We have been discussing about this Cheap International Call and Unlimited Calls Provider YupeePhone since last 4-5 days. YupeePhone received more eyeballs that we previously thought it would. With increasing number of people buying their VOIP service and a huge number waiting for the clarification on Quality of VOIP Service, Unlimited calls to India Package pricing etc.
Amid major speculations on Pricing and Quality of Service of YupeePhone, we today received a clarification email from YupeePhone on their business practices, What they are going to provide as a part of their VOIP service and What they won't. The email is lengthy but I suggest you all read it. At the EOD, you are the BUYERS so this clarification hopefully help you in taking a stand.
Update: Yupee Phone has now offered a special partnership with us which will give you a free $4 talktime in your account when you signup via our blog. You can signup directly via this link. Or at the time of signing up there is a box which says "Coupon code". Enter voipguide .
Dear friend,
The reason I am writing this email is because I have heard so many good and bad news on your forum and I can't resist to the idea of answering to some of the "nasty" reviews that are posted. I am currently working for YupeePhone.com and I have been doing so for 12 months, preparing the project from scratch. I have worked before in the field and I am a telecom technician.
1) The first thing I read was that we were not ready to get 2000 customers in a day and 15,0000 emails. No we weren't. However in 3 days most of the orders were sent out, except the ones that were Unverified or paid with an uncleared check. I know the people that work for the billing department and they did their best. I could never do that. I have ordered WOW or Comcast service and it was installed 14 days later and I was happy. I have ordered online calling cards and they came after 1 week.
2) ADRESS : We have a PO BOX as a customer address. However the state and the FCC know where to knock our door. We are an FCC approved company and this is the reason I work for this company. We are not a calling card company with no name and no license. For this I ask anybody to find the address of Comcast or Sprint or any other company's mailing address that is not a mailbox. With the volume of letters we receive our building would be a happy place for anyone who needs a letter to read!
3) PROMO PRICE : The price was a promotional offer. $19.95 was a price that never appeared in the market and never will be back. The $36.95 is a very good price. With the same money you get 600 minutes to India the most and this will be from a gray route (you know... illegal cell phones in a basement in India dialing out).
4) FAIR USE POLICY : Our Fair Use Policy changed! We started with 1200 minutes, we went up to 2000 minutes and now we are to 2400 minutes. We never decreased our residenial limit. The only real reason, appart from cost, is the stolen credit cards and the compromised Paypal accounts that they were used for 5 months now on our web site. Customers want their PIN yesterday, however after 4 DAYS Paypal actually canceled payments because the owner compained he never authorized the payment. In 3 cases we informed the proper authorities for this and we provided real IPs.
5) TERMS OF USE : The Terms Of Use NEVER changed. If someone has a copy of another document from our company I will eat it in public. I sent the pages to the server so I know better!
6) UNLIMITED PACKAGE : We received a banch of emails from people that were agents from Vonage, CallCentric and Time Warner. They were upset we are advertising an Unlimited Package for Residential Use and they threatened to report us to the FCC for unethical practices and faulse advertising. When they received the pages with more strict Fair Use Policies in their respective companies, they name came back to us.
7) TRUE UNLIMITED PACKAGE : The Monthly Unlimited 60 Countries for Residential Use is advertised as one, even with a fair use policy notice, because the in-Network calling is trully unlimited. No limit at all between our devices. If someone who has our device dials to another device in our Network he/she can talk for two days straight. Calls to the PSTN network are covered by the Fair Use Policy. There is no company in the entire world that does not have a Fair Use Policy, even Skype has one and in value is is less than ours.
8) BLOCKED ACCOUNTS : We never cancelled one single account. Ask users how many were cancelled by Vonage. Many of these users are still our clients. The employees of our company offered all their free vouchers to customers with blocked accounts in order to talk to their families. We had to stop issuing Vouchers to the employees because most of them are immigrants and they feal the same way as the clients.
9) QUALITY OF CALLS : The quality of the voice is good in our network. It is not AT&T's quality as I read on a post, however it is actually pretty good compared with other providers. There are two types of problems:
a) users who think they know how to unlock an ATA and use it on our network.
b) users who think they know how to configure X-lite.
c) customers who are calling a cell phone in India and they think it is always our fault the voice quality is not good.
At the technical support department we have answered close to a thousand emails from people who :
a) where using ulaw with our service, while in their accounts there is a notice for using g729a or g723 in the worst case.
b) where using silence suppression, while we asked them not too.
c) where using MagicJack to connect to the Local Access Numbers !
d) did not know that the sip settings are posted in their online account.
e) used linksys ad knew only how to change the username and password, nothing else.
10) EXISTING CUSTOMERS : Yupee Phone LLC honored the price for all the people that signed up while the promo was on. Everyone got the price and will keep it as long as they stay with us. Next month their accounts will have $19.95 less and they will have to add more money to use our service, simple as that.
11) BILLING : We have no contract, no recurring billing, no maintenance fees, no connection fees, no disconnection fees, no strange fees, no this an no that. Our fees are the standard fees that apply in the industry.
12) NEW CUSTOMERS : The $36.95 we offer now is the lowest price in the market. And I mean the lowest price I know of. If someone knows a better price for India, Albania, Iraq, Pakistan let me know. Especially for India we have absolutely the best price galaxy-wide. For Pakistan it is the best price universe-wide when everyone starts from 12 cents / minute. We are not Betamax to change the list of countries every month so people have to spent the money they already deposited
13) INVESTMENT : We are in the middle of an investment in India. Obeying the local strict rules for VoIP in India (ask the Lingo-India employees) we are getting ready to provide even a better quality of voice with the same price. .
14) YUPEEPHONE is going to survive. And it is going to survive for three major reasons :
- It is run by people who know what they are doing. I have never seen anybody panicking. Only smiling!
- it has the best prices in the market
- it does not depend in people from one country only.
Thank god the people who invested in this company have the money to pay us even if they do not get a single customers for months to come. And why do you think our 1800 number has no free lines, even when we (add more lines every day. Orders my friends... We have the hottest product in the market since soap was invented!
Finally, I am sorry for the length od the email but this is how I feel. I would be more than happy to receive your feedback and comments.
Regards,
Steve
Technical Support Dep.
YupeePhone.com
--------------
I just noticed that Yupee Phone prices are now $24.95, If I remember right someone told me it was around $36.95. I would like a clarification on change of Pricing. I strongly suggest Yupee Phone to stick to the prices they can afford and provide a quality service at. Comments Welcome.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008
Yupee Phone clarifies on Unlimited Calls to India Package
Posted by Vinay at 9:07 PM
Labels: att voip, cheap international calls, free calls to india, time warner phone line, unlimited calling package, unlimited calls to india, vonage unlimited
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33 comments:
YupeePhone is good to go for now.
I already used 380 minutes in 3 days...now i gotta stay in limit soon. :-)
Its really good Service with better Quality. I was using Pennytel before. i was paying like 40$/month to them. I can talk almost same with this service. 20$/month + 20$ extra[over uses].
Regards,
I still have voice quality problem. Could Yupeephone disable server ringback. This gives false impression of other end ringing while it never rings. For example try calling any PUNE landline number 011-91-20-25XX-YYYY and see if the call goes thru any time of the day.
I have no compalints about pricing as I end up spending $35 dollars for 600-700 minutes a months. So for 2400 minutes, the price justifies but I would request them not to make any further changes.
It's good to hear that Yupee isn't using any illegal route. I have used many phonecards saying "Please refill your pre-paid mobile phone card". It's cell phone routing.
I have been using G711 and still quality is an issue. SO I hope they look into it.
With those couple of issues, yupeephone would be a good VSP for Indians.
BTW, I don't work for them but at least appreciate the VSP who has taken bold step to feed the Indian greed.
http://www.clickncallnow.com/
Untimed calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietname and South Africa
You can now make unlimited, untimed calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietname and South Africa for just 25c per call.
For a very small fee of just $3 per month you can make unlimited untimed calls to the above 4 countries for just 25c per call, not per minute! And yes you can still call over 60 other coutries and destinations for just 20c untimed.
To take up this offer you first need to Register and become a CnCn member. After you register please Contact us to confirm you like to take up this special offer and we will deduct the $3 from your prepaid credit each month.
Existing CnCn members can contact us to take up this offer at any time. You can also back out from this offer any time you wish although the $3 is non-refundable.
* 25c untimed calls are to land line phones in above countries.
calls WERE dropping last time around @ 15mins but I spoke to my friends back home for one hour stretch with no dropping though today being SUNDAY ..
Quality has improved ..
yup no issues for now..
Cheers to Yupeephone! :)
one problem ... I am still confused how to add more months to my account ?
Allowin only landline calls via http://www.clickncallnow.com/
is pretty lame offer for India. In india cell market is booming day by day and everyone has cell phone. Limiting calls to only landline means getting rid of more than 50% call traffic.
This is no way good offer and after all CnCn will start pulling the chord on call duration after sometime. It will all be like pennytel.
Another money making plan.... I would stay away from those plans. Use your hard earned money wisely guys!!!
I like the last comment about Clickncallnow. Untimed calls is the way to go.
If I called at my current provider's rate of 7 cents a minute, I would have to call India for 8 hours to get to the $36.95. 8 hours?? That is ridiculous, let alone unlimited! I don't know about others, but if I try to talk for 8 hours a month, actually, people in India might get tired of me calling. :) Even $19.95 is a whopping 4 hours! NO THANKS! I will certainly run out of things to say and I do not believe in any monthly service that obligates us to make a certain quota of calls to make the monthly charge worthwhile!
Hey Vinay,
The effect of this blog - 2000 orders in a day. Boy you rock !!
It's great to hear from Steve. The reviews may be "nasty" or they may be good. The users attempt to reflect what they face. Its the voice of the customer. These users are not agents of Vonage or other service providers. In fact on personal front I do not use a provider who locks you to a contract. I like to choose my outgoing call provider.
Users like us help company's fine tune their products. Feedback is realtime and free.
Coming back to Yupee
Is it Unlimited calls to 60 / 67 / 74 countries ?
Earlier they advertised 67 countries for $19.95/mo. Web page says 60 countries. I counted the countries its 74 + 1 (USA)!! See webpage: http://www.yupeephone.com/monthly_unlimited.htm .
As I said earlier that I see the response even on Sunday from Steve and even asked Kumar to stick around.
My observations on Steve views.
PO Box address:
Sprint / Comcast has a 24 hour customer service -800 number.
a) Sprint has their address on their webpage and it is not a PO BOX address.
Sprint Nextel
2001 Edmund Halley Drive
Reston, VA 20191
703-433-4000
B) For Comcast, I did not get their mailing address on webpage! Yes Comcast does use POBOX address.
Pricing/ Terms of use / Fair use:
Steve & Yupee company may decide what ever the price they are comfortable to offer.
The monthly unlimited plan was for $19.95. I have a PDF copy of the web page on what was put up on their website as on 05/11/2008.
Ref web page: http://www.yupeephone.com/monthly_unlimited.htm
Some Major points to note:
A) No mention that the $ 19.95 price was a promo.
B) No mention of the fair use policy limit of 600 per week. - Note that the fair use policy limit was inserted somewhere between sunday and monday after our blog readers asked them.
C) On May 05: Complete Package: The YupeePhone Package is sold for $54.99 (*promotional offer) - On May 18 it is $74.95 (*promotional offer)
Fraud -must never be tolerated. In fact I personally prefer the Google Checkout option as user can track the order.
The $ 3.99 or $12 charge for local access was NIL earlier. The personal access number for $12 is VERY high price when you can get $2.95 (retail price)for unlimited US incoming from callcentric or from DIDx in bulk.
Steve no need to eat pages in public the rates did change!!!
Just provide good service.
Vinay, I can mail you the webpage PDF print copy. :) - Just shout back if you want it.
Yupee is honoring the customers who ordered the $19.95 is fair enough.
QUALITY OF CALLS: I use an SPA 3102NA - The best in class, its an unlocked adapter to those who do not know. I still face quality problems. As Umesh and I had written earlier the dummy ring problem must be resolved.
The quality MAY improve after the initial storm of high calls subside and people start using this service the normal way. But things must improve.
$ 36.95 Plus $12 access number charge is not the same as $19.95. It's no longer a HOT DEAL. I would not buy the service for $36.95.
We look forward to Yupee surviving too and providing UNLIMITED calls service to 74 +1 countries.
Cheers,
Priyanka
P.S: May be Yupee may consider $19.95 promo specially for this blog !!
Thanks Priyanka for that research :-)
I guess 2 most important thing that Yupee phone should look at is False Ring feature need to go and Pricing needs to be stable or competitive. $24.95 still looks lot better than $36.95.
Priyanka,
Try to use your research in some other field which is useful for someone.Since you are paying 19.95 don't try to be smart.Act smart
Thanks
Ranga
Anonym Dude above, you need still need to grow up. If you want to threadcrap put your ideas, pros cons etc else people here are wise and can identify stupids like you. After all this tech blog. Anyways,
I suspect(not sure yet) that Yupee is using gray route for India calls. Try calling any Auto attendeant number like HDFC bank. You get false ring and then it keeps ringing, the call actually is connected in the background in India. You will miss first 3 options (press 1 for blah, press 2 for yada, etc) You get to hear press 4 for demat account. This is the case from ATA as well as Local access number. So I think the calls are joined by Yupee here.
Once connected there is no delay. I can understand 1-2 seconds of RTP getting chopped but not for 9-10 seconds. Well, Yupee will know the truth. I think Yupee is going down on my list.
Lets see what comes next....
Thanks.
They have to IMPROVE call Quality.
QUALITY is too bad.I am trying Landline number in India only.Still call Quality is BAD.
Umesh, You get what you have paid for 20$ is the best package.
If you don't like the service better go off from Yupee..Don't scrap yupee
Ranga
mmm..interesting..:)
I have been using Yupee past 6 days, first day it was bad quality but later it improved lot. Now call quality is very good. We usually spend around $100 to call India. Now it is only $19.95.
Hey Vinay,
Yes $ 24.95 for without device option is sure a good price. I call India more over the weekends, the use is not very heavy on weekdays, hence felt $36.95 pricy.
Umesh: I cannot comment anything on the gray routes stuff. But Yupee should be using one of A-Z termination providers. There are providers who give India calls for 5.4 cents in retail, I used callwithus earlier.
I called today the call quality was decent.
Priyanka.
I not able to through for last half hour. I get a DUMMY ring and later get a message: The number is not answering...
In fact the number at other end rings. They cannot hear us and at at out end we hear the ring.
Note that my account is in good standing.
just buy some other calling card if it is too much of trouble
hey Vinay .. u do stand out ;)
among the Voip blogs, 1000 orders a day whoa ! ;)
I don't understand thing about "Dummy" ring.. I do get it .. but I can know what is dummy n what is real.. dummy ones ring I guess firs 2/3 times n then it does converts into the real and starts ringing..... diff. sound.
I have never faced stuff like Dummy ring.. Call Quality is good, my friend at the other end said.. its best so far.. I hav used all VOIP's wch have been suggested here..
yeah can't ask for more in $20
plus thing is they not changing the price for existing customers :)
Thanks :)
aah.. just now received a mail from yupeephone.com that they no longer want to continue the service to INDIA ..
n they will refund the rest of the amount.. reasons cited is..
some of the Indians are over using it and sharing n using it on diff IP n all :(
why don't yuppephone just block there a/c one time :( if they are found on other IP address..
why should others suffer :(
sick ..
this is gone..
They change the plans on the go..
:O ..
why only INDIA ! :X
they removed india from unlimted calling list :(
hard luck...
Hi Vinay,
Yupee has finally removed India from free calling list w.e.f 21 May. They say they did due sharing accounts, using different IPs, reselling accounts, business use, etc.
Why close the unlimited calling ?
Why not curtail the out going minutes to about 350 per week ?
Since people had applied for the service they should have at least continued for a month.
First come up with unlimited offer then put up the limits say 2000 / 2400 mins and then finally blame the customers and close it.
So was this was a marketing gimmick ?
Even a kid can figure out India calling retails at 6 to 8 cents per minute coming up with unlimited plan is like commiting suicide unless you have Angel VC's and deep pockets.
So what you do you collect all the money and then say plan cancelled and say we will refund 3/4th for those who signed up on 13 May.
Most of the approx 2000 accounts signed up before 13 May for them its loss of their money. So the company collects minimum 2000 x $19.95 approx $39900 and closes the plan after a week and says comes out with refund plan in such a way that most do not qualify.
ITS A SHAME - DAYLIGHT ROBBERY.
Things are changed suddenly as Priyanka pointed out and warned people to watch out.
Was it a whole process gain publicity and garner money ?
Was it a ill concieved plan that is DEAD ?
Yupeephone is worst than BETAMAX buddy.
Any body there ? FCC listening ?
YUPEEPHONE NOTICE MAIL
Dear Customers, In order to keep our prices the lowest possible in the market and provide to our loyal customers the best available service, we regret to inform you that we no longer provide the package for Free Calls to India, effective May 21h 2008. India has been removed from the free destinations list. All accounts which are making calls to India will switch to the Pay As You Go status, so you can still benefit of our lowest prices in the market (5.0 cents / minute). This affects only calls to India. The same Package can be used for call to the rest of our free destinations. If you feel that this decision does not suit your needs and you do not want to continue been our customer you can request the remaining of your subscription to be refunded for the rest of the month. For the customers that decide to stay and do not cancel their account, the appropriate percentage of the monthly subscription plus a fair bonus will be added as credit to their account. Example : If a customer signed up on May 13th, he/she will be either refunded or credited 3/4th of the Monthly Subscription. If the customer stays with us, he/she will have the chance to use the credit in the Pay As You Go status. If the customer decides he/she wants a refund, this amount will be refunded. We tried to serve the Indian community and provide the best available service, unfortunately a great amount of accounts were suspected of violating our Terms of Use (http://www.yupeephone.com/terms_of_use.htm). In the past, we tried to resolve any misuse/abuse and we changed our service by increasing the minutes. Still we experienced a continuously overuse of accounts (sharing accounts, using different IPs, reselling accounts, business use, etc.). This action was taken in order to protect our service from further abuse and provide the best rates to the remaining customers. We value and respect the members of the Indian community and as a rapidly increasing new telecommunication company we pledge to best serve the Indian community within our limitations. If you decide that you want a refund please notify us via email at refund@yupeephone.com and you will receive your refund within 10-15 business days. We apologize for any inconvenience this decision may cause. With kind Regards, Yupee Phone LLC You are receiving this message because you have opted in to the YupeePhone Newsletter list. To unsubscribe, please follow this link: http://www.yupeephone.com/mlist
India Removed from the plan from May21st
Dear Customers,
In order to keep our prices the lowest possible in the market and
provide to our loyal customers the best available service, we regret to
inform you that we no longer provide the package for Free Calls to India,
effective May 21h 2008.
India has been removed from the free destinations list. All accounts
which are making calls to India will switch to the Pay As You Go status,
so you can still benefit of our lowest prices in the market (5.0 cents
/ minute). This affects only calls to India. The same Package can be
used for call to the rest of our free destinations.
If you feel that this decision does not suit your needs and you do not
want to continue been our customer you can request the remaining of
your subscription to be refunded for the rest of the month.
For the customers that decide to stay and do not cancel their account,
the appropriate percentage of the monthly subscription plus a fair
bonus will be added as credit to their account.
Example : If a customer signed up on May 13th, he/she will be either
refunded or credited 3/4th of the Monthly Subscription. If the customer
stays with us, he/she will have the chance to use the credit in the Pay
As You Go status. If the customer decides he/she wants a refund, this
amount will be refunded.
We tried to serve the Indian community and provide the best available
service, unfortunately a great amount of accounts were suspected of
violating our Terms of Use (http://www.yupeephone.com/terms_of_use.htm).
In the past, we tried to resolve any misuse/abuse and we changed our
service by increasing the minutes. Still we experienced a continuously
overuse of accounts (sharing accounts, using different IPs, reselling
accounts, business use, etc.).
This action was taken in order to protect our service from further
abuse and provide the best rates to the remaining customers. We value and
respect the members of the Indian community and as a rapidly increasing
new telecommunication company we pledge to best serve the Indian
community within our limitations.
If you decide that you want a refund please notify us via email at
refund@yupeephone.com and you will receive your refund within 10-15
business days.
We apologize for any inconvenience this decision may cause.
With kind Regards,
Yupee Phone LLC
Uski to...........
These guys got atleast 1,000 customers a day from day 1. still crying behind other customers. why in the world they started company without 1 single plan or price.
keep changing prices and minutes and then finally ,closed. what the ...............
i am feeling so unlucky. believe me or not, http://swiftcom.com.au/ has better support. I tried them. they do reply emails quickly and their customer service is way ahead then these service. anyways, time to move forward. i have used bunch of minutes....am i going to get charge with 5 cents/min with it? better, i might have used nonoh.
Regards,
WHAT Clarification is expected from Yupeephone on this now ?
rightly said in one of the comment. they should atleast gone on for this month and should have discontinued for coming months or simply why not curtail the minutes or just block the IP address of users who are making mess of it ..
just provide 2 as MAX .. IP address for the users .. one being office n one @ Home.
I was about to buy HTC TOUCH just for yupeephone. but..
If they are getting 1000 orders a day there will be some miscreants ppl in them for sure...
yup
WORST then BETAMAX
P.S : I am waiting for Priyanka's response on this :) :D
@Nil
all these companies keep coming up with only "LANDLINE" schemes
n in India .. Mobile is more cheaper then Landline
Swiftcom there rates are good but..again only for LANDLINE :(
Thanks :)
Party is over!!!
Hey Vinay,
Finally Yupeephone stopped India unlimited within a week. After looting the indian community of $39900 approx. The unlimited calls never made comercial sense.
Steve ..So your plans and terms never change ?
Steve, You guys come up with one master plan get good publicity and build free capital to run your company.
Steve, Why can could not not lock the accounts who abused the system. You complained so some 3-4 cases of fraud.
Is it not false advertising ?
The truth remains that Yupeephone is a unknown POBOX company who found out a nice way to make money.
For users please send email for refund. Also take it up with the credit card / googlecheckout / paypal. With a hugenumber of complaints I am sure PAYPAL / googlecheckout/ credit card companies will refund your money.
For the guys who used them for 800 minutes /per week though you have already recovered the $19.95 but still take it up for refund you took it was an UNLIMITED PLAN AS ADVERTISED.
I am sure Yupeephones compititors or one of the users will take it up with the FCC.
Priyanka
@yupeephone
well if you can get.. 1000 orders a day .. then even same 1000 complaints will go against you to FCC..
m sure .. FCC will take some action seeing the number of complaints .. if users r ready to give there personal details ..
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
its very easy form to fill up won't take much time.. just fill it up n lets see how it goes ...
if Priyanka helps us and mails them the Pdf page to them.
Guys about the users from Multiple IP address ,
How in the Hell are end users responsible if we login from a ISP that gives a Dynamic IP.
Hi,
I can sure help out by sending the pdf copy of the webpage.
Vinay, I will be mailing you the pdf copy.
Kindly attach it on your blog or upload the file somewhere on the net accessible to others.
Thanks.
Priyanka
i was using yupephone since april but last 15 days my yupeephone was not workin and i did mail them but nobdeys responding i already had payd 20$but nobodyes responding .the r to lazy
mrs iqbal
I have ordered yupee package on Feb 2008 and paid CAD 83.90 by pay pal and haven't received anything from this company till now. Don't buy any thing from Yupee Phone as they steal money.
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