Voice Over IP (VOIP) Providers Compared

You can find this information in many places on the web, nevertheless I thought I'd compile my own guide. I referenced a ranking listed on Wikipedia for the most popular services. I then visted web sites for each of these companies to get current pricing information.

I'm currently a Vonage subscriber. Vonage probably has an edge for being the early player to the game. In fact, many competitors seem to be following their lead as far as pricing structure. I've been interested in possibly switching to a new provider as of late; I've been investigating if pricing is getting competitive in the industry.

Something that's not really easy to meter is the strength of the customer service of any of these companies. For example, Vonage has overseas customer support - but for the most part - they are very helpful. You may pay a slight premium for products from well known providers, like AT&T and Verizon.

If you're totally new to VoIP, realize you're essentially grabbing a special adapter that lets you use your home network instead of going through the phone company. You're using your high-speed network that lets you rely on the Internet more that "Ma Bell." It's very reliable, but not totally flawless. For me, I don't use my land-line enough to pay the elevated prices of a local phone company - but it is nice to not always have to use your wireless (Cell Phone) plan if you don't need to. For my application, it's been beyond adequate.

Some of these companies will just send you a free adapter, and some you can pick up in retail. There's one (NetZero) that doesn't offer the adapter option - and requires you to make calls via your computer's sound interface or USB port. I personally don't see the appeal on this option.

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