4 ms·

> There's also a free plan where Tin Can users can call only other Tin Can users. So you have to pay a monthly subscription for this, in addition to $75 for ea

> There's also a free plan where Tin Can users can call only other Tin Can users. So you have to pay a monthly subscription for this, in addition to $75 for each phone, if you want to talk with anyone outside of their walled garden?

wlesieutre 7mo ago
A monthly fee for a phone service sounds pretty normal to me?
- apparent 7mo ago
  In the age of FT audio calls and such, it seems out of place. I get paying for the hardware, and even a bit of a premium because the UI has so many parental controls. But charging a monthly fee seems surprising since the differentiation versus FT/GV/etc. is on the UI side, not the "you can talk to your friends" side. There is no monthly cost to a UI.
  - toast0 7mo ago
    If you want to call POTS numbers, seems reasonable to pay a fee. voip.ms (of Canada, I think) charges ~ $2/month for a number and ~ $0.01 / minute for calls to US/Canada, calls to other subscribers are free. They work with deposits and a balance. Something in that range seems reasonable... maybe a little bit more if there's some work to make it specifically kid friendly (parental controls for incoming/outgoing calls?)
    - apparent 7mo ago
      Fair enough...$10/mo seems high. And I say this as someone in the target demo.
      - philips 7mo ago
        What price point would feel good to you? I am working on a similar service for my own needs (and some other friends). But, my current plan is to hit $100/yr or so but the hardware is included in that cost. I am assuming $2/mo for costs of the number and minutes and retail costs for VOIP hotel phones is about $50. Hopefully the hardware costs amortize out and then I can offer a discount to users on subsequent years. (If you want to go DIY you can save quite a bit of money too- I provided some breadcrumbs for doing that in my comment on the parent)
  - wlesieutre 7mo ago
    FT audio calls are in the same boat where if everyone you knows has an iPad you can make calls within that walled garden for free and don't need to be allocated a phone number. Admittedly more useful since so many people have an Apple product. Anything where you want a phone number and to communicate with the rest of the phone network, I'd expect to pay money for it. Google Voice is the (only?) oddball here.
unleaded 7mo ago
i mean you do for any phone line
MiddleEndian 7mo ago
>walled garden Makes sense to me. Ideally, people outside of my friends and family would not be able to call me on my regular phone either.
- apparent 7mo ago
  You don't want to be able to communicate with your doctor, kid's teacher, someone who is coming to repair your home, a neighbor who just moved in, etc.?
  - MiddleEndian 7mo ago
    Eh they can be added to my contacts and then fall under "friend" I guess lol

wlesieutre 7mo ago

A monthly fee for a phone service sounds pretty normal to me?

apparent 7mo ago
In the age of FT audio calls and such, it seems out of place. I get paying for the hardware, and even a bit of a premium because the UI has so many parental controls. But charging a monthly fee seems surprising since the differentiation versus FT/GV/etc. is on the UI side, not the "you can talk to your friends" side. There is no monthly cost to a UI.
- toast0 7mo ago
  If you want to call POTS numbers, seems reasonable to pay a fee. voip.ms (of Canada, I think) charges ~ $2/month for a number and ~ $0.01 / minute for calls to US/Canada, calls to other subscribers are free. They work with deposits and a balance. Something in that range seems reasonable... maybe a little bit more if there's some work to make it specifically kid friendly (parental controls for incoming/outgoing calls?)
  - apparent 7mo ago
    Fair enough...$10/mo seems high. And I say this as someone in the target demo.
    - philips 7mo ago
      What price point would feel good to you? I am working on a similar service for my own needs (and some other friends). But, my current plan is to hit $100/yr or so but the hardware is included in that cost. I am assuming $2/mo for costs of the number and minutes and retail costs for VOIP hotel phones is about $50. Hopefully the hardware costs amortize out and then I can offer a discount to users on subsequent years. (If you want to go DIY you can save quite a bit of money too- I provided some breadcrumbs for doing that in my comment on the parent)
- wlesieutre 7mo ago
  FT audio calls are in the same boat where if everyone you knows has an iPad you can make calls within that walled garden for free and don't need to be allocated a phone number. Admittedly more useful since so many people have an Apple product. Anything where you want a phone number and to communicate with the rest of the phone network, I'd expect to pay money for it. Google Voice is the (only?) oddball here.

unleaded 7mo ago

i mean you do for any phone line

MiddleEndian 7mo ago

>walled garden Makes sense to me. Ideally, people outside of my friends and family would not be able to call me on my regular phone either.

apparent 7mo ago
You don't want to be able to communicate with your doctor, kid's teacher, someone who is coming to repair your home, a neighbor who just moved in, etc.?
- MiddleEndian 7mo ago
  Eh they can be added to my contacts and then fall under "friend" I guess lol