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 if your DSL or cable high speed Internet connection is reliable and stable, then how can you make an informed decision as to which VOIP service gives you the best value? You can start by looking at the feature set, which unfortunately is pretty much the same with all of the major ones, where they include unlimited local and long distance calling within continental US, voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, and three way calling. Really, 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?
You need to be aware of our Editor's Choice Top Pick and Best Pick option for the best VOIP service offering. The cost is $19.99 per month and they provide even more features than the ones mentioned above, since they also include unlimited calling to both Canada and Puerto Rico as well as within continental US. Additionally if you wish to save even more, you have the option to pay for a year upfront, which brings the monthly cost down to less than $17.00 per month.
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?
Nobody wants to spend more than they need to and VOIP is no different in that way. If your high speed Internet is reliable and stable, see what we recommend for residential VOIP service and you will see why they have earned our Best Value recommendation.
BT the UK's largest telecoms provider is singing the praises of 'capped calls' and selling call plans on the basis of the savings these deals seem to offer - are these capped deals really that good or is this a financial smoke screen?. Trying to gather call rate information for this task was rather awkward to say the least - BT's website and search facility seemed to make this task 'difficult' to say the least. In my experience the best way to do this is call. Armed with call rates call rates for BT & alternative telecoms prividers, I had to to establish the average call length. Luckily Telecost performed this task in 2002 by looking at call records of 100 companies in different UK locations and mixed industry sectors. In total some 2 million records were analysed. Of course some time has gone by and without a bigger study it is difficult to be certain - so if anything this is a good guide: Average length of mobile call (07 numbers) - 110 seconds. Average length of landline call (01 numbers) - 112 seconds. Average length of call to landline (02 numbers) - 121 seconds. If the average call length is 2 minutes then the following stands to reason: A 2 minute call on BT Standard Rate to mobile is 45p and to landline is 15p inc BT's call setup fee. A 2 minute mobile call using BT's 'Business Plan' is 25p (capped) and a 2 minute landline call is 8p on a 1 year contract. A 2 minute call on BT's 'Oneplan' to mobile is 20p(capped) and to landline is 5p(capped) on a 2 year contract with extra services required. A 2 minute mobile call using Westlake LCR is 18p and a 2 minute landline call is 2.5p on a one year contract. A 2 minute call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and 1.8p to landline on a 1 year contract with minimum spend requirement. A 2 minute mobile call using Gradwell VOIP would cost 20p and a 2 minute landline call would be free (on all inclusive tarif) with 3 month contract. The conclusion, based on the information above being correct therefore is:- if you own an 'average' business then you are better off with LCR or VOIP. If your bunsiness makes longer than average phonecalls then you are better off staying with BT, although... The best possible way to route business calls is to use a phone system such as Asterisk that is able to route calls via the most efficient routes. For example customers may route all 01 numbers through VOIP to take advantage of the all inclusive tarif and unlimited outbound trunks, use GSM gateways for free calls to staff mobiles (a big chunk of a typicall business phone bill) & mobile call rates as low as 4.5p. It is also not a bad idea to have a few BT lines on 'Oneplan' - for long length calls (users can have buttons on their phones that say long calls or can be made to press a button before dialling out) This article is merely a guide to help UK businesses make up their own minds - the call rates were obtained in Sept 08 hence may or may not be accurate at the time of reading.
Both Jay Anderson & Chris Gale are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jay Anderson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Acne Treatment, Bankruptcy Lawyer and Auto Insurance. For more insights and additional information about and to see our Best Value and Top Pick recommendat. Jay Anderson's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
Chris Gale has sinced written about articles on various topics from Information Technology. The author has been a consultant since 2003 - please refer to. Chris Gale's top article generates over 720 views. to your Favourites.