Comments on: AOL Opens Up Voice APIs, but Only Two Times a Day

By: Thomas Howe

Thomas Howe — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:00:47 +0000

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t wash for me. Do you think most consumers blame BestBuy when they see a charge from their stolen credit card? I think they blame the person who stole it; especially if the credit card company takes the hit. More so, can you imagine that BestBuy would only let you buy two DVDs this month, and if it works out OK, they’ll let you buy three the next month?

I’ll try to put this another way: AOL is doing a good job protecting against possible fraud, but a terrible job in capturing the hearts and minds of the developers it will need to expand the usage of the service. It’s great that AOL now has Moneybookers as an option… but how much time and energy has AOL put into helping Web 2.0 developers use and profit from the API?

I believe your words betray you, because you hit the nail on the head: by limiting the initial use of the product with credit cards it becomes less attractive to people trying to make money off of the service at the expense of the general public. Indeed.

By: VoipGuy

VoipGuy — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:01:41 +0000

It is the not the costs of AOL that is the concern here. It is the damage done by some ignorant person stealing another persons credit card and using in conjunction with the AIM Call Out service. The average person sees the charge on their card and instantly blames AOL not the person that stole and used their credit card information. By limiting initial use of the product with credit cards it becomes less attractive to people trying to make money off of the service at the expense of the general public. As well AOL recently added Moneybookers (similar to paypal) as a payment option which eliminates the limits on webconnect due to the enchanced fraud controls that Moneybookers provides.

By: Thomas Howe

Thomas Howe — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:37:13 +0000

Thanks for the comment, VoIPGuy. I think I should have made that point more clearly. I understand WHY there’s this 2/calls a day limitation. In fact, I think there are two big reasons, but only one understood to AOL. The first one you mention; it’s to prevent fraud. The second reason is more pernicious – it’s because AOL is not only old school in terms of the web world, but apparently in terms of voice as well. Worrying first about fraud is a lot like starbucks worrying about people taking too much half-and-half in their coffee. The experience of making your own coffee is much more valuable than whatever costs Starbucks will bear. In like manner, having any sort of limitation like two calls a day virtually eliminates any serious sort of web connect development on AOL’s service, and waiting 60 days is somewhat reminiscent of how long it took to get a washing machine in the United Kingdom in the 70s. Until AOL decides that the larger risk is irrelevance, not the chance a two bit customer will bilk them out of 10k of termination charges… their future will look amazingly like their past.

By: VoipGuy

VoipGuy — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:13:25 +0000

Also calls through the aim client or sip devices which are different than webconnect are only limited by the amount of credit you have.

By: VoipGuy

VoipGuy — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:12:18 +0000

The 2/calls a day for webconnect is just a new account limitation. If you look at the help information it related to the graduated program used to prevent fraud.