VOOM and Local Phone Issues....

[jkhiggins]

I reciently found this forum and it looks like it has saved me a headache.

I wanted VOOM for their many HD channels... got my big screen HD and I want more HD programming.... so I went to sears and looked at a box they had and later decided to call voom....

I spoke with a rep and got an install scheduled.... They failed to ask me a couple of VERY IMPORTANT questions...

#1 The sales rep asked me for my home phone #... I use my cell as my home phone... she did not specify you HAVE TO HAVE a land based line for VOOM at any time. I figured it was like Dish or Direct as I have had both and never connected to a home phone line. They do not enforce this or use their phone line for anything other than updating PPV purchases... so I figured that VOOM was the same way.

#2 VOOM does not point to the same spot as the others... they use that 61.5 degree sat... they never asked for line of sight to that location... I do have dish pointed to that sat now and do get a signal (through a small hole in the trees) but they needed to ask that question.

I called VOOM this morning and confirmed that you do have to have a land based line. The rep said they do some update checking with the land based line. If thats true or not I am not sure, but I have read a couple of other threads that said that the installer refused to install without a land line.

I refuse to pay an extra $20 bucks or so a month for a phone line I will only use for a reciever to call once in awhile. It basically makes the service for VOOM from $90 (with reciever lease thingy) to $110 a month. Its just too much... not to mention the reconnect fees and all...

I am afraid that VOOM will find more and more people like me who would like their service but can't get it cause we have done away with the local phone bill.

I hope they find another way to check/do updates or whatever they want the land line for cause until they do that they will not pick up people like me...

I know signal piracy is one of the main reasons for this... but even though D* and E* has had its signal stolen by a number of people, how does that compare to the millions of paying customers?

I just hope that they find a different solution.

 

[madpoet]

The next major code release (rumored to be sometime in the next month) will require the phone line. The issue has been beat to death here, at AVSForums, etc; Right now, word is you have to have it. I know a small minority don't, and will likely cancel. I hoep Voom has another solution in place. But I wouldn't count on it.

-MP

 

[jkhiggins]

I know...

And I know it has been beat to death, but that does not change the fact that VOOM as basically a starter Sat company who is behind the other two biggies in programming and subscriber base does not need to limit their options for adding new subscribers IMO.

Hopefully D* will upgrade past their 4-5 HD channels in the near future and add bravo etc.... I guess I will stick with em. I really wanted to expand my HD lineup tho.

I think VOOM may see a slower subscriber growth due to this. Do I think this will kill them as a company? No. But it definately will limit their subscriber base until another viable option is found.

I mean I am just one potential subscriber but reading these forums on the subject it seems to me that there are a number on here without the home phone and I think VOOM needs to reconsider their choice.

 

[madpoet]

*shrug* Every indication is that it is a small minority who don;t have a physical landline. Will it cost them some customers? I'm sure. But in weighing it against the piracy issue, you can understand their concern. I also hope they find another solution, but I'm not sure they will before the code push.

 

[vurbano]

obscure problem. Probably not even worth V*'s time addressing right now.

 

[slffl]

I'm one of those people who didn't have a landline. And VOOM definately isn't worth getting one for. And for those who say the landline is for 'security', and that people without landlines are a 'small minority', I would love to know where you get this 'information' from.

 

[madpoet]

From the fact that only a small minority has replaced their land line with a cell, and from Voom itself.

 

[jkhiggins]

How many subscribers does voom

actually have right now? I think the number of people who are replacing land lines is growing at a fairly fast rate and will continue to grow. As a starting company they need subscribers and I would think they would take em anyway they can.

They are already insisting that one of their installers set you up so they can keep tabs of their equipment and cards I would think. D* and E* let you pick up and take home from the store so they loose some of the accountability.

Store employees are supposed to take info from you and the box when you buy but if you are already a subscriber and are updating they are likely just to let you walk out the door with it without taking any info from you.

I would think if Voom keeps strict tabs on where their recievers are and do not allow new users to buy and activate old equipment etc... pick up old equipment, cards, etc they can do just as well as keeping track with the phone line.

 

[madpoet]

Why? Just have an install done with 4 receivers. Then give 3 of your friends a receiver each, which costs the whopping $9.95 rental and about $30 to buy their own dish. They get all the programming you get, and Voom has no way to stop it.

 

[slffl]

From the fact that only a small minority has replaced their land line with a cell, and from Voom itself.

Where do you get your 'facts' from?

 

[slffl]

Why? Just have an install done with 4 receivers. Then give 3 of your friends a receiver each, which costs the whopping $9.95 rental and about $30 to buy their own dish. They get all the programming you get, and Voom has no way to stop it.

So instead, every couple of months when a software update comes out, you take it over to your friends for a day or two until it's updated.

 

[wbuffetta]

D* States They Will Charge Each Receiver You Have That Is Not Connected To YOUR Phone Line Your Full Bill Not Just A Mirror Fee. The Phone Line Is Used For PPV Callbacks & To Deter Signal Theft.

 

[jkhiggins]

That is actually false...

I have been a subscriber to D* without any phone lines connected, never been shut off and have paid the $5 for extra reciever... again not connected to a phoneline.

 

[lewdog]

I totally agree that the % of people with cell phones only is big. I am 30 live in a midsize city and honesly dont have 1 friend that has a land line (all cells) and yes I;m talking about more than 2 people, like 30. I have never had E* D*say anything about it in 10 years. I got D* ($899.95) in 1995 and have never in my life owned a land line phone.

 

[stevo714]

Your all wrong. Yes Some people are doing away with landlines and going completly cellular but right now its not even .5% of all households. Thats right do some research. I work in the business. This number will increase in the coming years but not to soon. To many drop-outs and other problems with Cell Phones especially in remote areas and in buildings.

Personally I think Voom is making a wise decesion on this matter. Like Mad Poet says who could stop a customer from renting 4 Receivers for $9.95 a piece. Keep 1 and then take the other 3 to different relatives or friends. They would only need to buy a dish (Maybe $20) and install. So now Voom is losing at least $39.99x3 = $120 a month. Go ahead and say it doesn't happen. I know many people that do this with Directv and they have no way of knowing because they do not make the phone line a requirement.

 

[slffl]

Your all wrong. Yes Some people are doing away with landlines and going completly cellular but right now its not even .5% of all households. Thats right do some research. I work in the business. This number will increase in the coming years but not to soon. To many drop-outs and other problems with Cell Phones especially in remote areas and in buildings.

Personally I think Voom is making a wise decesion on this matter. Like Mad Poet says who could stop a customer from renting 4 Receivers for $9.95 a piece. Keep 1 and then take the other 3 to different relatives or friends. They would only need to buy a dish (Maybe $20) and install. So now Voom is losing at least $39.99x3 = $120 a month. Go ahead and say it doesn't happen. I know many people that do this with Directv and they have no way of knowing because they do not make the phone line a requirement.

Oh man, could you please provide one link to any kind of information that backs this up?

And why can't people still do this now if a landline is only needed when a software update is required?

 

[Ken F]

And why can't people still do this now if a landline is only needed when a software update is required?

The landline has nothing to do with downloading a software update. Re-read posts carefully.

VOOM plans to integrate a "time bomb" feature into the next version of the STB software. Any STB does not call in at least once during a set period of time (1 month? 2 months?) will lose its authorization, and no longer receive service. A call to VOOM will be required to reactivate service.

 

[stevo714]

slffl. I will dig through some old e-mails at work and get back to you. This research was done 3 months ago so the percentage might have climbed to a whopping .6%. Just because you and a few friends use cell phones and no land line doesn't mean everyone else does. The % I posted is fairly accurate as of 3 month's ago. The article if I remember correctly was in Telphony Magazine. They projected in 5 years for the amount of people to be without landline's in the 5-10%. FTTP(Fiber to the Prem) is around the corner so yes people will be getting rid of there Landline sort of but repacing it with Fiber. Please don't give me the yea right Fiber thing. Its coming and there is a million reason why companies are pushing FTTP.

 

[stevo714]

Lewdog you must have been pretty well off at the age of 20 to drop $899.95 for D*. and you never owned a landline? Let me guess you used a cell phone for all your needs in 1995! Wow that is amazing especially how well Cell Phones worked back then.

 

[Eric_C]

Stevo,

Define in the business...where I live and work about 20 percent of the people do not have land lines and cell's only.

That number grows everyday, as word spreads people drop land lines because they are mostly an extra exspense not worth having.

I haven't had a phone line in 4 years. I think you will find that people who have Voom, HD, etc are a bit ahead of the curve technology wise and those same people will have gotten rid of their phone lines long ago.

Now, put two and two together and the important part is, what percentage of VOOM Customers do no have land lines...now put the previous statement into the mix and figuire the results.

What percentage of homes have HDTV?

Remember, most people say "I'm gonna wait till they fix up that HDTV before I buy one"...Voom has a small userbase, and of that small userbase the number with cell's only is probably greater than the normal population because of the type of consumer Voom has.

I'll drop em in a second if it comes up, and I just had it installed...not only will they lose a customer, and revenue, but they have spent a pretty decent penny on installing my equipment and now they can have it all back.

If the company doesn't understand its user base then it is doomed to fail.