TIPS Flowroute 911 surcharge $1.50 per DID 2/1/2022

[Rob Traffie]

I got an alarming email yesterday from Flowroute regarding Kari's Law/Ray Baum's Act implementation.
Is this an FCC 911 requirement common to many carriers or isolated to just Flowroute?

I manage ~1500 (non toll free) numbers.
1500 DID = $2,250.00/month EXTRA

I can't find any reference to a standard (per number) monthly fee.
Is this passed along to some government slush fund, pizza party at Flowroute??


Starting February 1, 2022, Flowroute will charge a 911 fee, based on Ray Baum’s Act, on all Flowroute accounts in the US.

Section 506 of Ray Baum’s Act requires providers of VoIP telephony services to support 911 calling on all outbound-capable products to ensure the reliability of the 911 network. As a result of the implementation, Flowroute will charge a 911 Fee starting February 1st, 2022.

The new 911 Fee affects all Flowroute accounts in the US, as follows:

• $1.50 per month is applied to all domestic Flowroute accounts without any local TNs
• $1.50 per TN per month only on Flowroute accounts with one or more local TNs

For more information please take a look at our knowledge base article Ray Baum's Act FAQ. The 911 fee is subject to change based on evolving implementation considerations.

If you have any questions/concerns, please don't hesitate to contact our support team using this form or send us an email.

Sincerely,
The Flowroute Team

 

[krzykat]

What if you have your E911 with another carrier? I don't use Flowroute, so unsure of their particular rules, but No - this isn't a universal hard rule. And you can certainly shop around and get that rate lowered by about 2/3rds.

 

[Rob Traffie]

Thanks. I figured this would be the best place to ask to get a good sampling of different providers in use.
Other than this blindside, I've been pretty happy with Flowroute.

If you guys wouldn't mind - what are your top choices of providers to port this many (1500) numbers to?

I even opened a ticket with them to confirm, is this $1.50 charge PER DID. Their reply was a simple "Yes, the charge is per line"

Their email/policy sounds like it doesn't matter if the DID is even used in an E911 route, or if you do NOT have a single DID in your account. Have an account (with no non 800#) = $1.50/mo, have 1,000 DID = $1500/mo.

Such short notice (less than a week) and I couldn't find any mention of a required fee(s) in the numerous posts about each law/act.

 

[kenn10]

I personally never cared for Flowroute and ditched them a couple of years ago. For providers, I would recommend Skyetel.com, Vitelity.com, ClearlyIP.com and BulkVS.com. Talk to their sales people to see if you can get a better deal for that many numbers. BulkVS is probably the cheapest of the bunch but the others have a higher degree of redundancy and customer support.

You don't state what system(s) you are using but you can certainly sign up with one or two and try them out on a few numbers before making a decision.

 

[krzykat]

Agree with @kenn10 those are the carriers that I'd look at as well. I think for redundancy and such, I'd look at Skyetel. For cheaper use then BulkVS. Many people actually do a combo, such as Skyetel for your DIDs, and BulkVS for the E911.

 

[hawk#1]

Definitely agree with a combination of providers. Not a good idea to have all eggs in one basket and sometimes one has low E911 fee but high cost for DIDs. Also, some have much better redundancy and less prone to attacks and outages

 

[Halea]

If you want to beat the 2/1/2022 deadline you gotta go fast! Move all your DIDs to BulkVS now. When you do it through their portal, the system usually offers you a 7 day porting time, but the calendar allows you (often) to reduce it down to 3, sometimes 2 days. But you don't have time, and the portal would be way too slow for 1,500 DIDs.
So, open an account on their portal right away if you don't have one already. Then call them on the phone. Explain your predicament. They will put you in direct contact with the porting staff, who I believe would be able to get your porting done on Monday.
Later you can sort through your numbers and decide if and when you want to move some of your DIDs elsewhere.
If you can go FOC with BulkVS by monday morning like around 10-11am, you can cancel your DIDs with Flowroute in the afternoon and avoid the surcharge.

 

[Rob Traffie]

Thanks for the the replies and options.
I've got a meeting with Flowroute tomorrow and I "think" the extra $2250 'tax' wouldn't hit until the renewal on 2/28/22 - so a few extra days to figure things out, or make a jump.

Flowroute has been my primary DID management platform for almost 10 years now.
I have several other carriers I use for service as primary/backup(s) but manage the security, billing and routes for all of my numbers with Flowroute.

I'm spread across 45 unique PBX instances (many in the cloud now) plus 3 call centers running on site asterisk servers.

 

[Skyetel]

Shameless plug - but we'll port those numbers to us for free

 

[Rob Traffie]

Shameless plug - but we'll port those numbers to us for free

I'll keep you posted!

 

[Tonyclewis]

Thanks for the the replies and options.
I've got a meeting with Flowroute tomorrow and I "think" the extra $2250 'tax' wouldn't hit until the renewal on 2/28/22 - so a few extra days to figure things out, or make a jump.

Flowroute has been my primary DID management platform for almost 10 years now.
I have several other carriers I use for service as primary/backup(s) but manage the security, billing and routes for all of my numbers with Flowroute.

I'm spread across 45 unique PBX instances (many in the cloud now) plus 3 call centers running on site asterisk servers.

We offer free porting and integration into IncrdiblePBX that nobody else can do and cheap 911 options with great US based Supoort and fully redundant network.

 

[hawk#1]

We offer free porting and integration into IncrdiblePBX that nobody else can do and cheap 911 options with great US based Supoort and fully redundant network.

Can vouch for ClearlyIP having great Support and definitely integrates well with IncrediblePBX

 

[Halea]

Thanks for the the replies and options.
I've got a meeting with Flowroute tomorrow and I "think" the extra $2250 'tax' wouldn't hit until the renewal on 2/28/22 - so a few extra days to figure things out, or make a jump.

Flowroute has been my primary DID management platform for almost 10 years now.
I have several other carriers I use for service as primary/backup(s) but manage the security, billing and routes for all of my numbers with Flowroute.

I'm spread across 45 unique PBX instances (many in the cloud now) plus 3 call centers running on site asterisk servers.

@Rob Traffie : I'm glad you have time to figure out an exit strategy before you're hit with the Flowroute surcharge.

Since you explicitly asked about forum users' input about DID providers, I'll take the liberty of telling you about my preference.
But first, let me state the most obvious; your asset description puts you, in my view, in a league where you shouldn't be paying - a dollar a did a month!

When I took my business away from Flowroute they used to charge $1.20 per DID per month. I know they later reduced it but it was still way over $0.25 per DID per month that I started to pay with V1VOIP. Unfortunately V1VOIP was short-lived as far as I was concerned owing to their awful support.

Today I have 1,200 DIDs of which close to 400 are with BulkVS (almost all my US DIDs).
BulkVS charges $0.06 per DID per month and $0.0003 per mn for each incoming call. And only $0.49 per DID per month for E911 without mandatory E911 service for each DID.
Needless to say that those figures make a huge difference on my monthly tab, and my vote of confidence goes to BulkVS!
Just to be clear, I'm not associated with BulkVS in any way. I am just a happy customer.

 

[Rob Traffie]

I had my brief meeting with them today, rather shocked when talking it out there is no policy exception at some volume level. After being with them for 10+ years I'll give them a few days of professional courtesy and see what they come back with Monday/Tuesday. I have a port quote request in with Inteliquent for all of my non-800#'s. If I do end up porting them all, which seems pretty likely I'll soon be in touch with several of you above to see what makes the most sense feature/dollar/stability wise.

Thanks for all the tips.

 

[piaftnt]

Years ago I used Flowroute for both origination and termination but since the got bought out service with them deteriorated and I moved all of my DID's away from them. I was keeping the account open as an alternate route for Outbound calls. But to add Insult to injury, they even are going to charge you just to have an account open with no DID's. I just closed the account and asked for a refund.

 

[kenn10]

The new 911 Fee affects all Flowroute accounts in the US, as follows:

• $1.50 per month is applied to all domestic Flowroute accounts without any local TNs
• $1.50 per TN per month only on Flowroute accounts with one or more local TNs

This is clearly just a money grab on Flowroute's part. Anyone can use one DID number with 911 per location and route any calls from the location using that one DID number. Bulkvs, ClearlyIP and Skyetel have 911 service but don't demand you use theirs. BulkVS even allows you to add the additional location information so you can have one number but send from multiple areas (5th floor East, Basement, etc.) for precise location information.

This could destroy Flowroute and they deserve to fail for that policy.

I use Bulkvs exclusively for my DID's and at $0.06/did/month and free porting, you can't beat the price:

 

[Halea]

... But to add Insult to injury, they even are going to charge you just to have an account open with no DID's. ...

If my memory serves me, they started to charge account maintenance fees (at least for new accounts) as soon as they were acquired by Intrado.

This is clearly just a money grab on Flowroute's part. Anyone can use one DID number with 911 per location and route any calls from the location using that one DID number.
...
This could destroy Flowroute and they deserve to fail for that policy.
...

I think this is one more botched acquisition story where the buyer, Intrado in this case, overpaid for the target company's assets (here Flowroute), because their top guys knew more about the wining and dining table than the negotiation table, and their their smarty pants even less about how to properly appraise asset values!
Now, they are trying to recoup their losses by overcharging their customers.

 

[kenn10]

Now, they are trying to recoup their losses by overcharging their customers.

Another MBA business plan to go out of business.

 

[hawk#1]

No loss, unfortunately they will most likely be back in business under a different name just a couple months later

 

[krzykat]

If my memory serves me, they started to charge account maintenance fees (at least for new accounts) as soon as they were acquired by Intrado.

I think this is one more botched acquisition story where the buyer, Intrado in this case, overpaid for the target company's assets (here Flowroute), because their top guys knew more about the wining and dining table than the negotiation table, and their their smarty pants even less about how to properly appraise asset values!
Now, they are trying to recoup their losses by overcharging their customers.

And will further see their clientele decline and profits shrink.