Hello Readers,
I’ve noticed you reading this article and I thank you.
In my featured article last month I asked you to take a moment to make a comment in order to let me know what you would like me to write about and I offered you 3 choices. There were no replies however, which tells me that either you didn’t understand the questions or that you have no preference among the topics presented. So…..
Today I’m going to write about something that still baffles me. This is not a technical topic. What I’m talking about is the reaction I get or rather the lack of reaction to the statement that “You can save 30% to 50% of your phone bill each month!”
The reaction I get when saying that is usually well, no reaction, and I don’t completely understand it, although I do have some hunches.
- Hunch one – people hear about phone savings all the time. Whether it’s from a telemarketer or a T.V. or radio ad, we are all constantly bombarded with ads from many sources telling us about how much we can save. When yet another person tells you how much you can save, it just doesn’t register. “Anyway” you say “the cost is about the same with all providers, why switch just to save a couple dollars?”
- Hunch two – people think that if the price goes down so does the quality.
- Hunch three – people think that in order to save they would need to dial a special access code and that isn’t convenient.
- Hunch four – people are just comfortable with their current phone service provider and don’t want to change.
Those are my hunches, does one fit for you? Let’s take a look at each hunch, one at a time to see if what people are thinking is true:
1. Hunch one – people hear about phone savings all the time. When yet another person tells you how much you can save, it just doesn’t register.
- Which ads should you listen to? When Rogers or Bell say that they have lower prices than the other may have, it will only be in the order of a few dollars. When a VoIP provider says they have lower prices than Bell or Rogers, expect the difference to be substantial, between 20% and 50%. Unlimitel.ca, recently acquired by Primus, offers VoIP service at substantially lower rates than Bell or Rogers. You can save a bundle!!
2. Hunch three – if the price goes down then so does the quality.
- Totally untrue. Think of it this way: If you have ever bought a car that turned out to be a lemon, your reaction was not to say “I’ll never again buy another car.” If you ever had a bad experience with VoIP service you shouldn’t then say “I’ll never buy VoIP again.” Just as with cars it isn’t the technology that is flawed but sometimes in the way it is put together. VoIP does work and work well when put together correctly.
3. Hunch 3 – to save I’ll need to dial a special access code, or making a call will be more complicated than it is now.
- Again, this is totally untrue. In fact with phones using VoIP service the person using the phone is most often unaware of the fact that their call is going over a VoIP connection. There are no special access codes to dial and the process of making a call is exactly like you are used to.
4. Hunch four – you are comfortable with your current phone service provider.
- Being comfortable and being complacent are similar but different. If you are truly happy with your current phone service provider then definitely stay with them, but take a careful look at what they are offering. VoIP phone service providers definitely have the edge when it comes to available benefits and features as well as cost savings. Example: if your Bell phone service goes down are incoming calls automatically forwarded to another number – your cell for instance? VoIP providers offer this benefit.
That is what I know about my hunches. If you have any topic concerning emerging technologies, that you would like me to write about, please ask.
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