VOIP: It’ll Save You Money, I Promise.

June 6th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under • by admin

Big bell companies which have a large share of their income dependent on land-line phones will soon be a thing of yesteryear. Instead consumers will be relying on cell-phones and inexpensive internet based phone technologies to make all of their calls. In many younger households, there’s no land-line to be seen, and there doesn’t need to be. Most everyone has a cell-phone these days, so the absolute need for a land-line isn’t there.

Land-lines are seemingly more of a convenience in the 21st century. It’s nice to have phones scattered throughout the house, and have a central line to reach the entire family. That doesn’t mean you should still be forking over $45-$50 a month to pay for a land-line. There are now more technically-advanced and feature-rich ways to have a phone-line in your household without having to spend nearly as much money.

The technology is called VOIP, or voice over internet protocol. If you’re unfamiliar with this technology, it allows you to make phone calls through your broadband internet connection for just a fraction of the price of what you would pay for a traditional land-line. With some services, you can even hook up the VOIP system into where your regular phones used to be. You can even keep your existing phone number, due to recent changes in US law. After the initial setup, you will have the same service you did before and be spending a lot less money.

There are two services that you might want to consider if you’re thinking about getting a VOIP phone. Vonage is perhaps the number one VOIP service, offering unlimited local and long distance calling for just $24.99 a month. Sunrocket is another reliable provider which will give you unlimited calling for $17 a month if you pay on a yearly basis. They also have some other plans for less frequent phone users. You’ll want to look at the plans and features that both and perhaps other services offer and make an informed decision about which service will best meet your needs.

As with any new technology, there are a few downsides which should be noted. Contacting your local 911 service might be an issue at some providers if they don’t have the technology in order. I suggest writing the number to the local police department down next to each phone to get around this setback. You can also use your cell-phone to get the local 911 service if need be. There’s also the possibility that the service will go down when you might need it. If you really need to make a call and you can’t get VOIP service because your internet connection is down, you could be in quite a bit of hurt. VOIP is still a very solid service. With some simple planning, you can avoid any major drawbacks and save a lot of money in the process.

If you haven’t tried voice over internet protocol (VOIP) for a while, you should give it another shot. VOIP’s reliability, call quality, and feature-set have improved dramatically in the last few years, and it can save you quite a bit of money in the process.