Free World Dialup Moves To Paid Model
Free World Dialup that we mentioned in the Free SIP Accounts post, the free SIP Accounts II, and the recent Free SIP Account Provider List, is discontinuing the free service. I have been an account holder for good 7-8 years and I plan to stay. I have had trouble free service in all those years and I thank Ravenii for introducing me to the service. The service is definitely worth for us what is going to cost. The price is for Annual membership and not a monthly fee. If you calculate, you are paying $2.50 a month and you can't even go to a Starbucks unless you take your coffee black in a small cup! So if you have an account, please support FWD by registering for the paid account.
Following is the email sent to members and Jeff has a post on his blog also explaining the move. You will find the link after the jump;
"Dear FWD'er:
Free World Dialup is implementing a $30 USD annual membership fee during the month of August after 12 years as a free service.
A startup taking over a decade to reach conviction about a business model likely sets a record, but we believe $30 USD per year is the magic number. It is 10% of the cost for Vonage's unlimited usage plan. FWD provided the inspiration for the founding of Vonage in 2001, and Vonage's hybrid Internet-PSTN offer now generates nearly $1 billion in annual revenue. FWD's voluntary paid membership experiment last summer demonstrated the demand for a complete break from telephone network. FWD's future as a Communication ISP will include only those services that do not have a per minute charge. Rather than competing directly with the telco's or even Vonage, the mission of a Communication ISP is creating new opportunities and modes of communication. FWD will relaunch the website during August to focus on services, applications, and content available to people with VoIP SIP devices connected directly to the Internet.
See FWD CEO, Daniel Berninger's "Communication ISP Manifesto"
If you wish to retain SIP registration and support FWD, please click through the paid membership banner at the top of the home page which links to the Acteva registration service.
Make sure you use the email associated with your FWD account (the one on which this message arrived.)
If you lost your FWD account info, you can use the password retrieval process or simply create a new account.
The first 1000 paid members get "founder" status, but FWD will retain existing free accounts through August 31, 2008. The new paid membership requirement allows for associating any number of accounts with the email address used for payment, so you can keep the free ride alive by finding a friend with paid membership.
I hope you will join in transforming FWD's nearly one million free accounts into paid memberships as we work to make the Communication ISP the next big thing in VoIP.
Best regards,
Jeff"
Jeff's Post: Free World Dialup moving to $30 annual membership
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