ALERT Flowroute Woes

DoctorJ

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I've been using FlowRoute for about 1.5 years for termination. To be fair, I have not had any issues with call quality or service interruptions.

This month, they changed to "Intrado" and also initiated a "regulatory admin fee."

I am a low volume customer - just a simple professional office with under 10 employees. My average monthly usage is about $45.

The monthly fee is $15. Thus, this fee increases my monthly bill roughly 30% - quite a lot.

I had a rather unhelpful call with customer service. It was made quite clear to me that, as a low volume customer, they were not interested in my business. In my world, this type of attitude is never acceptable. I first asked if the fee could be waived. It could not. No problem...that I expect. I asked if $15 was the lowest fee. No straight answer. But I did learn that $15 is the fee if you have no DID's with them - I do not. Ok, so what is the cost if I have a DID? $0.50 per DID. Ok, so, if I purchase a DID, does that mean that my "fee" will change from $15 to $0.50 per month. I was told "I can't answer that. All I can say is the fee for no DID is $15 and the fee per DID is $0.50." I realized that I was talking to support and not to sales, so I asked if I could be transferred to sales for help figuring out my options and bill. I was told that my account is too small and thus I do not have any account manager that can help me.

So this clearly leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It's entirely possible that I am not understanding some basic concepts of VOIP wholesale economics, but it seems appropriate that the company to whom I send money monthly should explain their billing to me, no matter how small my account.

So perhaps someone here can help me. As I've said, I've had no issues with Flowroute service, so I am not here to flame them. I do have a bit of a problem with the customer service I received as well as their new billing practices.

So the questions:
1. Can anyone here confirm that my monthly "regulatory fee" would be $0.50 if I purchase a single DID?
2. I understand that a DID comes with its own monthly charge, on average about $1.25. I understand that would be in addition to the "fee."
3. Each DID comes with "applicable fees, surcharges, and taxes." I couldn't get this information. Can anyone here give me a ballpark of what to expect?
4. In lieu of all of this, can anyone recommend a better provider for termination?

In my phone conversation, I simply wanted to find the optimal billing solution for me. Obviously, I am trying to minimize my expense. I understand that we are all in business to make money (me included), but I think it's appropriate for any business to work with their client to find the best solution to his or her problems. The support I received from Flowroute was basically: I can't really help. Why don't you just make some changes and see what happens on next month's bill. Kinda felt like I was getting screwed.

Thanks.
 

AndyInNYC

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I've been using flowroute for years. I have 3 DIDs along with one DID with E911.
My most recent charges on 10/31 had no additional fees ($1.25 per line plus $1.39 for the 1 E911).
I'll repost on the first of December if I have any additional fees.

I'm now initiating most of my calls via BulkVS @ $.004/min as a test. My inbound is still with flowroute at $.012/min

Andrew
 

DoctorJ

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Andy,

Thanks for your reply. I think the fees started 11/1/2019 - so you may have wait until next month's bill.

If no one else has any insight, I may just have to buy a DID, and then see what happens next month.

Also set up accounts today with AnveoDirect and voip.ms. If they test out OK, I can always transfer service.
 

Halea

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This month, they changed to "Intrado" and also initiated a "regulatory admin fee."

How much notice did they give you for the new regulatory admin fee? If you have enough time, just close your account and get a refund of your deposits.
The alternate providers that you mentioned are all good but it's always good to have multiple termination providers as some are particularly attractive for USA-48 type pricing whereas others do better with international (if that is of interest to you). But even if you only need domestic termination, have a second provider to keep all your options open in the event unfortunate turn of events like what happened with flowroute hits you again. Most recently I added TelecomsXchange to my termination provider list and I am quite happy with the additional routes that I now have access to.
 

DoctorJ

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How much notice did they give you for the new regulatory admin fee? If you have enough time, just close your account and get a refund of your deposits.
The alternate providers that you mentioned are all good but it's always good to have multiple termination providers as some are particularly attractive for USA-48 type pricing whereas others do better with international (if that is of interest to you). But even if you only need domestic termination, have a second provider to keep all your options open in the event unfortunate turn of events like what happened with flowroute hits you again. Most recently I added TelecomsXchange to my termination provider list and I am quite happy with the additional routes that I now have access to.

Received from Flowroute on 29 October 2019:

Beginning November 1, 2019, a monthly Account Administrative Fee will be charged for services provided by West Telecom Services, LLC, dba Flowroute. This charge is calculated as either a fee per telephone number on the account, or if no telephone numbers are registered on the account, as a fixed fee.

The new Account Administrative Fee helps recover a portion of internal costs and expenses incurred to implement and administer the procurement of certain services and the compliance with certain legal and regulatory obligations; the administrative fee is not a tax or a fee required by the government.

If you have any questions concerning this change, please email

So not much time. And, had to wait for the bill to actually see the fees.
 

DoctorJ

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I've been using flowroute for years. I have 3 DIDs along with one DID with E911.
My most recent charges on 10/31 had no additional fees ($1.25 per line plus $1.39 for the 1 E911).
I'll repost on the first of December if I have any additional fees.

I'm now initiating most of my calls via BulkVS @ $.004/min as a test. My inbound is still with flowroute at $.012/min

Andrew

Just set up an account with bulkvs.com as well. Have you had any issues with call quality or connection?
 

Halea

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Just set up an account with bulkvs.com as well. Have you had any issues with call quality or connection?
Bulkvs is excellent both for origination and termination. Call/connection quality has been outstanding, actually better than Flowroute's which in my experience went down quite a bit over the last few months.
 

AndyInNYC

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I have 3 DIDs and 1 with E911. My normal $5.14 bill increased by a single $.49 charge.
 

Halea

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I have 3 DIDs and 1 with E911. My normal $5.14 bill increased by a single $.49 charge.
Did you receive a notification about the fee ahead of time? It's funny because I haven't received any notice and I thoroughly checked my spam bin.
 

AndyInNYC

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Going through recent emails, I don’t see that I received any prior notification.

Andrew
 

kenn10

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I also did not receive any notification of the increase. I closed my Flowroute account last week and they refunded the balance to my credit card. I don't think they are very interested in small-volume customers.
 

Halea

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A couple of months ago I moved out all my DIDs out of flowroute, because since early summer I had been experiencing increasingly bad call quality on incoming calls.
Support couldn't address the issue and every time I was on a call with them the lines behaved better.
They did not have any metrics or methods to assess call quality. The quality degradation seemed traffic dependent (at their end), because at times we were back to crystal clear audio, but when it got messed up it was on all the DIDs, not just one particular line. Even that didn't give them enough clue to diagnose the origin of the problem. All our conversations were about sip signalling and the fact that the calls were going through.
As I had stopped using their termination trunks much earlier, again for call quality issues, late last month I closed my dormant account.
There was a time flowroute was a dependable and cost effective player, but unfortunately those days seem to be gone.
 

stanjohn

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Flowroute now part of Intrado

Special Discount Pricing Between December 4, 2019 – February 29, 2020

Flowroute Customer Promotion Details:
  • Both New and Existing customers
  • New local domestic and toll-free (lower 48 states and Canada) phone numbers (DIDs) only**
  • No commitment
  • Free port-in during the three-month promotional time period
  • Discounted DID rates are effective for the lifetime of the DID while it is with Flowroute***
ServiceStandard RateDiscounted RateDiscount Percent
Domestic Outbound (lower 48 states & Canada)$0.00980$0.00833-15.0%
Domestic Inbound$0.01200$0.00500-58.3%
Domestic Local DID and Toll-Free (MRC)$1.25000$0.50000-60.0%
Inbound Toll-Free (lower 48 states & Canada)$0.01950$0.00975-50.0%
Port-in$7.50000-100.0%
Set-Up Cost (NRC)$1.00000-100.0%
Port-out$3.00000
*The discount percentage rates are in comparison to Flowroute’s “Pay-as-you-go” self-service rates. Accounts with negotiated discounts might not see any additional discounts.

**New DID is defined as a DID that hasn’t been previously assigned to any customer’s accounts with Flowroute for the 12 months prior to the start of the promotion period. If any DID had previously been assigned to a customer’s account or a new account was opened but belongs to the same household, same company or its affiliates, same bill payer and/or same billing address, then the discount doesn’t apply and discounts granted in error will be retroactively removed and billed in a lump-sum. Discounts only apply for on-net DIDs, which cover 77% of the U.S. population. Off-net DIDs are excluded from the discount altogether.

***Subject to rate changes over the normal course of business including but not limited to regular cost increases, changes of network coverage and supplier selections, local regulations, FCC mandated taxes and/or FCC approved fees.

Rates are in USD without taxes and fees.

Customer’s account with Flowroute must be in good standing in order to realize the promotional pricing.
 

Halea

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Special pricing announced yesterday: Too little too late.
 

billsimon

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Port-out increased from $0 to $3 - what a deal! Reminds me of the bridges from Pennsylvania into New Jersey. You don't have to pay a toll to go into New Jersey, but you have to pay to get back out.
 

AndyInNYC

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I live in NJ - believe me, you WILLING pay to escape.

Andrew
 
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