My $.02 (billed to IPKall
):
The FCC rule change is having the desired effect: it will limit the parasitic business model of traffic-pumping (call stimulation) by chat lines, scammers, etc. IPKall wasn't a legitimate, full-service CLEC --they didn't offer actual calling services; just phone numbers that had to be forwarded to some other company's SIP server. Their sole business model was to make money off of other telcos.
My guess is that Callcentric, which owns their own CLEC, and has sufficient revenue from typical service provider operations (paying customers) will continue to offer a limited quantity of free DIDs as a way to attract business to their paid services.
From the cost-of-doing-business standpoint, going forward, it only makes sense to offer free inbound numbers if it drives drag-along business to profitable services (it makes customers feel good about the company, and encourages them to "try it -- you'll like it").
BTW, Google is the exception in this regard; it costs them a fortune to supply millions of DIDs for GV, but a) they are rolling in billions of dollars of ad revenue, so it's a drop in the bucket, and b) the "drag-along" revenue comes from people spending more time in the Google ecosystem, and c) Google wants to maintain feature parity with Microsoft and Facebook with regard to offering telephony-related services.
