VOIP - Voice Over IP

I'm giving serious consideration to switching to a Voice Over IP (VOIP) telephone solution.

VOIP? While the acronym may sound frightening, it's really quite simple: VOIP is a broadband phone service. With VOIP, your telephone calls take place over your Internet connection, rather the standard phone lines. Voice Over IP is strictly a high-speed technology, and is intended to be run through a cable modem, DSL line, T1 or other broadband connection.

After meeting the annual April 15th rush to file, I sat down and looked at what I had paid out over the last year for my telephone bills. As I tallied up the charges, it became clear that I had the chance to shave some costs by switching my studio line from a conventional phone line over to VOIP. Now I have to admit that my curiosity was brought on by Madison Avenue. It's hard to miss the television and Internet ads for Vonage.

So I've set out to learn as much as I can before making the plunge ...

Vonage seems to be the leading contender in the field. Their most inexpensive plan starts at $14.99 per month, with their premium residential plan (with unlimited calls within the USA and Canada) weighing in at $34.95. With those numbers, it's certain that I'll save on my monthly bill, as the least I've spent on my phone services over the last year has been just over $40 per month. While there's also a small business unlimited plan for $49.99 per month with a fax line included, I'm not sure I need to go to that expense. (I unplugged my fax and disconnected my fax line last year and haven't looked back.)

It's about more than saving money.

Unlimited calling is an awesome feature, but I'm just as interested in the freebies that are thrown into the deal: caller ID, voicemail, call waiting-forwarding-transfer ... and the Holy Grail ... free three-way calling. There are other cool perks, too ... you can even pick your own area code.

But this isn't a decision that I'll make on a whim. I'm going to do my research ... With AT&T's recent roll out of their CallVantage service, competition in the field is starting to heat up. I want to take a close look at VoicePulse, and Packet8, too.

If you're using or considering a VOIP service like Vonage, I'd love to hear from you. I've set up a quick survey for you to register your experiences with Voice Over IP ... after the survey's run, I'll post the results for all to see.

Click here to take quick survey on VOIP