So as usual… in the great buyout of things now that Sangoma has taken over VoIP Innovations it seems they’ve jumped the pricing commitment with basically zero notice to users. Where as it use to be $50/month they’ve doubled it to $100. With less than a months notice for the new pricing to go into affect.
So… now I have to switch a number of clients off of VoIP Innovations last minute. That’s going to be fun.
One client has asked me about Twilio, which seems to be more of a custom API / platform driven thing.
Is anyone familiar with using Twilio, is it worth it? How does the cost actually break down for you?
I use Twilio as a sip trunk for a few FreePBX installations. All of them are pretty low volume. I have been using Twilio for a long time, and my published phone numbers are transferred/registered with them, so it made sense and is a platform I am using for their programmable voice already. I was setting up a new system about a month ago and found some new documentation that makes it pretty easy to manage the configuration.
General SIP Trunking with Twilio page:
Of particular interest to me with this latest version of the documentation was the ability to specify which data centers would handle traffic. This made it much easier for me to narrow down the IP addresses and configured trunks.
It has been reliable and I would not hesitate to recommend them if the pricing/features are what you’re looking for.
Yeah they don’t need any of the advanced Twilio features I wasn’t exactly sure how they compare on a cost prospective. It’s unfortunate that with not even a months notice they doubled the commitment price… the only notification was an email. Not even in the customer portal or anything.
So I’ll take a look at the providers mentioned that provide a more bare bones service
While I think this was an unforced error, it seems to be the way Sangoma proceeds with new acquisitions: buy something, make a huge change that alienates the old customers, and reduce profitability. It’s almost like they do it on purpose.
On the other hand, I was on the phone with my account rep a couple of years ago and he told me that the minimum commitment amount was going up to $100 but that the reps had the power to reduce it to their “grandfathered” minimum. This may just be a corporate snap-back away from that position.
I’ve been with VI for a LONG time and I’ve always been happy with their services and prices. I’m already at that minimum every month, so the fact that my old $50 minimum hasn’t been a real minimum in years. That reminds me - I need to call them about a different billing issue.
I work with a client who has happily used VI for many, many years.
Even though I am personally a “small fry” I do not have any issue with companies not wanting to work with small fries. They are not making any meaningful profit off a $10 monthly spend and in some cases spending many times that much in support costs dealing with hobbyists or amateurs still learning their PBX software and SIP.
So I am grateful for companies like Twilio and others who let anybody sign up with no commitment, and I recognize that I am more their liability than their customer unless I am spending a certain amount of money with them.
My second choice provider for the level of service we’re talking about is Telnyx. Good prices, good website, almost no tech support (except through e-mail), and they are running a lean system. It’s almost like a bunch of techs from one of the big companies was running an ITSP in their spare time.