It seems like everywhere you go these days people are talking about the VOIP phone service they got and how much they love it. Many college students don’t even have a regular phone in their dorm room or apartment, instead opting for VOIP phone services. What’s all the fuss? Have you ever felt that something was missing and you didn’t know what it was?
VOIP can be a good thing for you, but you need to make sure you understand what it is and what it is not. VOIP phone service has drawbacks that you should be aware of in order to decide if VOIP is for you.
VOIP phone service uses your existing high-speed Internet connection and allows you to make and receive phone calls over the Internet. That is the complete summary of what VOIP is. But you need to dig a little below the surface to determine if VOIP is right for you.
First of all, not all parts of the country can get a local phone number. If you live in a rural area, chances are a LOCAL phone number for your VOIP service is not available. What that means is that if someone local wants to call you, even your next door neighbor, they may have to make a long distance call to reach you.
Yes, you can “port” your existing phone number to your new VOIP service, but there have been so many horror stories about phone companies screwing that up that I wouldn’t recommend that option. It SHOULD be simple, it should be perfect, but like many other things, the reality of what happens doesn’t reflect the simplicity of doing it.
You also need a high speed internet connection and this is not provided with the VOIP service of any of the VOIP providers. They assume you already have this. In most cases, they are right, as the price of home DSL and home cable Internet prices continue to drop. But even if you already have access to high-speed Internet, you should carefully consider the following two points:
1. A high-speed Internet connection does NOT include satellite. If you have a high-speed satellite Internet connection, don’t consider VOIP because you won’t be happy. Sure they WILL SELL you but with a high-speed satellite connection, you won’t be happy and sound like you’re talking from the bottom of a bathtub at best.
2. Is your current high-speed Internet connection reliable? Remember, when your high-speed Internet connection goes down, your VOIP service goes down too, and you won’t be able to make or receive any calls. If you’re on DSL and your speed is very slow because it’s at the end of your pipe, VOIP is likely to be an issue there as well.
Now, if you haven’t freaked out yet, then VOIP phone service might be a good idea for you. The quality of the VOIP conversation is usually as good or better than the traditional telephone conversation. But the great attraction of VOIP is the economic considerations. With your phone company, a phone line costs about $25 a month and for that you get a dial tone and maybe unlimited local calls. That’s it and everything else is extra. But with VOIP phone service, you get unlimited calls throughout the continental US (some VOIP providers also include Canada), plus Caller ID, plus voicemail, plus call waiting, and VOIP service. it costs about the same amount of money, and with some VOIP providers, even for less than $20 a month. Even if they are the same, the fact that long distance is already included in your VOIP service is a huge benefit.
Consider joining the VOIP phone service bandwagon today, but like anything else, make sure you do all of your homework first to make sure VOIP is right for you.
