly, full retail price is $199/20 users/yr - mod]
@GSnover@sorvani Somebody should build a mobile app that can integrate with FreePBX that is sold by the seat… Seems that would Clearly Fit what you are looking for
Preston, I’ll bite: It looks a little more polished than SC but I don’t see anywhere on your site the price.That’s usually a hard stop when I’m looking at solutions, since I can’t quickly get the value proposition.
I’m also not a fan of the 20th century licensing “buy in blocks”, either, but at the SC cost I think it’s something I can live with.
As I noted, but you need to move the store link to the top menu and not hide it under “Portals.” Why make folks hunt?
Seems like a weird committee approved design trying not to offend partners, but still allow direct sales. As it is, it doesn’t do the former and hinders the latter.
