Betamax (VoIP company)
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| Betamax GmbH & Co. KG | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private company |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Cologne, Germany |
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Products | Voice over IP |
| Website | http://www.betamax.com/ |
Betamax is a company, founded in 2005, which operates several Internet telephony services (also called VoIP-service) in Germany. Betamax uses a client software with proprietary protocol, but can also be accessed via SIP-protocol. Betamax features low call rates. Subscribers can mutually call for free, and call for free to fixed lines in selected countries worldwide (no money per minute and no start tariff) for a limited number of days after payments to Betamax
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[edit] List of services
Betamax GmbH & Co KG also run other Internet telephony services like:
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These services are very similar, but each have their own rate plans. [1] Some of these services do not support SIP (see above), which may limit their usefulness.
[edit] Irregularities
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The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(May 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. |
It appears that Betamax continually increases its prices and restricts the scope of its services in hidden ways.
It changes terms constantly without notice. Originally, users were able to make a free 1 minute test call or, by paying €1, calls of unlimited duration could be placed for free without having this be limited to a period such as days, weeks or months. Soon, however, restrictions to both the individual call duration and free calling period duration were introduced: the period of free calling that this €1 gets you went from being unlimited down to 120 days, and then further down to 90 days; also a limit of 300 minutes worth of free calls per week was introduced. Additionally the initial charge of €1 became €10 - which you would start to spend after 90 days when free countries were no longer free. Lately, many of Betamax's services such as 12VoIP seem to have scrapped the 300 minute/week worth of free calls policy, and introduced what they're calling their Fair-Use policy, which means that the company is now able to discontinue offering a free rate to its advertised free destinations if it adjudges the user to be using their service "excessively". The company doesn't offer a clear definition of "excessive use" such as the number of minutes per day or per week, leaving it up to their own discretion to determine what constitutes excessive usage.
Furthermore, the number of destinations is frequently reduced, but several time a year they launch new web sites with more countries to tempt you to switch. These are advertised in the voip software as they become live. Popular nations like the USA are removed after some time.
They've launched in 2007 a fee to pay them (like Ryanair) and also a fee if you want a VOIP-in number (which used to be free). The latest feature seems that the 10 euros you pay to get "free countries" can no longer be used as credit, you lose the money after 90 days; any non-free destinations need a separate 10 euros credit. This seems not yet to have been implemented on all the older brand names, but it is used at least on the 12voip.com brand service.
One feature of the software is that the timer that times calls ticks too fast, so that every 'minute' charged is in fact several seconds short.
You should therefore watch carefully for any changes to their terms, as it can easily become more expensive than alternative providers.
[edit] Costs
Betamax works with prepaid accounts, with no monthly subscription costs. An account is created using the Betamax software. Adding funds to an account ("topping up") is done by credit card or bank transfer; the funds will be immediately available as prepaid call credit and are valid indefinitely.
After payment the user is allocated a number of "Freedays", depending on the amount and the used payment method (€10 by credit card adds 120 Freedays). During "Freedays", no costs are charged for calling to designated destinations (the "free" countries mentioned above) listed on the website. These free calls terminate after one hour; afterwards a new call must be made. One can converse up to 300 minutes per week for free, measured over the last seven days. If this limit is reached, or no more "Freedays" are left, the ordinary costs for the destinations are charged.
Accounts with no credit, and no Freedays, are marked as "trial account". With a trial account, a user can only call other users, and place test calls of a few minutes to landlines in selected "free" countries.
[edit] Fraud
The company has been accused of fraudulent activity on several websites. Hundreds of clients have had their accounts blocked with the code ERROR 33 and their deposited funds confiscated for no apparent reason.[2] Betamax has not made any attempt to respond to customer enquiries or explained what Error 33 is, why it has occurred or how to fix and prevent it from occurring again.
[edit] Restrictions
- Betamax is available in about 30, mostly developed, countries.
- Support: Betamax customer service is only available via the website. An online user discussion forum is also available at https://www.voipbuster.com/forum/index.php. Many users have complained about technical problems.[3]
- Free destinations change frequently, with no guarantee that calls in the future will be still free. Tariff changes are announced only on the website (the softphone shows costs during the call, and VoipBuster provides a spoken cost report prior to connection). When numbers are not free, Betamax claims its prices are still lower than other providers.
- Peering is limited to a small number of other VoIP networks, like Gizmo Project and the network of DID provider Voxbone.
- No free voicemail service is offered.
- No overview is given of available geographical phone numbers before the user registers.
- The software is only available for Windows. It is possible to call using other software and the SIP server at Betamax. Some examples of free software with such capabilities are Twinkle and Ekiga.
- WebCallDirect.com automates customer's purchases. If the customer opts-in, when the balance is low, they will automatically use the stored credit card data to initiate a new purchase. If the customer did not in fact intend to purchase new credit, they will not easily undo the purchase and cancel the charge.
[edit] Unsupported Functionality
- Voice call encryption.
- Conference calls.
- Answering machine test call.
[edit] Functionality
The company provides voice-over-Internet services similar to (for example) Skype, but offers something they call a "phone-to-phone call bridging service", which, or so they claim, only they offer.
[edit] VoIP-Out
The user selects the name of a listed user, or enters a username or phone number, and the connection is made. User-to-user calls are free, but there is a charge for user-to-phone calls in most countries, with the exception of some countries mostly located in Europe, North America and East Asia.
The initial free calls are only for the first 60 minutes. After you used the 60 minutes, the service actually costs 2.5 euro per month, since you have to deposit 10 euros to continue using the system, and the deposit is only valid for 4 months. The web site is not really clear on this, because they try to make it look free.
[edit] VoIP-In
Users are provided a Voip-In phone number, which others can call at no cost to the Betamax user. VoIP-in numbers are not available in all countries. At one time Dutch users were able to obtain a Dutch phone number, which can be called from fixed and mobile lines. The caller pays the costs for calling to a fixed line in the Netherlands, for the recipient (the user) the conversation is free. VoIP-In provides for nomadic use of a Dutch phone number (a user can log in abroad and be reached there on the Dutch phone number); this is controversial and officially prohibited by the Dutch telecom regulator OPTA. Unfortunately now a free phone number is no longer offered.
[edit] Web-based ring
A user enters his own phone number and the recipient's number through Betamax software or the service website. The user's phone rings, then the recipient's phone. No additional equipment is needed to use the service on a landline. For both calls (to the user and recipient) call costs are charged, plus a start tariff.
[edit] SMS
A user can send SMS to any phone number in the world – users submit the message via the software or the subscriber page on the website.
SMSdiscount is another service run by VoipBuster. [4] The price is 1c per message.
Both services and non reliable[citation needed]. The user may get charged for the messages but they may or may not be delivered in most of the countries.
[edit] Other
Other Betamax options include forwarding all incoming calls to another number and anonymous calling.
[edit] References
- ^ VoipStunt Review. VoIP Service. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
- ^ My VoIP Provider - VoIP Services - - Betamax VoIP Credit - Scam - Fraud - Cheating
- ^ VoipBuster.com General Technical Discussion (Board). VoipBuster.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
- ^ 1 cent per SMS worldwide & pretty cheap VOIP calls. ex.perimental.net. Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
