[asterisk-biz] FWD moving to $30 annual membership fee

[Trixter aka Bret McDanel]

For those that dont get the bullitins, FWD isnt going to be free
anymore, here is the notice that was sent to me.


Dear FWD'er:

Free World Dialup is implementing a $30 USD annual membership fee during
the month of August after 12 years as a free service. 

A startup taking over a decade to reach conviction about a business
model likely sets a record, but we believe $30 USD per year is the magic
number. It is 10% of the cost for Vonage's unlimited usage plan. FWD
provided the inspiration for the founding of Vonage in 2001, and
Vonage's hybrid Internet-PSTN offer now generates nearly $1 billion in
annual revenue. FWD's voluntary paid membership experiment last summer
demonstrated the demand for a complete break from telephone network.
FWD's future as a Communication ISP will include only those services
that do not have a per minute charge. Rather than competing directly
with the telco's or even Vonage, the mission of a Communication ISP is
creating new opportunities and modes of communication. FWD will relaunch
the website during August to focus on services, applications, and
content available to people with VoIP SIP devices connected directly to
the Internet. 

See FWD CEO, Daniel Berninger's Communication ISP Manifesto.

If you wish to retain SIP registration and support FWD, please click
through the paid membership banner at the top of the home page which
links to the Acteva registration service.

Make sure you use the email associated with your FWD account (the one on
which this message arrived.) 

If you lost your FWD account info, you can use the password retrieval
process or simply create a new account.

The first 1000 paid members get "founder" status, but FWD will retain
existing free accounts through August 31, 2008. The new paid membership
requirement allows for associating any number of accounts with the email
address used for payment, so you can keep the free ride alive by finding
a friend with paid membership.

I hope you will join in transforming FWD's nearly one million free
accounts into paid memberships as we work to make the Communication ISP
the next big thing in VoIP.

Best regards,

Jeff