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

[Rob Traffie]

I had high hopes of more ethical treatment from Flowroute.
"Surely they can't hit their customers with this $2k+ "tax" with ~6 days notice"

I really thought there was a good chance the new fees wouldn't hit until the monthly reload at the END of February. But no... nice surprise email today letting me know my account balance might go negative tomorrow. Nice $2300 "management fee" tacked on!

True to their 6-day warning, this below account I made awhile back to test a new sub-account/user management feature they launched. This account does not have a single DID or route configured, 99.9% empty, just a shell. It too has a $1.73 w/tax E911 fee.

At least they signed it "Sincerely"

 

[islandtech]

I thought I closed this account 6 years ago.
No word of any kind from them until Sunday

 

[ostridge]

• $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

Flowroute site (not lkogged in) appears to present different flowroute pricing information??

 

[Samot]

Flowroute site (not lkogged in) appears to present different flowroute pricing information??

They have the $1.50 per DID listed with the DID pricing. They do not have the flat $1.50 account fee for non DIDs listed but they do note they can charge recovery fees for E911.

 

[Halea]

I wonder if you could change all your 1.500 DIDs' service address to a non-USA address and avoid the $1.50 per DID monthly fee, since their price list specifically says that it is applicable to US DIDs with a service address in the USA. You could use a shared office space address that you can rent by the month for a few bucks.
This will buy you time until you get your DIDs ported elsewhere. Meanwhile you could use a third party vendor to get E911 service for the DIDs that you need for.
If you're game you would need to do that before midnight tonight.

 

[ostridge]

I wonder if you could change all your 1.500 DIDs' service address to a non-USA address and avoid the $1.50 per DID monthly fee, since their price list specifically says that it is applicable to US DIDs with a service address in the USA. You could use a shared office space address that you can rent by the month for a few bucks.
This will buy you time until you get your DIDs ported elsewhere. Meanwhile you could use a third party vendor to get E911 service for the DIDs that you need for.
If you're game you would need to do that before midnight tonight.

That method had occurred to me but then the legalities?

 

[kenn10]

They would still be a USA DID's regardless of the address put on them. I don't think he'd want to change his locations to European DID's.

 

[Samot]

since their price list specifically says that it is applicable to US DIDs with a service address in the USA.

"** mandatory E911 fee per each US DID on accounts with a US service address" that does not say DID service address it says accounts with a US service address. A completely different beast. Now if I was Flowroute and noticed a bunch of customers suddenly have their account service address move from US to Canada overnight before these new fees went into affect, it might raise some red flags.

There is also the whole if you are now a customer in Canada since you have a Canada service address, now you are subject to Canada fees/taxes and any other regulations that might exist in Canada. It could have an impact that you are unaware of.

 

[kenn10]

Why even fight it when it is so easy to port out. I say let Flowroute fall on their own sword.

 

[Samot]

Here is my take on this. In order to have $2300 in 911 fees that mean about 1500 or so DIDs. Now at that volume one should be a 499A filer and should be registered in their own state. By doing these things and informing Flowroute ( or any carrier) of it the fees should not be applicable since they shouldnt be charged.

Sounds like part if this is presenting yourself as a normal end user with a lot of DIDs on your account.

 

[atsak]

Canadian regulations for DID registration for e911 is the same anyway. Not quite as strict for location based information, but you really do need to have a registered address that is valid. I'd be keying them into bulkvs as fast as I could (there's likely a bulk import available), then moving the DID's after to save some money, but that's just me.

 

[kenn10]

I just received this. Good marketing on the part of BulkVS:

Dear Partners,

We've had many customers reach out asking us if we are doing what Flowroute is doing so we thought we would clarify our position.

Per Flowroute, they will charge customers $1.50 per month to all domestic accounts with out any local numbers. For accounts with local numbers, they will charge $1.50 per number for E911 EVEN if you are not in need of E911 for that number.

Bulk Solutions has no plans to charge our customers an E911 fee if you are not using E911 for a number. Our cost for E911 is $0.49 per number, IF you choose to have E911 enabled on the number.

We have had many customers taking advantage of our free porting and transitioning to Bulk Solutions to avoid this $1.50 charge per number.

We’re here to support your success – if you have questions please reach out to us at [email protected].

Stay Safe!
Bulk Solutions

Enhanced 911 with
Monthly Cost Per Number: $0.49
United States Origination Numbers:
Inbound Per Minute Usage: $0.0003 (3 zeros! lowest rate in the industry)
Monthly Cost Per Number: $0.06
Setup Fee: $0.05
Port In (LNP) Fee : $0.00 (FREE)

Canadian Origination Numbers:
Inbound Per Minute Usage: $0.002
Monthly Cost Per Number: $0.25
Setup Fee: $0.05
Port In (LNP) Fee: $5.00


CNAM (Caller ID Name)
$0.002 per query

8YY Outbound Toll Free:
WE COMPENSATE YOU!
$0.0012 - 1 to 99,999 minutes
$0.0016 - 100,000 to 999,999 minutes
$0.0020 - 1,000,000+ minutes

Toll Free Numbers:
Inbound Per Minute Usage: $0.0055
Monthly Cost Per Number: $0.14
Setup Fee: $0.99
Port In (LNP) Fee: $0.00 (COMPLETELY FREE)
Vanity Numbers: Same as above, no extra cost

LRN
$0.0001 per query

 

[Halea]

@kenn10 : Not sure if it's the same message that you've posted but since I couldn't read it (my browser simply shows the background image and the bulkvs support email address, nothing more) I thought an image version might be helpful if others are in the same situation :

 

[kenn10]

@Halea Thanks. Interesting Firefox issue.

 

[hawk#1]

@kenn10 : Not sure if it's the same message that you've posted but since I couldn't read it (my browser simply shows the background image and the bulkvs support email address, nothing more) I thought an image version might be helpful if others are in the same situation :

You get what you pay for with BULKVS, and fortunately they have low prices. With Flowroute.com, you can pay high prices for what you don't even have or use. You get what you pay for not always true with Flowroute.com

 

[krzykat]

I think the odds of finding this out are slim to none, but sure would be nice to know additional pieces of info with carriers besides pricing. I think people should be very interested in their DDoS and distributed processing design. I know Skyetel has done this, and I applaud them for it. Would be nice to see what others do so that when selecting a carrier, one could make a more informed decision. Price is obviously very important, but not everything.

 

[hawk#1]

Some are afraid to let you know how vulnerable the service they provide really is. I agree, Skyetel does provide more information than other providers and in my opinion, they also provide very reliable service. That is why I suggest people research providers and make their own choice. Lower prices does not always mean they have the best reliable service. To be able to just pick up the phone and make a call in an emergency is important to me so for those numbers, reliable service is important. When google, salesmen, and others want or require a phone number, or a fax number is wanted, they get a number to the cheapest non highly reliable service I can find, because I personally can care less if the service is down when they call, or if I need to send a fax then, I can always swap the phone line and use a reliable provider.

 

[AndyInNYC]

Looks like FlowRoute has changed their policy. Just received and email - they are only charging the fee on DIDs with E911 enabled.


Hi Andrew,

You asked, we listened!

Since our inception, Flowroute has prided itself on being customer-centric.

To that end, we have received feedback from our customers on the impact of the E911 fee we announced and implemented for February. As a result of this feedback and additional advice from Telecom counsel and other partners, we are changing our strategy regarding the E911 fee.

Starting with March MRCs we will only be charging the E911 fee on telephone numbers (TNs) that are E911 enabled. This is the change from our previous policy which charged the fee to all accounts that have E911 calling capability.

We will credit back fees charged in February to:

Domestic accounts with local TNs without E911 association enabled

Domestic accounts without any local TNs

Over the coming weeks, we will be sending out further communication with detailed information concerning these credits.

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

I would like to apologize for any inconvenience and take this opportunity to thank you for your continued business and partnership.

Darach Beirne
VP/General Manager. Flowroute

 

[JFrost]

LOLOL. Flowroute turned tail. Jsut got this like 10 mins before I sent them a reply instructing to close account after my ports complete and telling (quite frankly) why.

=-=-=-=


You asked, we listened!



Since our inception, Flowroute has prided itself on being customer-centric.



To that end, we have received feedback from our customers on the impact of the E911 fee we announced and implemented for February. As a result of this feedback and additional advice from Telecom counsel and other partners, we are changing our strategy regarding the E911 fee.



Starting with March MRCs we will only be charging the E911 fee on telephone numbers (TNs) that are E911 enabled. This is the change from our previous policy which charged the fee to all accounts that have E911 calling capability.



We will credit back fees charged in February to:

Domestic accounts with local TNs without E911 association enabled
Domestic accounts without any local TNs

Over the coming weeks, we will be sending out further communication with detailed information concerning these credits.



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



I would like to apologize for any inconvenience and take this opportunity to thank you for your continued business and partnership.
Darach Beirne

Darach Beirne

VP/General Manager. Flowroute


You asked, we listened!



Since our inception, Flowroute has prided itself on being customer-centric.



To that end, we have received feedback from our customers on the impact of the E911 fee we announced and implemented for February. As a result of this feedback and additional advice from Telecom counsel and other partners, we are changing our strategy regarding the E911 fee.



Starting with March MRCs we will only be charging the E911 fee on telephone numbers (TNs) that are E911 enabled. This is the change from our previous policy which charged the fee to all accounts that have E911 calling capability.



We will credit back fees charged in February to:

Domestic accounts with local TNs without E911 association enabled
Domestic accounts without any local TNs

Over the coming weeks, we will be sending out further communication with detailed information concerning these credits.



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



I would like to apologize for any inconvenience and take this opportunity to thank you for your continued business and partnership.
Darach Beirne

Darach Beirne

VP/General Manager. Flowroute
=-=-=-=

In light of this my email is pretty flippin amusing but fk 'em.
My ports are done and I'm gone. Shouldn't have to be hit in the head with a hammer to make 'em think straight and I'm not sticking around waiting for their next "brilliant" idea

 

[kenn10]

Funny how when a large portion of your customer base flees from your company, you change your policy. Hopefully, it is too late and people will stay away. This was a shameless money-grab and they deserve to suffer the consequences.