the Price of Internet (VOIP) Telephone Service

The price is the cost of a router to connect the VOIP phone ($150) and is the monthly charge for a limited residential service plan with a VOIP company ($17). The plan limited use to 500 minutes of talk time per month. It included call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, three way calling, and all the other usual features.

An unlimited-minute plan was available for $24 per month, and various multi-line business plans were available at varying costs. Phone numbers were available for most regions of the country, regardless of where the actual calls were made from, so you could have a local number anywhere in the country. Additional numbers on the same phone were $6 extra per month.

The call quality was awful, lots of buzzing on the line. Calls were frequently dropped -- far more often than my cell phone.

Also, they advertise it as being "no contract" but then institute a $200 penalty if you cancel earlier than a year. Funny, that sounds like a contractual obligation to me. They do let you cancel anytime within the first month without penalty.

I canceled after about three weeks, even though I still had to pay full price for the month.

I hear from friends who have been using this service that quality has improved dramatically. It still doesn't forgive their lying about the nature of their "agreement." Beware false advertising, in all things.