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If you’re not sure what VoIP is, let me explain here. VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol,
which is a long way of saying, that through an adapter issued by the VoIP
provider, your voice is digitized and sent via packets over the internet. The amazing thing is that your digitized
voice is then received by the person you’re calling just like a regular phone
service. The bonus is that the majority
of VoIP providers also include many additional service features that used to
cost extra with traditional phone service providers.
On average, VoIP providers charge $24-$30 per month for
unlimited long distance and local calling.
Other providers have annual rates which can knock those charges down to
$14-$17 per month.
Sound good so far? I
thought so too, so I signed up with the ill-fated SunRocket company on an
annual contract. On the plus side, my
contract was nearly over before they went belly-up with nary a word to their
customers. The downside, is that they
went belly-up with nary a word to their customers.
However, the 11 months of phone service prior to their
demise was great! Sound and reliability
were excellent. Unless I told my
callers, no one knew that I was using a VoIP provider.
Given my great experience with SunRocket, I thought all VoIP
providers would be pretty much the same; which is why I jumped to sign with the
first VoIP provider who had a comparable annual plan to SunRocket. My only question was, “How long have you been
in business?” After a satisfactory
answer, I was a new Vonics.com customer. 
It wasn’t long before I was sorry. Drop outs in service were frequent; sometimes
even their website wouldn’t come up.
Customer service was atrocious. I
started researching customer reviews and found that there were a lot of people who
were more than a little disgruntled over their service. I waited longer than I should have to bail,
thinking, that the company was going through growing pains with the sudden
influx of old SunRocket customers, but Vonics never stabilized.
 On to the next…Voip.com.
I looked up reviews prior to signing on with Voip.com, but sadly, I
didn’t read enough of them. Long story
short…their service was tolerable relative to what I went through with Vonics,
but in the end the service became abysmal and I actually lost my service all together
for about 4 days just before my phone number was ported over to the next
company on my quest for the best VoIP provider.
 PhonePower.com I
struck gold! This time I reviewed
numerous consumer feedback sites and paid careful attention to the number of
good vs. bad reviews. Overwhelmingly the
reviews were a big thumbs up for PhonePower.com. I am really pleased with their service. I had occasion during the set up of their
adapter to call customer service and, this is shocking, they were KNOWLEDGABLE
and HELPFUL!
So here is the best advice I can give when shopping for a
VoIP provider, do your research. Don’t
believe the company’s advertising hype. Pay attention to actual customer
reviews and feedback. Check several review
sites. They’re easy to find with a Google
search.
Tips: Unlimited
calling doesn’t necessarily mean unlimited calling. VoIP providers sometimes put a cap on number
the of minutes per month. For instance
PhonePower.com, with whose service I am quite enamored, has a limit of 2000
minutes for outgoing calls. That won’t
be a problem for me, but it might be for you.
Read the terms and conditions carefully and ask questions if you don’t
understand.
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Sheri