Global Telecom Connect Review: 2 levels of recruitment

Global Telecom Connect launched in late 2012 and operates in the telecommunications MLM niche.

Based out of the US state of Florida, Global Telecom Connect is headed up by CEO and Founder Randy Ray.

In his Global Telecom Connect corporate bio, Ray (right) is credited with being ‘involved in the Network Marketing (MLM) industry for close to 2 decades‘.

(Ray’s) impressive track record as vendors to the MLM industry eventually led him to launch their 1st network marketing company in October 2005; and to date, Randy already owns three very successful network marketing companies (including GTC) all of which are generating millions in monthly revenue.

The 2005 company mentioned is Fuel Freedom International (now known as “Forever Freedom”), who market ‘pills trade marked as MPG-CAPS, which are claimed to improve fuel economy, reduce emissions and increase engine power‘.

Jeunesse is the other company Ray launched in 2009, marketing a range of personal care and nutrition products. All three business share the same office space in Florida.

I can’t attest to the “millions in monthly revenue” claim, but at the time of publication all three of Ray’s companies remain in business.

Read on for a full review of the Global Telecom Connect MLM business opportunity.

The Global Telecom Connect Product Line

As the name suggests, Global Telecom Connect market a range of telecommunications services.

• Video Softphone is a VOIP app (with video support)
• Call Connect is a “call back” service that offers international calls via a US-based “trigger number”
• LAN Connect service allows users to call internationally from pre-registered numbers
• World Connect Service is a plan that includes the above three services, but comes with a 500 minute cap on calls to actual phones
• Sim Connect Service is a SIM card users can use with their existing cell phone to make calls when travelling (115 countries are supported)

Out of the above services, only World Connect has pricing available on the Global Telecom Connect website ($69.95). Why no pricing is provided for the other four services is unclear.

The Global Telecom Connect Compensation Plan

The Global Telecom Connect compensation plan primarily revolves around recruiting new affiliates, and getting them to purchase either a Supreme Entry Level Package ($179.90) or a Deluxe Entry Level Package ($299.95).

Commissions are then paid out on initial recruitment, with residuals via a binary compensation structure. Several additional bonuses are also available.

Global Telecom Connect Affiliate Membership Ranks

There are nine affiliate membership ranks within the Global Telecom Connect compensation plan. Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

• Independent Affiliate – Pay affiliate membership fees and maintain monthly minimum sales volume (note that this level is excluded from most of the compensation plan)
• Executive – recruit at least two new affiliates who generate at least 35 PV (purchase one of the two available affiliate packs)
• Silver Executive – earn at least one binary commission and recruit at least five affiliates (at least two must be on one binary side)
• Gold Executive – recruit at least ten affiliates (at least three must be on one binary side)
• Platinum Executive – maintain ten personally recruited affiliates, two of which must be Gold Executives (one on either side of the binary)
• Double Platinum Executive – maintain ten personally recruited affiliates, two of which must be Platinum Executives (one on either side of the binary)
• Diamond Director – recruit at least twelve affiliates (at least four must be on one binary side), two of which must be Double Platinum Executives (one on either side of the binary) and have personally binary cycled at least 500 times
• Double Diamond Director – maintain twelve personally recruited affiliates, two of which must be Diamond Directors (one on either side of the binary), and have personally binary cycled at least 1000 times
• Triple Diamond Director – maintain twelve personally recruited affiliates, two of which must be Double Diamond Directors (one on either side of the binary), and have personally binary cycled at least 1500 times

Recruitment Commissions

Global Telecom Connect affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates who purchase one of two available affiliate packages:

• Supreme Entry Level Package – $179.90
• Deluxe Entry Level Package – $299.95

How much of a commission is paid out depends on how much a Global Telecom Connect affiliate themselves paid when they joined:

Supreme Package affiliates earn $30 on their first two recruits (regardless of which package is purchased), and then $45 for every recruited package purchasing affiliate thereafter.

Deluxe Package affiliates earn

• $30 on their first two Supreme Package purchasing recruits and then $45 for every Supreme package purchasing affiliate thereafter and
• $50 on their first two Deluxe Package purchasing recruits and then $75 for every Deluxe package purchasing affiliate thereafter.

Binary Commissions

Residual commissions in Global Telecom Connect are paid out using a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate on top of two positions which form the start of two binary teams, left and right:

Positions in an affiliate’s binary teams are filled via the recruitment of new affiliates, with commissions calculated based on sales points generated by either binary team.

Binary points are generated on the sale of affiliate packages as follows:

• Supreme Entry Level Package – 75 points
• Deluxe Entry Level Package – 125 points

Points are tallied up in both sides weekly, with commissions paid out using a 2:1 ratio.

Supreme affiliates are paid $15 for every 200 GV that is matched with 100 GV on the weaker binary team.

Deluxe affiliates are paid $30 for every 400 GV that is matched with 200 GV on the weaker binary team.

Both package level affiliates are capped at earning $25,000 a week, with any unmatched volume rolling over to the next week.

Binary Cycle Bonuses

Every time a Global Telecom Connect affiliate earns a binary commission (as above), it’s referred to as a “cycle”.

As affiliates generate pre-determined accumulated numbers of cycles, the company rewards them as follows:

• Supreme affiliates receive $10 in calling credits every 6 binary cycle payouts
• Deluxe affiliates receive $10 in calling credits every 3 binary cycle payouts

Binary cycle bonuses are capped monthly, determined by an affiliate’s membership rank:

• Bronze Executive – $200
• Silver Executive – $400
• Gold Executive – $600
• Platinum Executive – $800
• Double Platinum Executive – $1200

Binary Matching Bonus

A Matching Bonus is available on the binary cycle earnings of Global Telecom Connect affiliates, payable down a maximum five levels of recruitment.

How many levels an affiliate can earn the match on depends on their Global Telecom Connect affiliate membership rank and how much they paid when they joined:

Supreme Affiliates:

• Silver Executive – 30% on level 1
• Gold Executive – 30% on level 1 and 20% on level 2

Deluxe Affiliates:

• Silver Executive – 20% on level 1
• Gold Executive – 20% on level 1 and 10% on level 2
• Platinum Executive – 20% on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 and 3
• Double Platinum Executive – 20% on level 1, 10% on levels 2 and 3 and 5% on levels 4 and 5

Pass-up Commissions

Global Telecom Connect use a reverse 2up plan for their pass-up commissions.

All affiliates “pass-up” commissions earnt on their first two recruited affiliates, and then in turn earn on the first two affiliates recruited by their third recruited affiliate. They then earn on the first two affiliates recruited by those affiliates and, so long as the recruitment continues, get paid down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

How much of a commission is paid per recruited affiliate depends on how much a Global Telecom Connect affiliate spent when they signed up:

• Supreme affiliates earn $15
• Deluxe affiliates earn $25

Recruited affiliate membership fee commissions

Global Telecom Connect charge their affiliates a $49.95 monthly fee. These fees generate 35 PV per recruited affiliate’s membership fees paid.

Commissions using recruited affiliate’s membership fee paid volume are paid out as per the “binary commissions” above.

Generational Matching Bonus

Starting at the Diamond Director affiliate level, Global Telecom Connect affiliates are paid a generational bonus on Gold Executive generations in their downline.

A generation is defined as all the affiliates that fall between the affiliate themselves and a Gold Executive affiliate in any given recruitment leg. The first found Gold Executive defines the first generation, the second found Gold Executive defines the second generation and so on and so forth.

All affiliates between these Gold Executives make up the generation, and their volume is what commissions in the Generational Matching Bonus are paid out on.

• Diamond Directors – 20% on the first generation and 10% on generations two and three
• Double Diamond Directors – 20% on the first generation and 10% on generations two to five
• Triple Diamond Directors – 20% on the first generation and 10% on generations two to seven

Joining Global Telecom Connect

Affiliate membership to Global Telecom Connect is $29.95. An annual $19.95 also applies, however this is waived if an affiliate generates at least 100 CV of sales volume during the previous year.

Affiliate packages are available, raising the price of Global Telecom Connect to up to $299.95:

• Supreme Entry Level Package – $149.95 + $29.95
• Deluxe Entry Level Package – $299,95 ($29.95 waived)

The primary difference between these two packages is commission qualification (four “avenues of income” with the Supreme and six with the Deluxe).

Conclusion

Outside of the $69.96 World Connect product, Global Telecom Connect appears to have no retailable products or services. And even then, I’m not entirely sure how the World Connect service factors into the company’s compensation plan – it’s not mentioned once. Neither are retail sales and/or commissions.

On the surface, it appears the company itself is only able to sell the World Connect product to non-affiliates, which would mean the retail sale of services by Global Telecom Connect affiliates is not possible.

This is reflected in the company’s compensation plan, which a big mess of recruitment-orientated commissions and bonuses.

The word “optional” appears in the Global Telecom Connect compensation plan, specifically in relation to their affiliate packages. Quite obviously though, the idea is that new affiliates purchase one of these packages when they sign up, and then set about recruiting new affiliates who do the same.

After paying the initial $29.95 affiliate fee, here’s what Global Telecom Connect recommend:

Your next step in getting started is to “activate” your IBC by generating a minimum of 35 points in Personal Sales Volume (PSV). The simplest way to do this is to purchase one of the optional entry level packages.

“Optional” sure, but highly recommended. An affiliate bankrolling their own “activation” is indicative of the Global Telecom Connect service not being viable at a retail level.

Once activated, Global Telecom Connect then recommend affiliates

get your IBC “Qualified” to earn leveraged income from the efforts of everyone that joins your network –whether your personally sponsored them or not- to UNLIMITED LEVELS! You do this by personally sponsoring 2 affiliates who also generate at least 35 points in PSV.

And thus we enter into a closed loop of recruitment that all but ignores retail altogether.

Global Telecom Connect affiliates sign up, pay for a package, recruit at least two new who affiliates who then do the same.

As long as everyone keeps paying their $49.95 (autoship) monthly fee, everyone gets paid.

In this sense the primary focus of the business appears to match that of a recruitment-driven pyramid scheme. Given the nature of the compensation plan and “recommendations” by Global Telecom Connect themselves, I’d be very surprised if any retail activity was taking place.

As for the packages themselves, with most of the commissions available being influenced by which package is purchase, a “pay to play” element is introduced into the equation.

Simply put, the more an affiliate pays when they join, the more earning potential they are granted. And this is irrespective of their actual sales volume.

Affiliates who don’t purchase one of the two packages meanwhile, are cutoff from most of the compensation plan.

What’s worrying is this is the third MLM business opportunity launched by Randy Ray. I haven’t yet looked at Fuel Freedom International or Jeunesse, but I certainly hope they’re not as red-flag inducing as Global Telecom Connect appears to be.

With “2 decades” experience in the MLM industry under his belt, that Ray should know better goes without saying.