Best Online Phone Service
It's Time to Switch to a VoIP Home Phone Service

Making the switch to an online phone service is one of the easiest ways to save money. If you haven't done so already, it's definitely time to ditch your land line phone service. In the near future everyone will use an IP phone service and can expect to make cheap if not free online phone calls. The challenge is to find the best broadband phone service to meet your requirements from amongst the thousands of options.

VoIP Comparisons

When reviewing online phone services it quickly becomes apparent that none offer a completely free home phone service. All service providers must make money and hence there is always a cost that relates either to equipment or types of call.

Free VoIP Phone Service

Skype Phone Service: it's a business that went from zero to over 500 million users in less than six years offering a free Skype download and free online phone calls. The enticing offer obviously worked and hardly anyone complains about paying for relatively cheap calls from Skype to landline and mobile phones.

Ooma: there are similarities with the MJ business model in that users must buy something before they can start making free online phone calls. The something is an Ooma phone and it costs less than $200. In return for paying more up front they get superior call quality and don't require a computer to use the service. When everything is taken into account it's almost certainly the cheapest VoIP service.

Magic Jack: another business that used free phone calls to grab millions of customers - fast! The main differences are (1) There is no free download. (2) Users must pay about $40 for a memory stick and $20p.a. thereafter. (3) Once they own a Magicjack users can make free online phone calls to just about anyone-anywhere. The other thing about the MJ online phone service is that a PC or a Mac is required to use it.

Cheap Online Phone Services

These options are not presented as a free internet telephone service. They are a cheap alternative to using a land line phone service.

When the Vonage broadband phone service came online in 2002 it established the benchmark for a cheap home phone service. Since then thousands of VoIP phone service providers have entered the fray and many of them purport to be the cheapest VoIP provider.

Vonage eliminated the technical hurdles to using an online phone service by bundling preconfigured routers and adapters that anyone can hook up. It's a model that almost every broadband VoIP service provider subsequently adopted. The formula is to supply new customers with a preconfigured analogue telephone adaptor (ATA) that can only be used with the provider's service.

Siemens A580IP

Bring Your Own Hardware

The more technically inclined users of online phone services often become frustrated with their preconfigured ATA's and routers. They want to push the envelope and use features that pre-packaged VoIP solutions don't support. The answer is to buy unlocked equipment which may include: modems, routers, ATA's and cordless phones that can be used with one or more Voice Service Providers (VSP's). Most VSP's operate in a similar way to ISP's. They provide recommended ATA and router settings on their web sites, but it's the users responsibility to make it all work.

Voice Over IP Phones

Yet another option is to purchase a broadband IP phone to use with a VoIP phone service. SIP phones are best because they are compatible with most VSP's, however this is not a recommended path unless you have some technical aptitude and more than average perseverance.

Cordless VoIP Phones

Siemens Gigaset cordless IP phones are some of the more easily configured voice over IP phones. They have an inbuilt ATA and a free standing charging cradle-handset with a DECT connection back to the base. The fact that they are also incredibly stylish has made them very popular, especially in Europe.

Summary

Your are almost certain to save money by switching to an online phone service. Calls will be cheaper and if there is a monthly service fee it will almost certainly be less than you are currently paying. Furthermore the features included in VoIP phone service are more extensive than those available from a land line service and they are seldom if ever chargeable extras.

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Related Reviews and Articles

Best Skype Cordless Phone - Skype headphones are adequate, but a decent Skype cordless phone is essential to get the best out of the Skype phone service.

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