Free conference call providers are a dying breed
The days are numbered for all Free Conference Call services, it’s simply a matter of time. The big telcos have been a bit pissy for having to aid their competitors indirectly via the USF. The emotion over this has been coming to boil for years now and recently Free Conference Call provider Foonz fell, just a few days ago.
I am sure glad we decided to pull out of that Free Conference Call game long ago. Our conference call service “Lypp” (formerly Gaboogie) started by offering free conferencing but quickly decide that was a bad idea (duh!). Lypp is now cash flow positive, growing like crazy and not showing any signs of slowing down.
Andy's 2.0 Telco Top 10
Thanks for the mention Andy, I have been busy with my own projects for the last couple of years but I appreciate the fact you still remember some of the projects I had some significant success with, just a wee bit disappointed you forgot to mention them, that’s what I get for not speaking at eComm I guess 🙂
The list of course is bang-on, considering the source that should be no surprise.
I will in fact see become more active this year as my latest startup “SMB Phone” ramps towards general availability and launch. My last conference calling service provider startup “Lypp” is on auto-pilot and is growing nicely, thanks in part to Jay Phillips and adhearsion. The next stop for me will be at Internet Telephony Expo in Miami where I will be talking a bit about why we chose to build a new ITSP “SMB Phone” serving Microsoft’s new Response Point PBX.
Here is the Response Point Seminar schedule:
Tuesday, February 3rd Presentations:
4. An Integrated Solution: SMB Phone Goes to Market
with Response Point
3:00 pm
SMB Phone is a unique VAR and ITSP. Come learn how they identified Response Point as a key technical and business component in their nation-wide go to market programs focused on SMBs.
Presenter(s): Trent Johnsen, VP Business Development – SMB Phone
Wednesday, February 4th Presentations:
3. Response Point Service Provider Roundtable
Interact with the key members of the Response Point Ecosystem. Service Providers will be represented and open to discuss their service offerings and VAR/Agent programs.
Presenter(s):
Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond, Junction Networks, NGT, Packet8, SMB Phone, TotalTel
If you will be attending the show and would like to schedule a meeting, please email Trent Johnsen or myself or call us toll free: 1.866.473.0516 , say either “Trent” or “Erik”.
Innovative Phone System Benefits Local Company
As our little telecommunications company continues to grow Microsoft continues to take notice. Most recently our partners in Redmond have completed and published a case study on one of our customers “True North Drafting” (TND) a specialist in creating the detailed shop drawings that guide the fabrication and on-site installation of commercial-grade glass and aluminum structures.
TND has been a long time customer of ours and before purchasing their Response Point small business phone system they were using the Lypp conference call services.
This marks the second Lypp case study by Microsoft. The first was on Lypp itself, as a value added reseller for Response Point.
Thanks goes out to Rex and his team at Microsoft for the mention and to our customer of the month, “True North Drafting”, for their ongoing support.
Shop Drawings firm goes for Lypp and Response Point
One of our happy customers has just been asked by Microsoft if they would like to participate in a Case Study. The customer, a shop drawings firm specializing in CAD drawings for commercial glazing/glass projects (yes that is Safeco field you see there and yes they did extensive work on that project), was looking for a better phone system. True North Drafting was already using Lypp for Conference Calls but after hearing about Response Point they decided to take a demo system from us for a month. They liked it and decided to buy it.
After a couple of weeks using the system they are now raving about it! I will be sure to post the case study when it’s published.
Rick Segal – your Outlook conference call is about to begin.
I must really suck at marketing.
Rick Segal is pondering the effect an Outlook Add-in would have in the conferencing world if it worked seamlessly with Outlook Calendar and simply called everyone at the time of the meeting.
Rick has perfectly described the Lypp service and our Outlook Add-in.
International Lypp conference call services now in 20+ countries including the United Kingdom
Just a quick post… We quietly launched our International service for Lypp teleconferencing this evening. Users from Australia, UK, Germany and many more countries, can now sign-up and start using Lypp teleconferencing. Existing and new users in North America can also now include participants from 20+ countries. We only charge you for minutes you use and there are NO additional long distance costs if you use the outbound calling feature.
Since Lypp calls you and your attendees there is little or no need for an International Toll Free number. Use the Lypp for Outlook Add-in or the Lypp.com website and simply set it and forget it. Lypp notifies and calls everyone for you at the time of the meeting. The only thing you have to remember is to answer the phone when it rings.
Yes, Conference Calls and now International Conference Calls are just that simple at Lypp.
Ribbit sold, what's going on with Lypp?
Already a couple of days old now is the news that Ribbit just sold for $105m with (ÂŁ53m) in cash. A congratulations is in order for Ted Griggs and his crew!
Due to this news Lypp is receiving a bit more attention and I have recently been asked by a few interested parties, “What are you going to do with Lypp?”.
The short answer is “We are building a profitable company.” The long answer is, “We are building a profitable company.”
Next week as we will be announcing the availability of the Lypp Teleconferencing service in more than 20 countries Worldwide with more to come shortly thereafter. Countries in this next release include; UK, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong and 15 more.
The international rates will be competitive, as an example Australia will be the same price as our North American rate at 9 cents/min with zero long distance calling costs. International Toll Free will be unnecessary considering Lypp calls all the meeting participants, in all countries served, at the time of the meeting.
So that is what is going on with Lypp. We are on track and I am thrilled with our progress. Yes, there are some interesting conversations in play and we will see where that takes us but the end game is to create a healthy company that continues to grow.
WebHuddle Integrates Lypp API and Enables Teleconferencing
WebHuddle’s Web Conferencing and Desktop Sharing solution has integrated Teleconferencing / Conference Calling via Lypp.
WebHuddle is an open source Web Conferencing & Desktop Sharing solution that works on both Mac & Windows. It is both free to download and use. For a limited time WebHuddle is offering free Teleconferencing via Lypp as well. WebHuddle + Lypp works rather well even though it is in early beta.
Toll Teleconferencing is now being taxed by USAC. InterCall appeals and loses?
In recent rulings the FCC has ordered certain Conference Call service providers to start paying into the controversial USF (Universal Service Fund). InterCall (the largest Conference Service Provider) has appealed, apparently unsuccessfully.
Excerpt from FCC 08-160
Adopted: June 27,2008 Released: June 30, 2008
By the Commission:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In this order, we deny in part and grant in part a request for review filed by InterCall, Inc.
(InterCall) of a Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) decision finding that the audio
bridging services offered by InterCall are “toll teleconferencing” services and that InterCall must
contribute directly to the universal service fund (USF) based on revenues from these services.As discussed more fully below, the audio bridging services InterCall provides are equivalent to
teleconferencing services and are “telecommunications” under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act) and the Universal Service First Report and Order. Providers of these services must contribute directly to the USF based onrevenues from these services; therefore, we deny InterCall’s request to reverse USAC’s decision in this respect. We, however, grant InterCall’s request and reverse USAC’s decision requiring InterCall to contribute based on past revenues. Instead, InterCall must contribute directly to the USF beginning as of the calendar quarter immediately following the next scheduled FCC Form 499-Q filing after the release date of this order. We further direct USAC to ensure that all similarly situated audio bridging service providers contribute directly to the USF beginning as of this same time frame.
This is interesting for us CSPs (Conference Service Providers) to say the least and it’s likely going to get very interesting for those CSPs who are charging for toll teleconferencing. What this order basically says is that if a CSP is charging for toll conference calls (user has to dial into a local exchange) that revenue is subject to USF taxation.
This could be viewed as another win for Alex cory’s group ala FreeConference.com. They get paid via the USF and other providers have to pay into it, ironic and somewhat comical. Well, you know what they say, if you can’t beat’em, join’em.
Here is the entire document regarding InterCall’s appeal.
Home baked SEO lands Lypp.com on page 1 of Google
As a guest contributor for Techvibes I recently wrote a story about my journey through the land of SEO. It is my quest to make Lypp the number 1 conference call service in North America. I knew SEO would play a huge part.
I managed to take lypp.com from page 61 to page 1 in 7 weeks for key word phrase “conference call” on both google.com and google.ca. No small feat considering there are nearly 60 million results for that term on both sites.
You can read the entire story at Techvibes.
WebRTC.is 