Can vonage lawsuit shadow iTalkBB?

The leading Voip provider in US, Vonage, settled another long-standing patent lawsuit with Verizon, in which Vonage agreed to pay Verizon either $80 million or $117.5 million, depending on a pending appeal decision. This follows a similar settlement with Sprint Nextel for $80 million a few weeks ago. Yet anther patent infringement lawsuit is pending with AT&T.

Consider that Vonage has 2.5 million customers; amortizing those settlement cost in 5 years means each customer need to pay one more dollar per month to cover this cost. Vonage now typically charges $25 per month for unlimited local and domestic calls, compared to iTalkBB charging $21.36 per month for unlimited local and international calls. We have compared the price and features of Vonage and iTalkBB in an earlier post.

Would iTalkBB suffer a similar round of patent lawsuit? Has iTalkBB allocated enough resources to keep up with legal fight? As its customer base grows in US, iTalkBB will face these problems sooner or later.

You can use iTalkBB promotion code 953110 to get $10 off at sign up (here), or read more discussions, reviews and competitor comparison in this blog.

italk Global Communications?

Ran across a site http://www.italkglobal.com while looking up some information on Google. iTalkBB states on its site that "iTalk Broadband Corporation is a subsidiary of iTalk Global Communications, Inc. located in Vienna, Virginia." I wonder if it is the same iTalk Global. The italkglobal.com site is quite broken though.

  

To bundle or not to bundle, that's the question (Comcast vs iTalkBB)

The leading cable service provider, Comcast, has been pushing out its Triple Play bundle package for over a year now: new subscribers to Comcast are eligible to get Internet, phone and cable service all three for $33 each per month for the first year. Many people consider this a good deal, as it appears. However, it turns out that if you get the same services separately, it can be much cheaper.

Let's take a look at the ongoing Comcast packages on its website:

Triple play: $99.00/month for the first year and ranging from $128 to $144 (depending on the area) per month thereafter.

Same high-speed Internet service individually: $20/mo for first 6 months and $43/mo afterwards
Same Cable service individually: $33/mo for first 3 months and $42/mo afterwards
iTalkBB Global Unlimited Plan, which includes unlimited call to 26 countries, with all features that Comcast Digital Voice service provides and more: $299/14-month; and remains the same afterwards. Unlike Comcast Digital Voice, tax and fees are included in iTalkBB's package.

So the total for the first year is $20*6+$43*6+$33*3+$42*9+$299/14*12=$1111

compared to the total for the Triple Play bundle: $99*12=$1188

And cost per month after the first year is $43+$42+$22=$107 compared to Triple Play bundle: $128 to $144.

It's definitely a save; plus you get International calls for free; get 200 minutes/month iTalkFreedom (calling-card-like for cellphones); save on hefty phone tax; etc.

Using iTalkBB promotion code 953110, you can save another $10 at sign up.

There is also a $150 early termination fee for the Triple Play Bundle that one should beware of.

last day for referral super prize drawing

Tomorrow is the last day for iTalkBB's Moon Festival Referral Super Prize Drawing. New sign-ups can still get the $19.99 discount described here and existing users can still have a chance to win a 52" Sharp LCD HDTV. The prize drawing is scheduled on November 15th. Good luck!

Net2Phone $19.95 deal?

Julie mentioned in her comment last week a good deal from Net2phone: 3 free months and $19.95/month afterwards (assuming to unlimited US/Canada plan). Normally, I would rule Net2Phone out as a strong competitor to iTalkBB since its regular price is way above market average -- $29.99/month for an unlimited US/Canada plan and $35-$45/month if you add any international options, with tax and fees as extra. It charges a $29.99 activation fee and a $39.99 early termination fee (before 12 service months). Moreover, it does not provide any special attractive feature such as the free China DID number offered by iTalkBB, or the video phone feature from packet8. The aforementioned special offer from Net2phone is much better than its regular rate, however, it is still not very attractive compared to the $299/14 months (tax and fees included) iTalkBB's global unlimited plan, which includes free international calls to 20+ countries, dual phone numbers, 200 free iTalkFreedom minutes and online (Chinese) video on demand service through partner sites. I would pick iTalkBB over Net2phone.

If sign up this week, the iTalkBB promotion mentioned here still works.

Could Vonage be the next SunRocket?

Last week, I talked about Vonage's plan to lower the price to stay in competition with other VOIP providers such as iTalkBB. Today, Wall Street Journal reports Vonage (VG) as one of the top losers for the past financial quarter. Vonage's stock has dropped continuously from $7.89 a year ago to recent under dollar range ($0.89). Vonage's plan, compared to iTalkBB, is higher in price and poorer in feature. IMHO, Vonage can survive to today is mainly due to its aggressive commercial campaigns in mainstream media (TV, news paper, etc.). However, this adds to the cost overhead, making Vonage unable to compete with other Voip providers in price. On the other hand, iTalkBB uses low cost advertising (mainly online advertisement combined with referral program), so as to gain an edge on the price.

Interested in learning more about iTalkBB? Read more posts on this blog. Use promotion code 953110 to sign up with iTalkBB, you get $10 off.