The Bottom Line Comparison Of VOIP Service Providers

These days it seems like everybody and their brother is trying to sell VOIP services to you for your home. You see it on TV, you get the flyers with your Visa statements, and everybody’s service is supposedly the best deal around. How do you determine where the value really is?

First of all, you must realize that most VOIP services really do work as advertised, but they use your residential high speed Internet connection to make and receive calls. What this means for you is that if your high speed Internet connection is not reliable, stable, and rock solid, there is not a VOIP service on the planet that will work well with it. And if satellite is your current option for high speed, there is no sense in even thinking about VOIP, as it will NOT work well with satellite, 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?

Ok, so looking at the feature set did not help us narrow our choices, so now let’s look at the cost. Now things start to get interesting. The one doing the most commercial advertising, Vonage, costs $24.99 per month. That stands to reason, and their customers are subsidizing their advertising expenditures. Other popular brands like Packet8 and Earthlink VOIP also charge $24.99 per month. Charter and Comcast, two popular ISP’s both charge $29.99 per month for their VOIP service.

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.

They do not advertise at Best Buy or Fry’s Electronics and do not include flyers with your Visa statements. But then again, they are not asking you to pay extra for the VOIP service to cover the cost of their advertising expenses like the others do.

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.