Comments for 8x8 to sell Packet8 in Malls?

8x8 to sell Packet8 in Malls?

2005-03-22T19:08:08Z

Here's some interesting news from TMCnet.com. Apparently 8x8 is planning on demonstrating and sellingl Packet8 broadband phone services direct to consumers
at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara.

So in addition to getting a massage in one of those pressurized water massage beds at the mall, buying cell phones or cheap jewelry in aisle boutiques - you can now sign up for a VoIP service provider.

Still, this news is strictly plain vanilla voice. When voice, data, and video competition gets really fierce and malls start selling Triple Play offerings, then you know Triple Play has truly arrived!

Comment from Jeb Bonnett on 2005-03-26

2005-03-26T20:37:59Z

Its about time for Packet8 to start selling their services at a kiosks. Finally the uneducated masses will understand what voip is. I had no clue what voip was until about 6 months ago. Andy Brahmson doesn't like the idea but I do and using his own numbers I will show you why.
Expenses 5k per month x( 2 month trial)= 10k
At first this seems like an expensive endeavor but it is not.
There is a good chance that the employee cost related to the 5k was already a sunken cost meaning that they were already employed with Packet8 and are now being retrained. Also I believe that the live demonstrations of the Packet 8 videophone will attract the mall traffic so selling 4 subs a day is not out of the question.
4 subs a day x (2 month trial or 61 days)= 244 subs after 2 months.
Revenue generated could be a problem to calculate b/c there are several different pricing plans for p8 ranging anywhere from 20 to 49 dollars. But I will just say $30 per month per sub is somehwat accurate.
244 subs x $30= $7320 per month after the trail.
2 month trail expense 10k
revenue per month $7,320 x 12 months= $87,840

spending an extra 10k to generate an extra 87k seems like a good idea to me.

Comment from mafunk on 2005-11-22

2005-11-22T22:57:13Z

Packet 8 is the worst - mall buyers beware! I have had nothing but problems with them. Here are the lowlights:

September: Started Service

Mid September: Phone lines went down, so I called packet8 to fix them. It took tech support two days to get it fixed.

Early October: I found out that they billed my credit card $180 for stuff that I never ordered or authorized. It took me 10 phone calls, one week and hours of time to finally get them to aknowledge that they over charged me. Then it took another three weeks to 'get my money back'. Actually they refused to credit my money to my card, all they were willing to do was giving me credit for their crappy phone service.

Mid October: Suddenly my business line stopped working. I found out that they had sold my business line to some guy selling car stereos!!
It took three phone calls and one day to get that fixed.

Now, Late November: My phones have been down for 9 hours. I waited for support on hold for 45 minutes. When I talked to them they basically said, 'tough shit our server is corrupted, can't help you out'. When I asked when it would be fixed they said, "don't know'"

Packet 8 is a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE company with awful customer service, awful technology, and they are crooks in my opinion. They have cost me quite a bit of money and not once have they offered to remedy that situation.