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General discussion

VOIP Ripoff

Mar 5, 2006 10:32PM PST

Don?t know if this is the correct forum for this?.deals with VOIP. Was going to sign-up for service with ACN (acndigital.com). I requested that they port my current phone number from AT&T. They were going to give me a temp number (no choice to refuse) until the porting was completed (30+ days). I have absolutely no use for the temp number since everyone knows my current number ? have had for over 30 years. Here?s the rub?ACN wanted to charge me the monthy usage for the unusable temp number. In the meantime I?d need to continue paying AT&T for my current number. To me, this double charging is a ripoff and I?d be paying ACN for service I couldn?t use. Is this an industry standard or is ACN the only VOIP rippin? us off? If so, your monthly savings could be eaten up in the first month. Comments, please?

Discussion is locked

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Sounds like a rip-off
Mar 6, 2006 1:32AM PST

When I went to Primus VOiP I was coming from a wireless carrier (Telus) so they were not able to convert my number - their offer to convert your old number was contingent on it being from a telco/land-line.

Still, they were not going to charge me for the service and it certainly wasn't going to take a month.

Is the temporary number actually unusable/non-functional or just a royal pain in the, er, neck?

- Micah

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Not a rip-off
Mar 6, 2006 1:45AM PST

You pay for the service and the VOIP provider cannot guarantee that the porting will be successful. I haven't heard of providers who will not charge for the service since it is usable for outgoing calls. A lot of VOIP providers give you a free month of service anyway, so go with that.

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A Real Phone Number
Mar 6, 2006 6:54AM PST

The 'temporary' number was a real phone number. If I would install an adaptor, I would be able to call and receive. However, why would I want to pay for this number that nobody knows if my existing number was to be ported? I checked with AT&T and they assign a number only if you want a new number and choose not to port your existing. Otherwise, they don't apply the monthly charge until the number is ported. Comcast told me a similar story.... no monthly charge until installation is complete, including the ported phone number. Customers should indeed be given the option to get a new phone number or be ported. If you want to try the system and get a new number before you request porting, then applicable charges should indeed be applied. Otherwise, you shouldn't be charged the monthly rate until you can use the system, in my opinion!!!

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Just the business
Mar 6, 2006 11:52AM PST

Still it's not a ripoff, just a business decision. It is your opinion, but you do have choices for VOIP as a consumer.

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(NT) Bad Business?
Mar 6, 2006 11:30PM PST

Suppose you wanted to paint your house and the paint store said that they had to order the white color you wanted. But, in the meantime, in order to deal with them, you had to take and pay for this awful green paint. I doubt that you would deal with this company, which is exactly the decision I made about ACN....I didn't deal with them. But, unfortunately, there are many VOIP companies that do business this way. I believe Vonage is one. This is an industry ripoff and needs to be recitified, in my opinion!!

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we were told the same thing
Mar 6, 2006 3:14AM PST

This was over a year ago, when we signed up with Vonage. But then it turned out we couldn't even get our phone number, nor any number in the 3-digit exchange where we live. We chose a number that's actually for a small town down the road. It wasn't as big a deal to switch phone numbers as I thought it would be, though people think it's a cell phone number because they don't recognize the exchange (it's a relatively new one, even people who live in the town it's associated with often don't know about it).

Because we got a new phone number with Voip, we kept the Verizon service as well, overlapping the two for about a month to make sure we liked it before we cancelled Verizon. We didn't know anyone who'd used voip at the time, so we were a little scared to make the switch, but we've been satisfied.

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not a rip off
Mar 6, 2006 11:26PM PST

I don't see how it's a rip off, first of all you could simply forward your current number to the temporary number and start using the service right away. Most people switch to VoIP for the long distance savings anyway which is an outgoing call. An outgoing call which your new adapter and temp number are capable of completing.

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Double Payment
Mar 6, 2006 11:37PM PST

If you forward your current number to the 'temp' number, you still need to pay your new and old phone service providers until the current number gets ported. Maybe you can afford this, but I sure can't! Bring back Ma Bell so we only need to deal with one company. Besides, has anyone actually seen a decrease in rates as promised when Ma Bell was broken up? But, that's a topic for a different posting.

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ma bell?
Mar 7, 2006 11:43PM PST

If you can't find $15 in your budget you may want to rethink your cost savings strategy. Besides if you use the service you'll realize the savings anyway. Cancel the long distance and any services on your line until your number is ported. Any outgoing calls you make will then be free.

Also you are realizing the cost savings promised from the breakup of ma bell right now. Do you think there would have been any voip proliferation if AT&T controlled the entire long distance market?

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Just another reason...
Mar 8, 2006 1:44AM PST

It's just another reason I always like to make sure I get my services through a well-known company.

It sucks that you can't trust any business. You would think they spend so much time, money and effort to make these businesses and then rip off customers. I feel for you.