Free VoIP Calls Forever–Until They Catch On, Anyway
The folks at VoIP Guides have uncovered a “secret” to free calling “forever.” You essentially use an “infinite” number of email addresses and sign up for Jaxtr, which gives you 100 free minutes upon signup.
This is what happens when you are a one trick pony and you essentially give the service away. People always figure out how to abuse it. I’ve called Jaxtr’s business model into question before. In light of the fact that Jaduka is offering a similar service, has a clear revenue model–hint, it’s not this service–and has a more scalable infrastructure, I wonder what exactly Jaxtr’s revenue or exit strategy is.
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Tags: free minutes, jaduka, jaxtr, revenue model Fnord
Comment by spg
two things that makes jaxtr very unique. 1. it works for any call destination(limited only by jax credits) 2. the first call is done by callback; no matter what the number. the has never been another service that for example will allow make a 20 minute call from a UK cell to say a phone in india. those are expense destination on both ends of the call. so lets say you want call home each day for 20 minutes. thats 7 account a week, 30 a month, 365 per year. no wonder jaxtr has such amazing subscription numbers. these holes in jaxtr have been widely published for some time even if not on a blog as popular as voipguides. jaxtr has got to be aware of whats going on; but on the other hand they found the secret formula to huge subscriber numbers.
Comment by PhoneBoy
@spg but if each of those “Subscribers” costs only uses their service once and it costs them whatever 100 units worth of calling costs each time, it’s still a money losing proposition.
The fact of the matter is, on these “Free” services, only about 1% of the users convert to paying customers. 99% is basically given away. Unless that 1% is paying you on high-margin things, you’re going to have a difficult time making money.
Comment by spg
your are absolutely right about it being a ‘money losing proposition’ but that does not preclude the idea the the company could not become valuable(for example as a takeover target) solely because of its explosive growth in subscriber numbers. certainly it would be expected that any one considering such a takeover would read between the lines. but on the other hand stranger things have happened in the .com industry.
Comment by PhoneBoy
@spg Acquisition is certainly an exit strategy, but why would anyone want to acquire a company who is giving away a product with no real monetization strategy?