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Vestalink - went over the limit on the unlimitted plan?

Started by Codesmith, May 03, 2014, 10:36:24 AM

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Codesmith

QuoteDue to higher that normal call volumes your Vestalink account has been downgraded from an unlimited plan to a 2000 minute a month plan.

I'm disabled and so are 4 of my closest friends so I always lot of daytime calling.  So 95% of my call volume is to a handful of people who also don't work.  It doesn't get more non-comercial than that.

Life's been crazy lately, two friends with family in the ICU, one made it one didn't. So my call volume definitely spiked recently and I got flagged as a business user, downgraded to 2000 min/month and by the time I noticed the email I have less than 1000 min to last me until the 27th.

In the 47 days I've been I customer I've used 7170 min, 3724 of which to/from other Vistalink numbers.

6 numbers are over 95% of my activity.
I've been called by 28 different numbers (lot of telemarketers due to number port)
I've called 30 (I call unfamiliar numbers then block them)

Since its Saturday I won't hear back form them until Monday at the earliest, so I don't know whether to worry or not.

Has anyone else had any similar problems, and if so how did vesta link handle it?

7Priest7

Vestalink has had a LOT of issues.
Unlimited now days almost never means unlimited.
It only means unlimited as long as you use less than a invisible threshold.

If they are unwilling to change your account back, I would dispute the charges as the fraud they clearly are.
Filing a FCC/BBB complaint would also be wise, they won't change unless people force them to.

Codesmith

QuoteWe flag accounts that indicate a daily average of over 3 hours a day. All accounts have a soft limit of 5000 minutes a month. We average every day of use so that users can use more minutes during the holidays and not get flagged. If you were truly using the service for non-commercial usage if you would have talked with us we would have reversed the limit imposed on your account. We always refund customers in full if they are unhappy with the service, there is never a reason to file a complaint with paypal/credit card companies because we will always favor our customers and issue a refund if they are unsatisfied.

That's a statement of theirs on a different forum responding to a different customer a couple weeks ago.  So it should be all good, but since their support is M-F I won't know for a couple days.





ceg3

Not sure why the user singled out Vestalink as having issues, as every provider discussed in the forum has had plenty of issues. I think you will find they will work with you to make it right. They are definitely monitoring accounts that give them the impression it's a business account. I think one activity that can get you flagged is a lot of brief calls, as a business might make and receive. Good luck!

giqcass

I don't think Vestalink has been singled out in this thread yet.  The initial question was about Vestalink specifically.

Quote from: intelafone on February 26, 2014, 11:41:49 AM
Hello,

The Fair Use Policy, as has been mentioned, is to protect against business usage of accounts that are optimized for residential usage. Unfortunately we have to flag some accounts that are exhibiting commercial usage of the service so that we do not have to raise the subscription rates of our entire customer base. We don't want once customers overpaying to cover the extreme usage of another.

The Fair Use Policy doesn't have any specific constraints because that would defeat the purpose of an Unlimited plan. What generally gets accounts flagged for business usage is a high daily average of about six hours a day and with relatively short average time on calls. If this remains consistent over a period of time(week days, usually) then it is apparent that the account is being used for commercial purposes.

It's never fun to impose restrictions on accounts and it won't be made a habit. The purpose of the Fair Use Polciy isn't to mislead our customers but instead to protect the majority of our customers from rising rates to cover someone else's costs.
Long live our new ObiLords!

vtsnaab

When I began the journey of studying Obi + VOIP options I considered Vestalink - but not for long a'tall.

Having read a huge number of posts & topics here & elsewhere, I noticed that they were a bit too much the focus of problem reports with users seeking community support rather than provider support.

In other threads there have been very careful summings-up of this provider's faults which I am very grateful to have seen.

I will not repeat any of that here as it is not my knowledge to pass on and I have no 1st hand experience with them.

Also - I have no bone to pick with Vestalink.
It is maximally unlikely that I will ever use them - so it is even less likely that I will ever have a bone to pick with them.

For me this serves to highlight what is so very good about places like this one - the open & free sharings by folks that are visible to others and can be so very helpful.

In this instance such helpful sharings have served to help this user choose which providers it is best to keep a healthy distance from - and the one this thread is about certainly qualifies just from my own observations.

nitzan

Expect this to get worse as signups are likely slowing down already, and will slow down even more after the GV transition is done. Since their entire user base is yearly there is going to be no revenue from existing users until next year. They still have to pay carrier costs anyway. I really hope for his users' sake that Ryan Tilton is saving/investing the money to pay for carrier costs for an entire year...
Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation
http://www.future-nine.com/

ianobi

@ Codesmith,

Quote6 numbers are over 95% of my activity.

Given the heavy usage between such a few numbers, if 2 or 3 of these people also owned an OBi device, then there could be good savings. OBi to OBi calls are free using the OBiTALK network. The cost of a couple of OBi100 devices would soon be covered.

Codesmith

#8
None of my friend and family are the least bit technical.  I just installed DDWRT on two budget routers, setup QoS, and configured one as a bridge repeater.  I literally have no one in my life who knows or cares what that means.

Anything that doesn't work exactly like a regular phone, where no matter what your using to call you just dial one number for a cell phone and a 2nd for a landline, and those Obi202's are going in the box in the basement.  And they are paying whatever AT&T or their cable company wants them to pay.

---
As to my experiences with Vestalink ... things were a bit substandard at first but for the last 30 days the call quality and the stability have been excellent.  Spoofing a google number while calling a google number on an Obi202 gave me nothing but grief, and I'd recommend disabling spoofing as an initial troubleshooting step for any problem.

My friend was having issues with disconnect, but it was her cable modem that was flaky not their service.




ceg3

Quote from: 7Priest7 on May 03, 2014, 12:52:27 PM
Vestalink has had a LOT of issues.
Unlimited now days almost never means unlimited.
It only means unlimited as long as you use less than a invisible threshold.

If they are unwilling to change your account back, I would dispute the charges as the fraud they clearly are.
Filing a FCC/BBB complaint would also be wise, they won't change unless people force them to.

Sounds like unnecessary negativity towards the service to me and not particularly helpful.

Codesmith

Computer flagged the account, human restored it upon request.



giqcass

Long live our new ObiLords!

7Priest7

Quote from: ceg3 on May 04, 2014, 09:03:59 AMSounds like unnecessary negativity towards the service to me and not particularly helpful.
The irony, Making a entirely useless post to criticize the first sentence of a otherwise useful post.

Vestalink has had a lot of problems. It is as good as fact. It can be traced. There are records.

To the OP, I'm glad it all worked out for you.
Best of luck to you!