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Consumer Contracts Come Up Short |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 09 August 2005 |
Telecommunications and broadband benchmarking outfit Telsyte has released a new report on the Australian Consumer VoIP market which reveals most contract agreements leave a lot to be desired.
Remarking how unstable to consumer VoIP market is right now, Shara Evans, Managing Director of Telsyte said: “During the course of this research, four new providers launched VoIP services one provider discontinued its services, and several other ISPs announced services which have not yet been launched.”
Though the 86-page industry profile looks at the offerings available from 24 consumer VoIP service providers, it also considered different business models, service features, product differentiation, and regulatory participation.
“No providers have addressed all of the contract details recommended by ACIF (Australian Communications Industry Forum),” said Evans.
ACIF released a Consumer VoIP Fact Sheet designed to assist service providers in understanding their obligations and responsibilities to their customers, including the need to supply all relevant information about their services.
“In fact, most of the contract terms suggested in the ACIF Fact Sheet are addressed by fewer than half of Australia’s Consumer VoIP providers,” she said.
“While some VoIP providers advertise “No Contract” services, Telsyte has found a wide variety of terms and conditions are imposed on Consumer VoIP customers,” Evans said. “These range from usage restrictions to network-locking and termination penalties.
The report, titled Consumer VoIP Services in Australia, also found that depending on call patterns, when a basket of consumer telephone calls is rated against PSTN and VoIP bundles, the savings may not be as great as consumers expect.
“Whether a particular bundle will save money for a consumer depends on their own calling patterns and call costs,” Evans explained. “Consumers should look at all of the services available, from both PSTN and VoIP providers,” she said.
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