How did your P75 suddenly become obsolete? Doesn't it route IP over ISDN anymore? None of my telephones are suddenly useless since Caller-ID became available on my analog lines. They simply don't support a new feature. But their primary function, telecommunications, is fine. > > Funny, I'm being offered trade-ups for the Pipe75 dfrom OTHER COMPANIES > (USR, Livingston just to name two) that are below $50 for the difference. > And I'm even being offered discounts on their products just because I've > "tried the competition" and are willing to try them instead. I'd _like_ to > stick with what I have now, but it's getting _really_ tempting. D'oh! Are you being offered "trade-ups" or "competitive upgrades?" The latter are usually a one-time limited offer to entice you to throw away the competitors' products and get you to use theirs. Don't do your budget projections based on the assumption that the companies all want to give their products away. It's not a good bet they'll make the same offer six months from now. > > KEVIN, ARE YOU LISTENING? Call your higher-ups, man, before you lose even > more business! Convince them that "UPGRADE PLAN" is a valid business term! > Pick up that phone and make the call.... I'm still curious which of the OTHER COMPANIES you mention actually offer upgrade programs that are substantially better than ascend's. You indicate USR as an example, but I couldn't locate anybody there willing to UPGRADE their own products -- like a sportster modem. They suggested I sell it and buy a new one. I didn't ask Livingston about what trade-in value they'll give me for last year's SOHO router. Have you? Ascend DOES have a program in place for "competitive upgrade" trade-ins (where they offer a pitifully small amount to swap a Cisco 7500 series router for a GRF). Isn't that all USR and Livingston are doing, essentially? > > I make product recommendations and feature reports now, and you can read my > .sig to find out where, because I'm not supposed to use the name in > conversation such as this. (This matter's far more personal than business, > but it _will_ influence my recommendations, since what I use is likely what > I'll recommend.) And re-read the underscored portion of my original message > here. > > : >Do any trade-up programs exist from the old P75 units (I have one that was > : >replaced with a new unit thanks to defect very recently) to the new P75 > : >units that support POTS CID (something I was promised when purchasing the > : >old unit originally)? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If I were one of your clients paying you for your advice, I'd have two questions: * Did you get the promise in writing? Was it made by an official Ascend representative, or an independent sales rep who doesn't speak for Ascend? * How did you remain unaware for so long that the new P75's were going to be released imminently, and you could have waited if the new features were important to you? Everybody who reads this list regularly was informed about it for months. As a consultant who makes product recommendations, you should keep abreast of developments for the benefit of your clients! I agree that it would be nice for Ascend, and every other data communications hardware manufacturer, to give us generous allowances on our old hardware when we upgrade to new hardware. But it's not common, and would drive the cost of the equipment way up. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > ===== > == Todd Vierling (Personal tv@pobox.com; Business tv@lucent.com) Mike Berger Shouting Ground Technologies, Inc. ++ Ascend Users Mailing List ++ To unsubscribe: send unsubscribe to ascend-users-request@bungi.com To get FAQ'd: <<A HREF="http://www.nealis.net/ascend/faq">http://www.nealis.net/ascend/faq</A>> </PRE> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <STRONG>Follow-Ups</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A HREF="msg08995.html">(ASCEND) Syslog for Max Filter Violations?</A></STRONG></LI> <UL> <LI><EM>From</EM>: Eric Wieling <eric@ccti.net></LI> </UL> </UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <HR> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg08968.html">(ASCEND) Lost wan ports 3 & 4</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg08965.html">Re: (ASCEND) Does anyone know what this means?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg08978.html">RE: (ASCEND) Pipeline 75 Questions</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg08995.html">(ASCEND) Syslog for Max Filter Violations?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="mail2.html#08966"><STRONG>Main</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thrd173.html#08966"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> </BODY> </HTML>