How is the "Free" Paging Service from IDT Wireless?

Pocky asks: "A company called IDT Wireless is making a couple of pagers that use a calling-party-pays service model. They are making two models, Beep2Talk (numeric) and Beep2Talk Alpha (alphanumeric recieve-only). Today's Best Buy flyer appears to advertise the numeric model for a one-time fee of $39.95. Has anybody bought one of these pagers? Any ideas how this company makes money? They can't exactly ask the caller for a credit card number, can they? Perhaps the alphanumeric model requires you to send from a web site which displays ads, but this doesn't explain the numeric model. I may head to Best Buy to check them out and see if I can dig up any more info." Great, now it's even more affordable for companies to leash their employees to the job!

"This is from a press release on their web site:

The technology utilizes a proprietary "calling party pays" application which will eliminate the fees that subscribers are currently forced to pay for incoming pages and calls in the U.S. 'This technology is the culmination of more than four years of research and development on the part of IDT's Cellular Division engineers,' said Howard Jonas, IDT Chairman and CEO.

The rest of their web site is similarly vague. An AltaVista search and Google search revealed no further information on this company, so I tried calling the 1-800 number listed on their web site and was greeted by a message telling me to call back during normal business hours."

This service doesn't sound very good.....

[Enzo_Falzon]

Well I called thier customer service line and found that they way it works is that when someone calls you, the system plays a recording explaining the charges, then if they continue the page, they're billed according to they type of page (the charges are billed to the phone line that is being used to make the call). The charges are as follows... $.35[numeric page], $.50[alphanumeric page], $.35+$.50/minute[hold2talk{see website for explanation}] This means that not only is it expinseve to the caller, but they can't page from payphones (although the person I talked to mentioned that they are working on that, my guess is that you'd have to use a credit card). And if they page you from a friend's house, then the friend gets billed for it... pretty crappy if you ask me, I'd rather just pay for a cell phone myself. ~Enzo_Falzon

Re:This service doesn't sound very good.....

[nanun]

In some bizarre circumstances, such as mine, I'd get one. My company is run by a bunch of Old Farts who expect us to be available on call, but won't pick up the tab for pagers or cellphones. If this thing works in my area, I'm getting one.
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New Zealand has been this way for awhile

[Zaffle]

When I went to the states on a holiday I was stunned to hear that a cellphone owner pays for incoming calls!

In New Zealand, normally it costs the caller, and only with some special services (eg 0800 numbers (equiv 1800)) does it cost the other party. With most pagers, the pager owner pays a monthly fee, and the caller pays some really cheap (like 10c) fee to send a page. However, in New Zealand, pagers and cellphone numbers start with 021-nnn-nnnn or 025-nnn-nnnn.

However, we do have the same sort of system that you are getting, a once off connection fee, and the caller pays (more) for paging.

One interesting feature we are getting is the ability to receive internet emails via digital cellphones. However there is a problem with this, the cellphone owner pays for each email sent to their phone, wether they want it or not. So if I know your cellphone email address, and I sent a 1000 emails to it (mailbomb), well...

However, back to the cellphones, Its really neat that caller pays, I have a cellphone with me all the time, and since I don't pay when someone calls me, its really handy for business. I usually make calls on a land-line whenever available so I have a low monthly fee.

If it wasn't for the fact that I need a landline for my ISP connection, I could feasibly get rid of my landline. $35/month for landline (flat rate, no per minute charges), vs anywhere between $0 (for prepay phones) or $20+ (for monthly fee phones) for cellphones per month, with call charges.

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Re:This service doesn't sound very good.....

[Enzo_Falzon]

Yes, in a situation where it is for work purposes this is a pretty good idea, but in my case where a cell phone or pager would be a social tool (ie for my friends to contact me more easily) and in that situation it's not a very desireable setup IMHO.

IDT

[M-2]

As a former employee of IDT, I wouldn't get this. In general, they run scams. A few years back, all their top admins quit rather than have a certain person get made manager. Since then the Internet service has gone downhill, the news server degraded severely, and account started disappearing at random. They also run Net2Phone, the company that sucked the life from the helpdesk by making the helpdesk do Internet AND Net2Phone support, and keeping the same 'service measurements'.

Sounds like another scam, like their 'we'll have the system read email to you if you use Net2Phone and call in using it!' service that never got off the ground.
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Re:IDT

[cybrthng]

I too spent a few months too long working at IDT. The conditions were rough, i worked 10-12 hours a day, was on call/page/electronic leash and was scheduled 6-7 days a week depending on how dark the circles around my eyes were and how many times i had to answer my pager the night before.

For a company that offers so many services, i don't know where the money is going to, i don't know how the CEO is featured as such a bright person and i don't know how or why anyone would use there products and services.

It wasn't until after i quit and they canceld my last paycheck and caused my life to be hell even more that i relized i was better off with IDT out of my life.

Now as the sr systems administrator, being stiffed like that i can only imagine how they would treat a customer. I wouldn't do it, i wouldn't recommend it. Sure IDT had some very nice people.

But there is no way in hell i will work for nore support the ultimate goal of someone elses dream to make millions from spreading yourself and your life soooo thin. Thats all. The answer is simple. If you want to be a long distance company then start a long distance company. Don't sell yourself as a long distance, pager, calling card, internet, e-commerce, network backbone, net2phone, 1800, 1900, systems integration, co-location, security, tech support and integration company without staffing the company and providing for the company and making sure that your employees are provided for so that you can actually ship atleast one quality service.

So my simple answer, idt is spread to thin, employees work for some unknown pie in the sky and while that 38.00 you spent might help them short term i hope they just shut doors so people can get on with what we call LIFE.

While this may be a bit off topic, it is sure one hell of a good reason to choose something better. After all making people pay to contact you sounds too much like an IDT product :) Its the IDT motto "Stiff your friends because it will make you money"

did i say that? :)