Mass hysteria?

[Lavarock7]

There was a well-known company who trained their salesmen to never disparage their competition. If on a sales call they were asked questions about the competition they were to only compare the companies and products.

The understanding I got was that if you had to cut down the competition to make a sale, that shows that your product cannot stand on its own and the only way you think you can make a sale is to make the competition look worse so your side looks better.

[Rick]

IBM.  I worked for them many years ago.

[carl]

To me, it's irrelevant if Nitzan's points are valid or invalid.  Companies win business by showing their features and benefits as compared to the competition (Us / Them chart for example).  Going on a forum and bashing a competitor is not called for, even if the comments are 100% correct.

That's certainly so true which makes  this tactic  rather damaging than helping . Which in a strange way shows honesty- the smart way would be to do  what others do, deploy shills and get your positive or negative messages over this effective and fashionable way.
And for Vestalink, one cannot be negative enough about the "" OBItalk"".

[Usetheforceobiwan]

Plus bashing a competitor on an open forum risks crossing a line at some point that gets you into legal trouble (whether what you had to say was correct or not).  It's like the danger of having a company Twitter account - you never know when an emotional tweet can con notate the wrong impression and land you in a pot of hot water.  

Moral of the story:  Stick with extoling the virtues of your own service, be helpful and forthcoming to your customers and let your competitors true nature cause them to eventually foist themselves on their own petard.  

[nitzan]

Plus bashing a competitor on an open forum risks crossing a line at some point that gets you into legal trouble (whether what you had to say was correct or not).

I don't think anything I said crosses into legal territory. Hell it's not even bashing - I was just voicing my opinion on the danger of having your entire userbase as yearly customers. But you guys are right about one thing - it's none of my business and Ryan Tilton can run his business as he sees fit.

Moral of the story:  Stick with extoling the virtues of your own service, be helpful and forthcoming to your customers and let your competitors true nature cause them to eventually foist themselves on their own petard.

Good advice - will do.

[Johnny]

My personal opinion:

Some of you guys are getting too worked up over something trivial. There is nothing wrong with pointing out your competitor's weaknesses. If it is done in a tasteful and factual way, it is done all the time. Being "ugly", "nasty", or "mudslinging" is probably taking it too far. But I don't see Nitzan doing that.

As an example, Microsoft runs commercials making fun of Google/Gmail in their "Scroogled" campaign. They criticize that Google scans your email to show you ads. Is that out of bounds? What about the ones that make fun of Chromebooks, saying you can't do "real work" with them?

Another example: Who remembers all those Mac vs. PC commercials where Justin Long made fun of Windows left and right?

What about State Farm commercials that bash the "fly by night" cheaper insurance companies? They imply that anyone who isn't a household name is financially unstable.

Get off your high horses, this stuff isn't that life-changing If you don't want to do business with someone, then simply don't do business with them.

Just MY OWN OPINION of course, please don't flame me.

Couldn't agree more.

I personally enjoy reading nitzan's posts.  So what if he's opinionated.  Aren't we all? 

You say that he's not being professional by making his remarks?  I for one want to hear his opinion of the competitors.  I can make up my own mind as to whether or not I agree with his assessment of the competition.

Please don't try to stifle people from posting their opinions on here, whether it be service providers or just us regular folk.

We should all be so lucky that nitzan and Sam and a few others actually take the time to share their knowledge with us.  Please don't try to dissuade them.

I wish other service providers would join the party and give us their opinions and thoughts as well.

Talk about hiney kissin"..........

[Crow550]

This is off topic but every time I read the thread Title I think of Ghostbusters:

"Dogs and Cats living together. Mass hysteria!" -Peter.

Anywho....

Has anyone heard any official word from Obihai? They do have a Twitter page.

[vtsnaab]

Mo and Johnny have the right ideas IMO.

I calls 'em like I sees 'em - and hold Nitzan and others who speak openly in high regard because they appear to do the same.

All this P.C. foolishness is for the birds - along with the further nonsense of flaming folks for crossing some sorts of imagined 'netiquette' values.

To all of that silliness I just say=>
Un-puh-fesh-uh-nal mah hiney !!!

SO:
If some young kid is running a VOIP service part-time out of his attic, by himself - charging for it - and passing it off as a dependable company with a long-term commitment=> I'd rather hear that from ANYBODY than to be fooled into paying for something that will be gone in a few months.

Aside of that I did put my money where I found the best combination of pre-existing longevity AND good pricing - and that just happens to be Future Five.

By the same token I do very much believe in giving eager start-ups a chance, so I am also using Circlenet.

Speaking of which, just today I used public Wifi for some calls I am still very impressed with their service and their rates.

As to these companies offering yearly plans with ZERO concrete commitments to keep recurring discounts at renewal=> no thanks.

After all the hoopla - as of 5/22/14 I am still getting & making calls via GV & Obi anyhow - so:

What, me worry ?!?

[Ostracus]

This is off topic but every time I read the thread Title I think of Ghostbusters:

"Dogs and Cats living together. Mass hysteria!" -Peter.

Anywho....

Has anyone heard any official word from Obihai? They do have a Twitter page.

I'm not sure what they can add.

[FreeServiceForLife]

Google Voice on OBi still up and running - glad I didn't bite,,,

Z

Day 30 ... As they say, all good things to those that wait.

[lhm.]

Or, think long, think wrong.

[BillCarson]

Google Voice on OBi still up and running - glad I didn't bite,,,

Z

Day 30 ... As they say, all good things to those that wait.

I know almost nothing about this complicated phone crap.  I was barely able to make Google Voice work.  Then OBi says it was going to go dead.  I did nothing.  My phone still works.  I'll tell ya one thing: I ain't gonna do nothing until it stops working.  When or if it does, I'm going to toss the Obi 110 into the trash can.  I don't trust anything that company says.  I think I'll just start over and buy an Ooma box.  Nothing is more complicated than these Obi devices.

[et_phone_home]

so, can somebody summarize this whole situation, please? What's happening with Google voice? is Google still planning to cut off service soon?

[drgeoff]

so, can somebody summarize this whole situation, please? What's happening with Google voice? is Google still planning to cut off service soon?

The only people who might know are Google.  Anyone else's guess is no better than your own.

[Ostracus]

Google Voice on OBi still up and running - glad I didn't bite,,,

Z

Day 30 ... As they say, all good things to those that wait.

I know almost nothing about this complicated phone crap.  I was barely able to make Google Voice work.  Then OBi says it was going to go dead.  I did nothing.  My phone still works.  I'll tell ya one thing: I ain't gonna do nothing until it stops working.  When or if it does, I'm going to toss the Obi 110 into the trash can.  I don't trust anything that company says.  I think I'll just start over and buy an Ooma box.  Nothing is more complicated than these Obi devices.

I'm sure previous owners of the Ooma hub feel the same way.

[naizarak]

nice to see obi got their facts completely wrong and GV wasn't actually shut down

oh well i've already switched to localphone. pay $2/month to rent a number and get 800mins, which is more than enough for me. also no contract. can't complain.

[jimq51]

Doesnt look like Google is looking to close GV down very soon. Saw this on my voice home page today.

   
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[drgeoff]

Doesnt look like Google is looking to close GV down very soon. Saw this on my voice home page today.

   
Help us improve voicemail transcription!

Google would like your help in making voicemail transcriptions better. With your permission, our automated systems will remove your account information from your voicemail messages and analyze them to improve our language models. This use of your voicemails to improve our language models is fully automated, and no humans read or listen to your voicemail messages in order to do this. You can opt out at any time, and we'll stop using your messages in the future. Learn more.

There was never any threatened closedown of GoogleVoice.  There were rumblings of XMPP being turned off on 15 May.  That is one of the protocols available to interact with the GV servers.  If that had happened (or if it will happen at some point) then OBi devices cease to work with GV.  Unless/until Google make more dramatic changes to GV, it will still be available by other non-Obi methods.