Wow! Videophones are typically very expensive, so to cut their videophone to $99 is very impressive and they reduced the monthly service charge as well. Perhaps this will entice more users to purchase the Packet8 Videophone. (Check out my review of the Packet8 Videophone)
8x8, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT), provider of Packet8 broadband voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and videophone communications services, announced today that it has reduced the price of the Packet8 Broadband Consumer VideoPhone from $250 (after rebate) to $99 and decreased the monthly service fee from $29.95 to $19.95, effective immediately.
Available direct to consumers at www.packet8.net, the newly-priced Packet8 VideoPhone is being sold with a two year service plan which includes unlimited voice and video calls worldwide to another Packet8 Videophone as well as unlimited local and long distance voice-only calls to any phone number in the U.S. or Canada. The $19.95 per month, 24 month service plan carries an early termination fee of $299. Existing Packet8 VideoPhone subscribers will see a decrease in their monthly service of $10 beginning with their May 1 billing statement.
Motivated by over 12 months of consistently positive user reports and outstanding technology reviews, 8x8 decided on an aggressive price reduction strategy to accelerate the rate at which consumers are subscribing to the Packet8 VideoPhone service, the first and still the only broadband consumer videophone solution on the market today.
"We believe that by dramatically lowering the cost of entry, we will diminish the hurdle facing consumers who have shown strong interest in purchasing our broadband videophone but are precluded from doing so because of the price," said 8x8 Chairman & CEO Bryan Martin. "Once we get our technology into the hands of more consumers, we feel confident its appeal will take hold and bring about the critical mass necessary to make videophone conversations an everyday experience."
Since its introduction in June 2004, the Packet8 VideoPhone has been recognized in numerous business and industry publications including the Wall St. Journal, The New York Times, the San Jose Mercury News and Laptop Magazine. Some of the season's most popular television shows - Alias, King of Queens, Will and Grace, Third Watch and Law and Order SVU - have incorporated the VideoPhone on their sets and in the plots of various episodes.
"8x8 has established itself as a leader in videophone technology and, as such, we feel compelled to reach out aggressively to consumers with the message that voice and video communication is here to stay," continued Martin. "Though other companies have talked about marketing videophones, none have taken an active role in promoting the technology to this generation of broadband internet users."
The $99 VideoPhone offer is good while supplies last. In addition to this one-time purchase price, new subscribers will be charged an initial $29.95 activation fee, a $19.95 per month service fee, applicable taxes and a monthly $1.50 regulatory recovery fee, a new fee being introduced on all Packet8 phone numbers effective May 1, 2005.
8x8 Slashes Price Of Packet8 Videophone To $99
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does keating work for p8?
this is unreal....he thinks the news is the freakin videophone service cost reduction. the last line of the post talks about the regulatory recovery fee.
here is my e to the fine folks at p8 regarding the RRF. (is this how they are financing the lower cost of the videophone service? - didn't think about it until i saw keatings article.)
_____
The cost complying with inquiries and obligations imposed by federal, state and municipal regulatory bodies/governments and the related legal and billing expenses??
Give me a break. The FCC said back in November that you guys couldn't be regulated by the states.
“By a 5-0 vote, the FCC said Internet-based phone service, called voice-over-Internet protocol or VoIP, should be free to grow without a "patchwork" of regulations put in place by 50 states and the District of Columbia.” - http://www.vonage-forum.com/article1380.html http://www.vonage-forum.com/article1380.html
It’s not like you even have a big fight on your hand over this.
"Support in Congress for the FCC's position on VOIP reaches across party lines, partly because anyone around the world can offer the service and customers can use it anywhere." -http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-puc15apr15,1,6455790.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true
So drop the fee or you will find your customers dropping you.
-posted at - http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/62523 and any other VOIP blog or board I can find. Word of mouth works both ways.
I WOULD LIKE TO BUY A QUANTITY OF THIS VIDEO PHOBNES JUST THAT THAT PRICE IS A LITTLE HIGHT IF I WANT TO BUY LIKE MORE THAN 200 , I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW , IF I CAN CONTACT WITH SOMEONE THAT HAVE A LARGE SUPPLY OF THIS PHONES , BECAUSE I WANT TO WORK SOMETHING OUT WITH THE PERSON IN CHARGE .
THANKS
CEO
ISISCORP INTERNATIONAL
COLOMBIA CONTACTS CENTERS INCORPORACION
ISISCORP2002@MSN.COM