A Real Comparison Of Residential VOIP Service Providers
Jay Anderson
There is a lot of competition in the VOIP service market today where it seems like almost everyone is offering VOIP service for your home. You see the ads on TV, you get flyers with your Mastercard statements every month, and it is hard to tell which ones are real and which are simply marketing hype. How can you tell which is the real deal?
To begin with at the very core of it, you need to realize that almost all the VOIP services usually work as advertised. But studies have shown that more than 90% of the time where there is a problem, the problem is not with the VOIP service but really is with the high speed Internet connection of the user, and if that is bad, there is not a VOIP service on the planet that will work well there. If satellite high speed is all you have, don't even think about VOIP because it is almost guaranteed to not work well, if at all.
So given that you have determined that your high speed Internet is stable and reliable, how do you know which VOIP service is best for you? It is very difficult to make that decision by looking at the list of included features, since that feature list is pretty much the same for all the VOIP providers. You have unlimited calling in the continental US, voice mail, caller ID, calling waiting, and three way calling. For a residential phone, that is buckets more than you get from the phone company, and what else do you really need?
So how else can you make a determination? Look at the price. Now things start to get more interesting, since pricing varies quite a bit for basically the same service, depending on the VOIP provider. From the industry leaders, you have Vonage, Earthlink VOIP and Packet8 which each costs $24.99 per month. You have Comcast and Charter which cost $29.99 per month. All of these providers do a fair amount of advertising, especially Vonage, and it would appear that you, the consumer, is being asked to help pay for their cost of advertising, doesn't it?
We have found a very stable company who has been offering VOIP service for a number of years and the cost is only $19.95 per month. And if you are willing to sign up for a year in advance, that cost drops to under $17 per month. Yes, it still includes unlimited long distance calling in the continental US, and they also include unlimited calling to Canada and Puerto Rico. Of course they offer the standard VOIP features of caller ID, voicemail, call waiting, etc.
This company does not spend a lot of money on advertising at Frys or Best Buy or Circuit City, nor on TV ads, nor on worthless flyers in your credit card statements. The money they would have spent on advertising goes to providing you with a better price on your VOIP service. Isn't that the way it should be?
If you are going to switch to VOIP for your residential phone, you need to factor this VOIP provider into your equation. It just does not good economic sense to pay more for a service than you need to, especially when you have such a cost effective option.
For more insights and additional information about http://www.voipinsideinfo.com/our_expert_opinion_and_picks.php) VOIP Service Provider Comparison and to see our Top Pick and Best Value recommendation for residential VOIP service, please visit our web site at http://www.voipinsideinfo.com/our_expert_opinion_and_picks.php
|
