| Almost every time you turn around, somebody else is | | | | continental United States, voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, |
| trying to pitch VOIP to you, and with all the VOIP | | | | three way calling. For residential VOIP service, what |
| service providers out there, how do you know which | | | | else do you really need? |
| one is right for you? If you read the marketing literature | | | | So if all the features are pretty much the same, let's |
| and flyers that they put out to get your attention, you | | | | look at how they are priced. Now this sheds entirely |
| would think they are all the best invention since sliced | | | | new light on the subject. Vonage charges $24.99 per |
| bread and canned beer. | | | | month. Packet8 and Earthlink VOIP charge $24.99 per |
| First of all, you need to realize that at the basic | | | | month. Comcast and Charter charge $29.99 per |
| fundamental level, almost all of them, at least the major | | | | month. |
| ones, do perform the services as advertised. In more | | | | There is a better and more cost effective option for |
| than 90% of the cases where a problem is reported, | | | | you, and the price is only $19.95 per month for even |
| studies have shown that the problem is not with the | | | | more features than the others offer. For example, in |
| VOIP service provider, but rather the problem is with | | | | addition to unlimited calls in the continental US, they also |
| the residential high speed Internet connection. | | | | include unlimited calls to Canada and Puerto Rico. They |
| You see, the VOIP service provider does not | | | | also offer a soft phone option where you can use |
| guarantee squat about the quality of your high speed | | | | your computer and a high speed Internet connection to |
| Internet connection. They make the ASSUMPTION | | | | make and receive calls. And if you want to sign up for |
| that it is reliable and stable, with sufficient bandwidth to | | | | a year at a time, the price drops to under $17.00 per |
| perform VOIP functionality. But with the extremely | | | | month. |
| large variations in residential DSL and cable | | | | They don't advertise at Circuit City or Best Buy, and |
| connections, and yes even FIOS, reliability and stability | | | | they don't include circulars with your Visa and |
| of that connection cannot be assumed. And if you only | | | | MasterCard statements. Instead of wasting money on |
| have satellite for your high speed Internet connection, | | | | that, they pass those savings on to you in the form of |
| don't even think about implementing VOIP at your | | | | a cheaper rate and more service. |
| home, as it will be a source of grief and frustration on | | | | When you are ready to implement VOIP at your |
| a continual basis. | | | | house, be sure to consider this option and you can see |
| But if you do have a stable and reliable high speed | | | | your savings grow even faster with this VOIP service |
| Internet connection, then how do you decide which one | | | | provider. There is little sense in spending more than |
| is best for you? The feature set that they have is | | | | you need to for anything, and VOIP is certainly no |
| pretty much the same - unlimited calling in the | | | | exception to that rule. |