CallCentric NY # - Which call center? and 911 recovery fee

[HH235]

As more and more folks move off GV I'm guessing some call centers #s might get busier than others.  
Anyone have any experience with a call center to NOT get?

Also when i went to sign up turns out it's not really totally free.  I got a notice that there is a 911 recovery fee for those in the US/Canada.  They do plainly state that at the bottom of the CallCentric summary page of Incoming call plans. But originally I thought that applied only to outgoing calls since 911 is for folks making an outbound call to 911.   Silly me.

[HH235]

The CC website says:
"A setup fee of $1.50 and a monthly fee of $1.50 apply to each Callcentric account requiring 911 service. These fees are used to recover costs directly associated with developing, implementing and maintaining 911 service in compliance with FCC regulations in the US, and CRTC regulations in Canada.

Th $1.50 monthly fee is included in the costs for the following outgoing services:
North America 500
North America 1000
North America Residential
World Select Residential

If you added one of the above outgoing plans the 911 fee would be included in the monthly price for the selected outgoing plan.

The $1.50 fee is NOT included in the following services:
Pay Per Call outgoing service
Any incoming service

Under these products you WILL be billed for 911 separately, at $1.50/month plus a one time $1.50 setup fee, if you state that your are in the US or Canada."

So it seems inconsistent.  Is there a 911 fee for "Free" NY numbers that only provide incoming service only?

I emailed the CC billing department.

Another part of their site says:
"Do I need to have 911?
If you are located in the United States or Canada and have purchased a rate plan for outbound calling, or a phone number to receive calls we must provide you with 911 service as per FCC regulations in the US, and CRTC regulations in Canada"

[gderf]

During the process of signing up for a the Free IP Freedom service, which is required to obtain the Free NYC DID, you will be presented with a screen informing you about the E911 charge for those using the service inside the US or Canada.

At that point you need to make a choice. Are you or are you not using the services inside the US or Canada? Choose wisely.

[SteveInWA]

Aside from gderf's answer, Callcentric's E911 fee applies to OUTgoing call plans (since, after all, a call to 911 is, well, an outbound call).  That's why it may be confusing to read their verbiage.  So, if you only use their pay-per-minute outbound calling, which is the default if you sign up for any of their INbound DIDs, free or paid, then they are asking you to pay separately for E911.  If you sign up for a bucket o' minutes outbound calling plan, they bundle in E911.

BTW, "IP Freedom" refers to their 1777xxxxxxx barebones SIP to SIP service only.  So, once you optionally pick an inbound plan, that's the service you are using.

HTH.

[HH235]

Customer Service Response is below. My second question to them (#2 below) was if I order separate incoming and outgoing services will there be two e911 charges.

Hello,

Per FCC/CRTC regulations we have to provide 911 service if you are living in US/Canada and have Incoming or Outgoing plan under the account.

1) In general, the 911 service is included for free within the following plans:

North America 500
North America 1000
North America Residential
World Select Residential

So if you ordered North America 500 plan and the Free Phone Number plan then you will not be paying $1.50 for 911 service. Reason being, the service is included within the North America 500 plan.

In your case, you are only ordering the Free Phone Number plan which does not include 911 for free. This will be an additional charge under the account(for US/Canada customers).

2) No, the 911 charge the applied to account as a whole. The monthly charge will remain $1.50.

If you any further questions please feel free to contact us. Thank you

[HH235]

Steve in WA,
You said "BTW, "IP Freedom" refers to their 1777xxxxxxx barebones SIP to SIP service only.  So, once you optionally pick an inbound plan, that's the service you are using."

So if I select a DID and/or an incoming plan I have to give up my IP Freedom part of the account?

[gderf]

The IP Freedom plan provides, among other things, the SIP credentials you need to register a device with their service.

[SteveInWA]

Customer Service Response is below. My second question to them (#2 below) was if I order separate incoming and outgoing services will there be two e911 charges.

Hello,

Per FCC/CRTC regulations we have to provide 911 service if you are living in US/Canada and have Incoming or Outgoing plan under the account.

1) In general, the 911 service is included for free within the following plans:

North America 500
North America 1000
North America Residential
World Select Residential

So if you ordered North America 500 plan and the Free Phone Number plan then you will not be paying $1.50 for 911 service. Reason being, the service is included within the North America 500 plan.

In your case, you are only ordering the Free Phone Number plan which does not include 911 for free. This will be an additional charge under the account(for US/Canada customers).

2) No, the 911 charge the applied to account as a whole. The monthly charge will remain $1.50.

If you any further questions please feel free to contact us. Thank you

I am not sure what you think that answer meant, as it was rather confusing to me, too.  But, I will try one more time, and this is based on my own experience as a CC customer:

Scenario:  you start with "IP Freedom".  Like gderf and I said, this is your set of SIP credentials used to provision your ATA or softphone to make and receive calls.  If all you have is IP Freedom, then all you get are SIP-to-SIP calls, and you have no actual PSTN telephone number at all (the 1-777 number is a fake/non-functional number used only for SIP-to-SPI calling, as an account number, and as your SIP credential user name).

If you then get any one of their INnbound calling plans, you get a PSTN DID (a free NY, or local paid, inbound phone number either from them, or ported in from your old carrier).  That action by default means you have the pay-per-minute outbound calling option.  With PPM, you need E911 service, too, if you want to comply with the FCC regulations.  It's $1.50, a la carte with the per-minute plan.

Now, let's say you decide instead to buy one of their bucket o' minutes plans. This is what they tried to explain:  when you do that, the $1.50 fee is instead included (no extra charge) in the bucket price, so no, there are not two separate fees.  I did exactly that.  I had the per-minute pricing, and I was paying the extra $1.50/month E911 fee.  When I upgraded to their North America 500 plan, I now pay just $6.95/month, period.  The standalone $1.50 fee is no longer on my monthly bill.  That means, my 500 outbound minutes cost me a net difference of $5.45/month.

[gderf]

After signing up for a Callcentric account, which automatically gets you the free IP Freedom service, if you then order a Free Phone Number, you are going to be confronted with the E911 information screen. It is there that you must answer yes or no to the question about are you using the service inside the US or Canada.

From there, it's simple.

If you answer no, you there is no E911 service provided so there is no $1.50 fee and no need to provide any billing information, and you can not make any outgoing calls to PSTN numbers with the service. And your monthly recurring billing emails will show a $0.00 charge.

If you answer yes, and I have not done that so I can only speculate what comes next, then you likely have to provide street address information and billing information to be automatically billed $1.50 per month for E911 service. With only the Free Phone number and the E911 service, you can make only outgoing calls to 911. All other attempts to place calls to other PSTN numbers will result in a message played to you saying the number is invalid or can not be placed with the IP Freedom plan. You can call 933 to hear the address information you provided when you subscribed to E911 service.

That's all there is to it. The only decisions you have to make are do you, or do you not want to spend $1.50/mo for E911 service. And if not, are you really outside the US or Canada making your answer to that question truthful.

[HH235]

Thanks for taking time to reply.  It all makes sense.  

I have the Callcentric app on my Android smart phone and CC set up on my obi.  My Sip-Sip CC calls this way have been pretty good quality.  I did have 2 out of 5 test calls from a wireless at an in town free w-fi spot drop after 30 seconds.  And they are a little choppy.   But here in the house where I have wi-fi they have been pretty solid.

I also tried calling someone using the Sipbroker folks to my IP Freedom #.  Call quality was great on both ends.  (<http://www.sipbroker.com/sipbroker/action/pstnNumbers)

I think I will do what SteveinWA did with the incoming NY DID and the outgoing 500 plan.  After the 500 they are only .02 cents it looks like in the US.  But I think I will forward my GV number to the NY number.  I hope the quality doesn't suffer because of that.  

I know there are other companies that might be cheaper but if CC's app keeps working the way it does now and the call quality is high I will go with them.