Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!news.misty.com!news.iecc.com!.POSTED.news.iecc.com!post.local
From: "Lars Poulsen" <lars@beagle-ears.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: VoIP pricing changes at CallCentric
Date: 31 Aug 2025 23:32:10 -0000
Organization: The Telecom Digest
Sender: alias%iecc.com
Approved: telecom-moderator@telecom.csail.mit.edu
Message-ID: <slrn10b9mrp.2bgua.lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com>
Injection-Info: gal.iecc.com; posting-host="news.iecc.com:2001:470:1f07:1126:0:676f:7373:6970"; logging-data="20941"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@iecc.com"
User-Agent: slrn/1.0.3 (Linux)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:2wptWdhNEij1j3ctN9Wu2jI2RuU=
Authentication-Results: iecc.com; spf=pass spf.mailfrom=moder8@telecom2022.csail.mit.edu spf.helo=telecom2022.csail.mit.edu smtp.remote-ip="128.31.0.21"; dmarc=none header.from=beagle-ears.com polrec.p=none polrec.pct=100
Authentication-Results: name/5E56160D76; dmarc=fail (p=none dis=none) header.from=beagle-ears.com
X-Auth-Sender: U2FsdGVkX19jBPbESNZ1lhhz82G/N/RZWxEHuY+SL4niVnFavbrz3Q==
Xref: csiph.com comp.dcom.telecom:14363

For a number of years, I have been using CallCentric (front-ended by the
SoftPhone app) to call my family in Denmark on week-ends. For some time,
I have noticed that the calls were disconnected after some time, but
would reconnect immediately with no problem. A few days ago, I was
annoyed enough to find out what was happening.

When I first started using CallCentric, calls to Denmark were 7
cents/minute for landlines and I think 26 cents/min for mobile phones,
while the regulars AT&T rate from my mobile phone was around 1
dollar/minute. This made it affordable to talk to my family for an hour
on Saturdays.

What has happened now, is that the billing rates have flipped. Calls to
mobile numbers are now 1.6 cents/minute, while landlines are billed at
38.5 cents/minute. This causes the 10-20 dollar reserve I keep in my
CallCenric report to get exhausted, and when it hits about 3 dollars,
the call drops. The account automatically rechanges and I can call
again. Until I hit the maximum number of daily recharges (which I have
set to 2).

I am shocked at this change in rates. I was sure it must be a data entry
error in thir rate table, but their customer service says that these are
indeed the rates now.

Do other VoIP providers (SIP telcos) have similar rates? What happened
to cause these changes? I would have expected that 7 cents/26 cents might
turn into 10 cents/30 cents over a decade or so (although I would have
thought it more likely that thay would turn into 4 cents/10 cents, given
the general trends in wholesale tececom costs.

Lars Poulsen
Santa Barbara, CA