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Goodbye "Handling Fee" and Free Shipping!

The topic of today's Call (keep reading) is how traditional telecommunication companies overcharge their customers with a slew of hidden and mysterious fees. In this spirit, we have permanently eliminated the "handling fee" in our store. And for the month of August we are offering free shipping to all existing SIPphone customers. So buy a new adapter for you or a friend and you'll receive free UPS Ground or International Airmail shipping and no handling fees. Login to my.sipphone and click on account settings to get your coupon number for free shipping.

New PhoneGaim and Xten Lite Softphones Posted

For those of you who have had problems making SIP Minutes calls with Xten Lite or PhoneGaim, patched versions are now available for both. PhoneGaim users can get theirs from the Click-N-Run Warehouse and Xten Lite for Mac and PC are available here.

$50? Xten Pro Now Available from SIPphone for just $7.99!

For those of you that want the additional features that come with Xten Pro, such as six lines, multi-proxy support and superior echo cancellation, you can now get it for just $7.99. Xten Pro sells for $50 elsewhere, but you can buy the same software from us for 85% less! Click here to buy and download Xten Pro for SIPphone.

SIP Minutes August Promotion: Southeast Asia 3-4-5

Call Asia's Southeast Capitals for less in August. Each month we have a special promotion with SIP Minutes. For August we offer you the ability to call Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok for just 3¢, 4¢ and 5¢/min, respectively. This is a savings of up to 75% off our already low rates to Asia. The promotion is limited to landline/fixed net lines in the capitals.

Unregulated "Regulatory" Fees and the Myth of Flat Rate Calling Plans

I read an article last week that captured something we have known at SIPphone for a long time. Telcos have figured out a bunch of ways to massively overcharge customers for making calls and even not making calls. Flat rate plans, while great for your telco, are no bargain for you. According to the study, 78% of all mobile plan minutes customers paid for each month went unused.

The study shows flat rate billing plans are used by phone companies to overcharge customers and pump up profits. Can you imagine if you had to pay each month for 100 gallons of gas but only used 22? You wouldn't stand for it. But we have been over-paying for telephone calls for so long we have become completely numb to the insulting billing practices of our telco. But flat rate plans are not the only way telcos overcharge their customers.

Worse than flat rate plans are the list of fees with names intended to make you believe they are mandated by the government. By far, my favorite fake-fee is AT&T's "Regulatory Assessment Fee", which of course is not regulated at all. This fee, AT&T admits in their small print "is not a tax or charge required by government. It helps AT&T recover expenses, including interstate access charges; property taxes; and costs of regulatory compliance and proceedings." You know AT&T, if I am not mistaken, those fees are known as the "cost of doing business". Can you tell they were a monopoly for over 50 years?

I hear the ill-fated "CEO Compensation Fee" to recover the costs of "over paying our CEO, buying him a nice helicopter and corporate jet with a marble bathroom" wasn't as well received by customers. I guess it's all how well you confuse the customer with name and placement. As AT&T and the other telcos have learned, it's far better to list your fake pure-profit fees right next to a list of real taxes and give them official sounding names. Adding "regulatory" to a fee "not required by government" is pretty amazing. If nothing else you have to admire their bravery of lying straight to our face and not blinking.

I have a crazy idea: how about just charging customers for the calls they make? That's it. With SIP Minutes you get great rates all over the world, per minute billing, no monthly fees, no connection charges, and no hidden or made-up fees. SIP Minute rates are the same whether you are calling from San Diego or Singapore. And unlike flat rate billing, the minutes you buy last three years, not just to the end of the month.

Combine SIP Minutes with our new 5 Free Minutes program that lets you make two and a half hours a month of free calls to 30 countries, and you'll save hundreds of dollars each year.

But of course SIPphone is not just about saving money. With SIPphone you get more functionality too, including free voicemail to email and free conference calling. I know there a bunch of you out there that haven't tried our conference calling system yet. You should, it's great. Here are four reasons why it is better than any other conference systems out there:

It's easy. You just pick a 1 (222) number, like 1 (222) 222-3333, and anyone calling that number at the same time will be in a conference room together
No limits. There are no limits on participants or the length of the call
SIP and PSTN access. You can access the any conference call by SIP or PSTN using a SIPphone access number
It's free. There are never any fees for conference calls. You don't even need SIP Minutes

Let us know your thoughts and feedback about this or any other SIP topic in our user forum.

**Michael Robertson
CEO and Founder
SIPphone.com