the Price of Internet (VOIP) Telephone Service

Small business VOIP service including phone number plus fax. Free router was provided with initial sign up. Calling plan includes unlimited local and long distance calling plus unlimited inbound and outbound faxes. Most all common features like voicemail, call waiting, three way calling and more are included at no additional charge. Also provided are unlimited international calls to select countries. Rates for other international calls reasonable.

Much has been said and written about VOIP services. Many have complained about poor voice quality and unsatisfactory customer service. With a few exceptions, my experience over the past 45 days since I started the service has been positive. The main problem centers around faxes. Faxes sent or received via VOIP are hit or miss. Sometimes they work, and other times not. Voice clarity, with rare exceptions, is clear and cannot be differentiated from normal landline service. Dropped calls do occur, but are infrequent. In 45 days it has happened three times. Calling cards do not work well either with VOIP. One international destination I noticed was cheaper using a prepaid calling card purchased online, however the connection continually dropped upon attempting to enter the card number. I have not experienced any down time or severe problems with service to this point.

Best to compare plans and choose one based upon your usage patterns. If you have a friend who has VOIP try out their phone when visiting to see if you can detect any difference from your current landline. If faxes are very important to you, either switch to an online fax to email provider, or retain a basic plan landline to handle fax traffic.